When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
The people could hardly tear themselves from that triumphant shore, yet the pleasures of our way to Canaan must not delay us, though a wilderness lies ahead. God trains His people by want and disappointment in the creature, that they may turn to the Creator where true comfort alone is found.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 15:22-27
And the people murmured against Moses,.... For bringing them into a wilderness where they could find no water fit to drink; saying: what shall we drink? what shall we do for drink? where can we drink? this water is not drinkable, and, unless we have something to drink, we, and our wives, and children, and servants, and cattle, must all perish.
when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters--Following the general route of all travellers southward, between the sea and the tableland of the Tih ("valley of wandering"), Marah is almost universally believed to be what is now called Howarah, in Wady Amarah, about thirty miles from the place where the Israelites landed on the eastern shore of the Red Sea--a distance...