Saved by the Well – Moses at Elim

Saved by the Well – Moses at Elim. 

“After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve wellsprings and seventy date palm trees. They camped there beside the water.” (Exodus 15:27; Numbers 33:9).

SAVED: The Hebrew word for save is “Yasha,” which means to be set free into the wide open; to be delivered in a time of desperate need; to be saved from destruction and certain death. “Salvation” literally means to become spacious, and refers to “the sense of deliverance from an existence that had become confined, compressed, or cramped.” (Eugene Peterson). When Jesus delivers us from our inner spiritual confinement, we are liberated into a wide open, broad, expansive place. The word for “wide open space” is the opposite of a straitjacket. Without Jesus, our soul will never be freed from our spiritual straitjacket. There are three passages in Psalms that describe this freedom deliverance beautifully:

1. “From my distress, I called upon the Lord. He answered me and set me on a large place. After being in a tight spot, the Lord placed me into a broad space. Because I was hemmed in, I called on Lord Yahweh. He answered me and gave me room.” (Ps. 118:5);
2. “Lord, you have not given me over into the hands of the Enemy; You have liberated me and set my feet in a wide expanse, a good and spacious land. You have given me the freedom to roam at large, where I can freely move. You have given me room to breathe.” (Ps. 31:8);
3. “The Lord rescued me because He delighted in me. He brought me out to freedom into a wide-open space. My soul has been delivered because of God’s love for me, and my soul finally has some elbow room!” (Ps. 18:19).

THE WELL: There are four Hebrew words used in the Jewish Bible to describe the different kinds of ancient wells. There was the traditional well that was a deep hole dug in the ground to tap into an underground source of water. Another type of well was a fountain spring that had naturally broken through the earth’s surface on its own without man’s help. The wellspring is another version of well in Scripture in which fresh water flowed out of the ground in any number of ways to become available for cleansing, nourishment, refreshment, for survival itself. Life-giving wells of water have always been a powerful picture of our dependence upon God for spiritual survival. Just as Creator God has designed the human body to completely depend on water to live, our spiritual life totally relies on His presence in us to not just survive but to flourish. God is our spiritual well of fresh water, the only stable source of nourishment and purity. He is our fountain of life that gushes forth to replenish and cleanse us. God is our eternal wellspring of living water that will never run dry. Each of us is born spiritually dehydrated, and God alone is the constant, reliable water source to bring us back to life. As the silly joke goes, wells are a deep subject, and the biblical wells involve such stalwarts as Hagar and Abraham; Isaac and Moses; Samson and Solomon; the psalmists and the prophets. And of course, the glorious fulfillment of all these ancient stories of wells… Messiah Jesus and the woman at the well.

Elim the Oasis. On this second stopping point after their escape from Egypt, Elim couldn’t have been more welcome. The overheated and hungry Israelites had just finished an exhausting seven-mile journey from the roller-coaster experience at Marah. They had found an oasis earlier at Marah, which means “bitterness,” but had discovered that the water source there was poisoned and impossible to drink. The Lord purified the water after Moses threw a small tree into the lake there, and that miracle led to Yahweh declaring Himself to the people as Yahweh-rophe, Lord-Healer. The Israelites were now about a month’s time from the Red Sea miracle, and the pillars of cloud and fire led them directly to this unexpected piece of paradise in the desert. Needless to say, Elim was a sight for sore eyes and a relief to their grumbling stomachs. This was divine intervention at its best, a place to find refreshment, restoration, and rest before their long journey ahead… a temporary heaven on earth.

Food and Water. As soon as they witnessed the date palm trees, they knew that there was sure to be extensive sources of water as well. And contrary to Marah, there were twelve wellsprings of fresh water to enjoy. It has been suggested that the number twelve symbolized that there was enough water to slake the thirst of all twelve tribes of Israelites. And then there were seventy date palm trees, which was a significant number in Hebrew history… there were seventy Gentile nations (Genesis 10); seventy in Jacob’s family who settled in Egypt (Exodus 1:5); seventy elders appointed by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 11); and later on, there were seventy ruling elders in the Sanhedrin, Jerusalem’s supreme court. The palms were one of the most popular trees in the middle east, too, because they were so versatile in how they could be used by the people lucky enough to be traveling near them…. wood for cooking fires; flexible branches to make shelter in the middle of nowhere; plentiful sap to make everything from cooking oil to sugars to delicious wine. And we can’t forget the obvious benefits of the palm tree’s produce in the desert that were golden for travelers, for dates were a nutritious power-fruit, packed with natural carbohydrates, dietary fiber, essential minerals like potassium and magnesium, and palm dates were a powerful antioxidant that turned out to be an instant source of natural energy for pilgrims on the move. Palms in the desert were a welcome sight too since they are an evergreen tree that provided year-round shade and shelter from the brutal sun. So it’s no wonder that palm trees are mentioned over fifty times in the Bible, and that they came to represent biblical qualities like righteousness, resilience, and loyalty. Palms, which grew to over 100 feet tall and lived for over 100 years, also symbolized victory over the elements and triumph over difficulties, and so palm branches were traditionally thrown on the ground by grateful mobs of people when a victorious king returning from battle or a conquering national hero graces the public with an appearance. To commemorate the importance of the palm tree, the Jerusalem Temple prominently featured palm trees as a symbol of paradise itself… from the interior walls of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, to palm tree carvings on the doors to the sanctuary. We can easily see now the significance of Jesus riding into town on a humble donkey instead of a warhorse, and praised as the Messiah with palm tree branches. Palm Sunday, we’re looking at you.

I’ve Got A River of Life – Times Square Church (Lyrics)

Elim in the Flesh. Yes, Jesus seemed to offer Himself as a picture of a living oasis, didn’t He? Christ is our spiritual oasis in our wilderness journey… our Wellspring of Everlasting Water; our life-giving Food as the Bread of Life; our Rest in the midst of our labors; our Shade at our right hand; our Shelter in the midst of a storm; our Source of Refreshment when discouraged; our Restoration when completely empty and broken. What could inspire hopefulness for a pilgrim more effectively than an oasis? Jesus is our Elim, our only hope for survival.