Discovery BoxExodus 15:22 
Context15:22 1 Then Moses led Israel to journey 2 away from the Red Sea. They went out to the Desert of Shur, walked for three days 3 into the desert, and found no water.
Exodus 30:2
Context30:2 Its length is to be a foot and a half 4 and its width a foot and a half; it will be square. Its height is to be three feet, 5 with its horns of one piece with it. 6
Exodus 34:24
Context34:24 For I will drive out 7 the nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one will covet 8 your land when you go up 9 to appear before the Lord your God three times 10 in the year.
Exodus 37:25
Context37:25 He made the incense altar of acacia wood. Its length was a foot and a half and its width a foot and a half – a square – and its height was three feet. Its horns were of one piece with it. 11
1 sn The first event of the Israelites’ desert experience is a failure, for they murmur against Yahweh and are given a stern warning – and the provision of sweet water. The event teaches that God is able to turn bitter water into sweet water for his people, and he promises to do such things if they obey. He can provide for them in the desert – he did not bring them into the desert to let them die. But there is a deeper level to this story – the healing of the water is incidental to the healing of the people, their lack of trust. The passage is arranged in a neat chiasm, starting with a journey (A), ending with the culmination of the journey (A'); developing to bitter water (B), resolving to sweet water (B'); complaints by the people (C), leading to to the instructions for the people (C'); and the central turning point is the wonder miracle (D).
2 tn The verb form is unusual; the normal expression is with the Qal, which expresses that they journeyed. But here the Hiphil is used to underscore that Moses caused them to journey – and he is following God. So the point is that God was leading Israel to the bitter water.
3 sn The mention that they travelled for three days into the desert is deliberately intended to recall Moses’ demand that they go three days into the wilderness to worship. Here, three days in, they find bitter water and complain – not worship.
4 tn Heb “a cubit.”
5 tn Heb “two cubits.”
6 tn Heb “its horns from it.”
7 tn The verb is a Hiphil imperfect of יָרַשׁ (yarash), which means “to possess.” In the causative stem it can mean “dispossess” or “drive out.”
8 sn The verb “covet” means more than desire; it means that some action will be taken to try to acquire the land that is being coveted. It is one thing to envy someone for their land; it is another to be consumed by the desire that stops at nothing to get it (it, not something like it).
9 tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffixed subject to form the temporal clause.
10 tn The expression “three times” is an adverbial accusative of time.
11 tn Heb “from it were its horns,” meaning that they were made from the same piece.
