After His resurrection, Jesus met up with a couple of His disciples and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24).
With that in mind, consider Exodus 15:
So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.
And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Amazing, is it not? Get it? No? Well, consider that for centuries this was merely a story about something that occurred after the Exodus from Egypt. However, once we learn about the Messiah, His life, His ministry, etc. we realize that this record was also metaphorical; consider the following key points.
What do these texts have in common?:
…they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water… …where were twelve wells of water…
…and threescore and ten palm trees… (FYI: this means 70)
They each contain numbers: 3, 12 and 70.
The other key text is:
…the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet…
Here is how to draw out the metaphor.
Being three days in the wilderness without water essentially makes you a dead person.
Jesus was dead in the grave three days.
The undrinkable, bitter, water is healed by that casting of a tree into water.
Jesus was crucified for our healing upon a cross that is made of wood that is cut from a tree. In fact, a succinct way to refer to the cross is simply by referring to tree such as we are told about how Jesus became cursed for us (see Galatians 3:13).
The water is turned from a cursed bitter water into living water as Jesus put it, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7).
Now, why would anyone bother counting, recording and preserving the fact that there were twelve wells of water and 70 palm trees. Well, Jesus had twelve Apostles and when He first sent out His Disciples, He sent out 70, “the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two” (Luke 10).
Thus, we find that an odd story about lacking water, bitter water, living water, days, wells and trees; we can see Jesus.