Exodus 15, Song and sweet water

The Song of Moses and Miriam takes up most of this chapter.

There are many, many people who claim Genesis in particular is simply poetic fiction or poetic rendition of old oral tradition.

When poetry is presented in the Hebrew, it looks like the Song of Moses and Miriam, and NOT like Genesis, which presents itself as plain old history!

This song recounts the parting of the Red Sea and the drowning of the Egyptians in praise to God. You can note a few things about it which are different from the historical narrative covered so far:

1. The chronological order is not a matter of high importance here, whereas it was in the previous chapters.

2. Praising the Lord for what He did is of primary importance here, so many details are left out in honor of that overriding purpose.

3. There is an emotional note strongly felt in the poetry which is absent in historical narrative: here the emotion expressed is joy and triumph.

The end passages recount the miraculous changing of the bitter waters of Marah to pure, sweet water for them to drink. This is most probably a straight miracle to assure the Israelites of God's presence and continued care and provision. If there was a natural force involved, we don't have any way of knowing that I am aware of, as there are not nearly enough details in the narrative.

However the fact that immediately after the glorious song of victory we are told the people grumbled about the water really says something about the natural human heart! When are there miracles enough to banish disbelief?

And the answer is NEVER! If a person chooses to refuse to believe, there will never be miracles enough to convince him.

By contrast, the believer's eyes are opened to the actual miracles, large and small, which the Lord provides one way or another almost constantly.

It's quite a contrast!

This chapter closes with the encampment at Elim, which has twelve springs and seventy palm trees. In other words, it was a large oasis, not just a little place!