An ecological reading of the scarcity of water in the Book of Exodus when the people of Israel were in the desert on their way to the promised land

Abstract

This article intends to reflect on two texts of Exodus: 15,22-27 and 17,1-7. These texts portray the Israelites' walk through the desert after leaving the land of slavery in Egypt and narrate the absence of a vital element, water. The two biblical scenes begin with a socio-environmental crisis, as water is lacking and the people are in despair. The objective is to read these two narratives from the perspective of the interface between the Bible and ecology. This is a bibliographical research that intends to conclude that it is possible to see in the elements of the biblical narrative the ecological signs of defense of life and to show that this defense of life is a predominant characteristic of the God of the Exodus.