Marah

Marah is the first stopping-point Israel reaches after the crossing of the Red Sea — a place named for the bitter waters found there and remembered for the moment Yahweh made those waters sweet.

Bitter Waters in the Wilderness of Shur

Three days into the wilderness with no water, Israel arrives at a spring it cannot use: "And 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. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore it was named Marah" (Ex 15:22-23). The name itself records the failure of the find.

The Tree and the Sweetened Water

The people murmur — "What shall we drink?" (Ex 15:24) — and Moses cries to Yahweh. The reply is a sign tied to a tangible object and a binding new ordinance: "And he cried to Yahweh; And [the Speech of] Yahweh showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them" (Ex 15:25). The bitter spring becomes the location where the first ordinance of the wilderness journey is given.

In the Itinerary of Numbers

The summary of stations in Numbers locates Marah on the road between the sea-crossing and Elim: "And they journeyed from Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness: and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah. And they journeyed from Marah, and came to Elim: and in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees; and they encamped there" (Num 33:8-9). The contrast between the bitter Marah and the abundant Elim is built into the order of the itinerary.