Deeper Commentary
Exo 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to
Yahweh, and said, I will sing to Yahweh, for He has triumphed gloriously.
The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea-
The singular horse and rider refers to Pharaoh as the other
Egyptians were in chariots.
The Psalms so often encourage Israelites to feel as if they personally had been through the Red Sea experience. Generation would tell to generation the Passover story, and would also sing of God’s greatness as Israel did in Ex. 15 (Ps. 145:5-7). Hence: “He turned the sea into dry land… there let us (AV: did we) rejoice in him” (Ps. 66:6 RVmg.). We too are enabled by Scripture to feel as if we were there, and to rejoice in what God did for us there. This of course depends upon our sense of solidarity with God’s people over time, as well as over space.
Therefore the saints will sing "The Song of Moses", which Ex. 15 records was sung
after the triumph at the Red Sea. This indicates that
Israel in Egypt
prior to that represents the saints, just before the Lord's coming. Rev.
15:2-4 is all in the context of the Exodus: "I saw as it were a sea of
glass mingled with fire (cp. the calm Red Sea after it had returned over
the Egyptians): and them that had gotten the victory (God was victorious
at the Red Sea, Ex. 15:1) over the beast (Egypt is the prototype beast,
Is. 51:9; Ez. 29:3)... having the harps of God (cp. Miriam's timbrels)...
they sing the song of Moses... Who shall not fear Thee (cp. Ex.
15:14-16)... all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy
judgments are made manifest", referring to how the nations of Canaan were
subdued as a result of the Red Sea victory (see Ex. 15:15). There must
therefore be a latter day equivalent of the Red Sea deliverance of God's
people, and this is why the events of the exodus are
alluded to throughout Rev. 12 and 13- the destruction of the latter day
beast system matches that of Pharaoh, and God's people will likewise
rejoice over this destruction. But the idea clearly is
that the deliverance at the Red Sea is the deliverance of every man in
Christ. We have a part in it, this is not mere history, this deliverance
is ours. Lk. 9:51 speaks of the Lord's exodos which He
accomplished at Jerusalem at His death- at the same Passover time as the
exodus. His passing out of Egypt to eternal life is therefore to be seen
as prefigured by the Red Sea crossing and the destruction of Pharaoh [cp.
the devil, sin, which held us in slavery]. It was through Him that Yahweh
became el gibbor , a man of war (:3)- a title of the Lord Jesus
in Isaiah 9. This is why Rev. 15:3 speaks of the Song of Moses as being
the Song of the Lamb.
The Songs of Moses at the Red Sea and at his death were sung by a stuttering man (Ex. 4:10). This shows for all time how God works through those who apparently are unsuited for His work.
Exo 15:2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation-
Moses perceived that the essence of Yahweh and His Name was
salvation. To save weak sinners like Israel were at the time is what He is
all about. He is a God of salvation, not condemnation; and this should
encourage us in our weakness.
Heb. "He has become to me a salvation". The idea is that we each sing this song at the last day, just as all Israel were to sing it, feeling that the exodus happened to me personally. "He has become my salvation" uses a form of the verb 'to be'. Moses perceived that seven times, Yahweh had declared that "I will..." save. Yahoshua, Yah saves, 'Jesus', is the essence of our God, and He articulated that same basic characteristic to Moses and all Israel through the Red Sea salvation and the power of the blood of the lamb. Hence :3 "Yahweh is His Name".
This is
my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him-
Moses was only with his parents in babyhood and maybe very early childhood. They inculcated in him the faith of Yahweh at that early age. They likely died whilst he was still in the court of Pharaoh and looked like an ungrateful child who had gone the way of the world and forgotten his God and his people and their efforts to raise him in the faith. Moses here
and in Ex. 18:4 pays tribute to them. What a surprise awaits them in the Kingdom!
Exo 15:3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is His name-
Moses hereby resigns all possible idea that he himself was a mighty
warrior who had saved Israel out of Egypt. He had not fought, and the
Egyptians had fled when none pursued them. Yahweh alone was the warrior of
Israel.
Exo 15:4 He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His
chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea-
The Egyptians themselves chased after the Israelites into the sea, but God was confirming them in their decision- He was casting them into that water. But if they'd been interviewed as they charged in, they'd have said that they were of their 100% freewill chasing after the Israelites.
But God works through and confirms people in their freewill decisions.
Exo 15:5 The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a
stone-
The 'covering' of Egypt with frogs in Ex. 8:6 and locusts in Ex.
10:5,15 looked ahead to the 'covering' of the Egyptians at the Red Sea
(Ex. 14:28; 15:5,10). It was an appeal for repentance, in the hope that
the final smiting would not be necessary. It was God's intention and hope
to save the Egyptians, but they would not. They may well have been
swallowed by some kind of earthquake (see on Ex. 14:27) and then their
bodies floated to the surface, to be washed up on the shore as a witness
to Israel of the destruction of their enemies. The destruction of Babylon
is described as a stone being cast into the depths, and this latter day
triumph is to be based upon the historical destruction of the Egyptians.
Exo 15:6 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand,
Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces-
The present tenses inculcate the grand theme- that the victory at the
Red Sea was to experienced as ongoing throughout the history of God's
people. They were to be continually saved, and their enemies likewise
defeated.
Exo 15:7 In the greatness of Your excellency, You overthrow those who rise
up against You. You send forth Your wrath. It consumes them as stubble-
As noted on :6, the present tenses suggest that the victory at the
Red Sea was to be forever ongoing in the experience of God's people. What
happened in the past (note the past tenses of :8) was to become ongoing
experience. And so we like David and other later writers can feel that God
comes through for us in our lives, just as He did at the Red Sea; and He
shall do so for us ultimately.
Exo 15:8 With the blast of Your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The
floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of
the sea-
"A blast" (Heb. ruach, a spirit / Angel?) being sent upon
Sennacherib uses the same term used here about Pharaoh's destruction, and
it is also used of that of Babylon (Jer. 51:1). As noted on :21, these
similarities show the same Divine hand working throughout the centuries of
human history. "Congealed" can mean frozen, although the idea is
likely that the water appeared like that, rather than being literally
frozen.
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide
the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my
hand shall destroy them’-
But they were cast into the sea by God (Ex. 15:21). We see here how God
confirms people in the desires of their heart, for both good and bad.
The Egyptian beast being so furiously determined to
destroy Israel at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:5; 15:9) is the basis for the dragon
being "wroth with the woman, and went to make war (as Pharaoh 'went')
with the remnant of her seed", chasing her into the wilderness and trying
to destroy her with water (cp. the Red Sea); but "the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood" (Rev. 12:13-17), as at the Red Sea (Ex.
15:12). This passage in Revelation has reference to the latter day
persecution of God's people.
Exo 15:10 You blew with Your wind-
The reference may be to God's wind / spirit in an Angel.
The sea covered them. They sank like
lead in the mighty waters-
Rev. 18 describes the latter day Babylon as being destroyed by being
cast into the sea as a stone. This is definitely based on the description
of Egypt as suffering the same fate in the Red Sea (Ex. 15:5,10), thus
associating the historical 'Egypt' with last days Babylon. All
this would suggest that the Lord could return at Passover, or the final
tribulation begin then. “The day of the Lord” is the same phrase used
about a Jewish feast. “Let the feasts come round: then will I distress
Ariel” (Is. 29:1,2 RV).
Exo 15:11 Who is like You, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like You,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?-
The earlier books of the Bible declare Yahweh as greater than all other gods; later on, especially in Isaiah, it's more specifically stated that the other gods don't exist. Rather like the earlier parts of the Gospel records speaking of God's supremacy over demons / pagan gods; but then such references fade as it becomes apparent that Yahweh is so great that the other gods don't exist at all. God is very gentle in how He progressively teaches and reveals Himself to His people. We at times need to do the same in teaching misbelievers and unbelievers.
The Lord's attitude to the question of demons is an example.
As in Ex. 12:12; 15:11; Num. 33:4, the “gods” are spoken of for a
moment as real and existing, in order to show Yahweh’s total superiority
over them to the point that they didn’t exist. Note how it was the
Egyptian people who were judged (Gen. 15:14); their idols (“gods”) are
used by metonymy to stand for those who believed in them. Likewise
“demons” is sometimes put by metonymy for those who believed in them (e.g.
Mk. 2:32,34). The judgment upon Egypt’s gods is brought out by an
otherwise obscure reference in Ex. 7:19 to how “there shall be blood in
all the land of Egypt on wood and in stone”.
"Wood and stone" is a term usually used in the Bible for idols; and "the
Egyptian priests used to wash the images of their gods in water every day
early in the morning". Thus the gods were shown to be effectively dead and
bleeding.
Exo 15:12 You stretched out Your right hand. The earth swallowed them-
As later happened to apostate Israel in the wilderness (Num. 16:32; 26:10). The punishment / judgment upon the world [Egypt] will come upon God's renegade people; they shall be "condemned with the world" (1 Cor. 11:32).
The swallowing up of the Egyptian rods by that of Aaron's (Ex. 7:12) had
been to warn the perceptive Egyptians that Yahweh could easily swallow
them up if He wished; and He did so at the Red Sea. Because they failed to
learn from His prior warning.
They may well have been swallowed by some kind of earthquake (see on Ex. 14:27) and then their bodies floated to the surface, to be washed up on the shore as a witness to Israel of the destruction of their enemies.
Exo 15:13 You, in Your grace, have led the people that You have redeemed.
You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation-
"You have guided them" suggests that the Exodus was a
guarantee that final entry into the Kingdom was assured and as good as
done. This is what baptism means too, but as with the Israel who first
sung these words, we can go back to Egypt because we prefer the slave
mentality. The Exodus deliverance was seen as part and parcel of being given
inheritance in the promised land; just as baptism is for us. We can upset
the process, as faithless Israel did in the wilderness. Whilst baptism of
itself will not save us (cp. crossing the Red Sea, 1 Cor. 10:1,2), it is a
guarantee that God from His side will guide us to His Kingdom.
Moses' song of triumph after the Red Sea deliverance shows a fine spirituality. However, we note here his possible misunderstanding in Ex. 15:13,17- that Sinai was to be “the place” where God would dwell with Israel.
Exo 15:14 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on
the inhabitants of Philistia-
Rahab was aware of what Israel had done to their enemies on their way
to Jericho- and she appears to allude to Moses' commands to destroy
utterly and not make covenant with the peoples of the land (Dt. 2:32-37;
7:1-5; 20:16-18). When she says that she was aware that God had "given you
the land" (Josh. 2:9), she uses the same two Hebrew words used repeatedly
in Deuteronomy regarding God's promise to give Israel the land of the
Canaanites. "Your terror is fallen upon us" is likewise an allusion to Ex.
15:16; 23:27 [the same Hebrew word for "terror" is used by Rahab]. Rahab
speaks of how her people are "fainting" in fear- quoting Ex. 15:15 about
how the inhabitants of Canaan would "faint" (AV "melt away") because of
Israel. Knowing all this, she has the ambition to request the impossible-
that she would be the exception, that with her a covenant would be made.
When she says that "we have heard" about the Exodus (Josh. 2:10), she may
be referring to the prophecy of Ex. 15:14: "The people shall hear and be
afraid". In this case, her emphasis would have been upon the word "have"-
'yes, we have heard indeed, as Moses sung, and yes, we are afraid'.
Seeking God's face is actually to strive for the unachievable in this
life; but it's what we are to do. Spiritual ambition of the type Rahab had
lifts us far above the mire of mediocrity which there is in all human life
under the sun.
Exo 15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed-
We must put this together with the way Edom "refused to give Israel
passage through his border" (Num. 20:18-21). Edom's refusal was because
they were "dismayed" and terrified, not because they had some nonchalant
confidence against Israel. Rather like the walls of Jericho appearing so
strong- yet they were built from chronic fear of the Israelites.
This is an example of where we must place scripture together to get an
accurate picture.
Trembling takes hold of
the mighty men of Moab-
This is indicated by the way Balak king of Moab tried to hire Balaam
to curse Israel.
All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away-
Israel doubtless sung this song with great gusto. And truly it happened, that the Canaanite nations melted in fear of Israel (Josh. 2:11). But Israel's hearts "melted" for fear of those melting Canaanites (Josh. 14:8). Do
we believe the words we so fervently sing...?
For Israel didn't. It remained as words on a hymn sheet, and never took
lodgment in their hearts.
Exo 15:16 Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm
they are as still as a stone- until Your people pass over, Yahweh, until
the people pass over whom You have purchased-
As the Egyptians sunk as a stone (Ex. 15:5), so would the Canaanite nations. If God could do this to the Egyptians, He would remove all other obstacles to entering the Kingdom.
The 'passing over' of the Red Sea was to be seen as the entire passing
over into the Kingdom. Their entire journey was to be done in the spirit
of the crossing of the Red Sea. The fact we have been brought out of the world, baptized through the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1-3), is comfort and encouragement that all the other obstacles on the Kingdom road will also be dealt with. We can never under-estimate the significance of our own baptisms.
Yahweh "purchased" His people from Egypt (Ex. 15:16) in the sense that He "redeemed" them (Ex. 6:6), alluding to the idea of buying a close relative out of slavery to a Gentile. God's people were in slavery to Egypt and wished to remain like that (Ex. 14:12); and had accepted their idols, rather than Yahweh (Ez. 20:8). Yet God bought them out of that slavery, He redeemed them only thanks to His love and pity (s.w. Is. 63:9); so earnest was He to have them as His own. We cannot push the metaphors too far, but the price paid was perhaps represented by the blood of the Passover lamb. For this finally was the price He was willing to pay to redeem us, similarly weak as they were. For we are redeemed (s.w.) by Him from the power of sin and death (Hos. 13:14).
Exo 15:17 You shall bring them in-
The prophets had the spirit of Moses, who wished to see Israel in the
land glorifying God, and was willing for his name to be blotted out of the
book of eternal remembrance for that to happen. In that spirit, Moses even
earlier could rejoice in song that “Thou wilt bring them in and
plant them” (Ex. 15:17) rather than “You will bring us in…”.
The prophetic desire was to see God glorified rather than their own
success. This is the spirit of the prophets. This is what led them to see
the tragedy of insincerity, of indifference, of the don’t care attitude.
And plant them-
Gen. 2:5 explains how God created "every plant of the field before it
was in the earth / eretz / land [promised to Abraham]". Quite
simply, the plants Israel knew had been made by God and somehow
transplanted or moved into the land, just as one does when developing a
garden. It was Moses' understanding that on entering the land, God would
be planting Israel there (Ex. 15:17; Num. 24:6), just as God had planted
in Eden (Gen. 2:8 s.w.).
In the mountain of your
inheritance-
The place, Yahweh, which You have made for yourself to dwell
in; the sanctuary, Lord, which Your hands have established-
The whole land of Israel was intended to be the sanctuary ultimately, and not just the temple mount (Ps. 78:54). But this was one of the many potentials made possible for Israel which never materialized, because of their failures.
Exo 15:18 Yahweh shall reign forever and ever-
The sense of this statement is explained by the next verse explaining
that this is because Yahweh had destroyed the Egyptians. "Reign over" can
mean to defeat. The idea is that His victory over Egypt would continue
eternally; the same victories required for the salvation of His people (in
whatever form) would continue always. The Red Sea was not to be seen as an
isolated victory, but programmatic for all His victories. David in the
Psalms so often alludes to the Red Sea victory like this; and felt he was
experiencing similar salvation from God. And we can too.
The whole song alludes to the Baal myth. Baal had a conflict with Yam, the god of the sea, which Baal won, the nations and other gods all feared him, he built a sanctuary on a mountain, and declared himself eternal King. Israel worshipped Baal at this time, Hosea says. But they are being shown that Yahweh and not Baal was to be worshipped. Yet despite singing this song, possibly as a kind of national anthem, they continued their worship of Baal despite giving this lip service to Yahweh's supremacy. We can do the same with our idols...
Exo 15:19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his
horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on
them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the
sea-
AV has "the horse of Pharaoh". Consistently, the record is focused
upon this man, who pitted himself against Yahweh in abusing His people.
The language of the plagues and exodus is so frequently used in the book
of Revelation and other latter day prophecies, leading us to see Pharaoh
as a type of the latter day antiChrist figure.
Exo 15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in
her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with
dances-
Ps. 150:4 bids all God's people take up the tambourine and dance
because of what God has done and will do at the coming of His Son. The
same Hebrew words are used as here. Again and again the point is made-
that we are to see the Red Sea as our victory, to be replicated in essence
in our lives; we too are to rejoice in that victory. "They went
through the water on foot... and [therefore] there did we rejoice
in him" (Ps. 66:6).
Exo 15:21 Miriam answered them-
She appears to have sung words to them, to which they responded with
a chorus. Or perhaps the idea is that she and the women answered "them" in
the sense of the words sung by the men in the song of Moses, in a kind of
part singing.
Sing to Yahweh, for He has triumphed
gloriously. The horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea-
They ran into the sea of their own freewill (:9), but God confirmed
them in this. The language is used again in the description of Babylon's judgments:
"the horse and his rider... the chariot and his rider" (Jer. 51:19-23) is
quoting Ex. 15:4,21.
Exo 15:22 Moses led Israel onward 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-
This is where we are located- we have been "saved" from Egypt, we are out of slavery, but we are at some point in the wilderness between slavery and final freedom. "Shur" means 'the wall', and may refer to the wall built to define the boundary of Egypt by an earlier dynasty. Num. 33:8 defines the part of the wilderness as being near Etham, where there was a garrison of Egyptians (see on Ex. 13:20). It had been God's intention that they would go three days journey from Egypt into the wilderness and then worship Him (Ex. 8:27). But they didn't. It seems God purposefully didn't provide water for them- because this great trial was intended to lead them to worship and faith. They should have coped with it, because He knew their levels, and knew that if they saw war by going through Philistine territory, that test would be too great for them and they would've returned to Egypt. But instead they rebelled, and His intention they would worship Him then didn't come to fruition. How many billions of such plans are made and frustrated each day by human short-sightedness... We note that very soon after their baptism (1 Cor. 10:1,2), they ran into testing. Just as the Lord did, and as we do.
Exo 15:23 When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of
Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah-
Pharaoh was condemned and Egypt overthrown because of his hard heart- but
the very word is used to describe the hardness of Israel's heart at the
time (Ex. 32:9; 33:3-5; 34:9). Israel were really no better than Egypt-
just as Egypt was plagued "so that they could not drink the water" (Ex.
7:24), so we find Israel in the same situation right after leaving Egypt
(Ex. 15:23). As the Egyptians were stripped of their jewellery, so Israel
stripped themselves of it before the golden calf (Ex. 12:36; 33:6).
Egypt's experience in Egypt had been bitter (Ex. 1:14), and the Passover herbs were to recall that bitterness (Ex. 12:8). Their complaint was that the wilderness life was as bitter as Egypt had been. This can be our feeling at times- that life is bitter, it's suffering either way, be it in Christ or in the world. But they were being reminded that this bitterness could be lifted. They were being shown that the deliverance from Egypt had to be experienced throughout the wilderness journey, as situations arose which were reminiscent of Egypt- and again, they could be saved from them. We are still in the now / but not yet point between slavery and ultimate freedom.
We learn from Dt. 33:8-11 that in some way at this time, some
of the tribe of Levi showed themselves faithful to God, whilst others
didn't, and the faithful Levites opposed the unfaithful ones- although
this isn't here recorded. This kind of faithfulness was shown again at the
time of the golden calf, and therefore the system of the firstborn being
priests was changed so that the tribe of Levi became the source of the
priests. Priesthood was therefore given on the basis of qualification, and
Levi's behaviour at this point was one of those qualifications: "Of Levi
he said, Your Thummim and your Urim are with your holy one [the faithful
Levites] whom You proved at Massah, with whom You strove [the unfaithful
Levites] at the waters of Meribah; who said of his father and of his
mother, ‘I have not seen him’. Neither did he acknowledge his brothers,
nor did he know his own children; for they have observed Your word and
keep Your covenant.
They shall teach Jacob Your ordinances, and Israel Your law. They shall
put incense before You and whole burnt offering on Your altar".
Exo 15:24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?-
Exo 15:25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw
it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet-
We could see in the tree a foretaste of "the tree" on which the Lord
was crucified. We note the connection with how at Elim there
was good water with palm trees next to it, as if continuing the theme of a
tree making water good.
Moses was asked to throw down wood into the waters (Ex. 15:25). His staff, also made of wood, had to be lifted up in order to open the Red Sea and in order to get victory over Amalek (Ex. 17:9). The plagues had involved specific commandment about lifting up the rod. He was being taught careful obedience to commandment about wood, and yet he failed to learn- for the sin which excluded him from entering Canaan was that of not obeying commandment about his rod / the wood. He was told to take the rod in his hand but not use it. This may explain the apparent harshness of God's condemnation of him over this incident.
There He made a
statute and an ordinance for them-
What exactly this was isn't defined. It seems it was some simple test
of their obedience, perhaps related to the gathering of the water, just as
the commandments about the gathering of the manna were a simple test of
obedience- which they failed. It was intended to teach them the need for
the more detailed set of ordinances which they were to soon receive (:26).
Perhaps Jer. 7:22,23 allude here: “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you”.
And there He tested them-
At the very time Israel put God to the test at Marah (Dt. 6:16), God
responded by testing them (Ex. 15:25). When Israel were weary of
God, He wearied them (Is. 43:22,24). Because they turned their back on Him
(Jer. 2:27), He turned His back on them (Jer. 18:17); because they broke
His eternal covenant with them, He eventually did likewise. On the other
hand, God set the rainbow in the sky so that whenever He looks
upon it, He will remember His covenant with man (Gen. 9:16). The pronouns
seem wrong; we would expect to read that the rainbow is so that whenever
we look upon it, we remember... but no. God condescends to man to
such an extent that He invites us to understand that whenever we remember
the covenant with Him, He does likewise.
Exo 15:26 and He said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of
Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in His eyes, and will pay
attention to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none
of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians-
The plagues upon the Egyptians were plagues upon their gods. If
Israel worshipped their gods (and they did- Ez. 20:8), then the plagues
would come upon them. And we often see the judgments upon an apostate
Israel described in terms of what came upon Egypt. Thus the descriptions
in Revelation of the seals and vials of judgment to come upon Israel are
based around the plagues upon Egypt.
For I am Yahweh
who heals you-
Whenever God speaks about His Name, it is in the context of His
emphasizing His huge commitment to Israel as His people, often in the face
of their weakness (Ex. 12:12; 15:26; 20:2; Ez. 20:5,6). The very meaning
of God's Name is of itself encouraging- although it is somewhat masked in
English translations. God 'is' not just in the sense that He exists, but
in that He 'is' there with and for us. The verb behind 'YHWH' was
"originally causative", i.e. God not only 'is' but He causes things to
happen. We aren't to understand Him as passive, just a stone cold Name...
but rather passionately active and causative in our sometimes apparently
static and repetitive lives.
We need to imagine the feelings of God as He provided food and drink for them:
He fed and watered them as a doting parent does a young child.
Consider: "In the wilderness, you saw how the LORD your God carried you,
just as one carries a child, all the way that you traveled until you
reached this place (Dt. 1.29–31). If a child finds water bitter, we
naturally want to give them sweet water. "There you are darling, you'll
like this". And for all the world, that's how it seems God treated Israel
here. Or Hos. 11:1-4:
"When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms,
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks,
I bent down to them and fed them"
Note that last line: "I was to them like those who lift infants to their
cheeks, I bent down to them and fed them". That was the spirit of love
behind His feeding of them. And yet they demanded food and water like an
ungrateful person assumes that the royal "they" must provide for me... and
worshipped their idols more and more instead of being grateful. You could
weep for God. Israel's desire for food and drink was not a simple request
of a child to the parent for sustenance. "They had a wanton craving in the
wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert” (Ps. 106:14). “You have
been rebellious against the Lord as long as he has known you” (Dt. 9:24).
And yet God saw their very small love for Him, despite their idol worship, as wonderful: "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, How you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown" (Jer. 2.2). "Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give her her vineyards, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond to me as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt" (Hos. 2.14,15). This all sounds like the lover almost over eager to wildly over interpret any sign of love for him or even interest in his approaches. And we... love God. We thereby touch His heart, given His tragic experience with Israel.
That heals you suggests they were bitter with the bitterness of Egypt, the world, and could be healed by the tree, looking forward to the cross. This is the psychological miracle possible through engagement with the Lord's death for us and the subsequent gift of His spirit.
Exo 15:27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and
seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters-
There were twelve wells- one for each of the tribes. The lesson was that God had foreseen Israel's need for water long ago, and arranged those wells for them. As for us in our wilderness journeys.
Yet 70 is the number of the Gentile nations in Gen. 10. They were being
shown that God's intention was to combine Israelites and Gentiles within a
new multiethnic people of God. Perhaps this arrangement of 12 springs and
70 palms was to help Israel to better incorporate the "mixed multitude"
amongst them, as being equally God's people. Hence "Elim" implies "holy
trees", or "trees of God", as if to remind Israel that He accepted the
mixed multitude of Gentiles as equally His redeemed people. Possibly
the 70 palm trees were intended to represent the 70 elders of Ex. 24 who
were currently the leaders of Israel. The righteous grow upright as the
palm tree, David will later say. Perhaps the idea is that the elders of
Israel were intended to bring forth good water for all Israel; and yet in
reality they failed to reach this potential, and the system of 70 elders
was replaced.
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