Exodus 15:24 - Exposition

And the people murmured against Moses . As they had already done on the western shores of the Red Sea ( Exodus 14:11 , Exodus 14:12 ), and as they were about to do so often before their wanderings were over. (See below, Exodus 16:2 ; Exodus 17:3 ; Numbers 14:2 ; Numbers 16:41 ; Deuteronomy 1:27 , etc.) "Murmuring" was the common mode in which they vented their spleen, when anything went ill with them; and as Moses had persuaded them to quit Egypt, the murmuring was chiefly against him. The men who serve a nation best are during their lifetime least appreciated. What shall we drink? Few disappointments are harder to bear than that of the man, who after long hours of thirst thinks that he has obtained wherewith to quench his intolerable longing, and on raising the cup to his lips, finds the draught so nauseous that he cannot swallow it. Very unpalatable water is swallowed when the thirst is great. But there is a limit beyond which nature will not go. There "may be water, water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink."