Old Testament History by M. C. W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 25, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 8.

Read the full edition

Old Testament History.

By M. C. W.

WATER FROM THE ROCK.

(Lesson 10, March 9, 1889.)

1. RELATE the instances already learned, in which God miraculously interposed to deliver his people.

2. After all these deliverances, how should they have felt?

3. Into what straits were they brought in their next encampment, after the giving of the manna?

"And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink." Ex. 17:1.

4. What did they do?

"Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" Verse 2.

5. With what did they again charge Moses?

"And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Verse 3.

6. What were they about to do to him?

"And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me." Verse 4.

7. Against whom were they really murmuring?

"And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" Verse 2, last part.

8. What doubt was indicated by their murmuring?

"And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?" Verse 7.

9. What did they thereby virtually say about the wonderful miracles that they had witnessed?

10. How did the Lord provide for them on this occasion?

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel." Ex. 17:5, 6.

11. What graphic description does the psalmist give of this?

"He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers." Ps. 78:15, 16.

12. Of what was their drinking water from the rock an emblem?

"And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:4.

13. What kind of water does Christ give?

"Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." John 4:10.

14. What will it do for the one who drinks it?

"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Verse 14.

15. While the Jews were at Rephidim, what other trouble did they have?

"Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim." Ex. 17:8.

16. Relate what followed.

"And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." Verses 9-13.

17. What was shown by this circumstance? —That they were delivered, not by their own strength, but by the direct interposition of God.

18. What does the prophet Isaiah say of God's tender care for them?

"In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the Angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." Isa. 63:9.

19. What beautiful illustration is given to show how the Lord carried them?

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him." Deut. 32:11, 12.

20. Of what may the people of God always be assured?

"Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." Deut. 33:25-27.

NOTES.

THE Lord purposely brought his people by the way of the desert to show his loving care and mighty power, and to develop their faith in him. After the deliverance at the Red Sea, and the falling of the manna, it would seem that they would never more doubt. Faith should have said, "The same God who saved us from the plagues of Egypt, who delivered us at the sea from the power of our enemies, who gave us bread from heaven, can surely give us water to drink." But no; they believed not God. Heb. 4:2. Their unbelief led them to murmur against Moses. But in murmuring against the one whom God had sent, concerning whose mission he had given so many extraordinary proofs, they murmured not against the man, the servant; but they murmured against God the Master. In demanding of Moses water, in chiding him for their seeming difficulty, they virtually said that these miracles had been wrought through the power of man, or of magic, as were the miracles of the Egyptian priests. At the most charitable view, they limited in their own blinded minds God's power and goodness and wisdom and justice.

"WHAT then? are we better than they?" Have people more faith now? When God for Christ's sake has delivered us from the Egypt of sin, has covered with his own perfect righteousness our sins of the past, is it not limiting his power and goodness and wisdom and justice, when, meeting with new trials, we become discouraged and falter and fail? Do we not thereby say that God cannot save us? or that he does not love us? or that he has not sufficient wisdom to shield us from hostile environments? or that while he has promised, he is not just to fulfill his promises? With the additional light of the past, if we thus do, are we not more culpable?

FROM every incident of their journeying some lesson is drawn, in the providence of God, for them and others in the future. God mercifully sends them water out of the rock; but lest they should afterwards think that it was because of their goodness that God wrought the miracle, the place was named Massah and Meribah, or "Temptation" and "Strife," or "Chiding." These names were designed to ever after help them to keep humble.

"And did all eat the same spiritual meat [food]; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:3, 4. The manna and the water from the rock were given through the miraculous power of God, and were thus a constant proof of his watchful providence. But they had a higher lesson than that. They were symbols of their true Saviour, the Angel of God's Presence, of whom Jehovah said, "My name is in Him." He it was who supplied the manna, not Moses. John 6:32. And that was but the emblem of the spiritual food which he not only now gives, but then gave, to all true believers. John 6:48-58, 63. The water from the rock at Horeb, and the rock itself, were emblems of the living Rock, the same Foundation of all the faithful in all ages, and the water of life, of which all who drink will never thirst. John 4:13, 14.

THERE is a striking lesson in all the surroundings of this incident. There was a great and helpless company of men, women, and children. They were in a land which could furnish them no food. It was a dry and parched land, in which was no water. The very name of the mountain where the rock was smitten, was Horeb, which means, "dry, parched," "a desert." But it is just here that the mercy, love, and power of God is manifested. The living Bread of Heaven was with the people, therefore all wants could be supplied; for he who could supply the greater, could supply the less. The living Rock, the sure Foundation (1 Cor. 3:11), "went with them" (1 Cor. 10:4, margin), not only to supply the water of this life through the desert journey, but the water of the life to come. That Rock was Christ; in him was all their fullness. He was not only "a root out of a dry ground," but he was a living fountain of water all through the dreary desert. The lesson is that God can, and will, bring to those who trust in him all needed blessings, however forbidding surrounding circumstances may be. Truly could Moses say, "He is the Rock, his work is perfect." Of the enemies of the truth he declares, "For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges." And so can all say who have hope in Christ.

AMALEK was a tribe descended from Amalek, a son of Esau. They had, no doubt, gathered around them many others of kin, making them a strong and warlike nation. They were the first to attack Israel, remembering, probably, the prophecies concerning Jacob and Esau, and how Jacob dealt with Esau in the matter of the birthright and blessing. But God had forgiven Jacob's sin, and so also had Esau, evidently (Gen. 32:4-11; 35:29), and now instead of making war, the Amalekites ought to have helped their brethren, the Israelites. It was evidently because of their greater sin in this respect, their cruelty to their kinsmen, that God pronounces upon them utter annihilation. (Compare Ex. 34:14-16; Num. 24:20, margin; Deut. 25:17-19; 1 Sam. 15:1-3; 1 Chron. 4:42, 43.) As Jacob was saved from Esau through the power of prevailing prayer, so Jacob's descendants were saved from those of Esau. It was another token to that people that God was faithful to his promises.