Bitter Waters
So much of Scripture is written with an abundance of allegory. Today's Our Daily Bread is the story of what took place immediately after the crossing of the Red Sea. The story is found in Exodus 15:22-27 where the Israelites journey away from the Red Sea; the place where they had been delivered from their bondage of slavery, brought safely through the waters of the Red Sea by way of divine miracle. They immediately run into problems. They couldn't find water for three whole days and then whenever they finally did, it was bitter.
Here we begin to see the allegory take shape. This is our first stop on our faith journey, after hearing to Good News, that our sins are forgiven because of the redemptive and sacrificial love of God's only Son, Jesus. We've been saved from our bondage to sin. We've passed safely through the waters of judgment and have arrived safely on the other side. We're invigorated. Elated. On cloud-9. Then hardship comes. This is a pivotal moment in our faith journey.
In verse 24 we see the Israelites choose to grumble. This is an interesting word in Hebrew, luwn: to lodge, to remain, to dwell, to abide, to grumble. Meaning: to stop, to stay permanently, to be obstinate. If we go back to verse 22 where we read, "Moses led (nasa) Israel" or in the Hebrew "nasa" meaning: to pull up, the tent-pins, start on a, journey. So essentially this bitter water caused them to hit the brakes hard. But they didn't just stop their journey. They set up camp. Refused to move on another step further.
I can relate. There's been more wells of bitterness in my life than I can count. And just like the Israelites, instead of giving it to the Lord, I camped there. Going over and over and over it. Heck, I might as well have grabbed a shovel and started digging so that well of bitter water could just get deeper and deeper. Bitterness has a way of growing.
I also want to point out something the Spirit just spoke to me. Every time I see the word "abide" I immediately thing of John 15 and how we're told "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." And it's always felt like such an abstract thought, leaving me wondering, "How exactly do I abide?" or "What does that look like?" Then, just now, as I was re-reading through my prayer journal trying to organize my thoughts here, I came to my entry for Sunday, March 23rd, and how my "Joni devotion" as I call it (Practicing the Presence of Jesus by Joni Eareckson Tada) pointed out that the "prodigal living" we often speak of in the Christian faith, sometimes we say "wandering", isn't necessarily defiant rebellion, its often much more subtle, like whenever our thoughts wander. Isn't that how it goes whenever we're upset with someone or about something. We try to move past it, only for our thoughts to wander back to the problem and we're having discussions in our minds totally on auto-pilot before we're self-aware enough to realize what's going on? What if we were so engrossed with Jesus that our minds wandered into conversations with Him? What if we were so Spirit-led that this became our default? That's the goal! I want my auto-pilot to be Spirit not flesh.
Another interesting thing we see when we slow down and read slowly, is that they didn't just grumble, they blamed. Many translations say "grumbled to Moses", "grumbled at Moses", "grumbled against Moses" but if you click on the preposition being used (`al) , we see it can express causality as in "because of". Because of Moses we now have no water and what water we do have, is bitter. Do we sometimes blame God as soon as things get hard or fall apart?
My Jewish Study Bible makes an interesting note here saying, "Brackish pools and wells are common in deserts (cf. the "Bitter Lakes" in the Isthmus of Suez)." So this water is salt-water.
This leads me to something the Holy Spirit gave me insight on regarding Ezekiel 47:1-12 I ended up in Ezekiel after reading my Jesus Calling devotion on the 23rd and looking up cross-references to one of the verses she referenced, Psalm 36:8, that speak of "overflowing abundance". Doing that led to John 7:37-38, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, "Streams of living water will flow from within him." and cross-references to these verses led to Ezekiel.
As I read these verses all I could see was Jesus is the source. His living-water started shallow with his disciples, then it grew to the first believers, the early church, getting deeper and deeper, with more and more believing in Him. The many fish represent the many different nationalities that receive the Gospel. But then enter verse 11 "But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt." The NKJV rendering is very interesting, "But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt." But I think I'm getting ahead of myself. Whenever you look at the Hebrew words translated as "swamps" and "marshes" you get a crash course into the way language translation works. The word for "swamp" is bitstsah and you will find none of its definitions mean water of any kind. It actually is defined as: gain, profit, plunder, unjust gain. It comes from the root meaning "to cut off" and carries the negative connotation of unjust or dishonest gain. You can easily see, where the current phrase "drain the swamp" referring to our current politicians. But we also see what happens whenever we don't abide, and we're cut off from our fresh water source, the Living Water, we become stagnant like a swamp. The Hebrew word for "marsh" is gebe and also doesn't mention water in its definition. The definition for gebe is simply: Locust. (This will be important later on) It's meaning however is a reservoir, or a marsh because of its unused root which means convex. So a terrain that was surrounded by raised (convex) mounds of earth, would cause a marsh in the lower areas below. As we learned earlier, deserts often contained these salt-water swamps or marshes, characterized as "bitter". In the New Testament we're used to salt being seen in a positive light (be the salt of the earth - used for preservation, healing, and purification) but it also rendered land barren if overused. In this context, the phrase suggests that these areas are set apart for a specific purpose, possibly judgment or a reminder of the consequences of resisting God's life-giving power.
This bring us back the the NKJV rendering "they will be given over". That wording immediately brings to mind Romans 1:18-32 where Paul writes in three different verses (24,26 & 28) that "God gave them over" This phrase is also echoed in Psalm 81:12 "So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices." If you back up a read a few verses more, the psalmist even references being in brought out of Egypt and His provision if they'd just "open their mouths" to receive it.
It's my belief at this time, that those who are "given over" are being given the consequence of their blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It's here that I want to revisit one of the definitions we read earlier in regard to the word "bitter": to be obstinate.
It's here that I want to urge you, to go to God with your bitterness. Declare it all to him. Unburden your heart and let Him heal you. Holding on to it, is poison. Stop drinking the bitter water, and instead turn to Him for Living Water and let it flow through you, healing you, and producing in your fruit in every season.
"Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. (John 15) Their fruit (Gal 5:22-23) will be used for food (John 21:15-17) and their leaves for healing.”
It's no coincidence what follows the Israelites bitter water experience.
“If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God (Holy Spirit), and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
"Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24
The diseases that were inflicted on the Egyptians were also called plagues. And this brings us into the book of Revelation where we see many of the "judgments" are reminiscent of the Egyptian plaques.
Earlier whenever I gave you the definition for the word translated as "marsh" or "gebe" in Hebrew, it was simply: LOCUST
ChatGPT helped me to understand how this word could mean locust and marsh with this response on possible etymology- "Some scholars suggest "gebe" could originally mean a "raised area" (convex), which would apply to both locusts (as swarming insects, which rise up in the air) and small elevated areas around marshes or stagnant waters.
We read in Revelation 9:1 -4 "Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss. The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions (more on this word later) of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads"
Keep in mind we're sealed by the Holy Spirit according to Ephesians 4:30 and 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
In Exodus locusts were the 8th plague sent on the Egyptians.
The Spirit has really been keeping Revelation in my mind as I go through my normal devotion and study time, since we've been reading/studying it in Sunday School. I really feel like those who have blasphemed the Holy Spirit are the same one's who have taken the "mark of the beast". They have been given over and in their obstinance to worship the created (self) rather than the Creator. This idea came to me after reading Psalm 73. I ended up in verse 25 after doing my Jesus Calling devotion for Sunday, March 30th. She writes, "Search for Me as for hidden treasure" and the verses that came flooding to my mind were Proverbs 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; but the glory of kings is to search things out" from there I was in Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" and then to Psalm 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth I desire besides You." The Spirit kept me in this specific Psalm for over half an hour. And the more I go back to it the more I see Revelation as a whole unfolding.
But for this specific post, I want to look at verses 21-22 "When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you."
That phrase "like a beast" drew me in and hasn't let go since. And the verse above it lends credence to what I believe the Spirit is revealing.
"When my soul was embittered....."
The ESV renders the word "embittered" and so naturally we think "bitter" but the Hebrew word is actually chamets: to be leavened, to be sour, meaning to be pungent, in taste, in color
In biblical language leaven or yeast carries the symbolic association of corruption and impurity.
Other translations render the word "grieved". Whenever I read it rendered that way, I immediately think of Paul's exhortation not to grieve the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:30 again, reminding us afterward that it is the Holy Spirit that seals us for the Day of Redemption.
"...when I was pricked in heart"
The Hebrew word for "pricked" is shanan: to sharpen, to whet, to teach diligently, to point, to pierce, to inculcate. In a figurative sense, it is used to describe the act of teaching or instilling knowledge diligently and repeatedly. In other words, whenever we dwell or abide on negative circumstances and we feed those feelings of negativity, rehashing them over and over in our mind. Affirming these thought patterns instead of refuting them with God's truth. We become like a beast towards God.
Whenever we're being driven by base instincts and emotions we're worshiping the beast inside ourselves instead of His Spirit. Those actions are grievous. We push the Spirit out to make more room so we can set up a tent and dwell on all the bad.
Alternatively, whenever we repent, whenever we allow the Word of God to prick our hearts, we are then healed, wholly: spirit, soul and body. As Paul writes in his first letter to the Thessalonians, "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it."
To repent we come to God and pray the prayer of David in Psalm 139 "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous [`otseb] way in me,
The definition for the Hebrew word "`otseb" reminded me of the same words used to define the "anguish" and "pain" of those belonging to the "kingdom of the beast" in Revelation 16.
"The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds."
`Otseb: pain, sorrow, toil, labor. Derived from the root עָצַב (atsab), which means "to hurt" or "to grieve."
It's corresponding Greek word is in fact ponos, the word translated above as "anguish" and "pain"
Sound familiar? Like camping out and rehashing the same old negative, frustrated, angry thoughts. Persistently thinking about it, or since Revelation mentions the tongue, talking about it, over and over again, even if it's causing you prolonged pain and distress.
With these thoughts in mind, I recommend we now move on to James 3. I suggest reading the whole chapter. It's short. But here are a few verses to contemplate for now.
"The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"
Not only were these people who belonged to the kingdom of the beast feeding on bitterness and anger, they cursed God for the pain they were essentially inflicting on themselves, or at least prolonging, by refusing to repent. Repent literally means to "change your mind".
When trouble befalls us, do we have the heart of Job or of his wife?
The word used here for fool is nabal - the wicked fool. It's related to the word nabel meaning: to fade, wither, fall away
"Wither" makes me think of two Scriptures Psalm 1
In these verses we see a contrasting picture. Whenever difficult circumstances befall us, we either send our roots out to the stream (of Living water) because we're planted there. Or we dry up and wither because we've turned away from the source of Life-giving and all we're left with is a puddle, that as it evaporates from the heat of the sun (difficult circumstances) it becomes more and more salty, until it's basically bitter poison.
One more interesting tidbit of information gleaned by doing a brief word study. This time it comes from Matthew 12 in his telling of events that led to Jesus' admonition against blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In verse 30 He says, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."
Scatters. Sounds a lot like falling, turning, being driven away.
In Greek, the word translated as "scatters" is skorpizó, derived from the Greek word (skorpios), meaning "scorpion," which metaphorically implies scattering or dispersing.
Remember the verse above from Revelation 9:3 "And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth."
I wonder if the implication is that whatever tribulation rises up and sweeps over these people, it will cause them to disperse or scatter. It's a warning for us, whenever hard time beset us, do we gather or scatter?
King Solomon said, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
Jesus said, "The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."
He also said, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him." Pointing us back to Ezekiel 47
Apart from His Living-Water all that can flow from us is brackish water at best.
One more connection to Relevation. In chapter 8 we read, "Then the third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star burning like a torch fell from heaven and landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter like wormwood oil, and many people died from the bitter waters.
I wonder if it's possible that these "rivers" are symbolic of Christians.
Seeing how there's a theme of infidelity all throughout Revelation, this theory takes me to the "Adultery Test" in Numbers 5:11-31 If a husband suspected his wife of infidelity, he could bring her to the priest, who would prepare a mixture of holy water and dust from the tabernacle floor. The woman would drink this "bitter water that brings a curse," and if she was guilty, it would cause her physical harm. This ritual served as a divine means of revealing truth and maintaining marital fidelity within the community.
Is this a test of the Church? Those who have been faithful will be fine, but those who are insincere in their faith, suffer the consequence.
The author of Hebrews writes, giving us this warning: "See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many."
This passage takes us to Deuteronomy 29:18-20
And the last verse, Deuteronomy 29:20 brings us back to Hebrews 10:26-27
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
Which takes us back to Hebrews 6:4-6
"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."
I think we sometimes tend to cling too far to fear, and sometimes too far to grace. There's a delicate balance in order to land squarely on reverence. God is Love. Not a doormat.
Whenever I read Proverbs 2 was the first time the seriousness of all this struck me.
Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
I think, I'll wrap this post up here for now. This bit about the "adulterous woman" will tie in perfectly with Revelation 17, which we're studying this week in Sunday School.
The Spirit has been speaking to me a lot about some of the imagery and symbolism in Revelation, so I'm sure there will be more posts about that soon. But for now, let's take an inventory of our lives, praying for the Holy Spirit's conviction to bring any hidden bitterness out of the dark and into His light, so we can confess it and receive His healing in that area of our lives.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you that you don't leave us in our bitterness without any hope of a cure. You are the great healer. Heal our brokenness, purge from us any and all salt, with your Living water, bring us low, so you can lift us up on that final day. Thank you for the lengths you go to in order to bring us safely into Your presence and that you have never left us alone to fix all that's wrong in our our human strength. We see its impossible to bring about any sincere change apart from the work of Your Spirit. Forgive us whenever we pull away, rather than leaning in. Convict us every time. We love you and are so thankful for all you are, all you have done and all that you're doing in our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Notes for later:
forehead is your mind, The forehead symbolizes thought and consciousness. In biblical times, the forehead was considered the seat of one's identity and character.
hands are your deeds ... in Exodus 13:9 The hand represents action and work, suggesting that the Israelites' daily activities should reflect their covenant with God
sun (difficulty)
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