Murmuring - Exodus 15:22-27

15:22-27 - The Hebrews are so joyous at their deliverance that they are singing and dancing, but our needs as humans require constant food and water for survival, so by the time they had traveled 3 days into the wilderness, they had no water. TB did the math on this and said that for a population this size with this many millions of people and this many millions of animals, the traveling hoard of Israelites would have needed 10 million gallons of water per day. That is an outrageous amount, the need would be so great that it’s shocking that they were able to get anywhere in the desert with the need being that great. They finally did come to an oasis called Marah, which in Hebrew means bitter, indicating that the Hebrews named it instead of it being a place that other populations were familiar with because if it was named bitter then why would anyone go there expecting the water to be potable.

When they got to the Oasis and the water was not drinkable, “the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” My problem with this is that this word “murmured” is used to often and meant to demonize those doing the “murmuring” as complainers who lack faith and are difficult and undeserving, but as far as I can see they didn’t say anything crazy, there was a valid point, the people and animals needed water and they were simply asking “what are we going to do for water?” That’s a fair question. So this concept has always bugged me as a way to put people in a box who “question authority,” or just ask genuinely needed questions, and demonize them. The IM’s only note on this whole chapter is about this concept saying that “murmuring is defined as ‘a half-suppressed or muttered complaint.’ Instead of open expression of concern and criticism so a problem can be dealt with, it is bending-the-scenes grumbling. That problem was not unique to the Israelites or to Laman and Lemuel. It is too often prevalent among Latter-day Saints today.” That might be so, in many cases, the complaining wasn’t helpful, but in this case specifically, I feel like it’s a fair question.

Additionally, the IM quotes two different old school church leaders, Marion G. Romney and David O. McKay as going on and on about how people should stop questioning church leadership and just be obedient, and while I can see that as being the case in certain aspects, I think that a lot of people in the church are trying to come to terms with what is or has been said over the pulpit and determine what is doctrine and what is that man’s opinion. As far as I know one of the defining factors that separate our religion from others is the “ask of God” concept so that we can learn and be taught directly by God about what is true and what is not. I talked yesterday about so many people leaving the church and part of that is because some can’t reconcile what has been “taught” and what is actually inline with the teachings of Christ. It’s difficult because this church is run by men, human men who have flaws and are not perfect and part of our responsibility as disciples of Christ is to follow Him the best way we know how and I feel like doubling down on the whole “follow the prophet no matter what,” concept is going to be a hard sell in this climate. We have to get our own confirmation about what is taught and what we are to implement into our own lives, and God wants us to ask because He will teach us. We are not a perfect church, our leaders aren’t perfect and the followers aren’t perfect, and our world isn’t perfect so that means that everyone is on their own path and if we turn to God for clarifications then He will teach us how He wants us to implement His doctrine in the way that is proper for us to do.

Anyway, Moses turns to God for answers, who tells him to take a piece of wood from a tree and cast it into the bitter waters, they became drinkable, which it must have been a huge amount of water for all those people and animals. He also instituted “a statute and an ordinance” that if they will “diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the lord that healeth thee.” This is very much like the Book of Mormon promise that was basically ‘if they shall be obedient, they will prosper in the land.”