Sailhamer: His instruction would be sweet to them and satisfy their thirst.

V. The Wilderness Wanderings (15:22-18:27)

A. God's Provision for Israel in the Desert (15:22-27)
After the destruction of the pharaoh's army in the sea, the Israelites continued their journey eastward into the Desert of Shur. Shur was a large semi-desert region east of the Egyptian border frontier. After three days without finding water, they arrived at Marah. There the Lord began to provide for the people, and the people learned to depend on his provision.

There is an important narrative lesson in the incident of the bitter waters. When the people were helpless and thirsty, Moses called out to the Lord for help. The Lord answered Moses by giving him an “instruction” on how to make the water sweet. When they followed the “instruction,” the water became sweet and their thirst was satisfied (v.25). In the Hebrew text, the word “instruction” means divine instruction. There is then a lesson about God's instructions to Israel in this incident: God's people must “listen carefully to the voice of the LORD [their] God” (v.26). His instruction would be sweet to them and satisfy their thirst.

The mention of “a decree and a law” (v.25b) for Israel and of Israel's being called upon to listen to the Lord's “commands” and “decrees” before the time of the giving of the Law at Sinai raises many questions. Already at this stage in their journey God had made known his will to the Israelites in concrete laws, such as the commands for keeping the Sabbath and those necessary for the administration of justice. We may posit a distinction between God's initial giving of the law to Israel, which was not too burdensome to bear, and God's giving of the detailed laws at Sinai after the incident of the Golden Calf (ch. 32). The Law was originally intended to teach God's people what was “right in his eyes” (15:26). After the failure of the people in the incident of the golden calf, however, more stringent measures were taken to keep the people from falling away into idolatry. Paul appears to have this view of the secondary nature of the Mosaic law in Gal 3:19, where he says that the Mosaic law “was added because of the transgressions.”

Having learned the lesson of dependence on God and listening to his voice, the people moved on to Elim where they found abundant water and nourishment (15:27).

Sailhamer, John (1994) NIV Compact Commentary (pp. 81-82) Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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