Thoughts on Hebrews: God's Rest, Part 10

In Part 9, we started looking at Israel’s reaction to God, and I left you with Paul’s reflections on the Exodus account as instructive for godly conduct in faithfulness to Christ Jesus. So, let’s continue with this topic.

I recommend you consider Israel’s victory song in Exodus 15 ”I will sing to the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously . . .” It was a glorious triumph; but we will soon see Israel deflated the great deliverance they had just witnessed notwithstanding. After the Red Sea, Israel traveled three days into the wilderness, but found no water. The water they did find was bitter to drink. And what did they do? They immediately thought “we will die of thirst.”

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.

The Hebrew word for “grumbled” is worth exploring. It actually means to lodge usually overnight or cause to lodge all night. That’s puts an interesting wrinkle on what was happening at Marah, doesn’t it? Their murmuring wasn’t momentary; it had settled in. That quickly? That’s incredible.

Don’t get me wrong—2 million people are a lot of folks to provide water for. But the record doesn’t say that they had run out of water, just that they found no potable water there. The bitter water raises a couple of questions? Can God provide enough drinking water for 2,000,000 in the desert? They have evidence that He could change water into blood (all of it in Egypt by the way) and that He could separate the water to allow 2,000,000 to walk through as if on dry land and that He could engulf the Egyptian army in water in an instant.

But I don’t think the Israelites’ problem was understanding power. What they were misunderstanding was His motivations towards them. He is not exercising power and authority them as an Egyptian would; He is drawing them to Himself. They never got that, and as a result, never trusted His character.

Then God said in response to the lodging of their complaint:

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

God makes clear his purposes in the wilderness. First, the pronouns in God’s statement are important. God’s use of “you” is a wonderful invitation to Israel. God’s not only recognizes their unique personhood in calling them “you.” That should have been remarkably life affirming for them in the face of bitter water. But He reveals himself to them as I and I am these things to you. And by employing “I” and “you” He underscores the beginning of a relationship between two people, a commencement of a dialogue between two distinct personalities. That He is the initiator of that relationship on the basis of His separate identity and their separate identity is remarkable. That He wants their identity to be distinctly rooted in His desire for them, and His revelation or disclosure of Himself to them is truly extraordinary.

With that that revelation, and with that call to relationship, comes with responsibilities—as with every relationship that has meaning. The responsibility that attaches to His special revelation to a people now made special by that revelation is this: They must recognize His voice, to the exclusion of all other voices, and respond to Him in obedience and faithfulness. They must be true to him.

Don’t get sidetracked by the words “statute” and “rule.” In relational terms, He is saying, “I have been true to you, and I will be true to you. You must likewise be true to me.” That’s how our natural relationships work. God asked no less from Israel.

Next, God reveals to them another purpose in addition to a relationship, God reveals himself as their healer. He is going to restore them, heal them, from what? The bitterness they had endured in Egypt. Remember: He told Moses He heard their voices. He now asks them to hear His voice—to what end, their comfort, and rest.

What I hope came to mind is the waters at Marah needed to be healed as they were bitter. And God healed them:

And Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

Can I get an amen? We know what that foreshadows? There is going to be a tree, and the Son of Man crucified on it, which will heal the rift between God and man, and heal the nations, making the bitter waters of this life sweet with His love and our great joy.

That they understood His heart God acts in a full measure of lovingkindness:

Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

God has not brought them into the wilderness to perish, to die of thirst, but instead to establish within them two foundations for life: (i) a total turning away from the Egyptian philosophy of life and (ii) faith towards God.

This is enough for today. And again, we are moving as slowly as Israel did in the wilderness it seems. But before I close, I wanted to point out that we see another aspect of His rest emerging, which I will put this way: rest acknowledges His heart toward you. Without faith it is impossible to please God; and in rest, we believe not only that He is, but further that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Image courtesy of Unsplash and Hatim Belyamani @officerfishdumplings