Exodus 13-15 Chapter
Study
I. The Exodus • Chs. 1-13:16
II. The Journey to Sinai • Chs.
I. The Exodus • Chs. 1-13:16
H. The Departure from
I. Ordinances to Remember the Exodus • 13:1-16
II. The Journey to Sinai • Chs.
A. The Early Route of the Exodus •
B. The
C. From the
D. From Elim to the
Wilderness of Sin • 16
1 Then the Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate to Me
all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of
“Consecrate” means to set
something apart for a special purpose.
קָדַשׁ] qadash
/ kaw-dash • “sanctify – hallow (make holy) – dedicate”]
It
refers to the practice of turning something over to the exclusive use or service of God.
The 10th plague,
the death of the firstborn in every house in
You see, this plague, the
final blow to strike
It
was no light or casual thing – it was a tragedy and tragic consequence to the
hardness of Pharaoh and his court.
Their
unreasoned rebellion against God cost them that which was most dear to them.
God
had warned Moses & Aaron from the start that Pharaoh would not let the
children of
And
after the 9th plague, when Moses had to warn Pharaoh what the final
plague would be, and Pharaoh still
remained unrelenting, he left the king’s presence it says in 11:8, “in great
anger;” not because of the king not doing what he asked, but because his
resistance to God would exact such a heavy, heavy toll on so many innocent
people in the death of their precious children.
So God called for His people
to memorialize the 10th
Plague and so remember the heavy price that was paid for their freedom, by
setting aside their firstborn and devoting them to the Lord.
How they were devoted to the Lord will be spelled out
later.
3 And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day
in which you went out of
God had already given them
the ordinance to observe the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread in ch. 12. In vs. 14-20
he told them how they were to observe
it, saying it was a memorial, an
annual and perpetual commemoration of their deliverance out of bondage and into
a new relationship with Him marked by freedom.
In these verses, God
carefully repeats the command that
they’re to observe this feast annually – SO THAT THEY MIGHT REMEMBER
what He did for them and what it means to be His people.
I think it’s crucial we note
how important the observance of these feasts and holidays were in
They
are supposed to be days that are holy,
set-apart to commemorate special events in our history as a nation and in the
Christian faith of notable events, like the birth and the resurrection of
Christ.
There
is even one well known religious group., the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, who holds the observance of any and all holidays as somehow sinful.
Let it be clearly understood
that observing holidays is Biblical!
Now,
we’re not going to get into the whole issue of when and how we celebrate the
holidays, the point is, the observance of them is thoroughly Biblical and was
mandated by God for His people.
5 And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the
Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a
land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in
this month.
And here’s how they were to
observe the Memorial or Feast of Unleavened Bread.
6 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the
seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread
shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor
shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.
When the children of
This
resulted in the bread falling and producing flat cakes.
So
God told the people to carry on this tradition of unraised
bread, of unleavened bread, throughout their generations, to commemorate the Exodus.
As we mentioned last week,
yeast/leaven stands as a symbol for sin
in the Bible.
It
represents sin because leaven does its job of puffing up with emptiness by corruption
and death.
There was a deeper meaning to
the flat bread than just that it fell because of their departure.
Bread
has been universally held by cultures throughout history as the staff of life.
Unleavened
bread was a symbol of life without the presence of sin.
God
wanted the people to realize that the Exodus was more than just emancipation
from political oppression and bondage – it was spiritual deliverance as well.
The
Exodus gave birth to a new people, a new nation.
And
the life they were instantaneously birthed into was one that was to be marked
by freedom from sin, freedom from corruption and death.
This is why the Feast of
Unleavened Bread lased for an entire week.
This
wasn’t just one meal as the Passover was – it was a week long WAY OF LIVING.
The
death of the Passover lamb was a one time event that affected their deliverance
out of bondage and into freedom.
The
Feast of Unleavened Bread spoke to them of what they had been delivered into –
a whole new relationship with God that was marked by holiness.
The
Lord wanted the people to realize that His work was aimed at more than just
getting them OUT OF EGYPT – it also was intended to get EGYPT OUT OF THEM.
As
we’ll see, this was a lesson they were slow in learning-but it’s what the Feast
of Unleavened Bread was intended to foster.
This is a lesson we’d be wise
to heed as well.
Jesus,
who is our Passover lamb, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 5:7,
was offered once for us.
We
commemorate that in Communion when we take a piece of unleavened bread.
Christian
communion has the Jewish Passover as its root and background.
But
do we realize that that one event of the cross which secures our deliverance
from bondage to sin and death ushers us into a LIFE free of it as well?
As
we all well know, far too many of those who claim the label Christian, care
nothing whatsoever about walking in holiness.
They
agree with Passover but they would never think about observing the week long
Feast of Unleavened Bread.
God here reminds the children
of
8 And you shall tell your son in that day,
What day? The day referred to in v. 5, when they
entered the Promised Land; when the Exodus was over and they had settled down
into their homes.
8 And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This
is done because of what the Lord
did for me when I came up from
Commemorating the Exodus by
observing the Feast of Unleavened Bread was to be a major commandment for them.
Its
underlying spiritual lesson of walking in holiness was to be so prevalent, so
much a part of their thinking that it would affect the work of their hands, it
would shape the way they looked at the world, and it would frame the words of
their mouths.
What God says here about
being a sign on their hands and a memorial between their eyes was meant to be
understood figuratively and spiritually.
Later
Jews would apply it literally in the wearing of phylacteries, which you will
see to this day in
They’re
little boxes filled with parchment covered with OT scriptures which they attach
to their foreheads and hands with long leather straps.
Jesus
condemned the use of such phylacteries because in His day, the self-pious were
making them larger and larger so as to gain attention.
And
while they had huge phylacteries on their heads and hands, they cared nothing
whatsoever about hiding God’s word in their hearts!
That the Lord means this to
be understood spiritually is made
clear by the fact that the Lord’s law is to be in their mouths as well as on their hands and between their eyes.
Friends,
our faith is not just a church
thing – it embraces and covers all of life.
God’s
word and work ought to affect the work of our hands, the way we look at the
world, and how we speak.
Of
course, that means we need to be diligent students of God’s word, not just to casually read it, but to really study and meditate on it,
working it through and contemplating how what we’re reading will affect our lives.
And that leads me to
something that I’ve been meditating on for a long, long time.
It
won’t be long till we’re deep into the Mosaic Law in our study through the
Bible.
And
one of the issues we’ll have to deal with is why we’re studying those portions
of scripture that have been superceded by the New Covenant?
We
know the moral law of God still applies, but what about the ritual aspects of
the law, the sacrifices and the laws or ritual purity? Why study such things since they were meant
primarily to foreshadow Christ and no longer find application in the daily
practice of the believer?
Great
question! And the answer is important
for any thoughtful child of God.
The reason we need to read,
study and meditate on even the parts of the law which foreshadow and are
fulfilled in Christ, is because of the way they help us understand Him better,
and appreciate His work all that much more.
Also,
the Law is still holy, right, and good – and while we may not be bound to
observe the stipulations of the ritual law, it nevertheless holds forth
principles that under gird the specific practices, which we ought to follow, even today, because
they speak to us of the holy character of God.
So,
let me simplify the answer to the question of why we ought to study & meditate on the Law of Moses.
We
ought to because of the principles of justice & righteousness that form the
basis the specific commands the law
gives.
Let’s never forget that our
God does not change.
The
law given to His covenant people centuries ago was & is a reflection of His
holiness and will.
Therefore,
while it served a specific purpose under the old covenant, which has been
superceded by the New Covenant, that does not mean it is any less a reliable
picture of God’s holiness and will.
And
never forget as well that when Paul wrote that all scripture is inspired and
God and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in
righteousness, HE was including the entire OT!
11 “And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore
to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 that you shall set
apart to the Lord all that open
the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have;
the males shall be the Lord’s.
13 But every firstborn of a donkey you
shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall
break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.
In vs. 1-2, the basic command
to consecrate the firstborn was given; now we get some of the details on how they were to set them apart to the
Lord.
God
tells the people through Moses that when they get to the
The
firstborn males of both man and beast were to be set apart as the Lord’s sole
possession, which means they were not to be used by man.
Rather,
they were to be dedicated wholly & completely to the Lord, in the form of
sacrifice.
But
there’s a problem with this: there were two kinds of sacrifice God would not
accept and didn’t want – 1) humans, and 2) ceremonially unclean animals, such
as the donkey. (Lev. 11:2-4).
So,
in the case of these, they could be “redeemed,” which means “bought back.”
As
the law goes on to proscribe, firstborn sons were redeemed with silver, while
firstborn unclean animals could be redeemed by offering a clean animal, such as
a lamb, in it’s place.
These two kinds of redemption
were also symbolic of what the Lord did in the Passover and Exodus.
And
the substitutionary lambs that took the place of the unclean animals spoke of
the substitution the Passover lambs provided in protection of the people of
faith.
14 So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to
come, saying, ‘What is this?’
Meaning, what is this
practice of devoting the firstborn . . .
that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of
The same terms are used here
that were used above in the ordinance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
While
that was an annual feast, firstborn
animals and sons could occur throughout the year, so it would serve as a continual reminder of their status as
the people of God.
17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people
go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change
their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”
The quickest route to
It
was a well-know and well traveled highway, but it lead through the region of
the Philistines, a fierce sea-people who had settled the coastal region.
A
large group such as the nation of
At
the first hint of war, being so close to Egypt at this point, they would go
running back to Egypt with their tail tucked between their legs and they heads
bowed, begging the Egyptians to take them back.
So
the Lord led them away from the Philistines, and into a path of self-discovery
on who they really were in their new relationship with Him.
18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness
of the
Moses knew that if they were
going to get anywhere, then the people would have to be organized into some
kind of orderly arrangement so that orders and direction could be given.
Though
it isn’t spelled out here, we later discover that they camp was arranged
according to the people’s tribal affiliations.
This
would set them in large blocks which were then more finely organized according
to clans and families.
Each
Jew knew what family, clan and tribe he belonged to so this would have been a
relatively easy ordering process.
We read here that God led
them into the Wilderness of the
In
It
was probably there at Succoth that Moses then gave orders for the people to
order themselves into ranks
The traditional route of the
Exodus puts the nation traveling through the
In
fact, the
We
have much better evidence now that where they crossed the Red Sea was at the
tip of Sinai Peninsula, going across the Gulf of Aqaba
, and that Mt. Sinai was in fact located near the western edge of the Arabian
peninsula.
The
evidence for this will come a bit deeper in our study.
19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he [Joseph] had placed the children of
Note that, they were already at the edge of the Wilderness of
the
21 And the Lord
went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a
pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. 22 He
did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from
before the people.
This is amazing! God manifested His visible presence in the
sight of the people in the pillar of smoke and fire.
Wherever
the pillar went is where the people went.
Is God here right now?
What
difference would it make, do you think, if there was a swirling column of smoke
when the lights were on, and when we dimmed the lights, it was a column of
fire?
God
is no less here right now than if we could see such a manifestation of His presence.
The
reason God gave the children of
They
had no Bible – Moses is the one who would begin penning it in the weeks,
months, and years to come.
Their
ideas about God had been badly tweaked by the worship of the false gods of
So
they needed to be confronted with the reality of the power and eternal presence
of God.
While
you and I would probably dearly love to have such an experience, we don’t need
it, because we know God is all-powerful and always present.
But
the problem we face is identical to the problem the children of
They
could look up and SEE the manifestation of God at any time they wanted to. Yet they whined and moaned and complained the
entire time of their journey!
Proof
of God’s reality and ability does not automatically result in belief!
People
don’t need more proof to belief in God, they need to
choose to believe the evidence that is already there.
Let me say to anyone here
tonight who struggles with unbelief and thinks, “If I could just have more
proof of God’s love and power, then I would believe,” - No you wouldn’t!
You
have all the evidence of God you need.
It’s staring you in the face and shouting the truth to you.
You
don’t believe because you will NOT
TO; you chose to refuse for reasons other than a lack of evidence.
You
have the pillar of creation to p[rove God’s existence
and power, and you have the cross to prove the greatness of His love for
you. If you will not believe these
things, then you simply WILL not to believe.
Chapter 14
1 Now the Lord
spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of
The way God describes where
they are to travel to and camp fits perfectly with the eastern side of the
southernmost tip of the
Because
the Egyptians had small forts all throughout this region, messengers would
carry back reports to Pharaoh of the passage of the children of
4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will
pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the
Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.”
And they did so.
Meaning, they traveled to the
place he told them between Migdol and the Sea.
While the 10th
plague broke Pharaoh, with the passage a few days, his heart once more became
hard and he decided to mobilize the fearsome Egyptian army and chase after the
Hebrew slaves.
In
all the plagues
The
army was considered the arm of Pharaoh, who was esteemed as the visible
manifestation of the gods of
Just
as each of the deities, including Pharaoh, had been humbled by the plagues, the
Egyptian army needed to be humbled as well.
So
God arranged it so that they would be drawn out for judgment.
There was another important
reason why God determined to bring the army of
He
wanted the children of
No
one could stand in their way, as they looked to God.
The
only way they would learn this was by seeing God’s power manifested in the
defeat of the mighty army of
And
5 Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had
fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people;
and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving
us?”
Ah, I can think of 10 really
good reasons why!
See
how rebellion against God makes even smart men stupid?
6 So he made ready his chariot and took his people with
him. 7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the
chariots of
Traveling via horseback and
chariot, it was easy for the army of
Chariots were the most
sophisticated piece of military technology at that time.
They
were equivalent to an M1A1 Abrams tank.
Among the thousands of
chariots
Just
the appearance of these chariots of
Pharaoh is a type or picture
of the devil.
Don’t
think that the devil will roll over and play dead after you give your life to
Christ.
Satan
always contends the conversion of his ex-slaves and he will do no less with
you.
He’ll
muster all the strength of hell to come after you and try to re-acquire you.
What
should you do? Let’s read on . . .
10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of
The narrative of the Exodus
here in Chapter 14 tells us of the extremely fickle nature of the children of
Because
they do not know how to live by faith yet, they are living out of their
emotions, which are determined by their circumstances.
Look at the last phrase of v.
8 –
. . . and the
children of
When
they first departed from
The
world is used most often in the Bible to refer to an arrogant rebelliousness.
Well,
here they are now several days later when the Egyptians are no longer mourning
but menacing, and instead of being
bold, they’re simpering weaklings; “very afraid” v. 10 says.
And they begin with the silly
complaints against Moses.
Oh they had been so happy when he first came from Midian with
news he’d been sent by God to bring deliverance.
Now
that they face a challenge, they start accusing Him of conspiring with Pharaoh
to commit wholesale genocide against them!
Then they make this
absolutely ridiculous remark – it would be better to live like slaves in
That
is a complete reversal of all the noble and heroic stances that countless men
& women have taken throughout the history of the world and affected such
wonderful social changes.
Their
position and motto has been, better to die
a freeman than to live a slave’s life.
But to say that, one must
have vision and a sense of faith that
one’s example will inspire others to pursue freedom too.
The
children of
So
they live by their emotions, which
are fearful at this point because they see the dust from the chariot wheels of
Pharaoh’s army.
This
figures larger in their minds than the pillar of smoke swirling at the edge of
their camp!
Question:
Is your life governed by fear or faith?
Do circumstances or the promises of God determine your attitude?
13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid.
Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,
which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today,
you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
God had told Moses all that
would happen so when the time came, Moses comforted the people and told them
they need fear nothing – God was at work.
Moses speaks great words of
faith to the people, then he turns to the Lord and
begins to pray. But this was not the time
for prayer – it was the time for action . . .
15 And the Lord
said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the
children of
Prayer is never wrong, but it
can never be substituted for action when it’s time for it.
After
speaking to the people, it seems Moses and turned to the Lord and begun earnest
supplication for his rescue from the Egyptians.
After
a short time, the Lord spoke to Moses, “Moses, why are you crying out to me in
such desperation? Didn’t I tell you what
I would do? You spoke with such courage
and faith to the people, why are you all freaked out now? Go forward! It’s time to get up off your knees and move
ahead!”
16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the
sea and divide it. And the children of
Their journey through the
His
leadership was being put to the test, and God was going to affirm it in a
dramatic way.
A
strong wind began to blow which divided the sea, and dried out the ocean bottom.
The
pillar of the Lord’s presence, which had led them up to this point, went to
stand behind them and so provide the rear-guard to the nation as they followed
Moses into the sea and up onto the other side.
The
Egyptians followed, but at a discreet distance for fear of the pillar.
Their
progress was hampered by the fact that the pillar, which illuminated the path
of the people of God, brought darkness and confusion to the enemies of God.
24 Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the
Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the
Egyptians. 25 And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they
drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face
of
As the Egyptians rode hard on
the heels of the children of
There
was such a sudden epidemic of this the Egyptians realized it was nothing less
than the finger and judgment of God.
Now, I find this hilarious –
where are they? What’s to the left and
right? What’s under their feet? What’s
in front of them?
If
it’s true that God’s own people can
sometimes be pretty foolish, then how much more idiotic are the enemies of God.
It’s
one thing to doubt God, but an
altogether different thing to outright oppose Him, as the Egyptians thought
they could do here.
They
suddenly wake up, look around and say, “Uh-oh!”
Divers who’ve searched the
route being projected today as the actual
Largely
covered with coral, many smooth metal artifacts, to which coral has a hard time
attaching, remain visible to this day.
One
wheel, brought up in the 1970’s by Ron Wyatt was confirmed by Nassif Mohammed Hassan, director of Antiquities in Cairo, as an 18th Dynasty Egyptian chariot wheel -
a perfect fit for the time of the Exodus.
These artifacts are located
on the land bridge that spans the mouth of the
26 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that
the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their
horsemen.” 27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and
when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the
Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
The army had come over half
way in it’s pursuit of
28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the
horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them.
Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But
the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea,
and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their
left. 30 So the Lord
saved
And that was the point of this
whole thing – to prove to the people God’s power, intent, and promise to
deliver them, not just from the presence of
Nothing
could have taught them this lesson better than to stand on the farther shore
and see the dead bodies of the Egyptians washing up on the beach.
What they learned that day, is something the Lord wants us to learn as well.
Our
deliverance from bondage to sin means freedom from sin’s power.
There are three tenses to
salvation.
We have been saved from the penalty of sin.
Jesus
paid our debt at the cross.
One
day, we will be saved from the very presence of sin.
When
Jesus comes again and we are raptured to glory.
In
the meantime, right now, we are being
saved from the power of sin.
Just
as the children of
It had to be a moment of
dramatic revelation for the children of
Each
of those soldiers had previously been the cause of terror to the one-time
slaves.
But
a dead solider holds no terror!
Stripped
of their weapons and probably most of their armor, they were seen to be just
men, and now, lifeless corpses.
Colossians
Just
as God made a spectacle of the broken power of
The
only thing they can do is lie, and the only power they possess is our power,
the power we give them by believing their lies.
Chapter 15
1 Then Moses and the children of
It was a common practice in
the ancient world that musicians would compose a tune to commemorate the
military victory of the king.
Moses
does that now fir this victory of Yahweh over the might of
He
knows news of this great event will spread rapidly throughout the entire
region.
20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took
the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out
after her with timbrels and with dances. 21 And
Miriam answered them: “Sing to the Lord,
For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its
rider He has thrown into the sea!”
Miriam, Moses’ sister quickly
picked up Moses’ composition and turned it into the popular hit by adding a
little instrumental accompaniment and dance.
22 So Moses brought
Question:
How did they know where to go? The
pillar led them.
That
means the pillar led them here to Marah.
Actually
it was back then, not “tomorra’”, but it was to Marah.
Why would God let them go
without water supplies for 3 days and then bring them to wells that had water
too bitter, probably too alkaline to drink?
Let’s
read on . . .
24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What
shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord
showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were
made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He
tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of
the Lord your God and do what is
right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I
will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord
who heals you.”
God brought the people to Marah to test
them.
They
had just seen His great deliverance from the military might of
Would
they now trust Him in the lesser matter of providing water?
Why,
He even brought them to the presence
of water – it’s just that it was unfit to drink.
How
hard would it be for the God who’d just performed the 10 Plagues, had
manifested Himself in the pillar and had parted the
This
was a test. It was only a test. For the
next 60 minutes we will conduct a test of the emergency faith channel.
Would
They failed this test – and
began complaining, against Moses!
So
Moses called out to the Lord for help.
God’s answer to Moses was to
show him a tree which when thrown into the bitter waters made them sweet.
In scripture, water is
emblematic for the Word of God.
In John
15:3, Jesus said that the disciples were clean because of the Word he had
spoken to them.
In Ephesians
5:26, Paul says that Jesus washes us with the water of the Word.
These
are just a couple of the many Biblical allusions to the Word of God being like
clean, good water.
At Marah, the people were confronted with bitter water, but
they were made sweet when the tree was put into them.
There are times when the Word
of God challenges and provokes us; it seems bitter, hard to understand, and
though we know it’s inspired and profitable, we can see no profit in the text
in front of us.
Sometimes
what we’re reading is just plain “hard to swallow.”
What
do we do with such passages? We put the tree in them!
We
put the cross in the midst of it. We
stick the person and the work of Jesus there and suddenly, we see what’s bitter
turned sweet.
On the Road to Emmaus as the
two disciples were walking home from
When
He appeared to the 11 after His resurrection He took them on an extended Bible
study, showing how everything in the law and prophets had pointed to Him.
Jesus
even rebuked the religious experts and men who had committed the entire OT to
memory because though they had such a familiar knowledge of it, they missed the
central them of it all – Him!
In John
I don’t know how many times
I’ve been reading the OT and thought, “Why is this here?” And then the Holy
Spirit has reminded me to put the tree of
One premier example is the
story of God telling Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice on
That
is just a bitter story; it’s hard to swallow because of what God tells Abraham
to do.
Then,
when we put the cross into it, we realize that it is a powerful portrait of
what the Heavenly father did in offering His very own Son in that very same
location some 2000 years later.
This little story of Marah, while bitter, gives us a wonderful key to studying
the Bible, and especially the OT; Put the cross in it, and enjoy the sweetness.
Following the test at Marah, God said to the people . . .
26 . . . “If you diligently heed the voice of
the Lord your God and do what is
right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I
will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord
who heals you.”
By diseases, God is referring
to the calamities which had recently been visited on the Egyptians in the
plagues.
The
people might be prone to fear that if God would do that to the Egyptians, He
would do it to them too.
So
God tells them that if they are careful to take heed to His word, then none of
these calamities will rest on them.
Dr. S.I. McMillen,
in the book None of These Diseases
gives an excellent study of how the commands God gave the nation of
Their
routines of diet and hygiene were conducive to far better health than the other
cultures of the ancient world.
Well
be seeing some of these as we continue our study through the law.
27 Then they came to Elim,
where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they
camped there by the waters.
After Marah,
they moved to the abundant wells and water of Elim
where there was an oasis.
[1]Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R.,
Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. 1997. A
commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On
spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. Logos Research Systems, Inc.:
[2]
The New King James Version. 1996,
c1982. Thomas Nelson: