Yes, the people were thirsty. Can you imagine going walking in the desert with nothing to drink? Have you ever been so thirsty that your mouth becomes really dry, your lips get parched and you begin craving water? This was the situation with the Israelites in the desert.
As we have discussed in previous lessons, this physical “thirst” of the Israelites is symbolic of the spiritual condition of all people by birth. We have spiritual needs, longings and desires that are unmet, so we by nature turn to things to meet those needs.
You and I have turned to media to “quench the thirst”, and some of us have turned to many other things as well.
But the Israelites were physically in a desert and thirsting and they sinned by complaining about their condition. They threatened to stone Moses, their leader, and actually charged God with the crime of not meeting their needs. This is all sin.
Question 2. According to Exodus 17:6 what was the solution that God provided for the people?
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Now, this seems like a strange solution doesn’t it? God stood on a rock and Moses hit the rock, beating it with his rod. It’s almost as if the rock had done wrong and was being punished instead of the people.
Why did God give this solution to the people of Israel? What was this supposed to teach them? And what can we learn from it to apply in our own lives?
We get some help when we turn to the New Testament and we read the following:
1 Corinthians 10:3-4 NLT All of them ate the same spiritual food, (4) and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.
Ah, now do you see it? Everything in the Bible points us to Jesus. Every story points to Him, every prophecy, every Psalm, Proverb and writing in the entire Bible points us to Jesus.
That rock in the wilderness pictured Jesus Christ. It was struck, beaten by Moses’ rod so that the people could drink and be satisfied even as Jesus was “struck” on the cross. He was wounded and beaten, pierced and crushed on the cross so that you and I could drink the living water.
You might see in your mind’s eye that rock being struck as if it were taking the punishment for the Israelites. They were sinning in their complaining, but the rock was the one that got struck.
Even so, you and I have sinned. In our “thirst” we have turned to things that were wrong, things that were detrimental to our well-being, or things that hurt other people. And yet we did not get what we deserved, instead, Jesus took our punishment. He was struck, and we get the benefits of His dying in our place.
Question 3. According to Exodus 17:6, what came out of the rock that was struck?
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