Speak Ye unto the Rock before Their Eyes (Numbers 20:8)

2024-06-29

Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. (Numbers 20:8)

Reflecting and learning more while reading Ridout.

As the Israelites were in the wilderness, water was scarce and became a problem for the multitude. The Lord always provided, such as in the cases of Marah and Elim. This water becomes a figure of the Spirit.

In Rephidim, the first Meribah, the Rock was struck, and out came water abundant enough to satisfy the multitude. We later read “that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). When Christ was struck, living waters of the Spirit came out to satisfy us all.

Then came the second Meribah. Moses struck the rock when the LORD told him to speak to it. This banned Moses from the promised land. “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them” (Numbers 20:12). And the significance? “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6).

The Water from the Rock we now have drank. “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” (John 4:14).

And by reliance on this Spirit, we walk in deliverance and newness of life. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). We speak to the Rock, and we will be satisfied by the waters He had provided.