Bible Study Exodus 15
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Exodus 15 · WEB

The Song of Moses and the Waters of Marah

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Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
3Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.
4He has cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk into the Red Sea.
5The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone.
6Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.
7In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.
8With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them.'
10You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them.
13You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.
14The peoples have heard. They tremble. Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.
15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling grips the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people pass over who you have purchased.
17You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.
18Yahweh shall reign forever and ever."
19For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.
20Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.
21Miriam answered them: "Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
22Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
23When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.
24The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25Moses cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree. He threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them;
26and he said, "If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God's voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you."
27They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.
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Summary

Israel erupts in the Song of Moses — one of the oldest poems in the Bible — celebrating Yahweh's victory over Pharaoh's army. Miriam leads the women in dance and singing the same refrain. The celebration is short-lived: three days into the wilderness, the people find only bitter water at Marah and grumble against Moses. God shows Moses a tree to throw into the water, making it sweet, and issues a covenant-like challenge: obey fully and I will not bring disease on you, for "I am Yahweh who heals you." They continue to Elim, an oasis with twelve springs and seventy palms.

Themes

  • Worship as the natural response to deliverance
  • God as incomparable — "who is like you?"
  • The testing of faith immediately after victory
  • God as healer: the bitter made sweet

Key verses

  • Ex 15:11 — “Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”
  • Ex 15:2 — “Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.”
  • Ex 15:26 — “I am Yahweh who heals you.”

Context & background

The "wilderness of Shur" is located in the northwestern Sinai Peninsula in modern Egypt, east of the Suez Canal area. Marah ("bitter") is an unidentified location in this wilderness. Elim, with its twelve springs and seventy palms, is a well-documented type of oasis in the Sinai and may correspond to modern Wadi Gharandel. The Song of Moses is considered one of the earliest examples of Hebrew poetry and is cited in Revelation 15 as the song the redeemed sing in heaven. The number twelve springs and seventy palms at Elim may be symbolic — corresponding to Israel's twelve tribes and the seventy descendants who entered Egypt (Gen 46:27).

Cross-references

  • 2 Kings 2:21 — Elisha heals bitter waters by throwing salt in, echoing Moses and the tree at Marah.
  • Isaiah 12:2 — "Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song" — directly quoting Exodus 15:2.
  • Revelation 15:3 — The redeemed sing "the song of Moses" before the throne of God, completing the typological arc.
  • Romans 8:31 — "If God is for us, who can be against us?" — the theological heart of the Song of Moses.

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  1. Observe

    Who led the women in song and dance after the Song of Moses (vv. 20-21)?

  2. Observe

    What did God reveal about himself at Marah after sweetening the bitter waters (v. 26)?

  3. Interpret

    What is the significance of Miriam being called "the prophetess" and leading the women in worship?

  4. Interpret

    Why does the text place the glorious victory song so close to the grumbling at Marah?

  5. Apply

    What role does structured praise (song, liturgy, prayer) play in spiritual life, as modeled in this chapter?

  6. Apply

    What does "I am Yahweh who heals you" (v. 26) invite us to bring to God?

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