For the third and final time this week, we are going to be beginning a post with Exodus 17:1-7 as we look at the symbolism or typology associated with Moses getting water from a rock. At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually, they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded.
“Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?”
But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They are ready to stone me!”
The Lord said to Moses, “Walk out in front of the people. Take your staff, the one you used when you struck the water of the Nile, and call some of the elders of Israel to join you. I will stand before you on the rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come gushing out. Then the people will be able to drink.” So Moses struck the rock as he was told, and water gushed out as the elders looked on.
Moses named the place Massah (which means “test”) and Meribah (which means “arguing”) because the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not" (Exodus 17:1-7 NLT)?
Now we are going to go to another Old Testament passage and two New Testament passages for more on this. In the first month of the year, the whole community of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. While they were there, Miriam, Moses' older sister, died and was buried.
There was no water for the people to drink at that place, so they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. The people blamed Moses and said, “If only we had died in the Lord’s presence with our brothers! Why have you brought the congregation of the Lord’s people into this wilderness to die, along with all our livestock? Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, no figs, no grapes, no pomegranates, and no water to drink!”
Moses and Aaron turned away from the people and went to the entrance of the Tabernacle, where they fell face down on the ground. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to them, and the Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.”
So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them (Numbers 20:1-13 NLT).
Once again, we see here the people grumbling against Moses and Aaron, accusing them of bringing all the people out into the desert to die. No matter how many times God provided for them, they continued to rebel in faithlessness against Yahweh. Moses finally had enough and, in his righteous anger (who wouldn't have had enough after all that time), disobeyed the Lord himself and it cost him what he looked forward to the most in this life, to lead his people into the Promised Land. Because he disobeyed the Lord, striking the rock instead of speaking to it and saying, "Must we bring you water from this rock," taking credit for it, the Promised Land of Israel was no longer a promise for Israel's leader.
Over 1,400 years later on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (Hebrew: Sukkot), Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah, stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them!” By this, he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified (John 7:37-39 NLT). If anybody knew how to take advantage of a setting to make a point, it was Jesus Christ. The Feast of Tabernacles was the seventh and final festival God gave to Israel. During this week-long event, families build shelters outside to live in with three walls and a roof made of branches. The purpose of living in the booth is a reminder of what the Israelites dwelt in for 40 years after the Lord brought them out of Egypt. This is also why the Apostle John used the phraseology he did in his gospel when he said the Word (Jesus) became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14 TLV). Everything God did and does has a reason. There is no such thing as an overlooked detail with the God of the universe. During the Feast of Tabernacles, a sacrificial pouring out of water was performed at the Temple. The High Priest would lead a procession to the Pool of Siloam where he would fill a golden pitcher with water and then return to the courtyard of the Temple. The water at the Pool of Siloam came from the Gihon Spring, the principal supply of water for Jerusalem. Because it came from a spring, the water was considered "living water" and used for purification. After returning to the courtyard of the priests, they circled the altar once before the priest poured the water out onto the altar of sacrifice. They did this each morning except on the last morning when the priests would circle the altar seven times. This symbolized Israel's request that the Lord bless them with rain for the next harvest season. It was on this exact day when Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink! Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them!” Again, nothing, n-o-t-h-i-n-g happens by accident with God (The Festival of Sukkot and Understanding the Feat of Tabernacles or Sukkot).
I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NLT). Moses, who gave the law from God, struck the rock in Exodus 17:1-7 and the people drank water from it. Although Jesus is the only perfect person who kept the whole law for his entire life, the law struck him because he chose to take our place and our punishment for breaking God's law so that we could be set free and have the option for a restored relationship with God. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17 NIV). Moses, the representative of the Law, was not able to enter the Promised Land because, despite his own words, it wasn't he who provided the living water. It was God who provided the living water from the rock, and our spiritual rock, as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:4, is Christ. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are (Romans 3:20-22 NLT).
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| The split rock at Jabal al-Lawz, the most likely location of these events |
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