In biblical narratives, different roles are played by different characters, good or bad, and we need to pay close attention to plots, places, timing, and villains. However, the most important point in a storyline is usually the solution and the lessons learned. It’s no different in these accounts.
As the episodes show, God is the Problem Solver and the Peacemaker; however, His work is complicated by people’s unbelief. As a result of their constant murmuring and disobedience, the Hebrews experienced serious complications, even tragedies. They brought upon themselves many difficulties because of their incredulity and unrepentance.
Read Exodus 15:22–27. After crossing the Red Sea, what was the background to the first miracle performed?
The first test of Israel’s faith is associated with the need for water, not surprising given the harsh, hot, and dry desert environment. After three days of traveling, the people finally found water, but it was undrinkable. Marah means “bitter,” and because the water was bitter, Israel’s faith in their caring Lord quickly floundered. However, God reacted with compassion, and the first miracle was performed with a piece of wood. Of course, it was not the wood but the Lord who made the water sweet and drinkable. The people had to learn important lessons: (1) patience in waiting for the Lord’s timing, and (2) that God does things in cooperation with humans.
However, the children of Israel took so many things for granted and quickly forgot the great miracles that God had done for them—miracles for which they had just so passionately sung praises to Him, declaring: “ ‘Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?’ ” (Exod. 15:11, ESV).
And yet, even after their grumbling, God promised that He would not bring upon the Israelites “any of the diseases” (Exod. 15:26, NIV) that had plagued the Egyptians. He would protect them. They could experience this promise only on the condition that they stayed faithful to Him.
What trials and struggles have you brought upon yourself? What comfort can you get in knowing that God will still work on your behalf if you cooperate with Him?
Supplemental EGW Notes
From the Red Sea the hosts of Israel again set forth on their journey, under the guidance of the pillar of cloud. The scene around them was most dreary—bare, desolate-looking mountains, barren plains, and the sea stretching far away, its shores strewn with the bodies of their enemies; yet they were full of joy in the consciousness of freedom, and every thought of discontent was hushed.
But for three days, as they journeyed, they could find no water. The supply which they had taken with them was exhausted. There was nothing to quench their burning thirst as they dragged wearily over the sun-burnt plains. Moses, who was familiar with this region, knew what the others did not, that at Marah, the nearest station where springs were to be found, the water was unfit for use. With intense anxiety he watched the guiding cloud. With a sinking heart he heard the glad shout. “Water! water!” echoed along the line. Men, women, and children in joyous haste crowded to the fountain, when, lo, a cry of anguish burst forth from the host—the water was bitter.—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 291.
Soon their faith was tested. The Lord would know how much He could depend on His people to be true and loyal to Him. They went three days journey into the wilderness, and found no water. “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah: for they were bitter.” Did the people then show their faith in God, because of the evidence they had received that Christ, wrapped in the fold of the cloud, that His glory might not destroy them, was leading them in person? “The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” [Verses 23, 24.] Instead of trusting and fearing the Lord, believing in Him under apparently discouraging circumstances, they cast reflections upon their leader. So people act in this generation. Satan’s plan of temptation is always the same. While everything moves prosperously, men think that they have faith. But when suffering, disaster, or disappointment comes, they lose heart. A faith that is dependent on circumstances and surroundings, that lives only when everything goes smoothly, is not a genuine faith.
In his trouble, Moses cried to the Lord. This is what the children of Israel, so recently delivered, ought to have done. The Lord heard the cry of His servant, against whom the people had said so many bitter things. He showed Moses a tree, “which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” It was not the virtue of the tree that turned the bitter water to sweet; it was the power of Him who was enshrouded in the pillar of cloud, the One who can do all things. “There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, 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.” [Verses 25, 26.]—Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 11, Letter 49a, 1896, par. 3, 4.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.