Healing bitter waters (Exod 15:22-27)

When I was a child, my Dad and I were swimming in the Indian Ocean and with a twinkle in his eyes Dad said, ‘Shall we swim across?’. Looking at the vast stretch of water as far as the eyes could see, I replied with the limitless confidence of a five-year-old, ‘Let’s go.’ This story went into family lore and when I struck out on new ventures later on, it was brought up a few times as yet another example of my resolve to cross the Indian Ocean. For honesty’s sake I have to report that in my adult life I feel far from intrepid at times, but I do believe that the incident captures something of my determination.

As Israel embarks on their wilderness wanderings, this initial story is likewise emblematic of much that will come later and introduces key themes: the lack of food or water, Israel’s grumbling, the need for obedience and the concept of testing. Israel’s jubilant faith at the crossing quickly turns to disappointment as bitter as the waters of Marah. We can understand, even sympathise with their feelings: there is nothing worse than having our hopes raised then dashed again. At the same time, Israel’s memory is abysmally short because despite setbacks the Lord has never failed them yet. He is also remarkably patient here making allowances for their grumblings in these early days of the relationship. The lesson is essentially this: like Moses and Israel, we can bring our problems to the Lord and find help in our time of need.

God proves reliable and calls His people to trust Him and act on His instructions with the knowledge that these will lead to life and healing (Exod 15:25-26). The law in its fullness has not been given yet, but Israel is called to obedience to what has already been revealed. Moses, in fact, sets the example in the first part of the story. The Lord instructed him (v.25), the same Hebrew root from which torah (instruction or law) is derived and so he obeys.[1] When we look at Scripture, Abraham’s testing in Genesis 22 reflects the same truth and a deep connection between obedience and trust. He could obey God’s command to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved and only son, because he trusted that the Lord would provide (Gen 22:8, 14). Likewise, God gave humanity one command (do not eat from this one tree) and the issue was once again trust (‘Did God really say…?’). When that trust was eroded, disobedience quickly followed, which led to banishment from the tree of life (Gen 3:22) and from flourishing.

Now, as Israel starts their journey, they will face similar tests. In fact, the very incident of healing the waters is a kind of enacted parable. Bitter or bracken waters are associated with death because the higher the salt content, the less life can live in the water (witness the Dead Sea) and, in a hot climate, lack of drinkable water spells death for the traveller. Conversely, sweet or fresh water is elsewhere called ‘living water’ in Hebrew because it gives life. The healing of the waters by means of a tree and thereby turning death into life is evocative of the tree of life (Rev 22:1-2). In Jewish thinking the tree of life is identified with Torah (the Law) and this encapsulates well the perspective of the OT, which variously associates it with wisdom (Prov 3:18) and with an obedient or righteous life (Prov 11:30). In other words, obedience to God’s instructions or will leads to LIFE and flourishing. This is not about earning salvation, which only God can give, but what it means to live a full and abundant life in keeping with that salvation. As God called Israel to trust and obey Him, so He says to us, His people, the same today. He is our Healer, the one who can give LIFE, heal our life situations, relationships and make us whole. May we trust and live for Him.

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[1] English translations uniformly render this as ‘showed’ because the Hebrew is awkward. It literally reads ‘God instructed him a tree’ (i.e. about, regarding a tree, but there is no preposition to indicate this).

I have added a reflection on the art of storytelling to explain how I arrive at my interpretation, which can be found here.