“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. God's positioning — I will stand there before you by the rock — means Moses is striking a rock in God's presence. The act is not a technique but a command obeyed in God's presence, with God as witness. The rock at Horeb is near the mountain of God — the same mountain where the burning bush appeared and where the law will be given. The provision of water happens in sacred geography. Paul's interpretation in 1 Corinthians 10:4 is that the rock was Christ: they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. The water from the rock that sustained Israel in the wilderness is the type of the living water that Jesus offers in John 4:14.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!