Beshalach: Ex 13:17-17:16
After the Israelites were set free and delivered from their slavery in Egypt, a shadow of the deliverance from slavery to sin that our faith in Christ brings, they begun their journey to Mt Horeb under the leadership of Moses. The arrival would be a fulfilment of the promise given to Moses a few chapters earlier:
When they stopped at the shores of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army began pursuing them, the people cried:
After crossing the sea, the people grumbled again because they were thirsty and all they could find was a watering hole filled with bitter water. Now, of course, after three days without any water it's understandable the people were thirsty and in desperate need of hydration. And it would be reasonable to say: 'Hey, Moses, could you get us some water!' But it says that the people grumbled, or murmured, against him. The word for grumbling, luwn, primarily means to stop for the night, delay, or dwell. In other words, the people would not move on from their problem. They camped their minds in their difficulty and would not stop complaining in a stubborn way. Note too that the complaining was against Moses, and not God. Instead of looking to the one who really delivered them, they couldn't see with the eyes of faith by looking beyond any natural solution. Despite their grumbling, the Lord did provide the people with fresh water. We discover in verse 25 that this, and no doubt every other difficulty their wonderings would encounter, was a test to see how they would respond: would they trust God's deeds as sufficient for their needs?
Later, the people would grumble again. This time about a lack of food. And the complaints were the same saying it would be better to be back in Egypt, questioning the motives and/or the competency of Moses and Aaron to get the people to their destination:
And again, not long after leaving their camp there, they again complained about a lack of water. The anger of the people, Moses explains, was so great that they were about to stone him. Again, their quarrelling with Moses was their way of testing God. This kind of testing "is when doubt leads us to demand something of God to prove Himself to us" (Got Questions). and the kind forbidden in Deuteronomy 6:16. Eventually, God brought water from a rock for the people to demonstrate, despite their apparent inability to grow in faith or appreciate His gracious provision, that He is indeed with them and able to and will provide their needs. Exodus 17:7 explains that Moses called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, 'Is the Lord among us or not?'
The Psalmist makes reference to this event in Psalm 95, and describes God's reaction to the people's testing which is not expressed here as a warning against unbelief:
It appears, therefore, that many of those who saw the miracles, and experienced freedom from Egypt were excited and happy that God had done something for them, and no doubt they said thank you, but their hearts were not truly grateful. Their deliverance was not joined with a gratitude that expresses itself in on-going faith and devotion. The fact that the people were only happy when God was making their lives happy and comfortable shows they had no interest in God; only what He could do for them. I believe Jesus was referring to this in John 6 when he rebuked the crowd by saying:
As we experience a broken world and face experiences by which God tests our faith (Js 1:2-4), we need to be aware of unbelief. Of course doubts, fear and uncertainty are natural, normal, and acceptable. But when we allow those feelings to dwell, or luwn, unbelief can emerge, and when faced with difficulty, we grumble against God. We claim he has abandoned us, or hates us, or even question His existence. When this happens, God's testing has revealed that like the Israelites and those Jesus fed, we received the Gospel with a rocky heart. And in that moment, we should reflect and think: 'what Gospel did I receive? The one where I'm promised a good comfortable life? Do I just like the idea of the Gospel, or am I committed to the one who established it?' And if we seek the wisdom of God, guided by the conviction of the Spirit (Js 1:5-7) we can know. That's when we confess and repent of our unbelief, and commit ourselves to our creator; demonstrating our faith by persevering in difficult times and walking in obedience. This response of faith is possible by the heart change that those who grumbled against God needed being performed in us by our being united in Christ through faith.
The Israelites fate was not sealed for some time, and neither is it for us. The results of the testing of the genuineness of our faith is a lifelong journey, and we needn't fear the occasional failure. But unfortunately, many harden their hearts against God for various reasons and they become hardened against God, refusing to follow Him. And this doesn't usually happen overnight, but rather it's a bit of a process (although there are some exceptions). First they get disappointed with God, and then they stop praying and reading their bible, they withdraw from fellowship, God becomes less and less a part of their life until they reject Christianity and say 'tried that; didn't work.' Whether they made themselves fall away or they never had genuine faith in the beginning is another debate, but the warning of this weeks portion for us is the same: beware of unbelief; don't allow it to take root.
References:
https://www.gotquestions.org/test-God.htmlImage: https://www.ancientfuturefaithnetwork.org/chapel/tested-by-fire/
After the Israelites were set free and delivered from their slavery in Egypt, a shadow of the deliverance from slavery to sin that our faith in Christ brings, they begun their journey to Mt Horeb under the leadership of Moses. The arrival would be a fulfilment of the promise given to Moses a few chapters earlier:
But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain (Ex 3:12).And no doubt this journey began with much joy, rejoicing and worship in gratitude and excitement of their newly found freedom. Experiencing the fulfilment of the promises made to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The journey, however was not an easy one as the faith that saw their safety on the first Passover would often turn to doubt, and their gratitude turning to grumbling and complaining, wishing they were back in Egypt.
When they stopped at the shores of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army began pursuing them, the people cried:
Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”It seems they had forgotten the miracles in Egypt in the form of 'the ten plagues' and how God had brought them out of Egypt. God did deliver them from this situation by parting the sea and allowing the people to cross on dry land, while drowning the Egyptians trying to pursue them. This event would become a significant point of celebration for the people of Israel as a symbol of God's salvation and love for His people, as expressed in a number of Psalms (e.g. 63, 77, 78, 106, 136).
After crossing the sea, the people grumbled again because they were thirsty and all they could find was a watering hole filled with bitter water. Now, of course, after three days without any water it's understandable the people were thirsty and in desperate need of hydration. And it would be reasonable to say: 'Hey, Moses, could you get us some water!' But it says that the people grumbled, or murmured, against him. The word for grumbling, luwn, primarily means to stop for the night, delay, or dwell. In other words, the people would not move on from their problem. They camped their minds in their difficulty and would not stop complaining in a stubborn way. Note too that the complaining was against Moses, and not God. Instead of looking to the one who really delivered them, they couldn't see with the eyes of faith by looking beyond any natural solution. Despite their grumbling, the Lord did provide the people with fresh water. We discover in verse 25 that this, and no doubt every other difficulty their wonderings would encounter, was a test to see how they would respond: would they trust God's deeds as sufficient for their needs?
Later, the people would grumble again. This time about a lack of food. And the complaints were the same saying it would be better to be back in Egypt, questioning the motives and/or the competency of Moses and Aaron to get the people to their destination:
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. (Ex 16:3).Again, God responded to their complaints through the daily provision of Manna as a sign that the people can trust Him for 'their daily bread.' This encounter also provides some deeper insight into the thinking of the people as Moses explains that although they were expressing their grief to Moses and Aaron; their real problem was with God (Ex 16:8).
And again, not long after leaving their camp there, they again complained about a lack of water. The anger of the people, Moses explains, was so great that they were about to stone him. Again, their quarrelling with Moses was their way of testing God. This kind of testing "is when doubt leads us to demand something of God to prove Himself to us" (Got Questions). and the kind forbidden in Deuteronomy 6:16. Eventually, God brought water from a rock for the people to demonstrate, despite their apparent inability to grow in faith or appreciate His gracious provision, that He is indeed with them and able to and will provide their needs. Exodus 17:7 explains that Moses called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, 'Is the Lord among us or not?'
The Psalmist makes reference to this event in Psalm 95, and describes God's reaction to the people's testing which is not expressed here as a warning against unbelief:
Today, if you hear his voice,What is interesting about this Psalm is that it shows that despite seeing the great many miracles, they still doubted God. They were eyewitnesses to the plagues and parting of the red sea, they saw the pillar of fire and cloud, but still they lacked faith. Many say 'if I could see, I'd believe.' But I think this over estimates the hardness of people's hearts. It shows that salvation and full repentance needs more than just the hearing or seeing; a heart transformation is required too. And so God swore to Himself that as a result of their unbelief and hardened heart, they would not experience His inheritance. This 'divine-oath' was not expressed in Exodus 17, but much later in Numbers 14 after the report of the spies. It seems, however, most likely that it was at this occasion that the hardness of heart, or unbelief and unresponsiveness to God, was established there and grew until it culminated with the events of Numbers 14. Thus, the psalmist is using this occasion as a warning against hardening our hearts in unbelief, lest that hardness grow to the point of no return.
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
It appears, therefore, that many of those who saw the miracles, and experienced freedom from Egypt were excited and happy that God had done something for them, and no doubt they said thank you, but their hearts were not truly grateful. Their deliverance was not joined with a gratitude that expresses itself in on-going faith and devotion. The fact that the people were only happy when God was making their lives happy and comfortable shows they had no interest in God; only what He could do for them. I believe Jesus was referring to this in John 6 when he rebuked the crowd by saying:
Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.It is easy for us to hear the goodness of the Gospel, and think: 'this is great. I want in on this. I want to go to heaven.' Or to experience some miracle of deliverance or provision as He blesses us as a sign of His goodness and give thanks to the Lord. But when we 'sign up to the Gospel' because of what it can do for us, whether it be out of a sense of entitlement or the worship of comfort, and then difficulty comes, we like Israel can harden our hearts because we feel that God has failed us. This is the kind of person Jesus spoke about in the parable of the sower:
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away (Matt 13:20-21).Thus the warning of the Israelites in Exodus and Psalm 95 is this: be sure to endure. And the way we can endure, is by not hardening our hearts against God, especially when we feel that He hasn't come through for us. The author of Hebrews in chapter 3 also uses this event to warn his readers to be aware of unbelief. And we can do this by being in the Word, in prayer and in fellowship regularly.
As we experience a broken world and face experiences by which God tests our faith (Js 1:2-4), we need to be aware of unbelief. Of course doubts, fear and uncertainty are natural, normal, and acceptable. But when we allow those feelings to dwell, or luwn, unbelief can emerge, and when faced with difficulty, we grumble against God. We claim he has abandoned us, or hates us, or even question His existence. When this happens, God's testing has revealed that like the Israelites and those Jesus fed, we received the Gospel with a rocky heart. And in that moment, we should reflect and think: 'what Gospel did I receive? The one where I'm promised a good comfortable life? Do I just like the idea of the Gospel, or am I committed to the one who established it?' And if we seek the wisdom of God, guided by the conviction of the Spirit (Js 1:5-7) we can know. That's when we confess and repent of our unbelief, and commit ourselves to our creator; demonstrating our faith by persevering in difficult times and walking in obedience. This response of faith is possible by the heart change that those who grumbled against God needed being performed in us by our being united in Christ through faith.
The Israelites fate was not sealed for some time, and neither is it for us. The results of the testing of the genuineness of our faith is a lifelong journey, and we needn't fear the occasional failure. But unfortunately, many harden their hearts against God for various reasons and they become hardened against God, refusing to follow Him. And this doesn't usually happen overnight, but rather it's a bit of a process (although there are some exceptions). First they get disappointed with God, and then they stop praying and reading their bible, they withdraw from fellowship, God becomes less and less a part of their life until they reject Christianity and say 'tried that; didn't work.' Whether they made themselves fall away or they never had genuine faith in the beginning is another debate, but the warning of this weeks portion for us is the same: beware of unbelief; don't allow it to take root.
References:
https://www.gotquestions.org/test-God.htmlImage: https://www.ancientfuturefaithnetwork.org/chapel/tested-by-fire/
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