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. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
Moses alone prayed while the people rose up tumultuously against him, yet God's mercy, inestimable and undeserved, changed the nature of the water for such wicked and rebellious men. The tree was likely given natural power by God, yet its efficacy was miraculously heightened so that a river could be sweetened at once for six hundred thousand people and their livestock.
AI summary
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 said, if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,.... By this and the following words, they are prepared to expect a body of laws to be given unto them, as the rule of their future conduct; and though they were delivered from the rigorous laws, bondage, and oppression of the Egyptians, yet they were not to be without law...