Exodus 15:25

_AND HE CRIED UNTO THE LORD; AND THE LORD SHEWED HIM A TREE, WHICH WHEN HE HAD CAST INTO THE WATERS, THE WATERS WERE MADE SWEET: THERE HE MADE FOR THEM A STATUTE AND AN ORDINANCE, AND THERE HE PROVED THEM,_ The Lord showed him a tree. Some travelers have pronounced this to be the elvah of the Arabs-a shrub in form and flower resembling our hawthorn; others, the berries of the Ghurkhud Peganum rectusum of Forskal, 'Floriculture of Egypt') - a bush found growing around all brackish fountains. But neither of these shrubs are known by the natives to possess such natural virtues. It is far more likely that God miraculously endowed some tree with the property of purifying the bitter water х_ `EETS_ (H6086), a tree or wood of any species employed as the medium]; but the sweetening was not dependent upon the nature or quality of the tree, but the power of God (cf....

25._And he cried. _Hence we gather that Moses alone duly prayed when the people tumultuously rose against him, and that they who were not worthy of the common air itself were abundantly supplied with sweet water. Herein shone forth the inestimable mercy of God, who deigned to change the nature of the water for the purpose of supplying such wicked, and rebellious, and ungrateful men. He might have given them sweet water to drink at first, but He wished by the bitter to make prominent the bitterness which lurked in their hearts. He might, too, have corrected by His mere will the evil in the waters, so that they should have grown sweet spontaneously. It is not certain why He preferred to apply the tree, except to reprove their foolish impiety by showing that He has many remedies in His power for every evil. A question also arises as to the tree, whether it inherently possessed the property...

22-27 In the wilderness of Shur the Israelites had no water. At Marah they had water, but it was bitter; so that they could not drink it. God can make bitter to us that from which we promise ourselves most, and often does so in the wilderness of this world, that our wants, and disappointments in the creature, may drive us to the Creator, in whose favour alone true comfort is to be had. In this distress the people fretted, and quarrelled with Moses. Hypocrites may show high affections, and appear earnest in religious exercises, but in the time of temptation they fall away. Even true believers, in seasons of sharp trial, will be tempted to fret, distrust, and murmur. But in every trial we should cast our care upon the Lord, and pour out our hearts before him. We shall then find that a submissive will, a peaceful conscience, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost, will render the bitterest tri...

Verse Exodus 15:25. _HE CRIED UNTO THE LORD_] Moses was not only their leader, but also their _mediator_. Of prayer and dependence on the Almighty, the great mass of the Israelites appear to have had little knowledge at this time. Moses, therefore, had much to bear from their weakness, and the merciful Lord was long-suffering. _THE LORD SHOWED HIM A TREE_] What this tree was we know not: some think that the tree was extremely bitter itself, such as the _quassia_; and that God acted in this as he generally does, correcting contraries by contraries, which, among the ancient physicians, was a favourite maxim, _Clavus clavo expellitur_. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say that, when Moses prayed, "the WORD of the Lord showed him the tree ארדפני _ardiphney_, on which he wrote the great and precious name of (JEHOVAH), and then threw it

A TREE ... - The statement points to a natural agency, but the result was manifestly supernatural. HE MADE ... - The Lord then set before them the fundamental principle of implicit trust, to be shown by obedience. The healing of the water was a symbol of deliverance from physical and spiritual evils....

EXPOSITION THE JOURNEY FROM THE RED SEA TO ELIM. After a stay, which cannot be exactly measured, but which was probably one of some days, near the point of the Eastern coast of the Gulf of Suez, at which they had emerged from the sea-bed, the Israelites, under the guidance of the pillar of the cloud, resumed their journey, and were conducted southwards, or south-eastwards, through the arid tract, called indifferently "the wilderness of Shut" (Exodus 15:22), and "the wilderness of Etham" (Numbers 33:8), to a place called Marah. It is generally supposed that the first halt must have been at Ayun Musa, or "the springs of Moses." This is "the only green spot near t

AND HE CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... Or prayed, as all the Targums, that God would appear for them, and relieve them in their distress, or, humanly speaking, they must all perish: happy it is to have a God to go to in time of trouble, whose hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that he cannot hear! Moses knew the power of God, and trusted in his faithfulness to make good the promises to him, and the people, that he would bring them to the land he had swore to give them: AND THE LORD SHEWED HIM A TREE, WHICH WHEN HE HAD CAST INTO THE WATERS, THE WATERS WERE MADE SWEET; what this tree was is not known; if it was in its own nature sweet, as the author of Ecclesiasticus seems to intimate, when he says, in chapter 38:5 "was not the water made sweet with the wood, that its virtue might be known?" Yet a single tree could never of itself sweeten a flow of water, and such a qua...

Exodus 15:1. _Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea._ Note, that they were singing, singing a very loud and triumphant song; and you would have thought that they would have kept on singing for the next forty years. It was such a triumph, such a deliverance, God's arm was made so bare before their eyes, that you would have thought that their jubilation would have lasted throughout a lifetime, at the least. On the contrary, it lasted a very little while. Yet what a song it was that they sang! «I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.» What a song of triumph that is which is sung by souls saved from sin, and death, and hell, by the great atoning sacrifice o

WHEN HE HAD CAST INTO THE WATERS These bitter waters were in the very path of the Lord's leading, and stand for the trials of God's people, which are educatory and not punitive. The "tree" is the cross (Galatians 3:13) which became sweet to Christ as the expression of the Father's will (John 18:11). When our Marahs are so taken we cast the "tree" into the waters. (Romans 5:3); (Romans 5:4)....

II. THE JOURNEY TOWARDS THE PROMISED LAND AND ISRAEL AT SINAI 1. The Experiences in the Wilderness CHAPTER 15:22-27 In the Wilderness of Shur _ 1. Marah (Exodus 15:22)_ 2. Elim (Exodus 15:27) They went out into the wilderness of Shur. Shur was a great wall of protection which Egypt had erected. The surrounding country was called by that name. The trials of the wilderness journey at once begin; typical of our passage as redeemed ones through this world. Redemption has for a consequence the wilderness. We are in Christ crucified unto the world and the world unto us. The bitter waters are the first wilderness experience of the nation. It is a hint of what their subsequent history would be. Naomi in the book of Ruth called herself “Mara.” “Marah,” the bitterness, is the perf