The Spirit of Grumbling: The Israelites at Marah and Elim - Saved for the Glory of God | Studies in the book of Exodus

In one sense, this week hasn't been a great week for me because

there's been a song stuck in my head that I cannot get out of

it.

And it's all based on Exodus, chapter 15.

Exodus 15 · chapter mention

And maybe you'll know it because you'll remember it either

on a cassette tape or on a record player, something like that.

And this is what it is.

Oh, they grumble on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Grumble on a Thursday,

too Grumble on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday Grumble the whole

week through oh, they grumble on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Grumble

on a Thursday too Grumble on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday Grumble

the whole week through.

Anybody know it?

Anybody want to sing it?

It's called the Grumble Song, surprisingly.

And it comes from a period, perhaps in American history, by the

gentleman Thoreau Harris, who simply had enough of people grumbling.

He lived in Eureka Springs, quite a name of a town in Arkansas,

and simply couldn't cope with the negative spirit of those around

him.

He was not only a hymn writer and he was known for going around

his local town with a bag of hymns and booklets and tracts, but

he would preach as well.

And through his preaching and coming to a song that he wrote such

as this, you can get the sense of what was going on.

He particularly found it hard when Christians would grumble.

And his closing verse says, if you don't quit your grumbling and

stop it now and here you'll never get to heaven.

No grumblers enter there.

Repent and be converted.

Be saved from all your sin.

You know that grumbling Christians find it hard a crown to

win.

Now, we're not about to take a deep dive into any theology that

that last verse of his song may have or may not have, but.

But you can see what the heart issue is here.

For Thoreau Harris, he couldn't get his head around the

fact that Christians had so much of Christ in them, but yet they

would still grumble.

He couldn't figure it out that how can you say you're in Christ

and yet grumble?

But yet they did.

And the song was penned to jolt believers into the reality of

what their grumbling was doing, simply getting something off

their chest.

It was actually rotting their soul for Harris, because of the rot

that it caused in their souls.

It was also discrediting their witness and their testimony.

And whenever you think of this hymn written in the early 1900s,

about 1925, and you compare it to Exodus 15, you can see what he's

getting at.

Here's a People of a million strong.

Some people would even estimate it was 2.6 million strong.

But let's settle for a million.

Can you even imagine what a million people look like?

And they'd just been brought through mighty waters on dry ground,

with the Lord holding back the water so that they would not be consumed.

And as soon as they crossed, the waters came together again.

Creation restored, and the punishment that the Egyptians deserved

fell on them.

And then we had that great song of joy and celebration at the

start of Exodus 15.

And just after three days, what happens?

They grumble on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, grumble on a

Thursday too, Grumble on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, grumble

the whole week through.

Here were redeemed people of God who were grumbling and had a

grumbling spirit within them, a grumbling spirit that was against

God and against his leader.

See how quickly they forgot?

And by the way, they're going to be short memoried people, because

this is only the first of three accounts of when the people

grumble about their situation, as we saw in chapter 14, it's almost

as if they'd forgot that they were the ones who had cried out to

God in the first place for rescue from Egypt because of their

slavery.

And he had delivered them.

And so this is the first of their grumblings, and it's about

the lack of water to drink as they come to Marah.

The second grumbling will be in chapter 16 with the lack of food

to eat.

And then the third grumbling is about water to drink again in

chapter 17.

And these three accounts will build up to their arrival at Sinai

and the giving of the Ten Commandments, showing them truly

who God is and how he is to be worshipped by them, his people.

But for now, they're quite literally simply days from crossing

the Red Sea on dry ground.

And verse 22 sums up the situation for us like this.

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the desert

of Shur for three days.

They traveled in the desert without finding water.

At this point, we might have a bit of sympathy for the people.

They're probably tired, still coming to terms with the fact that

they're no longer slaves.

But the body needs food and the body needs water.

And it would appear that any provisions that they had brought

with them out of Egypt are now gone.

And.

And so they feel the thirst of walking through the wilderness.

Eventually, as verse 23 tells us, they reach a place called Marah.

Marah has water, but they can't drink it because it's Bitter,

which is what the name Marah means.

And for the people, this is a crisis.

Now, go back about 20 years ago, whenever I was doing pulpit

supplies around large parts of Northern Ireland, you learn to cautiously

step into pulpits.

And as you know, I do drink whenever I'm in the pulpit because

of how my throat is.

And so that was still the same 20 years ago.

And if you're in the middle of a sermon and you reach for the glass

and take it up, you don't look at what it looks like.

And that was my first lesson.

Look at what the glass.

Look at the colour of the water in the glass.

Because I have tasted better water, bitter water, that may have

resided in a pulpit for months because maybe the person before me

hadn't drunk it.

And they said, it'll be all right.

Well, it was not.

And no toothpick would ever make it sweet.

But we know what bad water tastes like.

Maybe you don't, but if you've ever had to taste sea water, you'll

know exactly what it tastes like.

And so when water supplies run out, particularly in the wilderness,

well, death soon follows.

The Israelites could call out in faith, as they have done before,

asking the Lord to deliver them, to deliver them from slavery,

then to deliver them from Egypt, as their backs were against

the Red Sea, cry out to him as they'd done before in this crisis.

But instead they respond, and they respond again with unbelief.

They're not willing to.

To believe in the lord.

And verse 24 tells us their response.

So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, what are we to drink?

Rather than approaching Moses in a way that appreciates all that

the Lord has done for them.

They come with a spirit and a heart of grumbling against their

conditions and against the one they see as the reason for why they're

in the situation that they're in.

And the word grumble refers to a strong expression of discontent

with the Lord or his leaders.

And so, faced with their response, Moses does what the people

should have done.

He cries out to the Lord for help.

What else can he do?

He is one person leading over a million people.

And so he has no strength of his own.

And he goes to the Lord, and it is the Lord who provides a solution.

And in verse 25, we're told that the Lord shows Moses a log to

throw into the waters so that they will be drinkable.

Now, the text tells us that the water became sweet, meaning that

it could be drunk by the people.

And the people have witnessed a miracle of God before their very

eyes.

They grumbled.

Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord provided a way of salvation

yet again, this time through a log being put into water.

But what is remarkable is not that God was able to perform the

miracle at Marah, but that he was willing to do it for such a bunch

of grumblers.

Why would he be bothered?

Well, John Calvin says this herein shone forth the inestimable

mercy of God who dying to change the nature of the water for

the purpose of supplying such wicked and, and rebellious and ungrateful

men.

I think that's a pretty good estimation of what's been carried

out here.

It gives God his full place and is a fair judgment of who these

people are.

Why would God want to supply them with water?

They're grumblers, they're wicked, they're rebellious and they're

ungrateful.

But what we see demonstrated here by God is that his grace is

so amazing that he even provides for whiners, provided that

they are really his children.

And he does this to show his mercy and his grace.

He also does it so that we learn to trust in Him.

For the water of life.

God wants us to have deep dependence on his ability to provide.

Often he teaches us this lesson by first leading us to taste

bitter water.

And this was true for Israel.

It was the bittersweet waters of Marah or Marah that increased

their faith.

One sign of growing spiritual maturity is our ability to trust

that God will provide even when it is hard to see how.

Because God has promised in 2nd Peter chapter 1 and verse 3,

his divine power has given us everything we need for life Godliness

through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and

goodness.

So even years later, as Peter's writing, he's telling us

the same truth that's revealed to us in Exodus 15.

God is still good towards his people because his divine power has

given us everything that we need for life godliness.

And it's all because of how and what he has revealed of Himself.

And this is a lesson that most believers, most Christians need to

learn over and over until we finally get to the point where we

no longer question if God is going to provide, but only wonder

how he will take care of us this time, waiting in faith until

he does.

And God tells us that this incident at Mar was to test the people.

God was doing something through it.

He wasn't punishing them, he wasn't neglecting them.

He was wanting their eyes and their hearts to be open to who he

was, because this is what he says in verse 25, there the Lord

made a decree and a law for them, and there He.

He tested them.

So this was a moment when the people were to take notice of God.

And perhaps you'd wonder, how could they not notice Him?

He's been before them as a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

He's taken them through the waters.

He's punished their enemies, but yet they failed to take notice

of who he truly is and what his standard of living for them was.

And so this is why they're being tested, so that they will actually

love God more than their sinful hearts.

You see, the people have already demonstrated their willingness

to grumble at the Red Sea, and now here at Marah.

So the Lord is going to direct them as to what their true response

to him should be.

And so as they're tested, as verse 25 tells us, so God says he's

making a decree and a law for them here at Marah.

And this will direct them.

This is what verse 26 says by way of that law and that decree.

God said, if you listen carefully, or Moses said of the Lord,

if you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do

what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands

and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the

diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who

heals you.

God's saying, I again will rescue you.

I will keep you.

He's demonstrated that rescue in providing water.

And in doing so, he's provided an object lesson for them at Marah.

Just as the Lord is the one who has healed the water that was

bitter, he is the one who heals Israel.

A spiritual healing indeed.

While he mentions his discipline by referring to the diseases

that he put on the Egyptians, he focuses on his love for his people,

telling them that he is the great healer.

So what the Lord is doing here is he's leaning toward them.

He's leaning toward his people with care, not judgment.

Because if he was leaning with judgment, then they would face the

same fate as the Egyptians.

But even though the Lord is of steadfast love towards them, this

doesn't mean that Israel can live any way they like.

The Lord provides them with a binding custom or law.

And in this case, the statute and rule tells them that if Israel

is faithful to the Lord, then he will protect them from harm and

he will bless them with good.

This is a test insofar as it establishes a standard of behavior

by which Israel will be measured, namely, obedience.

To their covenant king.

And this is what the Lord requires of them.

And they are now openly being challenged to live truly as his people.

They've seen his great hand of rescue and salvation, and yet they'll

still grumble because they think they can.

But the Lord's goodness and kindness doesn't finish at Marah

because let's read on in verse 27 where we're told that he leads

them to a place called Elam.

Then they came to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm

trees and they camped there near the water.

Elam is an oasis in the wilderness as they move further into

that wilderness, into the barren land away from Egypt, and

truth be told, even further away from the promised land.

Geographically, the Lord provides for them not only water

but also shade, so they can know refreshment from the burning

sun overhead.

See, God doesn't abandon his grumbling people, nor does he pour

his wrath upon them.

Instead, he leads them on so that they can know his true goodness

and his true grace and is in the to the oasis that we all want

to run.

We can be found at times enjoying a wonderful moment in life

and saying, wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the

time?

It might be a special moment with family, or a sense of a period

of peace and harmony at home, or a holiday where the cares of normal

life can disappear for a few short days.

And so we utter these words, wouldn't it be great if it was like

this all the time?

We get that sense that this is how we would want life to be, rather

than the turmoil that we face.

But the reality is life can't be like this.

And all the good times that we enjoy all the time.

This is a world that is shaped and influenced by sin and the consequences

of that sin, our sins and the sins of others reaches far in its

influence and impact on our lives.

Sin will always ruin the ideal moments of life because that is what

sin has always done.

It was sin that ruined creation and brought death, sickness,

disease and grumbling into the world.

This was not God's way of creation and before it.

In chapter 15, we see the consequence of this sin.

But it turns out that as much as they will have enjoyed the oasis

and sweetness of eliminating, the Israelites learned more from

the bitterness of Marah.

However, there is something to learn from these palm springs in

Elam.

Elim was a place of abundance.

Usually it's identified with Wadi Garhadel, a lush oasis in northern

Sinai.

Well, wherever Elam was located, the presence of such large

trees shows that it had a limitless supply of underground water.

The numbers 12 and 70 are symbolic of fullness and blessing.

There are a dozen wells, one for each of the tribes of Israel,

and 70 trees, one for each of Israel's elders, so that there was

plenty for everyone.

This again shows that God's provision is abundant and it would

be enough for God to give us what we need to survive.

But ordinarily he gives us enough to to thrive.

Not just survive, but thrive.

He satisfied Israel's thirst in the wilderness.

Now from the everlasting fountain of his grace, he showers

his people with care so that we flourish in every way.

And I wonder, as we've read this account, have you seen the moments

where we see the reflection of Jesus in this story?

The people had experienced a great rescue and salvation from Egypt.

We know salvation from sin can only come through Jesus.

The people quickly forgot what was done on their behalf and grumbled

against God.

We know what it cost Jesus on the cross to pay the punishment our

sins deserve.

And we continue to grumble against God saying, that's not fair

when we don't get things the way that we want them.

The Lord was good to his people in providing for their needs

and causing them to thrive in his love.

Well, Jesus calls us to place our faith and trust in him so that

we too can thrive now and be ready for eternity with Him.

And so what we have in this passage is the message of the Gospel

to us that as we walk the weary paths and that wilderness was

weary, but as we walk the weary paths of life, we can know

that there is hope.

And rather than grumbling, we can be peoples whose hearts are filled

by the Holy Spirit, so that we will look to God and wait and wonder

how he will act this time, rather than hurling words of accusation.

And I know that.

I know life is hard.

I know life is difficult.

And there are moments of deep tears and deep heartache.

And as we said last week, we can question God as to why we must

endure such things.

But to blame him demonstrates that our focus is not truly on Him.

Rather, it is on ourselves.

For in blaming him, we want to vindicate our actions and remove

ourselves from fault or blame.

But there is hope in Christ and there is hope in him alone.

God has made abundant provision for us by sending His Son

to be our Savior.

If we have Jesus, if we know him as our Lord and Savior, then

we have everything we need.

Because Paul writes to the Church in Philippi, in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 and verse 19, and he tells them, my God will supply every

need of yours according to his riches in glory and in Christ Jesus.

It is because of Christ that God is good towards us, because that

is the complete demonstration of his steadfast love.

So that as we know Christ, then He will indeed supply every

need.

Does that mean that God will meet all our material needs?

Yes.

He has promised to provide everything we truly need for daily

existence.

But more than that, he has promised to meet all our deepest

spiritual needs, granting us forgiveness of sins and giving us

fellowship with him forever.

Your tears may be bitter and hard.

Your heart may be sorrow filled with and yearning for a better

day.

This is the reality of the life that we have because of sin.

Now, I'm not saying that it's because of a sin that you have committed.

It is the sin of Genesis 3 that impacts everything we do, day

and daily.

And these days can be bitterly hard.

But yet there is hope in Christ.

There is salvation in him, that not only as he leads us through

the waters, but he will give us water by which we can live.

Because the Bible applies the lessons of Marah and Elam by describing

Jesus as the water of life.

Jesus said it himself in John 7, 37 and 38.

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living

water will flow from within him.

Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit, who is the refreshing

source of all spiritual vitality.

To come to Jesus is to receive the Holy Spirit and with the Spirit,

an everlasting supply of grace.

Everyone who comes to Jesus discovers that he is deeply satisfying

in every way.

And everyone may come to Jesus.

As Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17 says, Whoever is thirsty,

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

let him come.

And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of

life.

The people grumbled against God.

Their hearts, their spirits, were full of angst towards him because

they forgot what he had brought them through.

And they had forgot that it was their cry for salvation that

God had responded to.

So I challenge you today to check your spirit.

Is it a grumbling one?

Do you grumble on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?

Grumble on a Thursday too?

Grumble on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday?

Grumble the whole week through to whoever will listen to you.

Because in grumbling about the Lord and His people, well then your

witness and your testimony is demonstrated as a rot to your soul.

You see, we need to know living waters.

We need to know the sweet waters of Marah and the oasis of

Elam that we will trust in the Lord.

That indeed he will provide because his invitation by his own

words in John 7 and then by the revelation of John in chapter

22.

The invitation is to come whoever is thirsty and whoever wishes,

so that indeed we can have the free gift of the water of life, living

water that only Christ can give.

So this day, whatever the hardness of life is, however our

hardness of hearts, however we grumble, there is one who takes us

and makes us his own, and we all need him, because his invitation

is to come whoever is thirsty, so, so that indeed we may drink from

the water of life, come to Christ, and know the path ahead through

faith, as one looking to him, and he will lead us home.

Let us pray.

Our Father God, we thank you that your word, even a story from

the Old Testament, has the power to point us to Christ and the

truth of your salvation for us.

And Father, we all need it, regardless of who we are.

We need Christ more today than we did yesterday.

So may indeed we drink from the abundance of the living water

that Christ gives through the Holy Spirit.

May we know Christ as our salvation, and may we live for him,

not as people with spirits whose hearts are grumbling, but with

hearts who are joy filled.

So that we will make much of Christ and the joy of salvation and

the love of his people, so that we will demonstrate to a world

what is good and what is true.

And we ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.