Stamped upon the whole course of the
purpose of the ages is the lesson taught in our title, Marah before Elim. It is
found in the expressions “No cross, no crown”, and “Suffering before
glory”. Man was created a living soul,
and was of the earth earthy. In the
resurrection man shall possess a spiritual body, and bear the image of the
heavenly. The earthly period of man’s
life is set in the school of experience and of the knowledge of good and
evil. Israel, as we have seen, went down
into the bondage of Egypt before they entered into possession of the promised
land. In all cases, whether of creation,
Israel, church or individual, the remedy for all the ill is found in Christ.
As we read the song of Moses and the
response of Miriam in Exodus xv., we feel the glow of triumph and the sense of
victory. It is something in the nature
of an anti-climax that meets us in:
“And
Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed
gloriously; the horse and his rider hath
He thrown into the sea . . . . . and they went three days into the wilderness,
and found no water” (xv. 22).
We are conscious that such would be a
severe test. Three days’ journey in the
vicinity of the Red Sea without water would be well-nigh intolerable, and by
the end of the third day the sense of triumph that had burst forth into song
became dimmed with the feelings of mistrust:--
“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. And the people
murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” (verses 23 and 24).
Here is the first murmuring of the people
after leaving Egypt, a murmuring that was to grow and produce the fearful
fruits of unbelief:--
“The waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. Then believed they His words: they sang His praise. They soon forgat His works: they waited not for His counsel” (Psa. cvi.
11-13).
Here in this Psalm the transition is as
sudden as it is in Exodus xv. The
scene of Israel’s failure at Marah is said to be the result of
forgetfulness. As remembrance of the
bondage of Egypt and their deliverance from their enemies receded, so the
sensual remembrance of the land of bondage revived. This people, who so quickly “forgat” the
Lord, could say:--
“We remember
the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely;
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlick” (Numb. xi. 5).
This “remembrance” is fatal to the
overcomer. Those whose remembrance is
thus expressed perished in the wilderness.
Lot’s wife could not leave the doomed city without “looking back”. Her treasures were there. Paul, when pressing on with the prize in
view, said:--
“Forgetting the things which are behind .
. . . . I pursue” (Phil.iii.13,14).
Egypt with its fish and its onions and its
garlick stands for the world and its seductions. Let us, who have been redeemed from the
present evil age, seek to cultivate a sanctified forgetfulness, lest the things
that have been left behind become a snare.
Forgetfulness led to impatience:--
“They waited not for His counsel” (Psa.
cvi. 13).
Surely if we keep in mind the way in which
the Lord has saved us, doubt cannot arise.
Unbelief grows only when we forget God.
Remembering the Passover, the Red Sea, and the destruction of the enemy
Israel would have “waited” instead of “murmured”. The argument is expressed for us in the words
of Rom. viii. 32:--
“He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things?”
We shall most assuredly come to the waters
of Marah before we cross the waters of Jordan and stand triumphant in the land
of promise, and when we do, what shall we say? shall we murmur? Yes, we shall if we forget the works of the
Lord. If, however, we remember His
mercy, we shall, in the midst of the sore trial (for bitter water at the end of
a three days’ wilderness journey is a
sore trial) realized that He is still faithful, and that a lesson for our
higher good is to be learned. The Lord
would have His children to understand that there is but one sweetener for the
bitterness of the wilderness journey, and that is the cross of Christ:--
“And the Lord shewed Him a tree, which
when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: Then He made for them a statute and an
ordinance, and there He proved them” (Exod.xv.25).
“There
He proved them.” — Deuteronomy viii. 2, 3
reveals the fact that the whole of the forty years in the wilderness
with its many trials and calls for patience and trust, its privations and its
sufferings, were all a part of the Lord’s leading (“Thy God led thee”), and
were “to prove” the people in order to make them know that man does not live by
bread alone. The lesson is the same for
all who tread the pilgrim way. It is
there in Hebrews for every partaker of the heavenly calling. It is there in Philippians for all who would,
with the apostle, count all things loss, and press on for the prize. Before Abraham received the promise with an
oath he was “proved”, as we see in
Genesis xxii. and Hebrews vi.
The sweetening of the bitter waters by the
tree is found to be a symbol of the healing of the nation.
“If thou wilt diligently hearken to the
voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and
wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none
of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Exod.xv.26).
Here is revealed the second of the Jehovah
titles:--
The first
is JEHOVAH-JIREH (Gen. xxii. 14).
The
second is JEHOVAH-ROPHEKA (Exod. xv. 26).
The great dispensational miracle of Acts iii.
looks to the same end.
“Neither is there the healing (salvation) in any other” (Acts.iv.12).
None of the Lord’s dealings are arbitrary,
all is for His glorious purpose. As soon
as the lesson of Marah had been given, and the people “proved” as soon as they
realized that the waters of the wilderness must be ever bitter apart from the
Lord their Healer, then the burning sand is exchanged for the delightful shade
of Elim’s palm trees and the wells of Elim take the place of the bitterness of
Marah. Here is completeness. Twelve wells, one for each tribe. Here they can anticipate the day when they
shall
“draw water out of the wells of salvation”
(Isa. xii. 3).
So then, fellow-pilgrims, remember that He
who leads to Marah can also lead to Elim, and if it be that Marah shall be our
experience, its bitterness shall become sweet if it but reveal, in Christ, the
“Lord that healeth”. The Lord who knows
the bitterness of Marah knows that
“no chastening for the present seemeth to
be joyous, but rather grievous, NEVERTHELESS AFTERWARD” (Heb.xii.11).
If we could but remember those words
“nevertheless afterward”, our Marahs would speedily give place to Elims, and
the initial lesson of the wilderness would be ours. May we have grace at every Marah to look for
the tree, which when cast into the waters makes
them sweet.
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