When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. That is why the place is called Marah. The bitter water is the first disappointment after the sea crossing — and it has the quality of a taunt: here is water, and you cannot drink it. The name Marah means bitter. Ruth 1:20 records Naomi asking to be called Mara because the Almighty has made her life very bitter — the personal and the communal bitterness share a vocabulary in Hebrew. The bitter water is the physical form of what the wilderness experience will teach spiritually: the world offers what appears to be satisfaction but is not drinkable, and only the God who sweetens the bitter can make what the world provides fit for human consumption. The bitter water at Marah and the bitter herbs of Passover are connected — life after redemption still passes through bitterness.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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