Reference: Marah
American
Bitterness, a well near the Red Sea, three days' journey from the point where the Israelites crossed it. The well was sweetened for the use of the distressed Hebrews by the miraculous efficacy imparted to the branches of a certain tree which Moses threw in, Ex 15:23-25. No plant is now known possessed of such a quality. The name Amarah now marks the dry bed of a wintry torrent, a little south of which is a well called Hawara, which answers well to the description. Its water, after remaining a few seconds in the mouth, becomes exceedingly nauseous. The Arabs do not drink it though their camels will. See also Ru 1:20.
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Easton
bitterness, a fountain at the sixth station of the Israelites (Ex 15:23-24; Nu 33:8) whose waters were so bitter that they could not drink them. On this account they murmured against Moses, who, under divine direction, cast into the fountain "a certain tree" which took away its bitterness, so that the people drank of it. This was probably the 'Ain Hawarah, where there are still several springs of water that are very "bitter," distant some 47 miles from 'Ayun Mousa.
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Fausets
("bitterness".) A fountain in the desert of Shur, between the Red Sea and Sinai; Israel reached Marah three days after crossing to the Arabian side (Ex 15:23; Nu 33:8). Now Ain Huwarah, 47 miles from Ayun Muss, near the place of crossing the Red Sea. The beneficial effect of the tree cast into the bitter water by God's direction is probably the cause why now this fountain is less bitter than others in the neighborhood. The fountain rises from a large mound, a whitish petrifaction, deposited by the water, which seldom flows now; but there are traces of a formerly running stream. The Arabic Huwara means "destruction", analogous to the Hebrew "bitter". The cross is spiritually the tree which, when cast into life's bitterest waters, sweetens and heals them (Php 3:8; Ac 20:24; 16:23-25; 5:41; Ro 5:3).
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Hastings
The first 'station' of the Israelites after crossing the sea (Ex 15:23; Nu 33:8-9). If the passage was in the neighbourhood of Suez, W
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Morish
Ma'rah
One of the early stations of the Israelites, so called because the waters there were bitter, but which were made sweet by casting in a tree. Ex 15:23; Nu 33:8-9. It is typical of the Christian's acceptance of death (Ro 6:11; Joh 6:53, etc.), in order to live unto God. It is the love of Christ, expressed in His going into death to make a way out for us, that sweetens the bitterness.
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Smith
Ma'rah
(bitterness), a place which lay in the wilderness of Shur or Etham, three days journey distant,
from the place at which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and where was a spring of bitter water, sweetened subsequently by the casting in of a tree which "the Lord showed" to Moses. Howarah, distant 16 1/2 hours (47 miles) from Ayoun Mousa, the Israelites' first encampment, has been by many identified with it, apparently because it is the bitterest water in the neighborhood.
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Watsons
MARAH, or MARA, a word which signifies bitterness. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, and had arrived at the desert of Etham, they found the water so bitter that neither themselves nor their cattle could drink of it, Ex 15:23. On this account they gave the name of Marah to that encampment. And here their murmurings began against Moses; for they asked, "What shall we drink?" Moses prayed to the Lord, who instructed him to take a particular kind of wood, and cast it into the water, which he did; and immediately the water became palatable. According to the orientals, this wood was called Alnah.