And
all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual
Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:4
1 Corinthians 10:4
Since
the verse above is pulled out of context, it’s a little difficult
to understand what it is talking about. The Apostle Paul
was making a reference to the Old Testament story of Moses getting
water from the rock. Actually, the miracle
was performed on many occasions.
Rocks
by nature aren’t very absorbent. There is no such thing as a soggy
rock.
Also
a huge amount of water would be needed. Do the math. Most scholars
agree that the Israelites numbered around 3 million people and
probably had hundreds of thousands of heads of livestock. They’d
need at least 200,000 gallons of water per hour, 24-7 calculating a
gallon of water per day per person with two gallons per day per
animal, and that's not allowing for baths, washing clothes or spillage. Even if
they got that much water, it would have to be rationed.
In
reality, the water coming out of the rock would have to be a
small river that would constantly flow and allow for water seeping
into desert sand. Once they found this kind of water source, they
wouldn’t find another. But, they did leave it and then found
another water-producing rock and then another and then
another.
If
the desert was full of these "gusher-rocks" then it wouldn’t be a desert. Truth is that God was performing a
daily (hourly) miracle to provide His people with water and this miracle
followed them as they wandered the wilderness for forty years. In the
verse above, Paul tells us that it was actually Christ in His
capacity of Creator that was producing the H₂O
out of stone. It was the Second Person of the Trinity come down from
heaven to follow His people and provide what they needed to live.
This time He manifested Himself as the Rock.
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