In speaking of the smitten rock, which the apostle authorizes us to regard as a type of Christ, we shall consider:—_First_, Its smiting by Moses; and _Secondly_, The consequent flowing of the waters.
I. The smitten rock was a type of Christ. Messiah is the “Rock of Ages” to his church. He is the foundation of her hope, sure and steadfast, and her protection in times of danger and of dread. The armor and the prowess of Egypt constituted no rock like this rock. Edom, and Moab, and Philistia, and the seven nations of Canaan, had their gods and their heroes; but their rock was not able to shelter them from the wrath of Jehovah, when it came upon them like a tempest of hail. The gods that made not the heavens and the earth are far off in the day of trouble; but the God of Israel is “nigh at hand,” and his arm is strong to deliver. He is the rock that stood firm and immovable, for the defence of his people, amid the ragings of the Red Sea. Messiah is the man, who is predicted as “a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” He can shield, not only from the scorching sun and the scathing simoom of the desert; but also from the fiery torments of remorse, and the ruinous judgments of heaven. Our Lord is a rock, also, on account of the blessings which flow from him, for the refreshment of his Israel; as “the droppings of honey from the rock;” as “springs of water in a dry place;” as “living streams in the desert,” and “rivers from the mountains of Lebanon.”
There are two accounts of the smiting of the rock; one in the seventeenth chapter of Exodus, and the other in the twentieth chapter of Numbers. From a comparison of these two accounts, it appears that the rock was smitten at two different times; the first, as is supposed, about a year after the egress from Egypt, and the other about a year before the entrance into Canaan; making an intervening period of about thirty-eight years. The war with Amalek succeeded the first; the embassy to Edom followed the second. At the first, Miriam was alive; just before the second is the record of her death.
It seems that the people murmured bitterly against Moses, spoke of their superior fare in Egypt, and accused him of bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. This is ever the spirit of backsliding. Those who are under its influence are apt to complain of the burdens imposed upon them by their religion, and the injuries occasioned to them by their brethren; and to speak uncharitably of their spiritual leaders, instead of crying to God for help. To ask, “Is the Lord among us?” when his word and his works, indicating either his pleasure or his displeasure, testify that he is, is tempting God, with a dreadful presumption.