EXODUS 15:22-27

           Bitter Waters (assemblage, 2004)

 

This is a story occurring during the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness in which the people arrive at an undrinkable spring and complain. By revelation, Moses throws a dead branch into the water and it becomes safe to drink. Here are some different aspects of this story to consider:

Place in the Overall Organization of the Book

The Structure of Exodus 11-18

A. Passover narrative and regulations (chs. 11-13)

B. Crisis of war (13:17-15:21)

C. Crisis of water (15:22-27)

D. Crisis of food (ch. 16)

C'. Crisis of water (17:1-7)

B'. Crisis of war (17:8-16)

A'. Teaching the statutes and judging the people (ch. 18)

Miraculous Element

There is a category of biblical miracles which we could call Miraculous Knowledge. None of these need to be understood as violations of natural laws, but in each case, God revealed knowledge to a human being that wouldn't have been known otherwise. Interestingly, all of them involve water in one way or another. And this story in question is the first such example.

According to Arabs living in the area, a variety of local brier can absorb the salt in brackish water.

Palestinian sources say that oleander can do the same thing. Another source says that Arabs use the barberry bush to cover up the unpleasant taste of bitter water. My own suggestion is that the wood or tree may have been a stump charred by lightning. Activated charcoal is used today in water purification to absorb toxic organic impurities.

A similar suggestion was made back in 1950 in a book on ion-exchange resins and quoted in a 1995 “Industrial Engineering Chemical Research” article. If the branch was rotted, the cellulose of the tree would be a highly effective ion-exchange medium to remove multivalent cations from the water. Alternatively it is possible that the tree contained fungus, which we now know can do the same thing.

In any case, the miraculous element here is God revealing that only particular piece of wood would work.

By the way, this miracle should remind the reader of the two other water miracles performed by Moses involving a wooden staff: the first plague and the parting of the Re(e)d Sea. And The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery points to a later miracle also involving wood and water. In II Kings 6:1-7, a lost ax-head is retrieved by throwing a branch into the water.

Grumbling

As Sanderson says, “Israel's continual complaining is a dominant theme of the wilderness story.” The key Hebrew word lin/lun (“murmuring” or “grumbling”) appears only fourteen times in the whole Old Testament, and exactly twelve of these appear in the wilderness account of Exodus-Numbers. This number may be significant since “12” in the Bible is often symbolic of God's chosen people.

And the Israelites' complaining and disobedience even starts before Exodus 15 (See Exodus 4:13; 5:1-21; 6:12; 14:10-14).

This demonstrates that their steadfast reliance on God as their savior “breaks down repeatedly in the exodus and desert journey so that we can see that faith and trust fluctuate in relationship, displaced by accusation and complaint.” (Sheriffs)

The positioning of these stories of grumbling may be significant, as noted by two commentators:

“The stories of grousing in Exodus are interposed between the chapters describing Israel breaking ties with Egypt (Ex. 1-15) and those outlining Yahweh creating covenantal ties with his people at Sinai (Ex. 19-40). These events occur in the period of transition from Egypt to Sinai. They demonstrate that Israel must forsake both Egyptian imprisonment and nourishment if they are to be the people of Yahweh.” (Hunt)

“Three stories of complaining mark Israel's journey to Sinai (Ex. 15:22-25; 16:1-36; 17:1-7) and are matched by three parallel stories of complaining as Israel journeys from Sinai (Num. 11:1-3,4-34; 20:1-13), raising questions about whether the Israelites have taken the covenant to heart.” (Hawk)

One pertinent warning against our judging the Israelites for their grumbling is provided by Hunt, who says, “Perhaps Israel 'should' have trusted God more, but desert thirst demands to be slaked. This is a human need; a thirsty person is not ungrateful or illogical to request clean water. Additionally, no divine judgment comes in this account. God meets their need and promises blessing for future trust.”

But through the whole story, “God's provision for Israel in the OT takes on some of the qualities of human hospitality. God hosted the people of Israel in the wilderness, providing water, food and protection (Ex. 15:24-25,27; 17:1-7; 23:20-23).” (DBI)

New Testament Echoes

Allusions to this story appear twice in the NT writings: Luke 5:30 and I Corinthians 10:1-5.

Pao and Schnabel comment on the first of these passages: “The use of egonagyzon ('were complaining') here in describing the Pharisees and the teachers of the law is significant. In the LXX [Septuagint] this word group...is often used to describe the 'murmuring' of Israel in their wilderness...Here in opposing the faithful Son of God, the Pharisees and scribes are following the rebellious ways of their ancestors. In [Luke] 15:2; 19:7 the verb diagongyzo is similarly used in describing the Jewish leadership's misunderstanding of the mission of Jesus.”

Similarly, Ciampa and Rosner cite Enns to demonstrate Paul's use of this OT incident. Thus, the miraculous provision of water in the desert is only mentioned three times in the account of the wilderness wanderings – at the start (Exodus 15 and 17; see Figure 1) and the end (Numbers 20; 21). The ancient rabbis wondered where they got their water in the meantime. This gave rise to the deduction that the life-giving rock of Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 must have followed them. This tradition is reflected by Paul in I Corinthians 10:1-5 in which he claims that Jesus was that rock.