When the children of Israel were in Egypt, they saw God’s almighty power displayed in the plagues brought upon the Egyptians miraculously by divine intervention. Furthermore, they experienced the Passover and the exodus, through which they were delivered from Pharaoh’s tyranny. Having made their exodus from Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea. In the words of 14:22, “the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.” Then, at Marah, God’s people experienced the changing of the bitter water into sweet water. Passing on from Marah to Elim, they experienced the seventy palm trees growing and the twelve springs of water flowing. After this, in chapter sixteen, they partook of manna as the Lord’s provision. In a short period of time, the children of Israel had seven outstanding experiences: the plagues in Egypt, the Passover, the exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, the changing of bitter water into sweet, the seventy palm trees and the twelve springs, and the heavenly manna. If we consider our spiritual history, we shall realize that we also have had these basic experiences.
After the seventh experience, the experience of the heavenly manna, the pillar led the children of Israel into a place where they would have still another experience—the experience of the living water. This indicates that even after we have experienced Christ as our manna, we still need to experience Him as our living water. In both spiritual life and physical life we need to drink as well as eat. We cannot live without drinking. Thirst is even more serious than hunger, for a person will die of thirst sooner than of hunger. As we eat our food, we need something to drink. We also need to drink at other times during the day. Although we need to eat and to drink, drinking is more necessary than eating. Hence, in a sense, the living water flowing from the smitten rock is more crucial than manna.
Drinking is also necessary for proper digestion. If we eat solid food without ever drinking any fluid, our stomach will not be able to digest our food. For the digestion and assimilation of food, water is necessary. The same principle applies when unbelievers respond to the preaching of the gospel and open to receive the Lord. If they take in the word of the gospel without experiencing the Spirit, they will not be able to digest the word. After receiving the word, they need to experience the Spirit to help in the digestion of the word.
An important difference between manna and the water from the rock is that the manna does not present as clear a picture of the death of Christ as does the water. This does not mean, however, that Christ’s death is not indicated in the experience of manna. In chapter sixteen we are told that the manna was ground and beaten. Grinding and beating portray the death of Christ. In order to be our food, Christ had to suffer death. But this picture of Christ’s death is not as clear as that of the smiting of the rock to release the flow of the living water. The smiting of the rock is a clear, complete, and full picture of Christ’s crucifixion.
Although it is rather easy to grind coriander seed, it is difficult to smite a rock so that it splits open. It is one thing to beat manna with a mortar, but it is quite another thing to cause a huge rock to be cleft. The Lord told Moses to use his rod to “smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink” (17:6). We need to pay careful attention to the fact that the rock was smitten by the rod of Moses. In typology, Moses signifies the law, and the rod represents the power and authority of the law. The rock, of course, typifies Christ. The smiting of the rock by the rod signifies that Christ was smitten by the authority of God’s law. In the eyes of God, the Lord Jesus was put to death, not by the Jews, but by the law of God. During the first three hours of His crucifixion, Christ suffered under the hand of man. But during the last three hours, Christ suffered because He was smitten by the power of God’s law.