Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Marah is the place-name and event in Exodus 15:22-26 where Israel — three days from the Red Sea, parched and complaining — found water at last only to discover it was bitter and undrinkable. The Hebrew marah means "bitter" or "bitterness"; the same root underlies the names Mary, Miriam, Maria, and Naomi's grief-cry (Ruth 1:20 — "call me not Naomi, call me Mara"). At Marah, the people murmured: "What shall we drink?" Moses cried to the LORD; and the LORD SHOWED HIM A TREE — Hebrew 'ets — which when Moses cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. The text immediately adds: "There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt 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." (Exod 15:25-26). Marah is therefore the place where God reveals Himself as YAHWEH-RAPHA — "the LORD that healeth thee" (Jehovah-Rapha). The typology is rich: the bitter waters picture human nature, embittered by the Fall and undrinkable for thirst; the Tree cast into them pictures the Cross of Christ — "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet 2:24). The Tree cast into the bitter waters made them sweet; the Cross cast into bitter humanity made redemption available. The Marah place became a place of HEALING because God showed Moses a tree.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The bitter waters in the wilderness made sweet when Moses cast in the Tree God showed him; type of the Cross of Christ cast into bitter humanity to heal it.
expand to see more
MARAH, noun. (1) Place name in the wilderness of Shur (Exod 15:23-26) — the bitter waters that Moses healed by casting in the Tree God showed him. (2) Hebrew word for "bitter" / "bitterness" — root of the names Mary, Miriam, Maria, and Naomi's grief-name (Ruth 1:20).
Typology: the Cross of Christ (the Tree, 1 Pet 2:24; Gal 3:13) cast into the bitter waters of human nature; God reveals Himself there as Jehovah-Rapha, the LORD that healeth thee.
📖 Key Scripture
Exodus 15:23-26 — "And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah... And the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet... I am the LORD that healeth thee."
1 Peter 2:24 — "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."
Galatians 3:13 — "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."
Ruth 1:20 — "And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Marah is corrupted when the place is treated as a mere geographic note in the Exodus itinerary, or when the Tree-of-Marah typology is severed from the Cross of Christ; the Spirit-given Exodus 15 link to Yahweh-Rapha and the NT "on the tree" language (1 Pet 2:24; Gal 3:13) are deliberate.
expand to see more
Itinerary-only reading. Modernist commentary sometimes treats Marah as a stop on the Exodus map without theological weight — Israel was thirsty, Moses found a remedy, story moves on. But the canonical text immediately attaches a covenant statute ("if thou wilt diligently hearken") and a divine self-revelation ("I am the LORD that healeth thee" — Jehovah-Rapha). Marah is one of the great Jehovah-name revelation events of the OT, paralleling Jehovah-Jireh (Gen 22) and Jehovah-Nissi (Exod 17:15). To strip it of weight is to lose a Name of God.
Tree-typology severance. The detail that God SHOWED MOSES A TREE which when cast into the bitter waters healed them is theologically loaded. 1 Peter 2:24 and Galatians 3:13 both use "on the tree" language for the Cross of Christ. The Spirit's choice of "tree" rather than "piece of wood" or "branch" in Exod 15:25 invites the typological reading: the Cross-tree, cast into the bitter waters of human nature, makes them sweet. To dismiss this as fanciful is to miss the deliberate canonical pattern.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Marah (H4785) — bitter; the place where God showed Moses a Tree to heal the bitter waters (Exod 15:23-26); Yahweh-Rapha revealed.
expand to see more
Hebrew Marah (H4785) — bitter, bitterness; the place name (Exod 15:23)
Hebrew marah (H4751) — bitter; root of Mary, Miriam, Maria, Mara (Naomi's grief-cry, Ruth 1:20)
Hebrew 'ets — tree; the Tree God showed Moses to cast into the waters (Exod 15:25); same word the NT uses for the Cross (1 Pet 2:24; Gal 3:13)
Yahweh-Rapha — "the LORD that healeth thee" — God's self-revelation at Marah after the bitter waters are made sweet (Exod 15:26)
Usage
"The Tree God showed Moses, cast into the bitter waters, made them sweet — type of the Cross cast into bitter humanity."
"At Marah God revealed Himself as Jehovah-Rapha — the LORD that healeth thee — the first healing-name of God."
"What Marah, Maria, Mary, Miriam, and Mara all share is a Hebrew root for bitterness — and a Tree that can change the taste of the water."