Month: May 2018

I thought we already heard this story but with food instead of water.  Once again the people of Israel complain because they feel that they do not have their needs supplied.  Last chapter it was food, this chapter it is water.  But just in chapter 15 we see the Lord provide water miraculously for the entire people of Israel.  This time, however, the complaint is identical to the one about food.  It would have been better if we had just died in Egypt.  Why did you bring us out here in the wilderness to die?  

I love the names of the places that he gives to the locations where these events take place.  Once he provides the water out of the stone he calls the place Test and Quarrel.  Just so that the people would not forget that it was here where you put the Lord to the test and you are fortunate because God smiled upon you.  Don’t do it again.  This is the place  where you quarreled with me because you didn’t believe that God would provide you with water.  Don’t do it again.

We are then introduced to Joshua for the first time in Exodus.  He is the leader of the Israelite military and he leads the people into battle and into victory.  Because of God’s intervention he is able to overcome the Amalekites.  They will  be a constant thorn in the side.  But don’t forget Joshua because he takes front and center in the Bible in the book of…, well, Joshua.  He is the one who eventually leads the people into the promised land.  It is interesting because Moses is never really seen as a military leader.  He was more the philosophical type who spoke on behalf of the Lord.  But then we are going to get a constant introduction of people who are military leaders who will be leading Israel.  We have Joshua, and Saul, and David, and Solomon.  All of them are military leaders.  Even before that you have the Judges who were all military leaders as well.  Don’t forget Samson and Gideon and Deborah.  All judges who led Israel into battle.

We used to see the same thing in our nation’s history.  So many of our leaders, our presidents, served in wars for our country.  That streak ended with Bill Clinton and since then we haven’t had one serving our country.  It has been non partisan.  What is it about serving in the military that provided a sense  of leadership that maybe was emulated and valued?  I am sure it is the fact that the person already was used to making decisions of life and death and as Commander in Chief, notice the title, that goes along with the territory.  

We run across so many stories in Exodus that we have heard at one time, but the details are so very rich.  Here we find ourselves with the story of the manna that the Lord provided the Israelites.  I love the origin of the word.  It means literally in Hebrew: “what is it?”  In Hebrew you would say Man-hu?  But notice that it is not just the white flaky substance  that covers the ground which is the miracle, but also the quails which the Lord had promised.  So the people of Israel have both bread  and meat to comfort and support them as they make their way through the wilderness.

Yes, God provides, but notice how it is only after the Israelites complain bitterly, to the point where they say that it would have been better to have remained in Egypt than to die in the wilderness.  There might be some hyperbole there, but the Israelites are really not happy until the Lord provides.  So,  I guess we forgot the whole crossing of the Red Sea, or did we forget the passover, or the other 9 plagues that helped to liberate the people of Israel?  Either way, they say that it would have been better to die in Egypt, at least they wouldn’t have had to do this long trek.  The accusation was that they were going to die of hunger.  They couldn’t complain about dying of thirst, because they had already done that and the Lord provided.  Here is another opportunity for the Lord to provide.

In the midst of the provision we still find the consistent disobedience by the Israelites.  Only take up as much as you need.  They took too much and so it was filled with worms.  It was such a significant event in the life of the people of Israel that Moses is commanded to keep some of that white stuff for posterity sake.  He does.  We often need reminders of the Lord’s faithfulness and at times when we look for them it seems as if they have melted with the morning sun.  We forget what God has done for us just as quickly as the Israelites did.  It is a constant in our lives.

We have a song of praise and celebration after the Lord delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians.  It is led by Moses and the entire congregation of Israel sang this song to the Lord according to vs.1.  It is a song of triumph and a song of celebration which recognized the feat done by the Lord to overcome the powerful nation of Israel.  

Starting at vs.20 we see Miriam is attributed as the one who led  the people with tambourine and dance.  You did get that, right?  Miriam led the people of Israel in a dance with the tambourine and the people joined in.  It was the first example of contemporary worship that we have in Scripture.  That is a bit of a joke, but we definitely do not see the people  of Israel seated in their pews as Miriam is dancing while celebrating his conquest.  I can see the entire nation up and moving about grateful for what God had done for them.

Then just as quickly as they are celebrating, we find them complaining because there is no water.  There was water but it was Marah.  Remember reading Ruth and when Naomi returned with her daughter in law she said do not call me anything but Marah, for she was bitter for all that she had lost.  Here Moses is able to use a piece of wood to make the water potable.  It is a miracle and not something that I am going to try to explain away.  Some people like to spend a lot of time explaining exactly what it was that turned the water sweet.  I’m content to say that it was the Lord.

As the Lord leads the people of Israel he promises them that they shall not suffer any of the plagues that the people of Egypt had suffered.  It is a similar promise that is made after the flood to Noah and his family.  I will not cause this to happen again.  God is gracious and kind and abounding in steadfast love.