Water from a rock
Notes
Transcript
Wilderness
Wilderness
The Lexham English Bible Chapter 17
17 And all the community of the ⌊Israelites⌋ set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.
If we were to look back over the past passages of Exodus we would discover that the people were traveling through the wilderness and from one trouble to the next. For instance after the Israelites left Egypt they traveled through the Desert of Shur-After their incredible victory at the Red Sea, Israel entered a time of jubilation. The Red Sea victory was so definitive and the nation of Israel was filled with assurance regarding God’s plan for them.
Anthony T. Selvaggio, From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses, ed. Iain M. Duguid, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 105.
Then they traveled through the Desert of Sin-After enjoying the oasis of Elim, the Israelites moved on to another stop on the hardship highway. They entered yet another desert, the desert of Sin. Whereas the previous desert was short on water, this new desert was lacking food.
From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The Desert of Sin
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Ex. 16:2–3)
Anthony T. Selvaggio, From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses, ed. Iain M. Duguid, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 106. As we begin this passage we find yet another trial for the Israelites. 2 And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, “Give us water so that we can drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”
W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ex 17:2.
At this point let us consider how God treated them concerning their grumbling. Once again Israel revealed a heart of faithlessness and ingratitude. The song of victory at the banks of the Red Sea had fully faded from their memory and from their lips. They were no longer exalting God and trusting in Moses; they were bitterly complaining against God and ready to rebel against Moses.
Anthony T. Selvaggio, From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses, ed. Iain M. Duguid, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 107.
Anthony T. Selvaggio, From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses, ed. Iain M. Duguid, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 107.
From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses The Desert of Sin
But once again God met the needs of his people. He delivered them from their hunger by giving them meat to eat in the evening and bread to eat in the morning (Ex. 16:4–8). Each evening the skies rained quail and each morning the ground was rife with manna. The manna would come to represent the entire wilderness wanderings of the Israelites. They would eat it for forty years, until they reached the borders of the land of promise (Ex. 16:35). God once again provided for his people.
The Lexham English Bible (Chapter 17)
3 And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why ⌊ever⌋ did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?”
Now that the Israelites have moved into their next place of suffering, the need is for drinking water. Are you seeing the theme here? Both food and water are basic necessities for sure, but God wants us to trust and obey. As church leaders we can all get troubled by the rumblings of the people. At times I feel like a fire fighter running from blaze to blaze and extinguishing pop-up fires. Moses apparently is getting troubled with the Israelites constant bickering and complaining. 4 And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me.”
W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), Ex 17:4. God answered Moses’ concerns and the needs of his people by instructing Moses to strike a rock with his staff. Upon his striking the rock, water flowed from it to quench the parching thirst of the Israelites (Ex. 17:5–6). But Moses was getting a bit fed up with the behavior of the Israelites, and he named the location where this occurred Massah (which means “testing”) and Meribah (which means “quarreling”) “because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’ ” (Ex. 17:7). The pattern here is the same, Israel grumbled and God provided.
Anthony T. Selvaggio, From Bondage to Liberty: The Gospel according to Moses, ed. Iain M. Duguid, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014), 108.
The Lexham English Bible Chapter 17
“Is Yahweh in our midst or not?”