Abstract
The attention of the reader is drawn to that fact that the Biblical story mentions the bitterness of the water, and not its saltiness. A bitter taste in drinking water in these arid regions is, in most cases, a function of the relative abundance of sulfate salts, especially magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) (Epsom or English salt) which, even as a small constituent of the salts, will give the water a bitter taste.
So Moses brought Israel from the Sea of Reeds and they went out into the wilderness…. and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters, for they were bitter; therefore the name of the place was called Marah (Exodus 15:22,23)
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References Chapter 9
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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Issar, A.S. (1990). That Great and Terrible Wilderness (Deut. 1:19). In: Water Shall Flow from the Rock. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75028-1_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75028-1_9
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