Sermon 2301. Marah Better Than Elim

(No. 2301)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 26, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, 1889.

"So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in thewilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter:therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he criedunto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there Hemade for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, If you will diligently hearken to the voiceof the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all Hisstatutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healsyou." Exodus 15:22-26.

AFTER I had fallen down at Mentone, and was grievously ill, a Brother in Christ called to me and said, "My dear Friend, youhave now come to Marah." I replied, "Yes, and the waters are bitter." He then said, "But Marah is better than Elim, for inElim the Israelites only drank of the water and ate of the fruit of the palm trees, and that was soon over. But at Marah weread that God, 'made for them a statute and an ordinance,' and that was never over. That statute and ordinance stood fastand will stand fast for Israel as long as they are a nation. There is much more benefit to be reaped from Marah than fromElim." I thanked my friend for that good word. I had found it true before. I have found it true since then and you and I,if we are, indeed, the people of God, will find it true to the end, that Marah, though it is bitter, is also better. And albeitthat we do not like it, yet in the end there shall be no bitterness in it, but an unutterable sweetness which shall be oursthrough time and eternity!

We have a long record about Marah, have we not? I have read you four verses concerning Marah. How many verses have we aboutElim? Only one. Does Marah deserve to be talked about four times as much as Elim? Perhaps it does. Perhaps there is four timesas much fruit to be obtained from the bitter waters of Marah than from the 12 springs of water, and 70 palm trees at Elim.Who knows? This I know, however, that we are very apt to talk more about our bitters than about our sweets-and that is a seriousfault. It were well if we had fewer murmuring words for our sorrows and more songs of thanksgiving for our blessings. YetHoly Writ seems, here, to speak after the manner of men, and to let us have the four verses for the trial, and the one versefor the delight! Still, as it speaks, also, after the manner of God, I gather that Marah is, after all, more noteworthy thanElim and, truly, there does come to God's people something better out of their troubles than out of their joys.

Certainly one thing is clear, Israel had no miracle at Elim. Wells and palm trees they had, but they had no miracle, there,no miraculous change of the bitter into the sweet. And they had no statute, and no ordinance, and no promise, and no new Revelationof God, and no new name for Jehovah, there. All that belonged to Marah, "for there He made them a statute and an ordinance."And there He promised, if they were faithful and obedient, that He would put none of the diseases of Egypt upon them. Andthere He revealed Himself as Jehovah Rophi, "the Lord that heals you." Oh, yes, there are many virtues and many blessingsin the bitter waters of Marah! Often have we found it true that, "Sweet are the uses of adversity."

I hope that nobody here thinks that these Israelites experienced a small trial. We are not accustomed to traveling in thedesert, but those who are, tell us that thirst in the wilderness is something awful to endure. For all that great host togo three days without water must have been a very trying experience. You would not like to try that even in this country,

but what must it be to go three days in the wilderness, beneath a burning sky, without a drop of water to drink? Then camethe bitter disappointment at Marah. Probably the people knew that there were water springs ahead, so they hurried up to theplace to drink, but when they stooped to taste the waters, they found that they were bitter. They could not drink of themand there they stood, in their desperation, with the long thirst parching their throats, and bitter disappointment addingto their agony! And they murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" I say not this to excuse them, but lest youshould think that they had only a small trial to bear.

Remember, also, that this was a new form of trial. They never lacked for water in Egypt-there were plenty of rivers and canalsthere-and they could drink as much as they chose. This was an experience to which they were quite unaccustomed and I shouldnot wonder if they were greatly surprised at it, for they knew that they were the people of God. They had just seen the Lorddivide the Red Sea and drown their enemies-and now He has brought them out of Egypt to let them perish of thirst in the wilderness?They fancied that they were going to have one long triumphant march right into the Promised Land, or to be always dandledupon the lap of Providence, and indulged in every way, like spoiled children. They must have stood aghast at finding that,when the earth yielded water to slake their thirst, it was such water as they could not drink!

Well, now, this kind of surprise happens to many who have set out on the way to Heaven. God has been very gracious to them-theirsins are washed away and they think that the great joy which they have lately experienced will never be taken away from themand will never be even diminished. They reckon upon a long day without a cloud. God has favored them so much that they cannotimagine that they shall have any trial or any bitterness. It is not so, Beloved! A Christian is seldom long at ease! No soonerdoes he start out on pilgrimage to Heaven than he meets with difficulty and, as he goes on, he finds out that the way to Heavenis not a rolled pathway-it is up hill and down dale-through the mire and through the slough, over mountain and through thesea! It is by their trials and afflictions that the people of God are proved to be His children! They cannot escape the rod,whoever may-yet this experience does, at first, come as a very great surprise to them, so I want to talk, tonight, to somewho have been lately brought to rejoice in the Lord's pardoning mercy, but are now staggered because they have come to anencampment in the wilderness where their thirsty mouths are filled with bitterness.

I begin my discourse by saying that this experience was a great gain to Israel. Marah, with all its trials, was no loss tothem. They made a decided advance in three things through having to endure this trial. They were gainers, first, by examination.Next, by experience. And, thirdly, by education.

I. First, Israel's trial at Marah was a gain to them by EXAMINATION. It was to that end that they were brought there, thatthey might be examined by the Lord-"There he proved them."

Speaking of Israel at Marah, let me say, first, that they were in a new position. They were no longer slaves, they were notin Egyptian territory. The Red Sea rolled between them and their former lives and their former masters. But it is evidentfrom their conduct that they were not altogether a new people. They had brought a great deal of evil out of Egypt with them.When you heard them sing, you said, "It is strange that those poor slaves can sing such a jubilant song. Those women, so accustomedto carry heavy burdens of earth, how merrily they dance! How joyfully they strike the timbrels! Israel has certainly becomea new race. What a grand choir they make! What singing is theirs! Who would have dreamt that those who cried by reason oftheir taskmasters would ever sing like that?" Yes, but when they were tried and tested, it was found that the old stuff wasstill in them-they murmured just as they had often done before when, in the land of Egypt, they had blamed Moses because theirburdens were increased.

We, too, have entered quite a new state. Some of you, perhaps, have lately become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Between youand your old sins there rolls a deep, impassable sea-you will never go back to them again. Ah, but do not begin to flatteryourselves that you have left behind you all your old selves! There remains, still, even in the regenerate, the old lustsof the flesh! They have had their heads broken, but they still live! They have been crucified, their hands and feet are fastenedto the wood, crucified with Christ-but they live for all that! And they struggle on the Cross and you must not marvel, if,when you are tried and proved, you find that you are like these Israelites at Marah.

Notice, next, that the trial to which Israel was subjected was the Lord's own test, which is searching and accurate- "He provedthem." We sit down and practice self-examination, which is a very proper thing. Beware, I pray you, of a faith that will notstand self-examination! If you dare not look into your own heart, it must be because there is something

rotten there. The tradesman who is afraid to inspect his books, or examine his stock, is going to the bad, rest assured ofthat. We are bound to examine ourselves very carefully, but, after all, our examinations are very superficial, very partial,and we are very apt to make a mistake. In the case of Israel, the Lord proved them by that thirst in the wilderness and thatgreat agony on finding that the water they looked for was undrinkable. "He proved them." The Lord may be bringing some ofyou into deep waters and great trials because He is proving you. When the fan is in His hand, then does He thoroughly purgeHis floor. When He sits as a Refiner of silver, believe me, it is no child's play to be in the crucible! The Lord took Israelto those waters on purpose to prove them. Have you never prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know mythoughts"? The Lord may answer you in a way of which you little dream-He may conduct you to some waters of Marah that He maytest you and prove you.

Well, now, under the test, see what happened to Israel. Their faith in God evaporated. That question, "What shall we drink?"has not a trace of faith in it! I hear it shouted, in different tones, by men, women and children-and it all comes to thesame thing, "We hoped to quench our thirst here, but we cannot drink this water, and now, what shall we drink?" As if Godcould not, having dried up the sea, turn the earth into a fountain of water! He that made them a path through the midst ofthe deep waters could make a path for waters to come to them! There was no trace of faith in the murmurers at Marah. Theyseemed full of faith at the Red Sea, did they not? Many dancers, but no doubters! Many singers, but no unbelievers! Yet thewhole company had not more than a pennyworth of faith among them. Moses was the only one who truly believed God-but as forthe faith of the rest of them, it was mere gilt-veneer of faith covering a solid mass of unbelief!

Not only did their faith fail, but their love to God was very feeble. Did you not hear them three days ago? Why, you can almosthear the strain of their jubilant song, "He is my God and I will prepare Him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exaltHim." Oh, how they love Jehovah, do they not? They were in the love of their espousals! They went after Him into the wilderness.But now the cry is, "What shall we drink?" And they murmured against Moses. Theirs was a cupboard love, like yours and mineoften is. They loved God very much for what they got out of Him and if He would not give them water to drink, what cared theyfor Him? If He would divide the Red Sea for them, then He would be their God and they would prepare Him a habitation. Butif He let them suffer the pangs of thirst, there should be no blessings for Him on their lips! Ah, me, how like ourselveswere these people! When we test ourselves, we say, "Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You." And I hope thatthat is correct. But when the Lord proves us, and we are very sharply tested, we are apt to say, "Nobody was ever tried aswe are! Nobody ever had the peculiar difficulties that surround us!" And then we begin murmuring. When we are thinking ofhow much we love God, it might be more profitable to consider how very little we really love Him, after all.

And see, Brothers and Sisters, these people were ready to break away from their God. They murmured against Moses because Moseswas visible in their midst-but the real murmuring was against God, Himself! They might ask, as long as they liked, "What shallwe drink?" but they could not get a drop of water by repeating that question a thousand times. Would they go back to Egypt?How would they cross the sea? What would Pharaoh and the Egyptians think of them if they did go back? Could they force theirway forward through that terrible wilderness? There they stood, entirely dependent upon God, and yet with scarcely a particleof faith in Him! And their love all shriveled up-and all that within three days! O Israel, it is early days to be fallingout with your new Husband! They had just been married to the Lord by a new Covenant and baptized in the cloud and in the sea-yetwithin three days they are ready to fling it all up and to say, as they did in their hearts-"Would to God that we had remainedin the land of Egypt!" Oh, what poor, faithless, treacherous, deceitful creatures we are! It is only Divine Grace that makesus anything worth having. It is a wonder of mercy that the Lord puts up with us.

This, then, was Israel's examination. "Well," you say, "did they gain much by that?" Oh, yes! It is always a gain to a manto know the truth about himself. A captain must find his longitude and latitude, that he may know whereabouts his vessel isupon the sea. And this, I believe, is one of the things God would have His people do. The Lord does not wish His childrento live in a fool's paradise and to fancy that they are rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing, when theyare naked, and poor, and blind, and miserable! He sends us our Marahs, just to blow away our shams and get rid of our pretences,that we may build our house on the Rock, that what is built may be founded on real granite and may endure even to the end.

So much for the examination of the children of Israel at Marah.

II. But now, beloved Friends, these people gained much by EXPERIENCE. Experience cannot be the property of the beginner-hemust acquire it. Now what did the children of Israel experience?

First, they learned that the wilderness was the same to them as it was to other people. It is well that young converts shouldknow that this world is an evil world even to the man who is saved by Divine Grace. You are new, but the world is not. Youlove holiness, but the world neither loves you, nor loves holiness. You are in a wilderness-you are in the enemy's country-youhave not yet come into your rest. If you have not learned this fact, yet, you will have to learn it.

They were to learn, next, that they were wholly dependent upon God. When they stood at the brink of the Red Sea, they sawthat they were so, and that only God could lead them through the sea. But after that, they were just as dependent. They couldnot live longer without water, they must perish of thirst unless God supplied them. It is a blessed lesson for us to learnthat we are entirely dependent upon God for all things, but especially for spiritual things. You will not pray unless He givesyou the Spirit of supplication. You will have no tenderness of heart unless He works repentance in you. You will have no morefaith unless faith is constantly bestowed by God. We are just like these gaslights-a candle may depend upon its own resources,but this light cannot. Only cut the connection between it and the reservoir of gas and, straightway, out it must go. We dependupon God every instant as much as we did at first and all our old experience, all that we have learned, and known, and taught,will stand us in no stead whatever unless we continue perpetually to receive from God. That was the lesson Israel had to learn.

They also learned that God and God, alone, would provide. They might have to go very short of supplies at times and they mighthave a long thirst, but the Lord would not let one of them die of thirst. There is no record that even the tiniest babe inthe camp, or even a sheep or goat in that mighty throng, perished for lack of water! God did provide. He does not promisethat there shall always be a dinner ready when the dinner bell rings. You have not such an appetite as you would afterwardshave if you waited another hour and, sometimes, the Lord may keep you waiting for His supplies that you may enjoy them allthe better when they do come. He never is before His time, but He never is behind His time, though He may be behind your time.God will provide. That day Israel began to understand that word of their father Abraham when He said to Isaac, as you remember,"My son, God will provide." Now it began to come home to the children of the tribes that God would surely provide-and He didprovide for them this great necessary gift of water when they were in the wilderness. That is something to learn. Some ofyou people of God, here, have learned that lesson, for you have been in great straits and you have been fed by the constantprovision of God.

The Israelites were also to learn, in the next place, that God could make their bitters into sweets, and He could do thatin a very simple way. But He could do it-and He could bring good out of evil, and satisfy them by that which formerly nauseatedthem. Have you learned that lesson? Some of you people of God, when you get bitter waters, want to throw them away. Do notthrow a drop of it away, for that is the water you have yet to drink. Accept your afflictions! They are a part of your education.Accept your afflictions. When Job could say, "The Lord gave," it was easy to add, "and blessed be the name of the Lord." Buthe also added, "and the Lord has taken away." That was the bitter water, but he drank it, and it was sweet to his taste, andhe blessed the name of the Lord for the taking as well as for the giving! God means to bless some of you by the enemy's curse.Though you do not know it, you are to be lifted up by those who are trying to pull you down. I noticed some of the paperswriting unkindly of our dear friend, John McNeill, and saying all manner of hard things of him-and I rejoiced in my heart!I hoped that they would go ahead at that work. I remember how they did it to me-all the bitterness they could invent, in yearsgone by. Every form and fashion of abuse was heaped upon me-and what a wonderful advertisement it was! What a kindness theywere doing me without intending it! Let them alone and, depend upon it, God will make the wrath of man to praise Him and theremainder of that wrath He will restrain.

Next, notice, that God works by His own means. The Lord showed Moses a tree and when he cast that tree into the waters, theybecame sweet. I think, if I had been there, I should have suggested that Moses should use that rod of his. Did he not dividethe Red Sea with it? Why not just put his rod into the water and stir it up, and make it sweet? Oh, yes, you know, we arealways for running to old methods! But God is a Sovereign and He will work as He pleases. There was a tree growing there,perhaps the wood of it was bitter, certainly it had no efficacy for making bitter water sweet, but God bade Moses cast thattree into the waters-and as soon as it was done the waters were made sweet!

Now, you have just to believe that God will help you. You do not know how He will do it and, perhaps, He will not help youin the old way. Do not despair because Moses does not bring out his rod, for the Lord can relieve you without that! That dearfriend who has helped you so many years is gone. Well, but God is not gone and He is not dependent upon that one person, norupon any other! Therefore leave God as a King to do as He pleases, for His pleasure is the wis-est-and let His pleasure beyour pleasure.

Israel also learned by experience that God Himself was to be looked to, and nobody else. If there were waters beneath theirfeet, they were of no value until God spoke sweetness into them. If Moses, himself, stood there, he could do nothing but prayto the Lord. God, Himself, must come and, by a miracle, must make the water fit to drink. Brothers and Sisters, it is alwaysa gain to us in our experience when we get farther and farther away from every dependence but the Lord! You may have friendsforsaking you and they who used to praise you may now be speaking evil of you. And you may come, at last, to feel that youhave nothing but God to depend upon-then is the time that faith really comes into exercise! I could not help laughing whenI read the story of a good Christian lady who spoke of our friend, Mr. Hudson Taylor-"Why," she said, "there is no Societyto take care of him! Poor man, he has nobody but God to depend upon!" You may well smile. "Nobody but God to depend upon"-butthat is everybody to depend upon! Oh, if we could only be brought to that experience, Marah's waters would, indeed, be a heavenlytonic to us! The child of God who has learned this Truth of God, experimentally, can say, "My soul is weaned from all thenether springs, but she drinks from the upper spring that flows from beneath the Throne of God, and she finds every drop tohave a heavenly sweetness in it."

Thus Israel gained by experience as well as by examination.

III. Now comes the third point-Israel gained by EDUCATION. The Lord was not going to lead a mob of slaves into Canaan to goand behave like slaves there! They had to be tutored. The wilderness was the Oxford and Cambridge for God's students. Therethey went to the University and He taught and trained them, and they took their degree before they entered into the promisedland. There is no University for a Christian like that of sorrow and trial.

Now the Israelites were educated by Marah, first, in self-distrust. How could they ever trust themselves, again, when, threedays after singing that jubilant song, they caught themselves murmuring against Moses? If they had been intelligent, as theywere not, they would, each one, have said to his fellow, "Behold the boastfulness of our evil hearts." What a terrible dropit is from "I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously: the horse and His rider has He thrown into the sea,"to, "What shall we drink?" That is just how you and I come down when we are left to ourselves. Thus Israel learned self-distrust.

Next, they learned, as I have told you before, daily dependence. They learned that they must depend upon God even for a dropof water. That is the dependence of a Christian. He has nothing and he can do nothing without his God. We have no bread, nowater, no anything except as God shall give it to us. A blessed lesson was this for Israel. They were educated well at Marah.

Next, they learned the power of prayer. Will you kindly fix your eyes upon those two verses, 24 and twenty-five? "And thepeople murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord." Moses did not answer them. He didnot upbraid them. He did not, even, begin to argue with them. But he cried unto the Lord and, thus, the people learned thepower of prayer. They might have gone on murmuring until now if they could have lived so long- and the waters of Marah wouldhave been as bitter as ever. But Moses cried unto the Lord and that prayer did what all the murmuring could not do! Were halfthe breath we vainly spend in going round to our neighbors, asking their sympathy, spent in going directly to God in prayer,we should sooner get out of our troubles! "Straightforward makes the best runner," and he that runs straight to God in everytime of adversity shall soon find relief.

Again, at Marah the Israelites began to learn their separateness from Egypt. The Egyptians never drank these bitter watersbut the Egyptians had foul diseases and terrible plagues. Now, the Lord tell His people that He will not put upon them anyof the diseases of Egypt. God turned the rivers of Egypt into blood, but here He turns the bitter waters into fresh streams.His miracles were for Israel and against Egypt-and they began to clearly perceive that they had nothing to do with the Egyptians.They were a separated people. It is a valuable piece of education for a young Christian to find out that he does not belongto the world. The tendency is to think that, though you are in the Church, you can be in the world, too, and that you belong,in a measure, to both. That will never do! The Lord means to fetch His people right out of the world-and He will have themout! And if any of you try to be like the mouse behind the wainscot and only come

out and feed in the dark-I mean that you come to Christ for a little food when nobody sees you and then go and hide away withthe world-there will be a black cat after you before long! Some trouble or other will happen to you. That game will neverplease God and never profit you. Therefore drop it, I pray you, or else some bitter Marah will teach you that you are notof the world.

Israel had next to learn the position of obedience. Will you kindly notice this? God did not say, "Do this and I will bringyou out of Egypt." No, but after He brought them out, He said, "Hearken to My commandments, and keep My statutes." Salvationcomes first and then obedience! Saved first, brought through the Red Sea with the high hand of God's gracious power and, afterthat, become His obedient people! Obedience follows after redemption and deliverance. First the blood of sprinkling on thedoorposts and after that you shall give ear unto the voice of the Lord your God, and diligently hearken to Him.

Israel also learned the nature of obedience. Obedience does not merely do what it knows it should do, but it finds out whatit ought to do. Oh, you Christian people, do you make a practice of reading God's Word to see what He would have you do? Iam afraid that there are some who make a point of not seeing some of the duties which are not pleasing to them. There aresome who half shun portions of Scripture because they would trouble their consciences. Let it not be so with any of us, butlet us listen diligently to the voice of the Lord our God. If you are saved, the kind of obedience that you are bound to renderis that of a willing heart, which cries like Saul, "Lord, what will You have me to do?"

Then, Israel learned the promise made to obedience-"If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, andwill do that which is right in His sight, and will give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put noneof these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians." For you there shall be no plagues. God may try you,yet it will be not in anger, but in His dear Covenant love. Everything shall be changed for you. If sickness comes, it shallbe overruled for your spiritual health. When death comes, it shall only introduce you to eternal life. The Lord will be verygracious to you. He that forgives our sins also heals all our diseases. His name is Jehovah Rophi! What an education it isfor us when we feel that the God that healed the waters, heals us, and heals everything that has to do with us! It changesthe aspect of all things about us, takes the sting out of the wasp and turns it into a bee. It takes away the venom from theserpent and gives us its wisdom, that we may be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves! Oh, the wonderful cure-alls of God,the heavenly catholicon of the Cross, the universal remedy of a dying Savior! May our experience educate us in the knowledgeof that gracious healing!

The hour has struck and I must, therefore, cease. Only I must say that this is the one lesson of tonight-dear people of God,trust your God. Trust your God not only when your mouth is full of honey, but when it is full of gall. "Rest in the Lord,and wait patiently for Him," for He in whom you trust will bless you. But if you are not trusting Him, then shall plagues,like those of Egypt, come upon you. Darkness and all manner of evils shall waylay you, till, at last, there shall be heardin your house a bitter cry, for the Destroying Angel will overtake you, and plunge his avenging sword into your guilty hearts.God save you from that terrible doom, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITIONS BY C. H. SPURGEON. EXODUS 15; JEREMIAH 7:21-26.

Exodus 15:1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for Hehas triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea. Note, that they were singing, singing a veryloud and triumphant song, and you would have thought that they would have kept on singing for the next 40 years! It was sucha triumph, such a deliverance, God's arm was made so bare before their eyes that you would have thought that their jubilationwould have lasted throughout a lifetime, at the least. On the contrary, it lasted a very little while. Yet what a song itwas that they sang! "I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has He thrown intothe sea." What a song of triumph that is which is sung by souls saved from sin, death and Hell by the great atoning Sacrificeof Christ! Oh, when we first realize that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, we do, indeed, "feel like singingall the time," for our sins are washed away and we have a notion that we shall always keep on singing till we join in thesong of the glorified in Heaven! So it ought to be, but, alas, from sad experience we know that it is not so! However, thesong of Moses and the children of Israel goes on.

2. The LORD is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; myfather's God, and I will exalt Him. The heart is prompted by gratitude to think of doing something for God. It thinks of preparingHim a habitation, but what habitation shall we prepare for Him whom the Heaven of heavens cannot contain? All that we canpossibly do is too little for the greatness of His Grace and His Glory. "You did well that it was in your heart," said theLord to David, though He might not prepare God a habitation. It is well that it is in our heart, today, to do some littlething for the Glory of God. As an old Puritan says we give for love-tokens a cracked sixpence, or a flower that soon fades.It is accepted as a love-token, not for its intrinsic value, but as an emblem of what our heart feels and would do if it could.Even so it is with the Lord and the service His people seek to render to Him. He takes our trifles and makes much of them.

3-5. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and His host has He cast into the sea: his chosencaptains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. And this iswhat has happened to all the powers that were against us. Our sins, where are they? Has not the Lord cast them into the depthsof the sea? Yes, blessed be His name forever! We, like Israel on the other side of the Red Sea, praise the Lord that we haveescaped out of the hand of the oppressor and that Pharaoh holds us as servants no longer. To the Lord, alone, is due the gloryof our deliverance.

6-8. Your right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: Your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy. And inthe greatness of Your excellence, You have overthrown them that rose up against You: You sent forth Your wrath, which consumedthem as stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap,and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. What cannot God do? The liquid becomes solid! Nature, itself, changeswhen the God of Nature puts forth His power. Trust in God and He will do wonders for you, also, as He did for His ancientpeople Israel.

9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will drawmy sword, my hand shall destroy them. How the powers of darkness rage and rave! What a flurry they are in! What big wordsthey speak! What cruel designs they harbor against God's people. See how still and calm is the Lord amid all their raging!

10. You did blow with Your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. God has only to use His breathto blow upon them and away they go, and all their boastings, too! One word from the mouth of God can destroy all our doubtsand fears. The breath of His Spirit can sink all our enemies and make us sing for joy of heart at our great deliverance.

11-13. Who is like unto You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth the people which You have redeemed:You have guided them in Your strength unto Your holy habitation. The song becomes prophetic. All joy gets to be prophetic-atleast, the joy of earth when once it is touched with the live coal from off the heavenly altar. We begin to praise God, "forall the Grace we have not tasted yet," as Israel here does. They praise the Lord for leading His people through the wildernessand bringing them unto His holy habitation, even while they are only at the beginning of their journey.

14. The people-That is, the Canaanites-

14, 15. Shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall beamazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. When theyhear of the great things that Jehovah has done for His people, they shall feel that the day of their doom is come. Who canstand against so mighty a God? Yet there are some, in our day, whose hearts are stouter and harder than the hearts of thedukes of Edom and the mighty men of Moab. They hear of God's judgments upon the wicked and of the terrible doom of the ungodly,and yet they dare to defy the Lord and to continue in their evil ways!

16-18. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm they shall be as still as a stone; till Your peoplepass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which You have purchased. You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountainof Your inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which You have made for You to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which Your handshave established. The LORD shall reign forever and ever. How grandly that last note must have pealed

forth from the hundreds of thousands of male voices! The women must also have sung it with the utmost conceivable joy as theystruck their timbrels and danced before the Lord.

19-22. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again thewaters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And Miriam the Prophetess,the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriamanswered them, Sing you to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea.So Moses brought Israel 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.

At first, they were afraid of too much water, from the waves of the sea. Now they are afraid of too little. Will their songsbe over in three days? Ah, yes! At the end of the third day they came to some springs of water, but they were brackish orbitter.

23, 24. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the nameof it was called Marah. And the people murmured-Ah, these singers had sadly changed their notes! Where are the timbrels now?"The people murmured"

24-27. Against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which whenhe had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He provedthem, and said, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in His sight,and will give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I havebrought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that heals you. And they came to Elim. They did not stay long at Marah, probablyonly a few hours.

27. Where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees and they encamped there by the waters. That Elim musthave been prepared on purpose for Israel. Twelve springs of water-that was the number of the tribes. Threescore and ten palmtrees-that was the number of the elders. I do not wonder that Moses noted these numbers. It must have seemed remarkable that,long before they came there, there were the wells and there were the palm trees all ready for their encampment! It was mostsignificant that these things should have been prepared according to the number of the children of Israel, but everythingelse is arranged by the same rule. When the Lord divided the people, He set the bounds of the nations according to the numberof the children of Israel. It is by this line that He still builds His Church. It is according to His thoughts of His ownpeople that He rules everything in His Providence.

There are a few verses in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, at the seventh chapter, which we will read concerning this subject.

Jeremiah 7:21, 22. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spokenot unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offeringsor sacrifices. You have heard what God said to them when they came out of Egypt.

23-26. But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people: and walkyou in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear,but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Since the day thatyour fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all My servants the Prophets, dailyrising up early and sending them: yet they hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they didworse than their fathers. God grant that these words may never be a truthful description of us! Oh, may we keep the Covenantof our God and walk before Him with a holy, reverent fear, and serve Him all our days! Amen.