Exodus 15:22-27
The God who saves at the sea also shepherds in the wilderness; He tests His redeemed people, provides for their need, and calls them to listen to His voice as the Lord who heals them.
22 Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23 When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.
24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.
26 He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.”
27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters.
The God who saves at the sea also shepherds in the wilderness; he tests his redeemed people, provides for their need, and calls them to listen to his voice as the LORD who heals them.
To show that the redeemed people who have just sung of the LORD’s triumph must now learn dependence in the wilderness, where need, testing, obedience, and divine provision reveal the LORD as the one who heals and sustains his covenant people.
This passage follows Exodus 15:1-21, the Song of the Sea, where Israel praises the Lord for His triumph over Pharaoh and His eternal reign. Exodus 15:22-27 begins the wilderness testing cycle after redemption. It prepares for the manna and quail episode in Exodus 16, where Israel again grumbles over provision and must learn dependence on the Lord’s instruction.
After crossing the sea and praising the LORD’s victory, Israel enters the Desert of Shur and goes three days without finding water. The passage stands at the beginning of the wilderness journey, where the redeemed community must learn that the LORD who defeated Egypt also governs thirst, provision, obedience, and covenant formation.
The Song of the Sea and the Testing at Marah
The LORD who triumphs over Egypt and reigns forever is also the LORD who tests, instructs, heals, and provides for His redeemed people in the wilderness.