The ancient names Moses gives should be enough to follow the Israelites but the places and names are evidently up for interpretation. The first and most traditional route has the Israelites crossing the Red Sea at the Gulf of Suez closest to Egypt. This is the traditionally accepted route and the placement of Mt. Sinai.
THE RED SEA
What are the Biblical criteria for the Red Sea Crossing? There are three passages that deal with the topography of the Red Sea crossing. Exodus 14:2 gives Moses perspective. It states,
Exodus 14:2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.”
Exodus 14:9 gives Pharaoh’s perspective. It states, “So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.”
In the itinerary of sites where the Israelites traveled in Numbers 33:7,8 it is stated: “They moved from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, which is east of Baal Zephon; and they camped near Migdol. They departed from before Pi Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness.”
“In trying to locate the crossing point of the Red Sea, we need to follow closely what the Bible says. Of course the actual crossing point needs to be possible, logical and harmonize with scripture. For example, crossing a shallow freshwater lake like the Bitter Lakes, where winds merely blew the water away, creates a problem for how the Egyptian army would be drowned. On the other hand, a crossing through the center of either the Gulf of Suez or Gulf of Aqaba where the water is often 1800 meters deep, easily explains the drowning of the army, but creates a problem in actually getting one million men, women, children and livestock to negotiate the steep 60 degree downward slope to the bottom almost a mile deep, then back up the other equally steep side.” – Steve Rudd
The Hebrew term for the place of the crossing is Yam Suph where yam means a large body of water such as a sea and suph means reed. But translators have said “Red Sea” rather than “Sea of Reeds”. Wikipedia – Hebrew suph never means “red” but rather sometimes means “reeds”. (While it is not relevant to the identification of the body of water, suph also puns on the Hebrew suphah (“storm”) and soph (“end”), referring to the events of the Exodus). .. Reeds tolerant of salt water flourish in the shallow string of lakes extending from Suez north to the Mediterranean Sea.
Is it actually yam soph which means “Sea of the End”?
Did they cross at the brackish, marshy Lake Tanis? Or somewhere in the Bitter Lakes area? Lake Timsay? Or a canal between the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean? Or did they cross the Gulf of Suez at some point? Or did they cross the Sinai Peninsula and cross the Gulf of Aqaba? Did they cross the actual Red Sea down where it divides into the two gulfs? Did they cross water at two points? One a “Reed Sea” and one the “Red Sea”? (See Numbers 33:7-10).
“’The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left’ (Exodus 14:21–22). The ‘wall of water’ on each side of the Israelites certainly suggests depth. Later, ‘the sea went back to its place. . . . The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived’ (verses 27–28). There can be no doubt about what Moses is communicating here. Red Sea or Reed Sea, it was deep enough to destroy the entire Egyptian army.” – Got Questions.org
Three topographical sites must be identified from these passages. They are the Pi Hahiroth, the Migdol and Baal Zephon.
Scholars have debated the meaning of Pi Hahiroth but the consensus seems to be that it is a Hebraized form of Akkadian origin meaning “mouth of the canal”. If that is the case, what canal is being referred to? Was there a canal from the Bitter Lakes to the Gulf of Suez, or at least the remnants of a canal that was started and abandoned by the time of the Exodus? The classical sources seem to indicate that a canal was started by Sesostris in the 12th Dynasty [ca. 1900 BC] but not completed. If that is the case, he might have begun part of the project at the Red Sea but later abandoned it. This would have been called the Pi Hahiroth, the “mouth of the canal.”
The next toponym to consider is the Migdol. K. A. Kitchen says that “the term migdol is simply a common noun from Northwest Semitic, for a fort or watchtower, and we do not know how many such migdols existed in the East Delta region” . This fortified tower would have guarded the northern end of the Gulf of Suez and the canal, if it existed, as well as the road coming up from the Sinai.
The next toponym to be considered is Baal-Zephon. Dr. Hoffmeier has pointed out that the “expression literally means ‘lord of the north’ and is a deity in the Ugaritic pantheon associated with Mount Casius just north of Ugarit”. Baal-zephon was worshipped at Memphis and Tell Defeneh and a cylinder seal depicting Baal-Zephon as the “protector of sailors” was found at Tell el-Dab’a.
The Greek Septuagint (LXX) from 200 BC is the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible known, and the words yam suph are consistently translated with the Greek words eruthros thalassa or “Red Sea”. The translators of the LXX obviously understood Moses to be referring to the Red Sea, not some other body of water… When the LXX is quoted in the New Testament, the biblical writers, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, retained the Greek words meaning “Red Sea” (not “Reed Sea”). One example is in Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7:36 and, also, Hebrews 11:29 – GotQuestions.org
Depending on where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, is what determines the route of the Exodus. Above is a map of the old accepted route of their Exodus. Below is a map of a new theory of the Exodus.
This determines where Mt. Sinai is. Is it in the Sinai Peninsula or Arabia?
Meanwhile…
Exodus 16:1-36 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.” 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” 13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
In studying this today I looked up what “manna” means. While God called it Bread of Heaven or Angel’s Food, the Israelites called it, “What is it?”. Yep, “manna” means “what is it?“
They get to the Wilderness of Sin where they sin by grumbling and complaining. This wilderness was a desert and it was pretty rough. You can imagine they were wondering why they had left Egypt to be taken into a desert. But God had done all these miracles so where was their faith?
The word translated for Sin here actually means thorns. Back before the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin, there were no thorns. After they sinned, God said, “The ground is cursed because of you…it will produce thorns and thistles for you”
Now let’s look at what Jesus said about thorns:
Matthew 13:3-4,7,22 Then He taught them many things by using stories. He said: A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. (4) While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds… Mat 13:7 Some other seeds fell where thorn bushes grew up and choked the plants… Mat 13:22 The seeds that fell among the thorn bushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.
Thorns are the cares of this world that choke out belief. When a word of faith, the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, is spread, the cares of this world sprout up and unbelief chokes it out.
Let’s get back to the Wilderness of Sin. The Israelites had witnessed some spectacular miracles that had brought them safe thus far with promises from God for a future. But when they got hot, tired, hungry and thirsty, the cares of this world choked out their belief in God. They didn’t turn to God, they turned against God. Instead of kneeling and saying, “Father, help us”, they grumbled, complained, muttered and accused.
God was merciful and He sent quail and heavenly food for them in another miracle. But it kind of sounds like they looked the gift horse in the mouth by calling this miraculous provision, “What is it?”
Details about manna:
If you read Exodus 16, here is what it says about manna:
- God sent dew around the camp and when it evaporated, the manna was left behind.
- It was “fine flakes” and “fine as frost”. It resembled coriander seed, was white and tasted like wafers made with honey.
- It had to be gathered in the morning after the dew had evaporated. If left to the heat of the day, it melted.
- God told them to gather an omer per person (an omer which is possibly 2 qts) for 5 days. On the 6th day, they were to gather double that amount to last over the 7th day which was the Sabbath (no work was to be done on the Sabbath).
- If they had any leftover to the next day, it grew maggots and stank. The only day it didn’t do that was the Sabbath.
- No manna fell on the Sabbath.
- The Lord provided manna for their entire time of wandering in the wilderness, 40 years.
- The Lord instructed Moses and Aaron to gather 2 units of manna and place in a container to be kept as a testimony. Eventually it was put in the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:4).
Other passages about manna:
Numbers 11:7-9 And the manna was like coriander seed, and the color of it was like the color of bdellium. (8) The people went around and gathered, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of fresh oil. (9) And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
Psalms 78:25 Man did eat angels’ food: He sent them meat to the full.
Psalms 105:40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
Nehemiah 9:15 And You gave them bread from the heavens for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst. And You promised them that they should go in to possess the land which You had sworn to give them.
Notice God provided but the people had to obediently do something. They had to gather it and process it every day to get bread. God was teaching them something: a work ethic. God provides, but the people had to work to eat. He was teaching them to have faith in His provision but they must participate to receive.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 Remember that for 40 years the LORD your God led you on your journey in the desert. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey his commands. (3) So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the LORD speaks.
If you are a student of the Word, you may remember seeing that last sentence somewhere else. Look at Luke 4.
Luke 4:1-4 Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit as he left the Jordan River. The Spirit led him while he was in the desert, (2) where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. During those days Jesus ate nothing, so when they were over, he was hungry. (3) The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” (4) Jesus answered him, “Scripture says, ‘A person cannot live on bread alone.‘”
You can easily see the difference between the Israelites who were hungry and Jesus who “was hungry”. The Israelites grumbled and complained about God not providing. Jesus had faith that God would provide and He was willing to wait on God’s provision rather than to take the shortcut. Jesus was perfectly capable of making bread out of stone. Heck, He multiplied bread and fish to feed 5,000. But Jesus looked to God to provide what He needed and He waited on God’s provision. He didn’t let the “cares of this world” choke out His belief, and trust, in the loving hand of the Father. And He didn’t take shortcuts to get what He thought He needed. He trusted that His Father loved Him, knew His needs and would provide accordingly. Satan was tempting Him with the cares of this world which choke faith.
John 6:47-63 I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life. (48) “I am the bread of life. (49) Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. (50) This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. (51) I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.” (52) The Jews began to quarrel with each other. They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (53) Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. (54) Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. (55) My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (56) Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. (57) The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. (58) This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.” (59) Jesus said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. (60) When many of Jesus’ disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?” (61) Jesus was aware that his disciples were criticizing his message. So Jesus asked them, “Did what I say make you lose faith? (62) What if you see the Son of Man go where he was before? (63) Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life.
“I am the Bread of Life” is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. Jesus used the same phrase “I AM” in seven declarations about Himself. Here Jesus accuses the crowd of ignoring His miraculous signs and only following Him for a free meal. They are too concerned with the “cares of this world“. Some even left off following Him because they were only in it for what they could get out of it. “You give me a free meal and I’ll stick around for the next free meal and the next one and the next one.” We easily become dependent on the cash cow, the goose that lays the golden eggs and we just become greedy for more. Many today have depended on the government to provide for their needs. They don’t turn to God for help, they cry out and complain to the government demanding more and more. Our government has become the cash cow. But where does all that money come from? It’s not a goose, it’s the taxes paid by workers. There are only so many times you can go back to the well before it’s empty of water. What happens when there is no more money? When everyone suffers because the source has dried up. Our government is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs (the middle class workers who pay taxes) in order to give golden eggs to those who do not work for it.
But let’s get back to Jesus. What does He mean that He is the “Bread of life”? He is sent by the Father and He comes out of heaven, bringing from the Father a new source of life into the world. Manna came from Heaven and those that ate it were sustained for awhile, but eventually they still died. Jesus is saying there is a hidden manna, a bread that will sustain life forever. We have a hunger of the heart. What is this Manna? Jesus Christ, in human flesh, was yet God. He was perfect man (human) and still God. There was no sin in Him. In Him we have God, and in Him we touch the actual and uncorrupted Source of all Life. Christ is the Bread from heaven. In Christ, God gives Himself to us, that by His life we may live. It is through Him that our spirits live eternally. Our body may die, but it will eventually be resurrected in eternal life. We will live immortally and eternally because of Jesus Christ!
If I eat dirt, will I be able to live? If I eat grass, will I be able to live? No. But a cornstalk will derive nutrients from the soil and grow and produce corn that feeds me. A cow will eat grass and then I can drink the milk or eat the cow and it feeds me. We need nourishment embodied in a living form before we can live on it. The Word became flesh in Jesus Christ. Truth took on a living form in Jesus Christ. He died that we may live. God was merciful and provided what we really needed through Jesus, His Son.
How do we eat His flesh and drink His blood? How do we take in that which gives us eternal life? Belief in Jesus. Coming to Him and trusting that He provides. We come with an open heart, accepting Him as the only provision for eternal life. We must establish a connection with Him through repentance and have relationship with Him to sustain us. Much like a baby in the womb has an umbilical cord attached to the sustaining Mother. We have an “umbilical cord” that needs to attach to the Source. We may attach it to many things and we shrivel up, only finding death. But if we attach it to the true Source, we receive spiritual nutrients that keep our spirit alive for eternity. We must make Christ ours so that what we assimilate is Him. We partake in Him by reading His Word, studying it, praying it, praising and worshiping God, loving on Him, practicing trust and developing that relationship in prayer.
When we take Communion (or the Lord’s Supper), we do it in obedience to Jesus’ command to eat His flesh and drink of His blood. But it’s symbolic of a relationship with Him where we find our Source in Him. We commune with God through Jesus Christ. It is a reminder (like the manna Moses put in a container and saved as a testimony) of our union with Him and our relationship established through what Jesus did for us.
“Christ is so called, because He gives life to dead sinners: men in a state of nature are dead in trespasses and sins; and whatever they feed upon tends to death; Christ, the True Bread, only gives life, which is conveyed by the word, and made effectual by the Spirit: and because He supports and maintains the life He gives; it is not in the power of a believer to support the spiritual life he has; nor can he live on anything short of Christ; and there is enough in Christ for him to live upon: and because He quickens, and makes the saints lively in the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, and renews their spiritual strength, and secures for them eternal life.” – John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible
Water
Exodus 17:1-7 The Israelites left the western Sinai desert. They traveled all together from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they turned against Moses and started arguing with him. They said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why have you turned against me? Why are you testing the LORD?” 3 But the people were very thirsty, so they continued complaining to Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did you bring us out here so that we, our children, and our cattle will all die without water?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What can I do with these people? They are ready to kill me.” 5 The LORD said to Moses, “Go before the Israelites. Take some of the elders of the people with you. Carry your walking stick with you. This is the stick that you used when you hit the Nile River. 6 I will stand before you on a rock at Horeb. Hit that rock with the walking stick and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink.” Moses did these things and the elders of Israel saw it. 7 Moses named that place Meribah and Massah, because this was the place that the Israelites turned against him and tested the LORD. The people wanted to know if the LORD was with them or not.
“Israel did exactly what God commanded; yet there was no water to drink. They were in the will of God but in a difficult time. It is possible to be completely in the will of God yet also in great problems.” – David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary
1) mouth
1a) mouth (of man)
1b) mouth (as organ of speech)
1c) mouth (of animals)
1d) mouth, opening, orifice (of a well, river, etc)
1e) extremity, end
Reph’idim means rests or stays, that is, resting places. The place lies in the march of the Israelites from Egypt to Sinai. Its site is not certain, but it is perhaps Wady Feiran, a rather broad valley about 25 miles from Jebel Musa, (Mount Sinai). – Smith Bible Dictionary
Exodus 17:7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the wrangling of the sons of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?
Mer’ibah. (quarrel, strife, contention). One of the names given by Moses to the fountain in the desert of Sin, near Rephidim, which issued from the rock in Horeb, which he smote by the divine command, “because of the chiding of the children of Israel” (Exodus 17:1-7). It was also called Massah. – Easton Bible Dictionary
The people had a real problem. They were thirsty. But instead of going to the Source, God, they turned on Moses. They responded according to the flesh. They were ready to blame someone which does what? Nothing! Blaming and complaining are faith blockers! The cares of this world choke out faith.
Moses did what a spiritual leader should do. He was an example. He went before the Lord with the problem and then was obedient to what God told him to do. He could have thrown up his hands and walked off and gone back to Midian and left the people on their own. But he would have suffered for leaving his post. God used Moses as a leader and leaders have to lead even when they are not popular and the sheep are disgruntled. God assured Moses and took care of his appointed leader. Moses was not stoned to death.
God was merciful and gave them water from a rock. Although what God told Moses to do didn’t make any sense, it worked. Moses was obedient. He had to have faith that his obedience would lead to a solution.
God remembered the way Israel tested Him at Massah and Meribah, recalling it in many passages:
• Deuteronomy 6:16 : You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah
• Deuteronomy 9:22 : at . . . Massah . . . you provoked the LORD to wrath
• Deuteronomy 33:8 : Your holy one, Whom You tested at Massah, and with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah (David Guzik)
The living water Jesus spoke of was the Holy Spirit (John 7:39); it is no less miraculous for God to bring the love and power of the Holy Spirit out of our hearts than it is to bring water out of a rock – our hearts can be just as hard! Jesus was struck with Moses’ rod – the curse of the law – and from Him flowed water to satisfy our spiritual thirst.
John 7:37-39 And in the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
John 7:38 He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:39 (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
This rock was a type of Christ. “He being smitten with Moses’s rod, and bearing the curse of the law for our sins, and by the preaching of the Gospel crucified among his people from him floweth the spiritual drink wherewith all believing hearts are refreshed.” – Mr. Ainsworth, Adam Clark Commentary.
“Rock of Ages was smitten, and from His riven side has flowed out blood and water, for the sin and thirst of the world. He that eateth His flesh and drinketh His blood, spiritually, hath eternal life.” – F.B. Meyer
God has provided them with quail and manna in the wilderness. Now they get to Rephidim (which means quarrel, contention, strife) and there is no water. Again, the Israelites react in the wrong way. They have a legitimate complaint. They need water. But they allow the cares of this world to choke out their faith. Instead of getting on their knees and taking the problem to God and looking to Him as their Source, they go to Moses with complaints. They blame Moses and are ready to stone him!
A leader knows how it is to lead disgruntled people. They play the blame game and have misplaced anger issues. I can only think of President Trump who has done a good job of leading despite his natural inclinations and despite a country that has signally been ungrateful and downright ugly. Many citizens would love to see him stoned to death. It’s hard to drag a kicking and screaming nation in any direction and get anywhere. That’s the position Moses was in. I imagine he was thinking, “If they would just get it. If they would just go with God’s flow and work together in unity in God’s purpose, how much easier this would be. But, no, they have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, every step of the way only to find God’s provision after all.” They expended so much energy in hate and blame and what does that do? Nothing, but exhausts you. Be a part of the solution and not adding to the problem and making things worse.
A leader has to lead in the right direction even if the people don’t appreciate what he’s trying to do. Moses did the right thing. He took the problem to God. He could have walked away and dusted his hands off. Of course, that wasn’t what God wanted him to do and he would have suffered for leaving his post. But he probably had every “right” to be angry with the people and to walk away. He was rightly insulted. There are people who do walk away. They can’t take the heat and they leave their leadership role. But Moses didn’t do that. He led by example and he took the problem to God. He could tell God anything and God reassured him each time. This time, God told him to do something that didn’t make any sense. Go strike a rock. Oh, and by the way, take the leaders of the people with you as witnesses. But Moses had learned that God didn’t tell him to do things just to be funny. So Moses obeyed in faith. When he struck that rock, out of it came enough water for millions of people to be satisfied, along with their herds of livestock! While the people were walking in unbelief, Moses was walking in belief, faith. See the difference! How grateful we should be that God is merciful to us sinners. He still cares for us and He is ever patient with us. He knows there are some who will learn the lessons and will have a heart for Him so He pours out His blessings even when we are not worthy of them!
John 4:10-15 Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give Me to drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. (11) The woman said to Him, Sir, you have no vessel, and the well is deep. From where then do you have that living water? (12) Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his children and his cattle? (13) Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (15) The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may not thirst nor come here to draw.
1 Corinthians 10:1-6 Friends, I want to remind you that all of our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. (2) This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. (3) All of them also ate the same spiritual food (4) and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. (5) But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert. (6) What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things.
This rock was a type of Christ, the Rock of Ages. He bore the punishment for our sins and from Him now flows the living water. He was crucified and from His side a spear was stuck and from it blood and water flowed. We that believe, partake in His blood and His broken flesh and therefore have eternal life. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and are washed from our sins, God sends the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts to empower and enable us to go through the sanctification process. When we cooperate with the Holy Spirit within us, we grow spiritually and become more like Christ. This is a miracle! First that we, sinners that we are, can be saved. Second, that we become the Temple of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit lives inside us!!! Third, that the Holy Spirit within us can make changes in us to make us more like Christ. We are hard rocks and we can be pretty tough to change but the Holy Spirit never stops working on us. And, out of us flows living water, the Holy Spirit, that draws others to Christ to be saved!
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