Exodus 17:1–7

No fear of enemies on the way: to faith they are powerless. Full confidence belongs to redemption. Is it then, as men would say, all plain sailing now? Not at all. It is the wilderness, and there is no water; and note this — it was by the Lord's command they pitched in Rephidim.

Moving on from the wilderness of Sin, they camped in due course at Rephidim, with two stations in between, Dophkah and Alush (Num. 33:12-14). At Rephidim they wanted water, so they murmured again. Now there was nothing wrong in being hungry in the wilderness of Sin, or being thirsty at Rephidim. These are natural conditions of the creature no longer in Paradise. But their failure was in murmuring, and in seeing Moses as the cause of their condition — that is, of being without water. God, who had led them through the Red Sea, was leading them still, for they moved on "according to the commandment of the LORD" (17:1). If God was leading, then their arrival at Rephidim must be right.

The wilderness was not part of His purpose, but it forms an essential part of His ways. It shows us that we have no resource of our own. It makes known the unfailing resources of divine power, grace and wisdom for every emergency of the wilderness path (see Deut. 8:2-6). Had they been able to get bread in the wilderness, there would have been no need to send bread from heaven. Had they found water, it would not have been necessary to bring water out of the rock. Everything was met by the fullness of divine resource. But God's provision is not measured by the needs of the wilderness. The need only gives Him the occasion. God displays His power in meeting the need, and also His grace in the overflowing abundance of His giving. … To be in the wilderness is not a condition of failure, but a consequence of redemption.

If we did not know something of the humiliating evil of our own hearts, we could not explain Israel's astonishing insensitivity to all the Lord's goodness, faithfulness and mighty acts. They had just seen bread coming down from heaven to feed six hundred thousand people in the wilderness. Now they are "ready to stone" Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. Nothing can exceed the desperate unbelief and wickedness of the human heart, except the superabounding grace of God.

Here are the questions of the wilderness: "What?" "Where?" "How?" Faith has a brief but comprehensive answer to all three, namely, GOD! … We certainly need to remember, when we are in trial, that "no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Cor. 10:13). Whenever we get into trial, we may be confident that with the trial there is a way out. All we need is a broken will and a single eye to see it.

In Exodus 17 we do not have Christ given from above, the bread of God for us while we are in the world. We have the rock struck with Moses' rod, and the waters flow out abundantly. It was the last place where anyone would have looked for refreshing streams. But the rod of God strikes the rock, and the people drink of the waters it gave out. … The free gift of the Spirit of God to us in our thirst and weariness rests simply on Christ suffering for us. He came under judgment, the rod of God applied to that rock.

There was "no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink." This is unbelief. It always forgets grace and always turns to second causes. God was not in the thoughts of Israel, who only quarrelled with Moses. This was tempting Jehovah. They doubted that He was among them, and doubted that He was there to care for them. And they doubted after He had given the most magnificent and varied proofs of His power on their behalf, right up to the last moment. Why not ask water from Him who had given them meat in the evening, and filled them with bread in the morning?

The people quarrelled with Moses. But in reality, as Moses said, they tempted the Lord (v. 2). By their actions they were saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" (v. 7.) Moses was their appointed leader, and so he was Jehovah's representative for the people. To quarrel with him was to quarrel with the Lord. To complain of their hardships was in fact to doubt the Lord's presence, if not to deny it. If they had believed that He was among them, every murmur would have stopped.

If we did not know something of the humiliating evil of our own hearts, we could not explain Israel here at all. Nothing moved them — not the Lord's goodness, not His faithfulness, not His mighty acts. They had just seen bread coming down from heaven to feed six hundred thousand people in the wilderness. Now they are "ready to stone" Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. Only one thing goes beyond the desperate unbelief and wickedness of the human heart: the overflowing grace of God.

It is interesting to note the two great questions raised by unbelief, in this chapter and the one before. They are exactly like the ones that come up, within us and around us, every day: "What shall we eat? and what shall we drink?"... But here are the questions of the wilderness: "What!" "Where!" "How?" Faith has a brief but complete answer to all three: GOD!

Massah means temptation, and Meribah means contention. The Spirit uses these names on purpose. They describe the moral state of the people and prove beyond dispute their hardened hearts of unbelief toward God. In quarrelling or contending with Moses, God's representative, they were in fact contending with God. They put Him to the proof by doubting His presence among them, and in effect denying it.

This shows how solemn the sin of murmuring and complaining about wilderness trials is. At the same time it teaches us that the essence of all such complaint is doubting whether the Lord is with us. So the antidote... is a firm, unwavering hold on the truth that the Lord is among us, and that He leads His people like a flock through every stage of their wilderness journey.

Israel, as we are, was in a "dry and thirsty land," and they needed water; they needed life. There is no life for the sinner unless the judgment of God — the wages of sin — falls on someone... God told Moses to take his rod, the rod he had received in the place of judgment, and to strike the rock with it. It spoke of the judgment of God falling. It fell not on the sinful, murmuring people, but on Christ, who on the cross was made sin for us. The Rock bore the blows due to them, and from the split Rock the waters flowed — the living waters.

There was nothing wrong in being hungry in the wilderness of Sin, or being thirsty at Rephidim. These are natural conditions for people who no longer live in Paradise. But their failure was in murmuring, and in viewing Moses as the cause of their condition — that is, without water. God, who had led them through the Red Sea, was leading them still... If God was leading, then their arrival at Rephidim must be right.

The people quarrelled with Moses. But in reality, as Moses said, they tempted the Lord (v. 2). By their actions they were saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" Moses was their appointed leader, so for the people he stood as the Lord's representative. To quarrel with him was therefore to quarrel with the Lord. To complain about their hardships was really to doubt the Lord's presence, if not to deny it. If they had believed He was among them, they would not have murmured at all... The essence of all such complaints is doubting whether the Lord is with us. So the antidote is a firm, unwavering hold on the truth that the Lord is among us, and that He leads His people like a flock through every stage of the wilderness journey.

They had just seen bread descending from heaven to feed six hundred thousand people in the wilderness, and now they are "ready to stone" Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. Nothing can exceed the desperate unbelief and wickedness of the human heart, except the superabounding grace of God.

The fact that God fed them with bread from heaven did not satisfy their longings, and it did not suggest to them that He who gave them bread could also find them water. They had no faith.

Again the people proved themselves a generation with no faith. So they had no ability to profit by their past experience of God's power. They demand water from Moses with bitter reproaches. They are so bitter that they are almost ready to stone him. Moses, however, was a man of faith. He knew where his resource lay, and referred the matter to the Lord.

They were perishing with thirst, and had no water to drink. But more than this. They were sinners — they murmured; they tempted God, and were ready to stone His servant. So they were unworthy as well as needy. God would have been just to let them perish, for they deserved His wrath and displeasure. But He took the occasion to deal in grace instead of judgment... By striking another in their place, His justice would be satisfied and His mercy could flow freely. This is the way of grace to sinful, helpless people in the cross of Christ, and it was pictured in the struck rock.

They forgot the power of Him who made water stand like a wall on each side while they passed between. If He made the water into rock, cannot He make the rock into water?... God commands Moses to strike the rock, and water flows freely. That rock is a picture of a greater Rock struck for them, and for us, from whom living waters flow for thirsty souls... In the gospel there is more. On the last day, the great day of the feast, the Lord Jesus stands forth as the Rock about to be struck. He cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."

The people quarrelled with Moses. But in reality, as Moses said, they tested the Lord (v. 2). By their actions they were saying, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" Moses was their appointed leader, so for the people he stood as the Lord's representative. To quarrel with him was therefore to quarrel with the Lord. To complain about their hardships was in fact to doubt, if not to deny, the Lord's presence.

Again the people proved themselves to be a generation with no faith. So they had no ability to profit from their past experience of God's power. They demanded water from Moses with bitter reproaches, so bitter that they were almost ready to stone him. Moses, however, as a man of faith, knew where his resource lay, and referred the matter to the Lord.

Moses is completely powerless in the face of this unjust quarrel. He cries out to the Lord: "What shall I do with this people?" Now he will learn a new lesson. The very presence of God is enough for all the needs of His own. God says, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock."

Moses cried to the Lord that the people were ready to stone him. This made their sin of murmuring worse. Still there is no judgment on them for it. Instead the Lord at once brings water from the rock, as if there had been no murmuring against Him and no murderous feeling toward Moses. He called the place Meribah, because of the people's quarrelling. He wanted the name to keep the memory of their sin alive. But God did not tell him to give that name. Grace would hide the sin. If the people said, "Is the Lord among us?" then God proves His presence — not by judgment, but by supplying their need.

At Rephidim he again suffers from the congregation, who are ready to stone him. But the Lord is a very present help to him in time of trouble. The Lord gives him particular power to bring relief to the rebellious people. The attack on him was personal, so his honour must be personal too — and it must come from those who had reproached and threatened him. The elders of Israel are called to see the water gush from the rock as Moses strikes it.

So all is met by the most perfect grace. Every murmur brings out a fresh display. Here we have the refreshing stream gushing from the rock that was struck — a beautiful picture of the Spirit given as the fruit of Christ's completed sacrifice. "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." But who could drink until the Rock was struck? Israel might have gazed on that rock and died of thirst while gazing. Until the rod of God struck it, it could give no refreshment.

The Israelites murmured again because they had no water. New murmurings only bring out fresh grace (for they had not yet come to Sinai): God gave them water. His grace abounded where their sin abounded. The more they murmured, the more in one sense they got.

Still there is no judgment upon them for this. The Lord at once brings water from the rock, as if there had been no murmuring against Him, and no murderous feeling toward Moses… If the people said, "Is the Lord among us?" God proves His presence, not by judgment, but by supplying their need.

Here we have a type of Christ smitten for us, by the hand of God, in judgment. Note the expression, "the staff with which you struck the Nile." Why the Nile? Why point to this one stroke of the rod? Exodus 7:20 gives the reply… It was the rod which turned the water into blood that was to strike "that Rock which was Christ" so that streams of life and refreshment might flow for us.

So the river of Egypt and the rock in the wilderness were brought into close moral association by the rod of divine judgment. Sin calls for judgment. Israel's rebellion cried for it. But the blow was to fall, not on Israel, but on the rock. The rod was not to destroy them; it was to be the means of their life… In Egypt that rod had turned life into death. In the wilderness it was about to turn death into life.

Even as the manna, the rock also speaks of Christ. Paul says, "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." But the Rock was struck before the waters flowed… We see then, in this striking of the rock, the stroke of His judgment falling upon Christ on the cross. The struck rock is a crucified Christ. It was the people's sin, note, that led to the striking of the rock.

Here Horeb, "the dry place," yields water. The Lord Himself is there. He stands upon the rock which is to display at once His power, His sufficiency and His grace. The rod which had struck the river now strikes the rock. It is the rod of power on behalf of His people. The streams gush out in abundant supply for all Israel's thirsty crowd. The striking of our living Rock has created for us a spring of refreshment and satisfaction. It is as inexhaustible as the eternal source it comes from. That source is God Himself — the God whose name is love.

At Rephidim he again suffers from the congregation, who are ready to stone him. But the Lord is a very present help to him in time of trouble. He gives him special power to bring relief to the rebellious people. The people attacked him personally, so he must be honoured personally — and by those, too, who had reproached and threatened him. The Lord calls the elders of Israel to see the water gush from the rock as Moses strikes it. So the Lord approves His servant before the heads of the people.

In Numbers God does not tell Moses to strike the rock. He tells him to speak to it, for Christ, having once suffered, must not suffer again. God also tells him to take the rod of Aaron's priestly office. He does take it, but he strikes the rock — and he strikes it with his own rod of judgment. That was a serious double mistake.

They were sinners — they murmured; they tempted God, and were ready to stone His servant. So they were unworthy as well as needy. God could rightly have let them perish, for they deserved His wrath and displeasure. But He used the moment to deal in grace instead of judgment. His pitying eye saw their need, and His loving heart felt for them. His infinite wisdom and mercy planned a way of rescue, and His almighty arm carried it out at once.

Here Horeb, "the dry place," yields water. The Lord Himself is there. He stands on the rock, and the rock is to display at once His power, His sufficiency and His grace... The striking of our living Rock has made for us a spring of refreshment and satisfaction. It is as endless as the eternal source it comes from. And that source is in God Himself — the God whose name is love.

The Rock is a type of Christ. Jehovah stood upon the rock to be struck, just as "God was in Christ" (2 Cor. 5:19). The striking by the rod, used in judgment on the river of Egypt, is the type of the death of Christ. There could be no water till the rock was struck. There could be no water till Christ had died.

So the rod of divine judgment brought the river of Egypt and the rock in the wilderness into close moral connection. Sin calls for judgment. Israel's rebellion cried out for it. But the blow was to fall on the rock, not on Israel. The rod was not to destroy them; it was to be the means of their life... Moses and the elders of Israel gathered round the rock, and the people crowded together to watch the ways of God. The rod which in Egypt had turned life into death was in the wilderness about to turn death into life.

The Rock was struck, and "water gushed out." Not before — that was impossible; for because of sin God was, as it were, held back. His mercies and compassions, His grace and His love, were pent up within Himself. But then atonement was accomplished, and it satisfied the claims of His holiness forever. At once the floodgates of His heart opened to pour out streams of grace and life throughout the world.

But there is more here. "You shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." It is the type of the Holy Spirit given. This gift, which follows Christ's work, goes far beyond new birth. Now that redemption is complete, the Spirit within the believer is a fountain springing up into everlasting life. He is even a river flowing out in testimony to Jesus glorified.

Twice the waters flow from the struck rock, bringing life and refreshment to Israel's host. The first time, the lesson is plain: the cross, through which alone we receive all spiritual blessing. The second time, God told Moses to take the rod of Aaron that budded and speak to the rock. There we get a beautiful picture of the resources Christ has as priest in resurrection. As He uses them, the living waters flow — flow, we may say, from the throne where He sits. No second striking was needed. In this Moses erred. The one Sacrifice is enough.

Massah means temptation, Meribah means contention, and these names, expressly used by the Spirit, describe the moral state of the people, and proved beyond dispute their hardened hearts of unbelief toward God. For in quarrelling with Moses, who was God's representative, they were really quarrelling with God and putting Him to the proof by doubting, or in effect denying, His presence among them.

To put God to the proof, to see whether He would be faithful, is not to trust Him as truly faithful. That is what the expression "tempting God" means. It does not mean going too far in trusting Him.

It was tempting Jehovah — that is, doubting His presence among them, and doubting that He was there to care for them. And this after He had given the most magnificent and varied proofs of His power on their behalf, right up to that last moment. Why not ask water from Him who had given them meat in the evening and filled them with bread in the morning?

The people quarrelled with Moses. But in reality, as Moses said, they tempted the Lord, saying by their actions, "Is the LORD among us or not?" Moses was their appointed leader, and so he was Jehovah's representative for the people. To quarrel with him was to quarrel with the Lord; and to complain of their hardships was in fact to doubt, if not to deny, the Lord's presence... It shows how solemn a sin it is to murmur and complain because of the trials of the wilderness. It also teaches us that the essence of all such complaint is doubting whether the Lord is with us. So the antidote to all such tendencies is a firm, unwavering hold on the truth that the Lord is among us, and that He leads His people like a flock through every stage of their wilderness journey.

When we are going on wickedly and wilfully, and say, "Is not the Lord among us? no evil can come upon us" that is quite another thing. The Lord will indeed be with us even then — if we are His children — but to chasten us. Whenever there is real need in the wilderness, it is sin to doubt whether God will help us or not.

The name of the place where this meaningful picture was given is a standing memorial of man's unbelief... After so many assurances and proofs of Jehovah's presence, to ask such a question proves the deep-seated unbelief of the human heart. It was, in fact, tempting Him... Faith never acts like this; it believes in and enjoys the divine presence, not by a sign, but by knowing Him. It knows He is there to be enjoyed, and it enjoys Him.

The moral link, as given here, seems to be not between the gift of the water and Amalek's attack, but between the unbelief of the people and this attack.

Tempting Jehovah in the desert was saying, Is Jehovah among us or not? This may seem to unbelievers a small offence; in the eyes of God and of faith it is a terrible one. Had He not broken the pride and power of Egypt for His poor unworthy people? Had He not brought them triumphantly out of the house of slavery, their Guide and their Rearguard, to live among them and be their God?