Free Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You by Todd Friel

Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water . When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter ; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
    Then he cried out to the Lord , and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet (Exod. 15:22–25).
    The Jews had just witnessed ten nasty plagues, a Red Sea parting, and bitter water turned into Perrier. The very next scene in the Bible shows God providing bread and meat for them in the wilderness. You would think the Jews would have enough evidence to believe that God was going to take care of them. You would think.
    Short-term Memory
    Unfortunately, the Jewish people failed to remember the miracles that God had performed for their deliverance.
    Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord , and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink” (Exod. 17:1–2).
    Seriously? Just two chapters earlier God provided the Jews with water and here they are, quarreling with Moses about water.
    And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord ?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord , saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me ” (Exod. 17:2–4).
    The Hebrew word for “quarrel” is the root of meribah , meaning, they “lodged a formal complaint” against Moses. This was a legal term. Israel was filing a lawsuit against Moses.
    Moses was no dummy. As God’s representative to the people, Moses realized that their lawsuit was actually against God Himself (Exod. 17:2). God was now on trial.
    A Courtroom Drama
    Then the Lord said to Moses, “ Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb” (Exod. 17:5–6).
    Due to the extreme seriousness of the accusation, God formalized their accusations and created a courtroom. God instructed Moses to stand before the accusers with other elders to serve as the judges and witnesses of this lawsuit.
    Moses’ staff plays no small role in this scene. The staff was Moses’ symbol of authority to make a judgment and pass sentence. This was the staff of judgment God gave Moses to execute justice with Pharaoh.
    In Israel, a guilty criminal would be placed before the judge who would use his rod to administer justice on the guilty criminal (Deut. 25:1–3). Here, God submitted Himself to be punished by the very same rod.
    In the Old Testament, the accused would stand before God’s representative. Now God stood accused before a human court. God stood on the rock awaiting judgment from His guilty accusers. This is a shocking scene.
    God permitted the criminals to place Him, the judge of the universe, on trial. The Creator allowed His creation to pass sentence and execute judgment on Him with the rod of judgment. God, the innocent One, stands in the place of the guilty ones.
    We now witness one of the most staggering scenes in the entire Old Testament as God continued His instructions to Moses:
    â€ś. . . and you shall strike the rock , and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel (Exod. 17:6).
    Dr. Edmund Clowney describes the event:
    Before the