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Israel Meets With Difficulties
This chapter is based on Exodus 15:22-27; 16 to 18.
From the Red Sea the people of Israel again set out on their
journey under the guidance of the pillar of cloud. They were full of
joy in their new sense of freedom, and every unhappy, complaining
thought was hushed.
But as they journeyed for three days, they could find no water.
The supply which they had taken with them was gone. There was
nothing to quench their burning thirst as they dragged wearily over
the sun-burnt plains. Moses, who was familiar with this region, knew
what the others did not: at Marah, where springs were found, the
water was unfit for use. With a sinking heart he heard the glad shout,
“Water! water!” echo along the line. Men, women, and children
joyfully hurried and crowded around the oasis, when suddenly a cry
of anguish erupted—the water was bitter!
In their despair the people blamed Moses, not remembering that
God’s presence in that mysterious cloud had been leading him as
well as them. Moses did what they had forgotten to do; he called
earnestly to God for help. “And the Lord showed him a tree. When
he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” Here God
gave the promise to Israel: “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.”
The people journeyed from Marah to Elim, where they found
“twelve wells of water,” and they stayed there for several days.
When they had been gone from Egypt for a month, their stock
of food began to run out. How could such a large number of people
be fed? Even the rulers and elders joined in complaining against the
leaders God had appointed: “Oh, that we had died by the hand of
the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and
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