Marah (I)

I. MARAH, or Mara. This Word fignifies¹Bitterness. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, being arrived at the Desart of Etham, they there found the Exod. xv. 23.Waters so bitter, that neither themselves nor their Cattle could drink of it. Therefore they gave the Name of Mara or Bitterness, to this Encampment. Then they began to murmur against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And Moses praying to the Lord, he shewed him a kind of Wood, which being thrown into the Water, presently made it potable. This Wood was called Alnah, according to the Orientals. They believe that it came from Noah to Moses by Succession; and that Noah had preserved it in the Ark.

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