In Exodus 16:4, we read how the LORD tested Israel. In their hunger, He tested them “to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.” But, in Exodus 17:2, we read that Israel tests the LORD.
This is not the first time the descendants of Jacob have grumbled to Moses about thirst, but the Hebrew term for their behavior is a different one this time. Before, they were grumbling and complaining in their distress. Now they’re quarreling, contending, and even bringing suit against Moses and the LORD.
When God tested Israel, it was for their good. When He tested them, it was to move them into a posture of trust and obedience; trust that they could cease their labors, receive the gifts of manna and Sabbath rest, and no longer behave as slaves, but as sons. But Israel testing God? This is definitely not good! When they test God, their attitude conveyed in their words and their judgment is, in essence, “You work for us and you’re failing on the job.”
Wow.
How do we think God should respond to such ungodly insolence? We might enjoy seeing the children of Israel powerfully put in their place after displaying such haughty contempt for the LORD Almighty. Yet, let’s notice God’s response:
“The LORD answered Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.’ Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:5-6).
Isn’t it interesting that God specifies that Moses should take the same staff that he used to strike the Nile, as if he was hauling some staff assortment? God’s language in these verses is meant to make us revisit the moment when Moses struck the Nile with his staff. In Exodus 7:20-21, we read of the first plague where Moses, in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials—the elders of Egypt—raises his staff and strikes the Nile, turning all of the water in all of Egypt to blood. The elders of Egypt bore witness to the judgment of God through the striking of Moses’s staff.
Now, with this same staff, the elders of Israel will bear witness to the judgment of God again being meted out with Moses’s staff—upon what? This time, Moses is commanded to strike the rock at Horeb (another name for Sinai). And we read in verse 6 that God Himself, who had been placed on trial by Israel, stands on the rock that is struck. This might be an altogether odd trial scene, except that the Apostle Paul provides an explanation for us:
“Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, emphasis mine).
That rock—the rock at Horeb, the mountain of God—that rock was Jesus Christ. The staff of God’s judgment that we’d be pleased to see turned on an ungrateful, insolent people, is instead turned onto the rock upon which the manifest presence of God has stood. God turned the staff of His righteous judgment away from those who merited it and turned it onto Himself. The staff of God’s judgment was turned onto Jesus Christ and what happens? Streams of life-giving, living water are provided from a rock in the desert.
Millenia before the birth of Jesus, the work of Calvary is foretold. At Calvary, the work of redemption is finished where God’s judgment strikes the Innocent, and mercy flows forth upon the undeserving.
Sunday School for all ages begins weekly at 9:45 AM. All are warmly welcome.
