April 16, 2013

• Bitter Waters made Sweet

  After Moses and Miriam prophesied in the desert, they took a trip with the Israelites away from the sea.  For three days they traveled in the desert of the Sinai penninsula, and whatever water they’d had during that time was now gone.  There were over a million people, and no water. 

  Until Marah.

    Marah means ‘bitter’, and was called so, because the people saw that it was a place of water, and were SO elated… until they tried to drink it, and found out that it was not potable.  For whatever reason, the water at Marah was not water that they could use… it was bitter.  Until the Lord showed Moses a tree to put in the water.  Putting the tree in the water sweetened it, and it was possible to drink the water after that. 
  

  But what of this tree?

  According to christian sites, this tree is the sweet cross of Jee-zus.  Ironically, every source that can be cited from Jewish sages say the exact opposite – that this tree was as bitter as the waters were.  Which… there’s irony for you.  To the Christians, Jee-zus is the easy ticket to eternal life.  Grab the gift, sit back, and don’t worry about a thing.  To Jews, Yeshuah ben Yosef is a difficult transition.  After thousands of years of striving with only obedience as a means of salvation, it’s not easy to switch gears and let go of the need to do it yourself.  I find that absolutely fascinating.  Which direction would I want to come to Him from?

  The christian sites said that the desert and the bitter waters of Marah represent sin, which… I’ll tell you right now was WHOLLY offensive to me and my point of view.  I clicked out of them, one by one, getting angrier by the moment.  Think about it:  If Israel was just delivered from Egypt/sinful world, were washed free of that bondage with the symbolism of the Red Sea… how in the WORLD can the other side be ‘a desert of sin’ and Marah’s bitter waters ‘sin’?  If the blood on the doorposts in Goshen was salvation by Messiah, how can we need Him to ‘save’ them again, now that they’re not only saved and forgiven, but free?  That’s a CATHOLIC teaching – that you have to keep sacrificing Him (the point of mass) because a one-time payment for sin isn’t enough.  DAMN christians for teaching these lies!  What a wretched, wicked web of lies the weave over people!  Marah CANNOT be sin, any more than the Sinai desert is.  That’s just completely contradictory to the Salvation story!

  I actually wrote about Marah before… the post is called ‘My Marah’, and it’s on my sidebar.  In it, I explained every place along their journey in a brief overview, but what I’m doing now is digging deeper into it, to learn more.  But what I wrote before about Marah was this:
  

  After they left Shur, the Israelites came to a place called MARAH.  … “We, in our walk through life come to our own places of Marah, relationships, job, people, past, memories become bitter, and we become disappointed.”  It’s not that WE’RE bitter… it’s that the situations, the relationships, the circumstances we find ourselves in become bitter… distasteful.  Those people, those things we were part of before… we’re just not THERE anymore.  We’ve moved on, we’re in a new place, and those places and people are dragging us back, and down.  But how do you let go of them?  You don’t want to hurt people, and you know that you have a duty to be a witness in all situations and circumstances and to all people… but it’s just NOT working.  Do you know what I mean?

  THAT’s exactly what Marah is symbolic of.  Taking stock of where we’ve been, seeing where we’re going, and realizing that there’s bitterness there that has to be gotten rid of.  How can you taste of sweetness when your mouth is full of bitterness?  When I wrote the ‘Marah’ post, it was 2007… I was coming out of christianity, and I was Oh. My. GOSH. so bitter about the lies, the things that I’d been duped into believing and doing and the things that I’d held close that were ALL wrong.  I was pissed as hell for a long, long time… you can read it on my past posts. 

  On our journey to Truth, this is a necessary step in growth.  Anger and bitterness is a necessary step.  Not just spiritually, either – have you ever read the seven steps of grief, or dealing with loss?  They are:

  Shock – Pain – Anger – Depression – Reflection
  Reconstruction and Acceptance/Hope

  Anger IS a part of the healing/growing process.  The christians have it ALL wrong – they see these grumbling Israelites as idiots who can’t appreciate what they have.  But that’s not what’s going on, here.  The Israelites just came out of severe trauma.  The slavery, the oppression, the plagues, the uncertainty of flight, the Red Sea experience… it was NOT easy.  There was shock and pain.  There was fear and uncertainty.  And of COURSE there’s going to be anger.  It’s important and needful to come face to face with that and deal with it, head-on… it’s not wrong.  Good night, it’s no wonder the church is stagnant!

  Back to that tree.  I read about this, and what we’re seeing here is actually a process called Phytoremediation.  Basically, there are certain plants that are able to absorb contaminants and clean the waters.  There’s an article here (LINK) about Poplar trees being so useful in phytoremediation, because “the trees can turn contaminants into harmless byproducts. Purdue University researchers said a recent a study found that transgenic poplar cuttings absorbed 90 percent of trichloroethylene within a hydroponic solution in one week.” 

  Another article asserts that “Many plants simply tolerate heavy metals, industrial pollutants and other toxins, but others actually thrive on them. These plants are called hyperaccumulators, and they can safely store heavy metals or other pollutants at levels far higher than other plants can tolerate, making them a crucial part of phytoremediation. Indian mustard, for example, was used to clean the soil around an abandoned factory which had been contaminated with lead. According to Harvard Design Magazine, the mustard was able to clean 75 percent of the lead from the top 20 inches of the soil, reducing lead contamination to safe levels in less than two years.”  So whatever the ‘tree’ was, it was able to clean the water.

  And yes, I do believe that Messiah – by way of the cross – not only pays for our sins, but is also able to take our troubles from us.  And that’s what this stop at Marah is about.  Bitterness made sweet.

  • 11:21 am
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