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Selected Verse: Exodus 15:22 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ex 15:22	Strong Concordance	So Moses [04872] brought [05265] Israel [03478] from the Red [05488] sea [03220], and they went out [03318] into the wilderness [04057] of Shur [07793]; and they went [03212] three [07969] days [03117] in the wilderness [04057], and found [04672] no water [04325].
	King James	So Moses brought Israel 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.

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
wilderness of Shur--comprehending all the western part of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbr;a. The desert of Etham was a part of it, extending round the northern portion of the Red Sea, and a considerable distance along its eastern shore; whereas the "wilderness of Shur" (now Sudhr) was the designation of all the desert region of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbr;a that lay next to Palestine.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

wilderness of Shur--comprehending all the western part of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbr;a. The desert of Etham was a part of it, extending round the northern portion of the Red Sea, and a considerable distance along its eastern shore; whereas the "wilderness of Shur" (now Sudhr) was the designation of all the desert region of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbr;a that lay next to Palestine.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
So Moses - Literally, And Moses. The history of the journey from the Red Sea to Sinai begins in fact with this verse, which would more conveniently have been the commencement of another chapter. From the Red sea - The station where Moses and his people halted to celebrate their deliverance is generally admitted to be the Ayoun Musa, i. e. the fountains of Moses. It is the only green spot near the passage over the Red Sea. There are several wells there, which in the time of Moses were probably enclosed and kept with great care by the Egyptians, for the use of the frequent convoys to and from their ancient settlements at Sarbutel Khadem and the Wady Mughara. The wilderness of Shur - This name belongs to the whole district between the northeastern frontier of Egypt and Palestine. The word is undoubtedly Egyptian, and is derived probably from the word Khar which designated all the country between Egypt and Syria proper. Three days - The distance between Ayoun Musa and Huwara, the first spot where any water is found on the route, is 33 geographical miles. The whole district is a tract of sand, or rough gravel.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Exo 15:22-24 Leaving the Red Sea, they went into the desert of Shur. This name is given to the tract of desert which separates Egypt from Palestine, and also from the more elevated parts of the desert of Arabia, and stretches from the Mediterranean to the head of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and thence along the eastern shore of the sea to the neighbourhood of the Wady Gharandel. In Num 33:8 it is called the desert of Etham, from the town of Etham, which stood upon the border (see Exo 13:20). The spot where the Israelites encamped after crossing the sea, and sang praises to the Lord for their gracious deliverance, is supposed to have been the present Ayun Musa (the springs of Moses), the only green spot in the northern part of this desolate tract of desert, where water could be obtained. At the present time there are several springs there, which yield a dark, brackish, though drinkable water, and a few stunted palms; and even till a very recent date country houses have been built and gardens laid out there by the richer inhabitants of Suez. From this point the Israelites went three days without finding water, till they came to Marah, where there was water, but so bitter that they could not drink it. The first spot on the road from Ayun Musa to Sinai where water can be found, is in the well of Howra, 33 English miles from the former. It is now a basin of 6 or 8 feet in diameter, with two feet of water in it, but so disagreeably bitter and salt, that the Bedouins consider it the worst water in the whole neighbourhood (Robinson, i. 96). The distance from Ayun Musa and the quality of the water both favour the identity of Howra and Marah. A whole people, travelling with children, cattle, and baggage, could not accomplish the distance in less than three days, and there is no other water on the road from Ayum Musa to Howra. Hence, from the time of Burckhardt, who was the first to rediscover the well, Howra has been regarded as the Marah of the Israelites. In the Wady Amara, a barren valley two hours to the north of Howra, where Ewald looked for it, there is not water to be found; and in the Wady Gharandel, two hours to the south, to which Lepsius assigned it, the quality of the water does not agree with our account. (Note: The small quantity of water at Howra, "which is hardly sufficient for a few hundred men, to say nothing of so large an army as the Israelites formed" (Seetzen), is no proof that Howra and Marah are not identical. For the spring, which is now sanded up, may have flowed more copiously at one time, when it was kept in better order. Its present neglected state is the cause of the scarcity.) It is true that no trace of the name has been preserved; but it seems to have been given to the place by the Israelites simply on account of the bitterness of the water. This furnished the people with an inducement to murmur against Moses (Exo 15:24). They had probably taken a supply of water from Ayum Musa for the three days' march into the desert. But this store was now exhausted; and, as Luther says, "when the supply fails, our faith is soon gone." Thus even Israel forgot the many proofs of the grace of God, which it had received already. Exo 15:25-26 When Moses cried to the Lord in consequence, He showed him some wood which, when thrown into the water, took away its bitterness. The Bedouins, who know the neighbourhood, are not acquainted with such a tree, or with any other means of making bitter water sweet; and this power was hardly inherent in the tree itself, though it is ascribed to it in Ecclus. 38:5, but was imparted to it through the word and power of God. We cannot assign any reason for the choice of this particular earthly means, as the Scripture says nothing about any "evident and intentional contrast to the change in the Nile by which the sweet and pleasant water was rendered unfit for use" (Kurtz). The word עץ "wood" (see only Num 19:6), alone, without anything in the context to explain it, does not point to a "living tree" in contrast to the "dead stick." And if any contrast had been intended to be shown between the punishment of the Egyptians and the training of the Israelites, this intention would certainly have been more visibly and surely accomplished by using the staff with which Moses not only brought the plagues upon Egypt, but afterwards brought water out of the rock. If by עץ we understand a tree, with which ויּשׁלך, however, hardly agrees, it would be much more natural to suppose that there was an allusion to the tree of life, especially if we compare Gen 2:9 and Gen 3:22 with Rev 22:2, "the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations," though we cannot regard this reference as established. All that is clear and undoubted is, that by employing these means, Jehovah made Himself known to the people of Israel as their Physician, and for this purpose appointed the wood for the healing of the bitter water, which threatened Israel with disease and death (Kg2 4:40). By this event Jehovah accomplished two things: (a) "there He put (made) for it (the nation) an ordinance and a right," and (b) "there He proved it." The ordinance and right which Jehovah made for Israel did not consist in the words of God quoted in Exo 15:26, for they merely give an explanation of the law and right, but in the divine act itself. The leading of Israel to bitter water, which their nature could not drink, and then the sweetening or curing of this water, were to be a חק for Israel, i.e., an institution or law by which God would always guide and govern His people, and a משׁפּט or right, inasmuch as Israel could always reckon upon the help of God, and deliverance from every trouble. But as Israel had not yet true confidence in the Lord, this was also a trial, serving to manifest its natural heart, and, through the relief of its distress on the part of God, to refine and strengthen its faith. The practical proof which was given of Jehovah's presence was intended to impress this truth upon the Israelites, that Jehovah as their Physician would save them from all the diseases which He had sent upon Egypt, if they would hear His voice, do what was right in His eyes, and keep all His commandments. Exo 15:27 Elim, the next place of encampment, has been sought from olden time in the Wady Gharandel, about six miles south of Howra; inasmuch as this spot, with its plentiful supply of comparatively good water, and its luxuriance of palms, tamarisks, acacias, and tall grass, which cause it to be selected even now as one of the principal halting-places between Suez and Sinai, quite answers to Elim, with its twelve wells of water and seventy palm-trees (cf. Rob. i. pp. 100, 101, 105). It is true the distance from Howra is short, but the encampments of such a procession as that of the Israelites are always regulated by the supply of water. Both Baumgarten and Kurtz have found in Elim a place expressly prepared for Israel, from its bearing the stamp of the nation in the number of its wells and palms: a well for every tribe, and the shade of a palm-tree for the tent of each of the elders. But although the number of the wells corresponded to the twelve tribes of Israel, the number of the elders was much larger than that of the palms (Exo 29:9). One fact alone is beyond all doubt, namely, that at Elim, this lovely oasis in the barren desert, Israel was to learn how the Lord could make His people lie down in the green pastures, and lead them beside still waters, even in the barren desert of this life (Psa 23:2).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Exo 15:22-24

Leaving the Red Sea, they went into the desert of Shur. This name is given to the tract of desert which separates Egypt from Palestine, and also from the more elevated parts of the desert of Arabia, and stretches from the Mediterranean to the head of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, and thence along the eastern shore of the sea to the neighbourhood of the Wady Gharandel. In Num 33:8 it is called the desert of Etham, from the town of Etham, which stood upon the border (see Exo 13:20). The spot where the Israelites encamped after crossing the sea, and sang praises to the Lord for their gracious deliverance, is supposed to have been the present Ayun Musa (the springs of Moses), the only green spot in the northern part of this desolate tract of desert, where water could be obtained. At the present time there are several springs there, which yield a dark, brackish, though drinkable water, and a few stunted palms; and even till a very recent date country houses have been built and gardens laid out there by the richer inhabitants of Suez. From this point the Israelites went three days without finding water, till they came to Marah, where there was water, but so bitter that they could not drink it. The first spot on the road from Ayun Musa to Sinai where water can be found, is in the well of Howra, 33 English miles from the former. It is now a basin of 6 or 8 feet in diameter, with two feet of water in it, but so disagreeably bitter and salt, that the Bedouins consider it the worst water in the whole neighbourhood (Robinson, i. 96). The distance from Ayun Musa and the quality of the water both favour the identity of Howra and Marah. A whole people, travelling with children, cattle, and baggage, could not accomplish the distance in less than three days, and there is no other water on the road from Ayum Musa to Howra. Hence, from the time of Burckhardt, who was the first to rediscover the well, Howra has been regarded as the Marah of the Israelites. In the Wady Amara, a barren valley two hours to the north of Howra, where Ewald looked for it, there is not water to be found; and in the Wady Gharandel, two hours to the south, to which Lepsius assigned it, the quality of the water does not agree with our account.

(Note: The small quantity of water at Howra, "which is hardly sufficient for a few hundred men, to say nothing of so large an army as the Israelites formed" (Seetzen), is no proof that Howra and Marah are not identical. For the spring, which is now sanded up, may have flowed more copiously at one time, when it was kept in better order. Its present neglected state is the cause of the scarcity.)

It is true that no trace of the name has been preserved; but it seems to have been given to the place by the Israelites simply on account of the bitterness of the water. This furnished the people with an inducement to murmur against Moses (Exo 15:24). They had probably taken a supply of water from Ayum Musa for the three days' march into the desert. But this store was now exhausted; and, as Luther says, "when the supply fails, our faith is soon gone." Thus even Israel forgot the many proofs of the grace of God, which it had received already.

Exo 15:25-26

When Moses cried to the Lord in consequence, He showed him some wood which, when thrown into the water, took away its bitterness. The Bedouins, who know the neighbourhood, are not acquainted with such a tree, or with any other means of making bitter water sweet; and this power was hardly inherent in the tree itself, though it is ascribed to it in Ecclus. 38:5, but was imparted to it through the word and power of God. We cannot assign any reason for the choice of this particular earthly means, as the Scripture says nothing about any "evident and intentional contrast to the change in the Nile by which the sweet and pleasant water was rendered unfit for use" (Kurtz). The word עץ "wood" (see only Num 19:6), alone, without anything in the context to explain it, does not point to a "living tree" in contrast to the "dead stick." And if any contrast had been intended to be shown between the punishment of the Egyptians and the training of the Israelites, this intention would certainly have been more visibly and surely accomplished by using the staff with which Moses not only brought the plagues upon Egypt, but afterwards brought water out of the rock. If by עץ we understand a tree, with which ויּשׁלך, however, hardly agrees, it would be much more natural to suppose that there was an allusion to the tree of life, especially if we compare Gen 2:9 and Gen 3:22 with Rev 22:2, "the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations," though we cannot regard this reference as established. All that is clear and undoubted is, that by employing these means, Jehovah made Himself known to the people of Israel as their Physician, and for this purpose appointed the wood for the healing of the bitter water, which threatened Israel with disease and death (Kg2 4:40).

By this event Jehovah accomplished two things: (a) "there He put (made) for it (the nation) an ordinance and a right," and (b) "there He proved it." The ordinance and right which Jehovah made for Israel did not consist in the words of God quoted in Exo 15:26, for they merely give an explanation of the law and right, but in the divine act itself. The leading of Israel to bitter water, which their nature could not drink, and then the sweetening or curing of this water, were to be a חק for Israel, i.e., an institution or law by which God would always guide and govern His people, and a משׁפּט or right, inasmuch as Israel could always reckon upon the help of God, and deliverance from every trouble. But as Israel had not yet true confidence in the Lord, this was also a trial, serving to manifest its natural heart, and, through the relief of its distress on the part of God, to refine and strengthen its faith. The practical proof which was given of Jehovah's presence was intended to impress this truth upon the Israelites, that Jehovah as their Physician would save them from all the diseases which He had sent upon Egypt, if they would hear His voice, do what was right in His eyes, and keep all His commandments.

Exo 15:27

Elim, the next place of encampment, has been sought from olden time in the Wady Gharandel, about six miles south of Howra; inasmuch as this spot, with its plentiful supply of comparatively good water, and its luxuriance of palms, tamarisks, acacias, and tall grass, which cause it to be selected even now as one of the principal halting-places between Suez and Sinai, quite answers to Elim, with its twelve wells of water and seventy palm-trees (cf. Rob. i. pp. 100, 101, 105). It is true the distance from Howra is short, but the encampments of such a procession as that of the Israelites are always regulated by the supply of water. Both Baumgarten and Kurtz have found in Elim a place expressly prepared for Israel, from its bearing the stamp of the nation in the number of its wells and palms: a well for every tribe, and the shade of a palm-tree for the tent of each of the elders. But although the number of the wells corresponded to the twelve tribes of Israel, the number of the elders was much larger than that of the palms (Exo 29:9). One fact alone is beyond all doubt, namely, that at Elim, this lovely oasis in the barren desert, Israel was to learn how the Lord could make His people lie down in the green pastures, and lead them beside still waters, even in the barren desert of this life (Psa 23:2).

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The wilderness of Shur - This was on the coast of the Red Sea on their road to Mount Sinai. See the map.

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² He maketh me to lie down [07257] in green [01877] pastures [04999]: he leadeth [05095] me beside the still [04496] waters [04325].

⁹ And thou shalt gird [02296] them with girdles [073], Aaron [0175] and his sons [01121], and put [02280] the bonnets [04021] on them: and the priest's office [03550] shall be theirs for a perpetual [05769] statute [02708]: and thou shalt consecrate [04390] [03027] Aaron [0175] and his sons [01121].

²⁷ And they came [0935] to Elim [0362], where were twelve [08147] [06240] wells [05869] of water [04325], and threescore and ten [07657] palm trees [08558]: and they encamped [02583] there by the waters [04325].

²⁶ And said [0559], If thou wilt diligently [08085] hearken [08085] to the voice [06963] of the LORD [03068] thy God [0430], and wilt do [06213] that which is right [03477] in his sight [05869], and wilt give ear [0238] to his commandments [04687], and keep [08104] all his statutes [02706], I will put [07760] none of these diseases [04245] upon thee, which I have brought [07760] upon the Egyptians [04714]: for I am the LORD [03068] that healeth [07495] thee.

⁴⁰ So they poured out [03332] for the men [0582] to eat [0398]. And it came to pass, as they were eating [0398] of the pottage [05138], that they cried out [06817], and said [0559], O thou man [0376] of God [0430], there is death [04194] in the pot [05518]. And they could [03201] not eat [0398] thereof.

² In [1722] the midst [3319] of the street [4113] of it [846], and [2532] on either [2532] side [1782] [1782] of the river [4215], was there the tree [3586] of life [2222], which bare [4160] twelve [1427] manner of fruits [2590], and yielded [591] her [846] fruit [2590] every [2596] [1538] [1520] month [3376]: and [2532] the leaves [5444] of the tree [3586] were for [1519] the healing [2322] of the nations [1484].

²² And the LORD [03068] God [0430] said [0559], Behold [02005], the man [0120] is become as one [0259] of us, to know [03045] good [02896] and evil [07451]: and now, lest he put forth [07971] his hand [03027], and take [03947] also of the tree [06086] of life [02416], and eat [0398], and live [02425] for ever [05769]:

⁹ And out [04480] of the ground [0127] made [06779] the LORD [03068] God [0430] to grow [06779] every tree [06086] that is pleasant [02530] to the sight [04758], and good [02896] for food [03978]; the tree [06086] of life [02416] also in the midst [08432] of the garden [01588], and the tree [06086] of knowledge [01847] of good [02896] and evil [07451].

⁶ And the priest [03548] shall take [03947] cedar [0730] wood [06086], and hyssop [0231], and scarlet [08438] [08144], and cast [07993] it into the midst [08432] of the burning [08316] of the heifer [06510].

²⁵ And he cried [06817] unto the LORD [03068]; and the LORD [03068] shewed [03384] him a tree [06086], which when he had cast [07993] into the waters [04325], the waters [04325] were made sweet [04985]: there he made [07760] for them a statute [02706] and an ordinance [04941], and there he proved [05254] them,
²⁶ And said [0559], If thou wilt diligently [08085] hearken [08085] to the voice [06963] of the LORD [03068] thy God [0430], and wilt do [06213] that which is right [03477] in his sight [05869], and wilt give ear [0238] to his commandments [04687], and keep [08104] all his statutes [02706], I will put [07760] none of these diseases [04245] upon thee, which I have brought [07760] upon the Egyptians [04714]: for I am the LORD [03068] that healeth [07495] thee.

²⁴ And the people [05971] murmured [03885] against Moses [04872], saying [0559], What shall we drink [08354]?

²⁰ And they took their journey [05265] from Succoth [05523], and encamped [02583] in Etham [0864], in the edge [07097] of the wilderness [04057].

⁸ And they departed [05265] from before [06440] Pihahiroth [06367], and passed through [05674] the midst [08432] of the sea [03220] into the wilderness [04057], and went [03212] three [07969] days [03117]' journey [01870] in the wilderness [04057] of Etham [0864], and pitched [02583] in Marah [04785].

²² So Moses [04872] brought [05265] Israel [03478] from the Red [05488] sea [03220], and they went out [03318] into the wilderness [04057] of Shur [07793]; and they went [03212] three [07969] days [03117] in the wilderness [04057], and found [04672] no water [04325].
²³ And when they came [0935] to Marah [04785], they could [03201] not drink [08354] of the waters [04325] of Marah [04785], for they were bitter [04751]: therefore the name [08034] of it was called [07121] Marah [04785].
²⁴ And the people [05971] murmured [03885] against Moses [04872], saying [0559], What shall we drink [08354]?