(Ex. 17:1-71And 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. 2Wherefore 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? 3And 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? 4And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5And 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. 6Behold, 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. 7And 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? (Exodus 17:1‑7).)
The next camping place for Israel, after leaving the wilderness of Sin, was Rephidim. Here a new trouble arose; in the wilderness there had been no bread for them—here there was no water. This brought forth fresh murmurs against Moses. Alas! how slow of heart man is to believe. Only a little while before they had complained, saying they were brought into the wilderness to be killed with hunger; and God, graciously bearing with their corn plaints, had rained down bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger. Already this is forgotten, and now they complain that’ they have been brought into the wilderness to be killed with thirst; and so great is their vexation that they are almost ready to stone Moses, whom God had used, so wonderfully in their deliverance. This showed strange want of confidence, and much hardness of heart.
Do you suppose our hearts could be as treacherous as this? When some new trial comes, do we forget the deliverance that God has granted in a former trial? Ah! yes! our hearts are “deceitful above all things.” Often we forget the mercies God has shown us; often we become occupied with self and forget God; then, when new trials come, we are ready to faint by the way, and wake up, perhaps, to find that we have had very little confidence in God. In the children of Israel and their ways we get a pattern of what our own hearts are. Do you not think Israel’s thirst would have been quenched, if they had counted on God? Their need would surely have been met. And our wants, too, will be met by Him who knows all our need. He may allow times of pressure, but our God is faithful, and He will not suffer us to be tried beyond what we are able to bear. (1 Cor. 10:1313There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).) When waves of sorrow encompass us round, let us not give way to despondency and sink, but let us keep our eye fixed upon Jesus, and then we will not fear the waves.
Again God meets Israel in perfect grace. He told Moses to go on before the people, taking the elders with him, and the rod in his hand that he had used to smite the river. The Lord said that He would stand before Moses on the rock in Horeb, and that Moses should smite the rock, and water would come out of it for the people to drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
How eagerly that thirsty crowd of people, men, women and children, must have drunk of the pure, refreshing stream of water, as it burst forth from the smitten rock? They all drank of it; and the marvelous thing was that that spiritual Rock followed them; and THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. (1 Cor. 10:44And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4).) What food for deep thought here for us!
Israel could not drink and find refreshment in that rock in Horeb, until it was smitten. And so as to the Rock for us, which, God tells us, is Christ. It was when that rock was smitten, that streams of refreshing flowed; it was when the sword of divine justice awaked against Him who took the sinner’s place, that “the flood-gates of eternal love were thrown wide open.” And now poor, perishing sinners can come and drink and live. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”
Moses called the place where water was given them Meribah, which means strife; for there the people got angry with him. He gave it also the name Massah which means, temptation, for there they tempted the Lord, for they had said, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”
Oh! may we never, never question that the Lord is with us; and may we remember not only that God is with us, but also that God is for us.
And may we remember that the bread given from heaven, and the water flowing from the rock, while a real supply for Israel, are for us beautiful pictures of what we have in Christ ministered to us by the Holy Spirit. He is the One on whom we are to feed, and from whom our refreshing is to come.
ML 04/19/1903