Desert Oasis - The Well at Marah

Leaving Cairo, we traveled through the Sinai Desert on our way to Mount Sinai. Our travels closely followed the probable path the Israelites took from Egypt into the Promised Land. We traveled through a tunnel under the Suez Canal. Our first stop along the way was a little desert oasis, known as Marah, now manned by Bedouins. It was here that Moses, traveling with the Israelites, found bitter waters after three waterless days in the desert. Of course, the Israelites complained and grumbled against Moses. Wow - it didn't take them long to complain, did it? God had just opened up the Red Sea to allow them to cross, but killing their enemies in pursuit. Now - three short days later, they are grumbling about their circumstances.

Hmmm. Does this remind me of how we complained against Delta when our flight was delayed twice - and we hadn't even left the Birmingham airport? It does my soul good to remember to listen carefully to the voice of the Lord, do what is right, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His decrees!

God, being the faithful Lord, heard their cries. He told Moses to toss a branch in the water and the water turned sweet.

We saw the well that tradition says is at this Biblical site. Hard to say - it's tradition. :)

You may already know that Marah means "bitter". The Bedouins camp there and sell their wares (mostly jewelry) in a little market they have constructed. We could see the Red Sea in the distance.

Exodus 15:22-26 "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah. [e] ) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."