The Tree of Life, the Lord Who Heals You

Continuing a personal Bible study I am doing with the chronological order set forth by Skip Andrews:

(Exodus 15:22) So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

Moses had just brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea by the miraculous parting of it by God.  They now came from the Red Sea and went into the wilderness of Shur.  They went three days in the wilderness and had found no water.

(Numbers 33:8) And they departed from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

Numbers 33:8 gave a little more detail about exactly where the Israelites had been and were now.  Before they went through the Red Sea, they had journeyed from Succoth and had camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness (Exodus 13:20).  Then the Lord told Moses to turn and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea (Exodus 14:2).  When they left Pi Hahiroth, they passed through the midst of the Red Sea into the wilderness on the other side, also apparently called the wilderness of Etham, and they camped at Marah.

Some have speculated that since scripture said they had previously camped at Etham, "supposedly" crossed the Red Sea, and returned to Etham, that there probably was not a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, or at the very least, they went into the sea and came right back out where they went in.  I have found a couple of good explanations for this.  Actually, the wilderness surrounding the Aqaba Peninsula of the Red Sea, which is where the Israelites most likely crossed, is surrounded by wilderness, and this old map shows that it could be a wilderness by the same name on both sides:

Exodus 13:20 first said that they camped "at Etham", "at the edge of the wilderness", and this one stated they went "in the wilderness of Etham".  But Exodus 15:22 said they came out of the Red Sea into the wilderness of Shur, which isn't shown on the above map.  Albert Barnes, in his "Notes on the Bible", wrote that the wilderness of Etham was the part of the wilderness of Shur that adjoined Etham, and that the "wilderness of Shur" referred "to the whole district between the northeastern frontier of Egypt and Palestine. The word is undoubtedly Egyptian, and is derived probably from the word Khar which designated all the country between Egypt and Syria proper."  I read another possible explanation for the confusion from a site linked at the map below, that suggested that Numbers 33:8 never mentioned Etham at all, but that the original word was "them".  Indeed, my source for the Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions shows Etham to mean "with them".  Steve Rudd wrote in the article that Numbers 33:8 should have read more like, "They journeyed from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness; and they went three days' journey in the wilderness all of them together and camped at Marah."  Mr. Rudd used a different Bible translation, but I can get the gist of his meaning; they journeyed three days in the wilderness (of Shur, the same wilderness mentioned in Exodus 15:22) and all of them camped at Marah.  Therefore the wilderness of Shur mentioned in Exodus 15:22 is the same place as the wilderness of Etham mentioned in Numbers 33:8.  Here is Mr. Rudd's map of the exodus including these places:

While on the subject of Bible translations, I have preferred the King James Version ever since I read some convincing articles about the questionable veracity of some of the newer translations, and I wrote about those a few years ago in a blog post entitled, Which Version of the Truth Will You Use?  I have recently received a comment and links that suggested the sites I referenced for my decision were not properly sourced, lacked proper proof, and were from a rather radical way of thinking.  I have posted some of those comments and links in the comment section of that original post.  It is true I have not totally researched the subject, and am certainly no expert on the it.  I welcome more educated opinions, as at this point, I don't choose to spend that much time on the study of the history of the different manuscripts and Bible translations.  I do believe that God is well able to preserve His Word, and we get enough from any translation to know Him.  Right now I am enjoying the commentaries of the scholars from the 1700 and 1800's, who would have used the KJV, as they are giving me insights I have not had occasion to consider from more recent writings.  If I live long enough to finish my current study, I will definitely make a more in-depth study of the early manuscripts!

(Exodus 15:23) And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore the name of it was called Marah. (24) And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

Now we return to Exodus, chapter 15.  After going three days into the wilderness and finding no water, the Israelites came to Marah, but they couldn't drink the water there because it was bitter.  Indeed the name Marah means "bitter".  The water had to have been extremely bitter for people who had been three days without water and who must have been very thirsty, not to be able to drink it.  The people began grumbling against Moses and asking him what they were to drink.

(Exodus 15:25) And he cried to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.  There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, (26) And said, “If you will diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will 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.”

When the Israelites complained to him, Moses in turn, cried out to the Lord for help.  The Lord then showed him a tree.  Interestingly, that original word "yarah" meant "throw, shoot, or cast".  It was sometimes used figuratively to mean "to point out" (as if by aiming a finger), and therefore, could also imply "teach", and finally perhaps "show", but that seems the weakest of all the meanings.  The Lord showed Moses a tree; "he" cast it into the water and the water was made sweet.  It sounds like the Lord showed it to Moses and Moses threw it in the water, but learning the complete true meaning of the original word, it makes me wonder if the Lord Himself threw the tree into the water.  Probably not, as He had been using Moses all along to perform His miracles, but I don't see anything in the words that would completely negate that idea.  Any capitalization of "He" is done by me out of respect and not done by the KJV translators.  Some of the other translations use capital letters, and don't in this instance, so they all believe it was Moses who cast the tree.

Why throw a tree instead of touching his rod to the water?  Some scholars believe there was something in that particular tree that made the waters sweet.  I doubt that.  Even if it were true, it's not likely one tree would have sweetened flowing water enough for their huge number of people and cattle.  I prefer to believe as some others wrote that the tree was symbolic of Christ, the Tree of Life.  Indeed, the scripture went on to say that the Lord gave them an ordinance and there He proved them.  It's not that He gave them any particular new law to follow, but He showed them a principle, that if they looked to the Tree of Life, He would sweeten the bitter things of life, but without Him, it was too bitter to handle.  In fact, the Lord told them that if they would diligently listen to their Lord, do what was right in His eyes, listen and keep His commandments, He would put none of the diseases that had plagued the Egyptians upon them, because He was the Lord who healed them from those afflictions.  I think it's important to point out that God doesn't seek to punish all who do not obey Him, but rather without His protection and intervention, the things of life will punish us; we experience that "hell on earth", so to speak.  If and when He does bring about a "punishment", it is always about teaching the people where their salvation really lies and bringing them back to Him.  One other point about using the tree to sweeten the waters--perhaps an added result is that Moses didn't come to depend on his own "power" through the rod, but could plainly see that the power was always the Lord's, used by any number of means.

(27) And they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the waters.

The Israelites then came to Elim, a name which meant "palms" or "palm trees".  This place had plenty of water and shade for all of them and their livestock, and there they camped by the waters.  Note the significance of the numbers--twelve wells, perhaps one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees, which may represent the seventy elders which will come to be appointed by Moses.  Again I see this as a picture of a life following the Tree of Life.  He will bring you through the bitter trials of life to a place of blessing and plenty.  We must remember that He doesn't always take away the bitterness of life, but He does help us through it.  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)  That scripture is not meant to mean that we can do any superhuman thing we want because Christ strengthens us; rather it means we can persevere through all things because of Christ who strengthens us.  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." (Psalm 23:4)  We still have to walk through the valleys, but God is with us. 

(Numbers 33:9) And they removed from Marah, and came to Elim; and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees; and they pitched there.

Chronologically, we now go forward again to Numbers, chapter 33, which chronicles the travels of the Israelites after they left Egypt.  Verse 9 also told that they left Marah, the place with the bitter waters, and came to Elim, where there were twelve fountains or wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

(10) And they removed from Elim and camped by the Red Sea. (11) And they removed from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.

The children of Israel then moved from Elim and camped again by the Red Sea, surely another part of it.  From there they moved into the Wilderness of Sin.  What an interesting and appropriate name for the wilderness where the Israelites would wander!  It appears the people moved from one "wilderness" to another, at first at the edge of the wilderness, then in the wilderness of Etham, in the wilderness of Shur, and now in the wilderness of Sin.  Quoting Matthew Henry in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, "Our removals in this world are but from one wilderness to another."

This was a short study this time, but as it sets up the complete chapter of Exodus 16 for next time, I will stop here, and resume the chronological study in the next blog post.

The First Recorded Song of the Bible

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Exodus 15:1) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying,

“I will sing to the LORD,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!"

The Lord had just led the Israelites through the midst of the Red Sea and had drowned their enemies, the Egyptians, there.  Moses had told the people to hold their peace and watch what God would do, and now that He had delivered them, they broke out in a song of praise to the Lord.  This is the first song recorded in scripture, and it appears to have been composed by Moses.  They would sing to the Lord because He had gloriously triumphed over Pharaoh and the Egyptians, leading and then drowning Pharaoh's horses and horsemen in the sea.

(2) “The LORD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him."

The name Moses used for the Lord in verse 2 is "Yah" or "Jah", an abbreviated form of Jehovah, the name he used in the first verse.  The strength of Moses and the children of Israel to stand against Pharaoh and the Egyptians and to enter the Red Sea was made possible only by their faith in the Lord alone.  He was their strength and because of all He was and for all He had done for them, He was the subject of their song.  By delivering them out of the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, He had literally physically been their salvation, but He had also become their salvation spiritually and eternally.  The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:2, that the children of Israel "were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea".  The Lord is their God and they will prepare him a "navah".  "Home" might be a better translation than "habitation"; the sense is that the Lord will have a home with them, in their hearts, or rather, they would be at rest with Him.  He was their fathers' God, for what He had done for them now, He had promised their fathers and had done for their sake and for their descendants.  They would exalt Him and lift Him up in their eyes and in their hearts with song and praise and worship.

(3) "The LORD is a man of war;
The LORD is His name.
(4) Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;
His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
(5) The depths have covered them;
They sank to the bottom as a stone."

"The Lord is a man of war."  Like the heavily armed battleship by the same name, the Lord was well able to deal with all who would strive against Him.  Jehovah was His name, "the self-existent and eternal one".  The Lord had cast Pharaoh, his chariots, his army, and all his chosen captains into the sea.  Note that it was not said that they wandered into the sea and then the Lord drowned them.  The Lord Himself drove their enemy into the sea where they were drowned.  The depths of the sea had covered their enemies and they sank to the bottom, never to rise up against them again.

(6) “Your right hand, O LORD, has become glorious in power;
Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.
(7) And in the greatness of Your excellency
You have overthrown those who rose up against You;
You sent forth Your wrath;
Which consumed them as stubble."

The right hand of the Lord, signifying that the Lord Himself and no one else, completely destroyed their enemy.  Now that right hand had become "adar", or I believe the best translation is "magnified" in glory and power.  In verse 7, I again think there is a better translation.  Rather than "greatness" for the word "rob", it is more often translated as "abundance" or "multitude".  Certainly the Lord's excellency or majesty is great, but it is abundant in excellency; once again His excellency has been magnified as He alone overthrew those who rose up against Him.  The word translated as "wrath" is "charon", and literally means "burning of anger", like a fire that consumed their enemies like stubble or straw.

(8) "And with the blast of Your nostrils
The waters were gathered together;
The floods stood upright as a heap;
And the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea."

The blast of God's nostrils was that east wind which drove the waters back, and gathered them together to stand as mounds.  The waters were made firm to stand as walls.

(9) “The enemy said, ‘I will pursue,
I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My lust shall be satisfied on them;
I will draw my sword,
My hand shall destroy them.’"

Pharaoh, the enemy of Moses and the Israelites, sorry he had let them go, set his mind to pursue the children of Israel, took a huge army with him to overtake them, and surely planned to get into his hands all the riches the people of Israel took with them when they left Egypt.  Certainly Pharaoh's desire for revenge and gain would be satisfied when he captured the Israelites, but I believe there was more to it.  That word translated as "lust", which is a good translation, but that word "nephesh" literally means a "breathing creature" and is most often used for "life" itself, or "soul".  Pharaoh had become consumed with keeping the Israelites as slaves.  His stubborn pride always led him to resist Moses even when he had just witnessed what the Lord of the Israelites could do.  This lust of his would be satisfied when he overtook them and completely destroyed them this time once and for all.

(10) "You blew with Your wind,
The sea covered them;
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
(11) Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
(12) You stretched out Your right hand;
The earth swallowed them."

Their enemy had planned to destroy them, but their Lord blew His wind and covered the enemy with the sea, and they sank like lead.  The Lord had proved more powerful than all the Egyptian gods.  There was none like Him!  The question became a rhetorical one.  He alone was magnificent in holiness or sacredness, so holy He could not be approached without the deepest reverence and fear, doing miraculous wonders that no false god could duplicate.  The Lord exerted His power and the earth seemed to swallow their enemies as they sank out of sight.

(13) "You in Your mercy have led forth
The people whom You have redeemed;
You have guided them in Your strength
To Your holy habitation."

Their merciful Lord had led His people out of bondage in Egypt.  He had physically saved His people, yes, but they were spiritually redeemed or ransomed from the bondage of the enemy, Satan, and sin.  They were God's people and He led them out of Egypt by His strength, and He would continue to guide them to His holy land He had chosen for His people.  Again I believe this could mean spiritually, too, as He had redeemed His people and still was guiding them or refining them to be His holy people. 

(14) "The people shall hear, and be afraid;
Sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestine.
(15) Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed;
The mighty men of Moab,
Trembling will take hold of them;
All the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away."

The inhabitants of the lands in their path would hear of their great God and what He had done and would be afraid.  With sorrow, amazement, fear and trembling, all the inhabitants of Canaan, their promised land, as well as the inhabitants of the lands adjoining and leading to their promised land, would melt away before them because of their God's reputation and the knowledge of what He had done for His people.

(16) "Fear and dread will fall on them;
By the greatness of Your arm
They will be as still as a stone,
Till Your people pass over, O LORD,
Till the people pass over
Whom You have purchased."

Fear and dread would fall on the inhabitants of the lands they would pass through, including the inhabitants of the promised land to which the Lord would bring them.  Because of the Lord's awesome power and might, they would be still as stones not daring to stir a foot to act against the children of Israel until they crossed over into the land that the Lord had procured for His people.  The original word "qanah" meant "procured", "purchased" or "redeemed", again I believe a reference to the fact that God's people have been redeemed with a price by Jesus Christ who shed His blood for them.  Jesus Christ as God Himself paid the price for our salvation!  God actually PAID for it!  What a mind-blowing thought!  The God of the universe cared enough for us sinful shameful wretched creatures to come to earth in human form and shed His blood in an excruciating manner to pay for our sins!  The thought brings me to tears.

(17) "You shall bring them in and plant them
In the mountain of Your inheritance,
In the place, O LORD, which You have made
For You to dwell in,
In the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established."

The Lord would not only bring them in to their promised land, but He would plant them, giving them a fixed permanent habitation in Canaan, in the "mountain" of the inheritance He was giving to His children.  "Mountain" might refer to the hilly or mountainous nature of the land, as described later in Deuteronomy 11:11, "a land of hills and valleys", or may be used figuratively.  The Lord was planting them in the place that He had made for He Himself in which to dwell.  The Lord literally made everything and every place, but this was a place He had prepared for His people where He would dwell among them in a sanctuary, or a holy consecrated place that He had established for His people to worship Him.

(18) "The LORD shall reign forever and ever.”

This was the end of Moses's song, and I like what Adam Clarke suggested in his Commentary on the Bible, that it was "the grand chorus in which all the people joined".  The KJV said "...for ever and ever".  Interestingly, the two words both translated as "ever" are two different words.  The first, "olam", was very interesting to me.  It meant "concealed" or "the vanishing point", which was understood to mean "until there is no more", or "eternity".  The second "ever" was "ad" and meant "perpetuity" or "continuing onward".  The sense of both together is that it is forever till the end of time and continuing after that.  The Lord will reign forever and ever with no end!  Amen!

(19) For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

This verse marks the return of scripture from the song back to the narrative.  It summarizes what had happened just previous to Moses's song.  Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen had followed the Israelites into the sea.  The Israelites had crossed on dry land when the Lord parted the sea for them, but He brought the waters back down to drown their enemy.

(20) And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a 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 would have been the sister of both Moses and Aaron, and is also called a prophetess, as it appears she may have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to lead the women, and we will later learn that the Lord spoke by her as well as by Moses and Aaron (Numbers 12:2).  The word "nebiyah" also meant "poetess" and may have meant someone with a gift of song, although Dr. John Gill in his Exposition of the Entire Bible pointed out that it surely couldn't have been for singing alone, as all women who sang would have been called prophetesses, which was not the case, "though sometimes in Scripture prophesying intends singing".  Miriam took a timbrel, or a tambourine, and led the women with their tambourines in dance and in a repeat chorus of the song (note it is a repeat of verse 15:1).