(5) The Waters of Marah and Meribah

 

(5) The Waters of Marah and Meribah

① The Bitter and Sweet Waters of Marah

Exodus 15:22-27 “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went into the Desert of Shur, and they went three days’ journey in the wilderness, but found no water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink its water, because it was bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. The people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, which he threw into the water, and the waters became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them, saying, “If you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God and obey him, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his decrees, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; so they pitched their tents by the water.”

Miriam is a name derived from Mara, meaning to rebel or to write. Nasa means to pull out, meaning to leave nothing behind. Sur means wall (boundary).

Genesis 16:7 states, "The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur." This is the scene where Hagar meets the angel of the LORD. Hagar's son (Ishmael) is a child of the law. The word "Shur" also means "to wander." It refers to the wilderness where one wanders and encounters a wall.

The wall represents a fence (the Law). Being within the fence means being imprisoned within the Law. There is no water of life there. It is a dry land (the wilderness: Midbar). There is water (the Law), but there is no drinking water that gives life.

The three-day journey represents three times. It symbolizes the death on the cross in the wilderness.

The bitter waters of Marah symbolize the Law. Marah comes from the word mar, meaning bitter or afflicted. God had not yet given the people the stone tablets, but he was revealing that the Law was bitter. Therefore, the people, unable to drink the bitter Law, were told to cry out to God, and God would provide them with water to drink.

Today, there are some ignorant legalists who claim that simply observing the letter of the law will lead to blessings or entry into the kingdom of God, despite not even understanding what the law is. Those who realize the suffering of life through the law and seek God's life-giving word receive grace. This is the gospel of Christ.

The people were speaking (runes) while standing on Moses. The runes are the letters that Lot spoke to the angels in Genesis 19:2: "He said, 'My lords, turn back and come into your servant's house. Wash your feet and spend the night; then rise early and go on your way.' But they said, 'No, but we will spend the night in the street.'"

They ask the Lord God because they cannot find drinking water based on the Law. It is not Moses who cries out, but the people who follow Moses and cry out to God because the water is bitter.

The story goes that when a tree is thrown into bitter water, it becomes sweet. The Tree of Life is inserted into the Law, and what was once bitter becomes sweet. The Tree of Life becomes righteousness (mishpat), testing people at each moment. It determines whether they have drunk the letter of the Law or the water of life.

"He established decrees and laws and tested them." The law is a test that reveals what it means. The purpose of the law is to turn bitter water into sweet water. Regarding the bitter water, Revelation 8:11 says, "The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became bitter, and many people died because the waters were made bitter." However, the tree turns the water into sweet water. The bitter water symbolizes the cross, and the sweet water signifies resurrection life.

The ordinances and commandments God gives are to throw the tree of life to those who drink the bitter waters of Marah and cry out in bitterness, allowing them to drink sweet water. This clearly divides those who do this from those who do not.

It's not about keeping the letter of the law, but rather about hearing the voice of the Lord when we cry out to Him and keeping all His statutes in our hearts, and God will prevent us from inflicting judgments like the Ten Plagues. The term "disease" signifies God's judgment according to the law. This means that those who cry out to God will not be subjected to judgment according to the law.

Coming into this world away from God is itself a disease. Therefore, returning to God through His Word is healing. Passing from death to life is healing (rapha). Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

 

② Water of Meribah (Massah)

Exodus 17:1-4 “The whole congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the Desert of Sin, as the LORD had commanded, and set out on their journey, and camped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, saying, ‘Give us water to drink.’ But Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?’ When the people thirsted for water there, the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?’ But Moses cried out to the LORD, ‘What shall I do to this people? They will surely stone me before it is too late.’”

The Israelites came to Rephidim (a place without water), which was God's command. A place without water symbolizes a world without the word of God's kingdom. This signifies that humans have migrated from the kingdom of God into the world, living as sojourners. The root word for Rephidim is rapha, meaning "to heal."

The phrase "depart from the wilderness" (Massah) means to depart from the Word. The word "tent" is a combination of the words "hen" (grace) and "adad" (gate and door of grace). It signifies the temple of God, a place of grace. They pitched their tents to rest, but there was no water to drink. They were thirsty even after eating manna.

John 6:49 says, "Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, yet they died." In other words, even though they ate manna, they died because they didn't understand what it was. They died spiritually. Hebrews 3:17 also says, "And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the wilderness?"

Psalm 81:7 says, "You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of the thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah." Here, it says that God tested Israel. It was a test for healing.

Here, the people argued with Moses. They weren't just complaining, but arguing among themselves about matters they should understand. Moses was saying, "Shouldn't you be arguing with God, not with me?" The people were diligently keeping the law and striving for righteousness, yet he was speaking about the reason for their thirst. In other words, he was telling them to test the Lord God. Test him to see if he would listen.

Because they strive to achieve righteousness by keeping the letter of the law, they are thirsty for the kingdom of God. When thirsty, they are supposed to pray to God. Because they had been keeping the letter of the law for so long, they didn't realize they were thirsting for the kingdom of God. Therefore, they neither sought God nor argued with Him. However, when they arrived at Rephidim, they became thirsty.

In this way, the people tried to obey God's law and practice righteousness, but failed. Therefore, they pleaded with God, "Shouldn't God give us the water of life?" To test God is to demand that His will be fulfilled. Moses said, "What can these people do? Shouldn't we throw small stones at them?"

Exodus 17:5-6 “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Pass on in front of the people and take with you the elders of Israel. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; then you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” So Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Taking the elders of Israel with him demonstrates that the elders need to change. They cling to the letter of the law and fail to grasp the thirsty state. Therefore, the elders of Israel are those who fail to understand Christ. Moses is taking them with him to show them. The river refers to the Yeor River, which is also the Jordan River.

The rock represents Christ. In 2 Samuel 22:2, it says, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer." Striking the rock represents the death of Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:1-5: “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not pleased, so they were destroyed in the wilderness.”

It is said that water (resurrection life) comes through the death of Christ (the cross). It is said that he will give them Christ, the water of life.

Exodus 7:17 says, "Thus says the Lord: By this you will know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike the waters of the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and they will be turned to blood."

The water turning into blood is like the law becoming Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Striking the stone on Mount Horeb is striking Jesus Christ. His death (blood) on the cross becomes the water of resurrection and life. Only those who realize their thirst for life can drink the water of life. The rock splits open, allowing water to gush forth.

Exodus 17:7 "He called the name of that place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"

That place is called Makom (מָּקֹ֔ום) in Hebrew. The name of Makom was Massa Meribah. Makom is a combination of koum and mem, meaning to rise by the word. When Jairus, the synagogue leader, died, Jesus said, "Talithakum," which means to rise, to rise from the dead.

Makhom means to live by the word of life. Massah means to contend, and Meribah means to test. The children of Israel quarreled over the law and tested the Lord. They must test Him both at the beginning and at the end. Testing is to test whether the Lord is among us or not.

Maqom is a test to see if the Lord is within us. It's not a test based on our own thinking, but a test based on the law. We must realize what is impossible within the letter of the law and discover Christ. For those who discover Christ, God himself is present. Those who realize they lack the water of life can seek it from God. This is what it means to test God. God gives the water of life to those who ask for it.