Water from the Rock (Exodus 17).

God promised Abraham multiple descendants and a homeland to bless the world (Gen.12:1-3).  Abraham’s descendants multiplied but ended up enslaved in Egypt. They cried out and the Lord used Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt by His mighty acts of judgment. The Israelite community left Egypt with the Lord leading them by the pillar of cloud and fire. Then when Pharaoh and his army pursued Israel, Moses stretched out his staff over the Red Sea and the Lord divided the sea so that the Israelites walked through on dry ground. Pharaoh’s army followed them into the sea but the Lord drowned Pharaoh’s entire. The Israelites trusted in the Lord and in His servant Moses but then they quarreled when they faced the difficulties of life in the desert. This brings us to the story of the Lord providing the Israelites with water from the rock and giving them a victory over the Amalekites (Exodus 17). You can watch the video and read the comments below. 

The Lord delivered the Israelites out of Egypt with mighty acts of judgment and led them by the pillar of cloud and fire. Then the Lord provided the Israelites with plenty of ‘manna and quail’ to eat. In this story we find that the Israelites had been led to camp at Rephidim where they had no water. Now instead of trusting the Lord to provide water for them the Israelites tested the Lord and yet the Lord graciously provided water for the people to drink from the ‘Rock at Horeb’.

The Israelite community were traveling place to place and the Lord led them to camp at Rephidim where there was no visible source of water. However, rather than trusting God the Israelites quarreled with Moses and demanded he give them water to drink. Moses questions why they were quarreling and putting the Lord to the test since it was the Lord who had led them to the camp. By quarreling and demanding that Moses give them water they were actually ‘putting the Lord to the test”.

With no water in sight they assumed that there was no water available. They definitely needed water so they chose to quarrel with Moses and they even accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt only to make them, their children and their livestock die of thirst. They quarreled to such an extent that Moses actually thought the Israelites would stone him to death. Moses was at a loss as to what to do so he cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do… the Israelites are ready to stone me.”

The Lord’s answer was for Moses to walk ahead of the people accompanied by some of the Israelite elders. The Lord would stand before Moses on the “Rock at Horeb’ and Moses was to strike the rock with the same staff which they used to strike the Nile and bring judgment upon the ‘gods of Egypt’. Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel and the Lord provided water from the rock for the people to drink. So Moses called the place Massah, which means testing and ‘meribah’ which means quarreling because there they questioned whether or not He was with them. The Lord allowed Himself to be put on trial by having Moses strike the rock with the staff with which Moses had brought judgment on Egypt.

God calls His people to trust Him to provide for us. Yet in this story we find the Israelites testing the Lord’s patience by doubting that God was with them (Ex. 17:2, 6-7). This happened at Horeb which is another name for Mount Sinai and is the same place where Moses encountered God at the burning bush (Ex. 3:1; Deut 4:15). We find water flowing from God’s presence in other places in the scripture (Gen. 2:10; Ezek. 47:1–2). The New Testament tells us that the Israelites drank from the rock that accompanied them and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:3–4). Today, we are to look directly to Jesus the mediator of the better new covenant to provide spiritual water for our thirsty souls (Hebrews 9:15, 12:24, John 7:37b–38).

After they quarreled and putting the Lord to the test the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites. First came the infighting and then came the attack from the outside. Moses tells Joshua to choose some of their men to fight while he would go up the hill with the staff of God to intercede. So Joshua and his chosen men fought the Amalekites while Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. While Moses held up his hands the Israelites were winning, but whenever Moses lowered his hands the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired Aaron and Hur held Moses hands steady till sunset.

Moses lifted up his hands to the throne of God and Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. The Lord told Moses to write this account down on a scroll so that the event could be remembered. Moses was to make sure that Joshua heard it since the Lord would blot out the memory of Amalek. Then Moses built an altar and called it ‘The Lord is my Banner’ and he said that the Lord fought for Israel when hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord. The story shows how quarreling can make one vulnerable to outside attack. It is curious how being attacked can motivate people to work together to overcome a common enemy. Facing opposition can stimulate cooperation and divert attention away from quarreling and bickering. The story makes it clear that the battle is the Lord’s and that spiritual battles are won by lifting up hands in prayer to the throne of God. Moses interceded for the Old Testament people and we look in pray to the better new covenant mediator, our Lord Jesus Christ.