Exodus 15:27

15:22-27 In the wilderness of Shur the Israelites had no water. At Marah they had water, but it was bitter; so that they could not drink it. God can make bitter to us that from which we promise ourselves most, and often does so in the wilderness of this world, that our wants, and disappointments in the creature, may drive us to the Creator, in whose favour alone true comfort is to be had. In this distress the people fretted, and quarrelled with Moses. Hypocrites may show high affections, and appear earnest in religious exercises, but in the time of temptation they fall away. Even true believers, in seasons of sharp trial, will be tempted to fret, distrust, and murmur. But in every trial we should cast our care upon the Lord, and pour out our hearts before him. We shall then find that a submissive will, a peaceful conscience, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost, will render the bitterest trial tolerable, yea, pleasant. Moses did what the people had neglected to do; he cried unto the Lord. And God provided graciously for them. He directed Moses to a tree which he cast into the waters, when, at once, they were made sweet. Some make this tree typical of the cross of Christ, which sweetens the bitter waters of affliction to all the faithful, and enables them to rejoice in tribulation. But a rebellious Israelite shall fare no better than a rebellious Egyptian. The threatening is implied only, the promise is expressed. God is the great Physician.

If we are kept well, it is he that keeps us; if we are made well, it is he that recovers us. He is our life and the length of our days. Let us not forget that we are kept from destruction, and delivered from our enemies, to be the Lord's servants. At Elim they had good water, and enough of it. Though God may, for a time, order his people to encamp by the bitter waters of Marah, that shall not always be their lot. Let us not faint at tribulations.

(27) Elim —the next stage to Marah, where there were “twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees”—seems to be rightly identified with the Wady Ghurundel in which “abundant grass grows thick and high,” where acacias and tamarisks are plentiful, and in which, notwithstanding the ruthless denudation of the country by the Arabs, there are still a certain number of palm-trees. These are not now “seventy” in number, neither are they the ideal palm-trees of pictures, or even such as grow in the Valley of the Nile and in Upper Egypt generally. They are “either dwarf—that is, trunkless—or else with savage hairy trunks, and branches all dishevelled” (Stanley: Sinai and Palestine, p. 68)—specimens of the palm-tree growing under difficulties. The exact number of “twelve wells,” which is mentioned in the text, cannot now be traced with any distinctness; but there is a perennial brook which supports the vegetation through the whole of the year, and in the winter-time there is a large stream which flows down to the sea through the wady.—(Niebuhr: Description de l’Arabie, p. 347.) They encamped there.—The head-quarters of the camp were at Elim (Wady Ghurundel); probably the mass of the people filled all the neighbouring wadys, as those of Useit, Ethal, and Tayibeh, or Shuweikah, which are all fertile, and have good pasturage.

Verse 27. - They came to Elim . Elim was undoubtedly some spot in the comparatively fertile tract which lies south of the "wilderness of Shur," intervening between it and the "wilderness of Sin" - now E1 Murkha. This tract contains the three fertile wadys of Ghurundel, Useit, and Tayibeh, each of which is regarded by some writers as the true Elim. It has many springs of water, abundant tamarisks, and a certain number of palm-trees. On the whole, Ghurundel seems to be accepted by the majority of well-informed writers as having the best claim to be considered the Elhn of this passage Twelve wells . Rather "springs." The "twelve springs" have not been identified; but the Arabs are apt to conceal the sources of their water supplies (Niebuhr, Arabie, p. 347). A large stream flows down the Wady Ghurundel in the winter-time ( ibid. ), which later becomes a small brook (Burckhardt, Syria , p. 778), and dries up altogether in the autumn. The pasture is good at most seasons, sometimes rich and luxuriant; there are abundant tamarisks, a considerable number of acacias, and. some palms. Three score and ten palm trees . The palm-trees of this part of Arabia are "not like those of Egypt or of pictures, but either dwarf - that is, truntdess - or else with savage hairy trunks, and branches all dishevelled" (Stanley, Sinai and Palestine , p. 68). There are a considerable number in the Wady Ghurundel, and others in the Wady Tayibeh ( ib , p. 69). They encamped there .

It has been observed that the vast numbers of the host would more than fill the Wady Ghurundel, and that while the main body encamped there, others, with their cattle, probably occupied the adjacent wadys - Useit, Ethal, and even Tayibeh or Shuweikah - which all offer good pasturage Exodus 15:27

27 . Elim ] i.e. Terebinths , or perhaps Sacred trees in general (the word is quite possibly derived from ’çl , ‘god’), supposed by the common people to be inhabited by a deity, and venerated accordingly. When a tree or grove of trees is specially mentioned in the OT., a sacred tree, or grove, is often meant (cf. Isaiah 1:29 ): e.g. Genesis 12:6 (see the writer’s note ad loc. ), Exodus 35:4 ; Exodus 35:8 , Jdg 9:6 ; Jdg 9:37 : see further Nature-Worship, §§ 2, 3, in EB. To the present day Palestine abounds in trees, esp. oaks, supposed to be ‘inhabited,’ or haunted by spirits ( jinn ); and the superstitious peasants hang rags upon them as tokens of homage ( L. and B. ii. 104, 171 f., 222, 474). Elim has been usually, since Burckhardt (p. 473 f.), identified with some spot in the Wady Gharandel 1[155], a valley running down from the mountains about 7 miles SE. of Hawwárah, and forming a grateful contrast to the 54 miles of arid wilderness, which the traveller has passed through since leaving ‘Ayûn Mûsâ.

Two miles below the point at which the route by Hawwárah enters the valley, there are springs which form the usual watering-place for caravans passing along this route: lower down, as the valley comes within 2 or 3 miles of the coast, ‘water rises in considerable volume to the surface, and nurtures a charming oasis,’ in which waterfowl and other birds are abundant, and there are ‘thickets of palms and tamarisks, beds of reeds and bulrushes, with a gurgling brook and pools’ ( Ordn. Survey , p. 75): the thorny shrub called Gharkhad , with a juicy and refreshing berry, of which the Arabs are very fond, is also frequent in it (Burckh. l.c. ; cf. Rob. i. 68 f.). The identification must not however be regarded as certain: there is no similarity of name to support it; and as Di. remarks, if the passage of the Israelites took place either through, or N. of, the Bitter Lakes, Elim would be more suitably located at ‘Ayûn Mûsâ. [155] The identification seems really to have been made as early as the 6th cent.: for the Sarandula visited by Antoninus (Anton. Itinerarium , ed. Gildemeister, 1889, § 41), at about 570 a.d., can hardly be any other place.

27. they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water—supposed to be what is now called Wady-Ghurandel, the most extensive watercourse in the western desert—an oasis, adorned with a great variety of trees, among which the palm is still conspicuous, and fertilized by a copious stream. It is estimated to be a mile in breadth, but stretching out far to the northeast. After the weary travel through the desert, this must have appeared a most delightful encampment from its shade and verdure, as well as from its abundant supply of sweet water for the thirsty multitude. The palm is called "the tree of the desert," as its presence is always a sign of water. The palms in this spot are greatly increased in number, but the wells are diminished.