ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tusite Ma’asi 14, 2023

Torah and Bitter Waters

KO E TAKAINGA TOHI MO E VAI KONA

EXODUS 15:23-25

WHEN THEY CAME TO MARAH, THEY COULD NOT DRINK THE WATER OF MARAH BECAUSE IT WAS BITTER; THEREFORE IT WAS NAMED MARAH. AND THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED AGAINST MOSES, SAYING, "WHAT SHALL WE DRINK?" AND HE CRIED TO THE LORD, AND THE LORD SHOWED HIM A LOG, AND HE THREW IT INTO THE WATER, AND THE WATER BECAME SWEET

‘EKISOTO 15:23-25

Pea nau ha‘u ai ki Mala, ka na‘e ‘ikai te nau lava ke inu ‘a e ngaahi vai ‘o Mala, he na‘e kona: ‘ā ē ā na‘e fakahingoa ai ko Mala (Tamala). 24 Pea na‘e mumuhu ‘a e kakai kia Mōsese, ‘o pehē, Ko e hā te mau inu?

The mar ("bitter") water at Marah elicited the first desert bellyaching. But if the Red Sea taught Israel that the Lord is their Warrior (15:3), then Marah taught them that he is their Teacher and Healer. What did God do? He "showed" Moses a tree. This verb for "show," yarah, is also the root of Torah, the "showing" or "teaching" from God. The tree sweetened the waters, and all was well.

But notice: immediately afterward, God tells Israel to "diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God... I am the LORD, your healer" (15:26). The Torah, God's wisdom, is likened elsewhere to the "tree of life" (Prov. 3:18). God's people are diligently to listen to what he yara or "Torah-ed" them, for his healing word cares for us in this bitter world. Indeed, when the Word himself, Christ as incarnate Torah, hung on the tree of the cross, he became healing for all humanity and bestowed on us the sweetness of life.

Heavenly Father, who forgives all iniquity, who heals all our diseases, forgive and heal us through the crucified Christ.