Exodus 15:20-25

20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.
21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”

The Waters of Marah and Elim

22 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.
23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.[a] )
24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the LORD issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.

Exodus 15:20-25 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 15

This chapter contains the song of Moses, and of the children of Israel, on the banks of the Red sea; in which they celebrate their passage through it, the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, and the glory of the divine perfections displayed therein, interspersed with prophetic hints of things future, Ex 15:1-19 which same song was sung by the women, with Miriam at the head of them, attended with timbrels and dances, Ex 15:20,21, an account is given of the march of the children of Israel from the Red sea to the wilderness of Shur, and of the bitter waters found at Marah, which occasioned a murmuring, and of their being made sweet by casting a tree into them, Ex 15:22-25 when they were told by the Lord, that if they would yield obedience to his commandments, they should be free from the diseases the Egyptians had been afflicted with, Ex 15:26, and the chapter is concluded with their coming to Elim, where they found twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and there encamped, Ex 15:27.

Cross References 16

  • 1. ver 21; Exodus 2:4; Numbers 12:1; Numbers 20:1; Numbers 26:59; 1 Chronicles 4:17; 1 Chronicles 6:3
  • 2. Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chronicles 34:22; Nehemiah 6:14; Isaiah 8:3; Ezekiel 13:17
  • 3. S Genesis 31:27; 1 Samuel 18:6; Psalms 81:2; Isaiah 30:32
  • 4. S Genesis 4:21; Judges 11:34; Judges 21:21; 1 Samuel 18:6; 2Sa 6:5,14,16; Psalms 30:11; Psalms 149:3; Psalms 150:4; Song of Songs 6:13; Jeremiah 31:4,13
  • 5. 1 Samuel 18:7
  • 6. Amos 2:15; Haggai 2:22
  • 7. ver 1; S Exodus 14:27
  • 8. Psalms 78:52
  • 9. S Genesis 16:7
  • 10. Exodus 17:1,3; Numbers 20:2,5; Numbers 33:14; Psalms 107:5
  • 11. Numbers 33:8; Ruth 1:20
  • 12. S Exodus 14:12; Exodus 16:2; Exodus 7:3; Numbers 14:2; Joshua 9:18; Psalms 78:18,42; Psalms 106:13,25; Ezekiel 16:43
  • 13. Matthew 6:31
  • 14. S Exodus 14:10
  • 15. 2 Kings 2:21; 2 Kings 4:41; 2 Kings 6:6
  • 16. S Genesis 22:1; Judges 3:4; Job 23:10; Psalms 81:7; Isaiah 48:10

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. "Marah" means "bitter."
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