While trying to get the Corinthian Church to see their sins and the jeopardy in which they placed themselves, Paul began to compare their experience with that of ancient Israel coming out of Egypt. In doing so, Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 10:4 of the Rock that Moses struck and gushed with water for Israel to drink. Paul said that Rock was Christ. Paul went on to say that the Rock followed them throughout Israel’s forty-year journey in the wilderness. Notice:
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 AMP For I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that our forefathers were all under and protected by the cloud [in which God’s Presence went before them], and every one of them passed safely through the [Red] Sea, [Exodus 13:21; 14:22, 29] (2) And each one of them [allowed himself also] to be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea [they were thus brought under obligation to the Law, to Moses, and to the covenant, consecrated and set apart to the service of God]; (3) And all [of them] ate the same spiritual (supernaturally given) food, [Exodus 16:4, 35] (4) And they all drank the same spiritual (supernaturally given) drink. For they drank from a spiritual Rock which followed them [produced by the sole power of God himself without natural instrumentality], and the Rock was Christ. [Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11] (emphasis mine)
This Scripture is very clear. Israel drank water that poured out of a rock, and this rock spiritually represented the LORD who stood upon it, as Moses struck it with the rod (Exodus 17:6). When writing to the Corinthians, Paul did not speak of a literal rock that Israel drank from, but a spiritual Rock. It was not the literal water that satisfied them, for Paul says they all partook of a spiritual drink. Notice, too, this same spiritual Rock followed them. The Greek is akoloutheo (S.190) and means “be in the same way with, accompany”. Paul identified this spiritual rock as Christ. This means the LORD (YHWH) who stood on the rock was the One who became Christ. The same was the pillar of smoke that either followed or went before Israel in the wilderness, depending upon Israel’s need. He was “in the same way” with them.
As Moses addressed Israel for the final time, he began by recounting the many experiences that God brought his people through. One of these experiences concerned the rock out of which water poured for Israel to drink when they were thirsty in the desert (Deuteronomy 8:15). When Moses was finished speaking, he ended his address with a song of praise to God and it began like this:
Deuteronomy 32:1-4 JPS Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. (2) My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. (3) For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe ye greatness unto our God. (4) The Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are justice; a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he. (emphasis mine)
In his song of praise Moses began by ascribing the Rock as a name for the LORD God. He mentioned the water that flowed from the rock again in verse-13, and in verse-15 described God as the Rock of our salvation. In verse-18 Moses claimed that this Rock begat Israel and bore them as a mother and father care for their own children. In verse-30 Moses sang the praises of the Rock who protected his people from their enemies, and in verse-31 he compared the rock of the enemy to the Rock of Israel, concluding in verse-37 by asking, “Where are their gods, the rock in whom they trusted?”
2Samuel 23:2-3 says that the Rock is the God of Israel. In Psalm 18:2 it is the LORD who is my Rock and my fortress. In Psalm 42:9 David says God is his Rock (cp. Psalm 78:20, 35). Paul said in 1Corinthians 10:4 that this same Rock is Jesus.
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