By James Riley Strange, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of New Testament, Samford University
Our Healer
Exodus 14:29–31; 15:22–27
Exodus 14–16 puts today’s passages in context: the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Israel will look to this event to remind themselves that God is their Redeemer and Protector. It will supply the introduction to the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1; Deut. 5:6), and the reason for keeping the Sabbath day in Deuteronomy (5:12–15). It appears in the Passover celebration, and the evangelists will speak of Jesus’ death and resurrection as an event that completes God’s Passover redemption.
Recognize that God has worked powerfully on our behalf. (14:29–31)
The passage presents God as a warrior who fights on Israel’s behalf (see 14:14), the same idea expressed in the Song of the Sea in 15:1–19, the books of Joshua and Judges and many other places. The “fear” that Israel feels toward God appears often in the Bible (see Prov. 1:7). Although the word can mean “terror,” in this passage Israel’s fear doesn’t mean that it feels threatened by God. Rather this fear causes them to strengthen their trust in God. Most translations of verse 31 say Israel “believed in” God, but it is clear that “trusted” is what is meant because the same word is used for their reaction to Moses. This fear therefore is best understood as awe or reverence that leads to trust and obedience. The Israelites will learn, however, that the realities of life can shut down this trust. As a consequence, they will need constant reminding of God’s redemption.
When we complain, we’re focusing on the problem and not on God. (15:22–24)
The Israelites’ complaint during this crisis is no surprise, for they did the same thing in 14:12, and they will do it again frequently before they reach the Promised Land. We can hardly blame them. They have been without a water source for three days and when they finally find one the water is undrinkable (“Marah” means “bitterness;” compare Ruth 1:20). This is a dangerous circumstance. Lest we caricature the Israelites as shallow or silly, recall that at every moment of complaint they are in a life-threatening situation.
Real threats to their survival filled up all the spaces in their view of the world causing them to forget that they have placed their hope in God. It can work that way for us too. In the face of danger — debilitating illness, violence, death, loss of jobs and marriages, betrayal — we, like the Israelites, need to be reminded that we have put our trust in God and He is worthy of our trust.
God responds and restores when we call to Him. (15:25–27)
Israelites learn that God is Yahweh Rophekha, “The Lord Who Heals You” (in modern Hebrew, this means “The Lord Is Your Physician”). Now we know that God uses the situation of this passage to teach both them and us a lesson that is about more than water.
Our lives are much more stable than Israel’s was in the wilderness. We do not face threats from Pharaoh, starvation or deadly dehydration. Few readers of this lesson are homeless, forced to wander for decades. By contrast with them, we are surrounded by the best technology and the brightest people, whom we readily consult about all sorts of threatening situations.
But in the end, despite all of our advantages, we too rely on the Author of the universe who also is the Author of our lives. The best and brightest may help us to solve our temporal issues or we may succumb to events over which we have no control. In either case, like Israel of old, we place our trust in the Lord who heals us.
Share with others: