The Lord provides us with the best illustrations, as if to say, “Let Me draw you a picture.”
Exodus 17 begins with the children of Israel moving their camp to Rephidim. There were other encampments along the way, mentioned in Numbers 33, but nothing of note recorded. But at Rephidim there is again a lack of water. Here “the people contended with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water, that we may drink’” (Ex 17:2). It doesn’t sound too confrontational on the surface, but Moses became concerned about his own safety. The word “contended” means to toss, grapple, or wrangle, “So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!’” (v 4). But to the people he said, “Why do you contend with me?” In other words, What do you expect me to do about it? Then he adds, “Why do you tempt the Lord?” (v 2). Why do you provoke Him to treat you as enemies? Why don’t you trust Him as the Friend He has proven to be? Well, God graciously has an answer. “Take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it” (vv 5-6). Could this, like the sweetening tree and the daily manna, also be a picture of Christ? We don’t have to guess. Referring to this incident, Paul writes, “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). What a picture! The people are desperate; God hears their cry. And the rock is struck with “the rod of God” (Ex 17:9). At Calvary, Christ the Rock received the judgment of the Rod, and out flowed the River. “This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive” (Jn 7:39). The Rod, the Rock, the River—Father, Son, and Spirit, working together to satisfy our thirsty souls.