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Exodus 17 · a question people ask

What did Paul mean when he said "the rock was Christ"?

Interpretation

Writing about "our fathers" in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1), Paul says they "all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Israel drinks water from a rock here (17:6) and again at Kadesh (Numbers 20:11), and Paul doesn't name either chapter. Christians agree that these are Paul's own words, and that his point is a warning: though all of them drank, "with most of them, God was not well pleased" (1 Corinthians 10:5). They read "the rock was Christ" in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

Christ was there

Those who hold this view read Paul as saying Christ himself was present with Israel in the wilderness and was the one who gave them water. They note that a few verses later Paul writes, "Let’s not test Christ, as some of them tested" (1 Corinthians 10:9): the people who tested God in the wilderness were testing Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:9

A picture of Christ

Those who hold this view read the rock as a figure: what the rock was to Israel, giving water in the desert, Christ is to his people. They note that Paul says, "Now these things were our examples" (1 Corinthians 10:6), and "all these things happened to them by way of example" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

1 Corinthians 10:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:6 · 1 Corinthians 10:11

The verses

“Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”
1 Corinthians 10:1-5 · World English Bible
“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
Exodus 17:6 · World English Bible
“Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.”
Numbers 20:11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Exodus 17

Exodus 17: Is the LORD among us?

At Massah, for the first time in the Hebrew Bible, people test the LORD: "Is the LORD among us, or not?" (17:7). He answers with a promise to stand before Moses on the rock that gives them water (17:6), and Paul says, "the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). And "Write this for a memorial" (17:14) is the first "write" in the Bible, in the WEB and in the Hebrew.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions