A Lesson on God’s Provision

Exodus 15:22-17:16

God Provides Water (15:22-26)
After a dry and thirsty three days, the people came to a place where there was water, but it was so bitter that they couldn’t drink it. Not too long ago they were complaining to Moses when the Pharaoh was in hot pursuit of them, “are there no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way?” (see Exodus 14:11-12). And now, after the great deliverance, they were thirsty and complaining. It was as if God could do the greater thing for them by parting the Red Sea, but could not provide drinkable water. They had lost confidence in God in such a short amount of time!

While the people complained, Moses resorted to crying out to the Lord (v.25a). God provided the answer immediately. In His patience and love for them, He was about to do another miracle. He directed Moses to a specific tree and had him throw it into the water. The word here is ‘log’ or ‘branch’ or even ‘tree’. Did he throw the whole tree in? Likely, he threw a log or a branch, since that makes more sense. Whatever the case, it’s an odd request of God. It could be that God was foreshadowing the cross here (the removal of the bitterness of sin as Jesus died upon the tree).

Commentators say that some trees contain elements that could emit a sweetness that would change the composition of the water. Could it have been the ‘Moringa Tree’? It’s been called the Miracle Tree and also the Tree of Life. It is one of the most nutrient rich plants on the earth, containing numerous minerals that promote human health and healing: 25 times more iron than spinach, 10 times more Vitamin A than carrots, 7 times more Vitamin C than oranges, 17 times more calcium than milk and up to 15 times more potassium than bananas. This drought-resistant tree is claimed to be native to the the Himalayan region of India, but there is also evidence dating back to 3000 BC that the tree also grew in the Red Sea belt and the Sinai mountain region. Parts of the Moringa tree was used to manufacture perfume as well as protection from the sun and wound healing in ancient Egypt. It is well-known for its use in water purification and hand washing.

But if it was this tree, would it purify enough water for two million people? This was nothing short of a miracle by God.

As we can see in this passage, there is a stark contrast in how to respond to adversity: complaining against God like the people did OR crying out to God like their leader Moses did. God responded to Moses’ prayers by providing for the people who were grumbling. Then He makes a promise based on a condition: “if you listen to God’s voice and do what is right, then you will live in relative health” (obedience will keep them well in this case). God further reveals more to them about who He is: “I, the Lord, am your healer”. This is where we get the title for God, Jehovah Rapha.

Rapha in Hebrew means to “heal”, “make healthful”, “mend”, “cure”, “repair thoroughly”, “make whole”. God is in the business of healing people, not only physically, but spiritually as well.

In the Bible, we see God’s hand of healing repeatedly. Some examples include:
Miriam cured of leprosy (Numbers12:13-15).
Hezekiah healed from serious sickness and given 15 more years of life (2 Kings 20:1-5).
David cried out to God in Psalm 6:2 and recognized his healing in Psalm 30:2.
God promises that His people would be healed of their apostasy if they return to Him in Hosea 14:4.
He also makes a promise that when faithless people return to them, they would be healed in Jeremiah 3:22.
In the prophecy about Jesus in Isaiah 53, it states that ‘by His wounds we are healed’ (v.6).
Of course, Jesus healed many sicknesses and diseases (blindness, leprosy, bleeding, paralysis – Matthew 4:23-24).

A person cannot survive for more than three days without water. The Israelites were traveling in a dry, hot desert without water for three days. This is not a coincidence or an insignificant detail in the narrative. It isn’t like, ‘wow, they just happened to quench their thirst just before they expired from dehydration’. This was a ‘test’ for them as it states at the end of Exodus 15:24. They were made acutely aware of their need for water after not having anything to drink for those three long days on their hike in the arid desert. Would they rely upon God for something that was necessary for their survival? God often takes people to the edge of their limitations so that they are in a position to look towards Him.

Water is one of our most basic necessities. Without it we will die. The constant human physical need for water is a vivid picture and continual reminder of our desperate need for spiritual and emotional refreshment.

Water usage in the Scriptures as it relates to God’s people:
The believer’s spiritual productivity and stability – Psalm 1:3
The believer’s life characterized by integrity, honesty and justice – Amos 5:24
The believer’s blessings and refreshment – Psalm 23:2
The believer’s joy of salvation – Isaiah 12:1-3

God showed up at the right time, in the right place (as He always does) providing for the needs of His people.

God Provides Food

Not only did God provide water, but after the incident at the bitter waters, He gave the children of Israel an entire oasis of fresh water and dates at Elim. At Elim, the Bible says there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees.

Leaving Elim must have been difficult. Looking back on the oasis and then looking ahead to more of the same harshness of the desert would have been revisiting the discouragement and discontent that they were prone to.

Time frame: they left Elim on the 15th day of the second month after their departure from Egypt. We deduce from Exodus 12:6,18,31 that they departed from Egypt on the 15th of the prior month. And so they are one month into their journey at this point.

The congregation of Israel began to murmur and grumble once again. They were not shy in declaring that it would have been better to die in Egypt. At least they had pots of meat and bread there!

But God was going to test their faith again to see if they would walk in His ways (16:4). The ultimate purpose of God’s next miracle was that His glory would be on display (16:7).

Moses rebukes the people: “Your grumblings are against God”, he says. Then they all looked toward the wilderness to behold the glory of God in the clouds. God spoke to Moses, “I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel”, and He proceeds to tell Moses that He would provide for them. And by this, they would know that “I am the Lord your God”!

What did God provide?

Meat in the evening
Quails came and covered the camp

Manna in the morning
When the dew evaporated, a flake-like frost covered the ground. It tasted like wafers with honey (Exodus 16:31).

What was the purpose of manna? Day after day of the same thing to eat. Wouldn’t that get boring? No variety? Deuteronomy 8:2-3 explains the significance and necessity of the continued supply of manna:
“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.”

This passage tells us that “we can draw a parallel between God’s provision of the manna and the way we are to feed on the scriptures” (James Montgomery Boice, The Life of Moses, p.119).
Boice goes on to say, “Manna was bread from heaven, but that bread from heaven reminds us that we need the true bread from heaven”.

Rest on the Seventh Day
God provided enough manna on day 6 to feed them for two days. This was in order for them to enjoy some rest. Typically, the manna would grow foul if left over to the following day (v.20), but God caused the sixth days manna to be preserved an extra day. He did this consistently for 40 years.

But the Israelites continued their patterns of disobedience and mistrust when they went out on the seventh day to gather up some more manna (v.27-28).

Counsel
As effective as Moses was becoming as a leader, he was not able to handle all of the tasks. God used his father-in-law Jethro to provide some much-needed wise counsel: select men to delegate tasks to (18:13-27). What were their qualifications?
Capable men
God-fearing men
Truth-loving men
Honest men