Exodus 15:22-27 – “Bitter Testing”

February 16, 2025

Exodus 15:22-27

“Bitter Testing”

Service Overview: At Marah, the Lord transforms bitterness into sweetness, revealing His power, care, and grace; even for the grumblers. Through this account, we’re challenged to embrace God’s testing as an opportunity grow our faith and develop a deeper dependence on Him, despite the bitterness life often brings.

 

Memory Verse for the Week:

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8)

 

Background & Technical Insights:

• This section of Exodus reports the next stage of the Israelites’ trek away from Egypt. Their journey into the Sinai Peninsula brings them into an arid region where fresh water and food are not readily available. As they journey by stages through this region, God uses the harsh conditions to train the people to trust and obey him. By presenting the people with various challenges, God intentionally prepares them so that they will understand the consequences of entering into a covenant relationship with him at Mount Sinai. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 133)
• One would think that the mighty demonstration of God’s power at the crossing of the Red Sea would quiet all grumbling and bad-mouthing of God or his servant Moses, but not so! What most learn from history is that few learn anything from history! (Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Location 4939)
• (15:25) The NIV’s ‘a piece of wood’ is against the general use of ʿēṣ. As well as meaning ‘a tree’, the singular is used in a collective sense for the ‘tree content’ of a garden (Gen. 3:2) and in a generic sense for wood as compared with stone (Deut. 4:28)… The only place where I can find the singular used to mean a piece of wood in the sense of ‘a stick’ is Ezek. 37:16–22. Here in 15:25, therefore, the translation ‘wood’ does not correspond with Old Testament usage. ‘Stick’ or ‘branch’ could be justified, but ‘tree’ is the most accurate and is to be preferred. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 179)
• What God instructed Moses to throw in the bitter water was almost certainly more than “a piece of wood” or “a log” (ESV). The word normally just means a tree—branches, leaves, and all. Presumably (being in the wilderness) it was small enough to be rooted up, possibly chopped up as well, and thrown in the water. The effect was to cleanse or sweeten the water and make it drinkable. (Christopher J.H. Wright, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Exodus, 304)
• Marah is usually identified with Ain Hawarah, a site several miles inland from the gulf. Ain Hawarah’s waters are notoriously salty and brackish. Describing its well, Edward Robinson says: “The basin is six or eight feet in diameter, and the water about two feet deep. Its taste is unpleasant, saltish, and somewhat bitter…  The Arabs… consider it as the worst water in all these regions.” (Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Exodus, Location 4967)

 

Why would God purposely lead the Israelites through such harsh circumstances?

1. To test their trust.

(Exodus 15:25; Deuteronomy 8:2; Psalm 66:10; Proverbs 17:3; Jeremiah 17:10)

God deliberately leads the Israelites into the wilderness in order to prepare them for life in Canaan. Their time in the wilderness is a period of training for them. By confronting the Israelites with a lack of food and water, God tests their trust in him. Their obedience in these circumstances reflects the degree to which they trust him. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 138)

God was testing His people, not because He didn’t know their hearts, but because they didn’t know their own hearts. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Delivered: Exodus, 91)

 

2. To develop their character and perseverance.

(Psalm 119:67; Isaiah 48:10; Romans 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 12:11; James 1:4)

It was one thing for the Jews to stand by the Red Sea and joyfully sing praises to the Lord, and quite something else to trust God in their daily wilderness walk. They were no different from God’s people today. Life is still a school, and the painful experiences of life teach us some of the most important lessons. (Warren Wiersbe, Be Delivered: Exodus, 90)

God’s purpose in leading “His people through the wilderness was (and is) not only that He might try and prove them (Deut. 8:2-5), but that in the trial He might exhibit what He was for them in bearing with their failures and in supplying their need. (Arthur Pink, Gleanings in Exodus, Location 3931)

Through his treatment of the Israelites, God reveals his patience and tolerance as he seeks to encourage them to trust him more. Contrary to popular caricatures of God, he is not a vengeful tyrant, eagerly seeking every opportunity to punish people. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 138)

 

3. To secure their faith and obedience.

(Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 119:105; Matthew 7:24; James 2:17; 1 John 5:3)

Going through the wilderness was not necessary for Israel’s salvation, but it was necessary for their sanctification. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Exodus, 414)

When the people came to Marah and the disappointment of the undrinkable water, the Lord showed Moses (lit.) ‘a tree’ (15:25). In other words, the remedy had been in preparation long before the need arose and was there, ready and waiting. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 176)

God knew that they needed water just as much as they needed bread. But they needed also to know that God’s people do not live by water (or bread) alone but by walking in attentive obedience to the Word of God. (Christopher J.H. Wright, The Story of God Bible Commentary: Exodus, 306)

 

Conclusion… How does a scene like this then give us perspective for our own wilderness journey?

1. As it challenges us to trust God even when life is bitter.

(Job 1:21; Psalm 34:8; Proverbs 3:5-6; Isaiah 41:10; Lamentations 3:22-23; Romans 8:28)

The complaints we direct at people cloak a deeper dissatisfaction with God’s provision. (T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, 139)

What we suffer may be bitter in itself, but however bitter it is, it does not need to make us bitter. The problem at Marah was not the water, bitter though it was, but the bitterness in the hearts of God’s people. (Ryken, Exodus, 418)

 

2. By allowing trials to shape our faith rather than shake it.

(Psalm 119:71; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Corinthians 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Hebrews 12:7; James 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:6-7)

When God ‘tests’ us, however, it is a different matter. He does so by bringing us into situations which call for trust and the endurance and obedience that prove our trust is real, so that, by the exercise of faith in the face of new challenges, our trust in him can develop and mature until we come to see that everything that happens to us is under divine supervision and is brimful of divine purposes for good. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 173)

The attitude that we take toward our difficulties determines which direction life will go, for what life does to us depends on what life finds in us. If we trust God and obey His Word, we’ll pass the test and grow, but if in unbelief we complain and disobey the Lord, we’ll fail the test and remain immature (James 1:12–18; Heb. 12:1–11). (Warren Wiersbe, Be Delivered: Exodus, 92)

 

3. By embracing the sanctifying work of trials as they cultivate obedience in us.

(John 15:2; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:22-24; Titus 2:11-12; Hebrews 12:10-11; 1 Peter 1:14-16)

Christ will never be found the Savior of those who know nothing of following His example. Saving faith and real converting grace will always produce some conformity to the image of Jesus (Col. 3:10). (J.C. Ryle, Holiness, 67)

If these commands were not for Israel’s salvation, then what were they for? They were for Israel’s sanctification. Genuine, saving faith is always followed by joyful good works. God wants us to do more than simply believe what he has done; he also wants us to obey what he has commanded. God gave Israel these instructions to help them live for his glory. Once we have been saved from sin, the way to experience the fullness of God’s blessing is to trust and obey. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 420)

 

Gospel Connection…

Jesus is our source of living water, turning bitterness into blessing and leading us through trials for our good and His glory.

(John 7:37-38; 4:13-14; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 2:10)

The wood made the water sweet because it came from God’s tree. This reminds us of some of the other trees in Scripture: the life-giving tree in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9), the tree of life in the New Jerusalem, with leaves for healing the nations (Rev. 22:2), and especially the tree on which Christ was crucified — the tree that heals our bitter, bitter sin. God seems to specialize in trees of healing. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 419)

 

 

Spiritual Challenge Questions…

Reflect on these questions in your time with the Lord this week, or discuss with a Christian family member or Life Group.

• Why do you think God led the Israelites to bitter water before providing sweet water? What does this reveal about His purposes in trials?
• Have you ever experienced a “bitter water” moment in life—a time when circumstances seemed difficult or unfair? How did God show His faithfulness in that situation?
• God tested the Israelites to secure their faith and obedience. What are some ways we can grow in obedience to God, even when we don’t understand His plan? (See John 14:15 and Hebrews 12:10-11.)
• What lessons from this passage can help us encourage someone who is currently walking through a difficult season? How can we practically support them?
• As we look at God’s provision in this passage, how does it shape the way we trust Him for our future? What is one way you can intentionally lean into God’s faithfulness this week?

 

 

Quotes to note…

We grumble when we lose perspective. We shrink our horizons until they are filled by our problem. We take our eyes off Jesus. We seek satisfaction elsewhere. And in those moments, Jesus invites us to look at our lives from the perspective of the cross and from the perspective of eternity. (Tim Chester, Exodus for You, 124)

If these commands were not for Israel’s salvation, then what were they for? They were for Israel’s sanctification. Genuine, saving faith is always followed by joyful good works. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 420)

We, too, pass through the Red Sea, through the desert, across the Jordan into the promised land. With Israel we fall into doubt and unbelief and through punishment and repentance experience again God’s help and faithfulness. All this is not mere reverie but holy, godly reality. We are torn out of our own existence and set down in the midst of the holy history of God on earth. There God dealt with us, and there He still deals with us, our needs and our sins, in judgment and grace. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, 53)

Like Israel, we too are sojourners, who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, who have crossed over to the other side by grace, and who are now on the way to promised land. In this faith journey, in our wilderness, God is sanctifying us and teaching us to trust Him, love Him, and follow Him. (Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus, 94)

The trials of the pathway may take us by surprise, but never him. They may catch us unprepared, but never him. Left to ourselves, they would be more than we could bear, but we are never left to ourselves. By ourselves, we would not know which way to turn, but we are not by ourselves. God has planned the course we are to take and walks with us. (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 175)

God can solve our problems by changing things (like making the bitter waters sweet), by giving us something else (like the wells of water at Elim), or by giving us the grace we need to bear with our difficulties and not complain. The third approach is what produces lasting spiritual growth (2 Cor. 12:7–10). (Warren Wiersbe, Be Delivered: Exodus, 93)

One of the characteristics of grumbling is that it often posits idealised and unrealistic alternatives. (Tim Chester, Exodus for You, 117)

One sign of growing spiritual maturity is our ability to trust that God will provide, even when it is hard to see how. (Phillip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Exodus, 419)

Some have called anxiety “functional atheism.” When you worry, you do not believe in God. (Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus, 95)

Perseverance is one of the signs of a real faith. We have already noted that there is no such thing as an untested faith, for it is under testing that its genuineness comes out (1 Pet. 1:6–7). (J. Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus, 171)