The Bible In Paintings, #32: MOSES #8 – WATER FROM THE ROCK!

Bing Images ^ | c. 2000 BC -- c. 90 AD | Father, Son & Holy Spirit

[Hebrews 11:6]

TWO MEANINGFUL MIRACLES:
WATER FROM THE ROCK!

The First Incident

E X O D U S . . 1 7
New International Version, emphases added
Abridged – the complete text is in your Bible

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Wall painting, c.350, Commodilla Catacombs, Rome, Italy

by GUSTAV DORÉ
"Moses Striking the Rock in Horeb"

by JAMES TISSOT
"Moses Smites the Rock in the Desert "

by NICOLAS POUSSIN
"Moses Striking Water from the Rock"

by TINTORETTO
"Moses Drawing Water from the Rock"

by GILLIS MOSTAERT
"Moses Striking Water From The Rock "

by POMPEO CESURA
"Moses Striking Water From The Rock"

by VALERIO CASTELLO
"Moses striking Water from the Rock"

by FRANCOIS PERRIER
"Moses Draws Water from the Rock"

by MARC CHAGALL
"Moses Striking the Rock"

by GIUSEPPE NUVOLONE
"Moses Striking Water from the Rock"

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WATER FROM THE ROCK!

The Second Incident

N U M B E R S . . 2 0

2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

by JAMES TISSOT
"Moses Strikes the Rock"

by YORAM RANAAN
"The Well of Miriam"

by JACOPO BASSANO
"Moses Striking Water From The Rock"

by JAN H. STEEN
"Moses Gets Water out of the Rocks"

by JACOB JORDAENS
"Moses Strikes Water from the Rock"

by AGNOLO BRONZINO
"Moses Strikes Water from the Wall Rocks"

by WILLIAM HATHERELL
"Moses striking the rock "

by MARC CHAGALL
"Moses Striking Water From the Rock"

by RAPHAEL
"Moses Strikes the Rock"

by SEBASTIANO RICCI
"Moses striking the Rock"

by JOACHIM WTEWAEL
"Moses Striking the Rock"

by PIETER DE GREBBER
"Moses Striking The Rock"

by BACCHIACCA
"Moses Striking The Rock"

by LOUIZ BRITO
"Moses Strikes The Rock"

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THE BIBLE EXPLAINS ITSELF
“Water from the Rock, Twice”

Are These Incidents Also Symbolic?
What Is God Teaching Us Here?

These are peculiar, bizarre events! That in itself signals there might be an important symbolic point that God is making here. Well, on closer inspection it turns out that He is, indeed, and it is marvelous!

Basic rules for understanding the Bible require that we (1) take it literally unless it plainly indicates a figurative meaning, and (2) consider everything the Bible says, remembering that often the New Testament explains the Old.

Note the basic elements in both incidents:
Moses acts on God’s behalf
God gives the people water
The rock delivers the water

However, there is this single difference:
the first time God told Moses to strike the rock, but
the second time God told Moses to speak to the rock.

The way to discover God’s deeper meaning here is simple, if laborious: get out your Concordance and look up every single usage of these four words: ROCK, WATER, STRIKE and SPEAK. Fortunately, that’s already been done* and I’ll share the results with you.

ROCK
If you check all 180 uses of "rock" and "rocks" in the entire Bible, eventually you arrive at 1 Corinthians 10:1-4:

“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”

So, here we have a plain statement that the rock did indeed have a symbolic meaning: it was Christ! But if God intended "rock" as a symbol, then what did He intend "water" to represent?

WATER
Using the same method of looking up all 617 (!) Bible uses of “water,” we finally find John 7:37-39:

“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (see also John 4:14)

Here is yet another plain statement explaining symbolic usage. So, things are becoming clear: rock=Christ, water=Spirit. Further, let us now stipulate the obvious: Moses brought us the Law, so Moses=Law. That only leaves “strike” and “speak,” and we can infer those from what we already know. Let’s restate the scenarios by substituting our discovered symbols:

Incident #1
In actuality: MMoses struck the rock, which then yielded the water
Symbolically: The Law struck Christ, Who then yielded the Holy Spirit

STRUCK
When was Christ struck by the Law? When He was crucified to pay for our transgressions against the Law. But after He rose, He sent us the Spirit on Pentecost. So, struck=crucified.

Incident #2
In intention: MMoses speaks to the rock, which then yields the water
Symbolically: The Law speaks to Christ, Who then yields the Holy Spirit

SPEAK
When does the Law speak to Christ? When Christians, who have now been justified as to the Law, and thus are Lawful, pray to Christ to be refilled by the Spirit. So, speak=pray.

God used these two incidents to illustrate two marvelous truths: that
Christ's death sent us the Spirit, our Comforter; and
whenever we need more of the Spirit, we need only to ask Jesus.

EPILOGUE
Christ could only be struck, crucified, once. God told Moses to speak to the rock on the second occasion; instead, Moses got self-righteously angry and struck the rock again—twice this time, for emphasis. (Next time you read Exodus and Numbers, notice Moses' self-righteousness building up toward this "fatal" explosion.) God the Father took exception and punished Moses, by preventing him from entering the Promised Land toward which he’d labored for forty years. (Of course, He has also revealed to us that Moses is in the Real Promised Land, because we see him with Jesus and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration.)

P.S.—A PERSONAL LAMENT
Having said all this, I must express my disappointment here that I have not yet encountered an artist who attempted to portray in some way Christ’s identification with that rock (with possibly the single exception of Ted Larsen's effort, below). What an opportunity, missed! So, if you know of an example, please let me know.

by TED LARSON
"The Rock of Horeb""

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* Our Sunday School class did this entire study 35 years ago under the superb leadership of Dr. Hugh Ross, breaking up into four groups to find the symbolic meanings for rock, water, strike and speak, and then drawing the obvious conclusions. This is another of the many gems God has included in Scripture by which "he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

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Again, here is the Bing page
"WATER FROM THE ROCK IN ART”,
showing various painters' conceptions.
Several are serious works worthy of interest,
by unknown artists except as noted.

Also, here are links to compendia of three masters
who painted Biblical scenes prolifically:

REMBRANDT van RIJN

GUSTAV DORÉ
(241 wood engravings for
La Grande Bible de Tours)

JAMES TISSOT

Finally, here are links to the
PREVIOUS 31 POSTS IN THIS SERIES

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SPECIAL THANKS
to FReeper left that other site,
who allowed God to make her His conduit
for incomparable enthusiasm, encouragement,
education, advice and technical assistance!

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SNEAK PEEK: Next time,

GOD SHOWS OFF

[Hebrews 11:6]

At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" to give God glory, as many of these artists have done, and for my own amusement and learning; and I thought others might enjoy it and be blessed by it, too. My plan is to proceed methodically from left-to right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is coming soon. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year’s viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: “Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast.” Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I’ve ever spent (I don’t recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 42 years ago).

[Hebrews 11:6]

Ping List for the series
"THE BIBLE IN PAINTINGS"

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in this series, either reply here or FRmail me.

[left that other site]

Good Evening!

Some nice ones today! :-)

[Hebrews 11:6]

Every artist’s vision is personal and, because several hundred years ago access to others’ works was quite limited, rather unique. The result, especially for the more dramatic scenes, often yields some beauties. I think my favorite collection so far was the Red Sea parting—if nothing else, lots of vivid blue, to which I’m partial.

[\/\/ayne]

Moses: Take that, rock!

[Hebrews 11:6]

I was surprised at the puny “staff” most of these artists put in Moses’ hand. It’s more like he “tapped” the rock than struck it. Instead of a magic wand, how about at least a Louisville Slugger, or better yet a two-inch thick, six-foot walking stick suitable for whacking wild animals?

[left that other site]

Take it from me...it is VERY hard to paint water.

[Hebrews 11:6]

That’s because it keeps moving. Just pour the paint in!

[left that other site]

LOL...that might work! :-)

BTW, do you paint? (pictures, not houses)

[\/\/ayne]

Exactly what I was thinking!

[Hebrews 11:6]

During my freshman at USC’s School of Architecture, we all took a two-semester Freehand Drawing course, because architects must be able to sketch their ideas. I cannot draw a lick, and I ended up switching to the School of Business. So, no.

[left that other site]

Well, you of course know my story. Studied Art and Became a Musician! LOL!

[chuckles]

I was struck by the ones that just showed a trickle of water. We must take into consideration there were at least 2 million, and maybe 3 million people with livestock that needed water. The created "river" of water would have to produce millions of gallons of water a day. Also several tons of manna had to be produced to feed the bunch of them for 40 years. It had to resemble more like the waterfall pictures to produce the water needed.

Another thing to ponder is in 1 Corinthians(I think), it says the "rock" followed them through the desert. A "rock" or "stone" is always used to represent Christ in Scripture. In Heaven there will be living water coming from His Throne, enough for all that want to drink from it.

[Hebrews 11:6]

You're entirely correct, of course, with your numbers. I, too, was scandalized. But that's part of the fun of assembling many artists om a single subject, comparing and contrasting them against each other and the text. There's a beauty coming in two episodes: did you know that Moses had horns?

You must have scrolled past my detailed rock=Christ / water=Spirit / Moses=Law / struck=crucified / speak=pray synbolism-argument below the last picture. I stuck to the Exodus text for brevity. You might enjoy it.

[Jolla]

As always great work. Thank you for your excellent eye to history. May our Lord bless your work and message.

[Hebrews 11:6]

That’s inspiring—thank you. If I may: “my work” is simply assembling and presenting, and I find that to be thoroughly enjoyable, because God created me to do it and then assigned it to me. God’s work is achieving His purpose in others through it. It’s the same principle as the feeding of the 5,000: the apostles’ job was simply to provide a few loaves and fish, but it was Jesus’ job to feed the people.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

“I was struck by the ones that just showed a trickle of water.”

Yes, that was my thought too. I thought Dore did the best job of portraying a large volume of water.

[Hebrews 11:6]

I've become quite a fan of Doré, having seen all 241 of his Bible engravings, in large measure precisely because of his thoughtfulness: often, like today as you observed, he has one of the best-reasoned and -inferred portrayals, His works always seem to reward careful inspection.

[chuckles]

I agree about 95% with your symbols. I teach that water is words. Jesus is the Word and we have words and Satan has words. When we have the Spirit, He gives us a fountain of the Words of God. Also, God told Moses to speak to the rock the 2nd time. God wants us to pray in the name of Jesus because He won't be struck again. I teach that a cloud represents the Spirit. Another "type" for the Spirit is when an unnamed servant is mentioned. The most famous one would be Gen 24 when a servant that remained unnamed the whole chapter went to get a Bride for Isaac. Most people of course say it was Elieser because he was mentioned back in Gen 15. But in truth, Abraham was old and Elieser may have died. Whoever it was, even if it was Elieser, is not mentioned the whole chapter. What is painted in Gen 24 is the picture of salvation for the Bride of Christ being retrieved by the Holy Spirit and brought to Jesus in the air because Jesus will not come back to earth until He is crowned King and married to the church. The servant gave her gifts and we know the Holy Spirit gives gifts. When you read about a servant that has no name, substitute the Holy Spirit and see if it doesn't tell a story. How could a servant rule over all his master has unless he was equal to his master. The Holy Spirit is God also.

When we read about Abraham binding Isaac for sacrifice in Gen 22, we know Isaac didn't die but God provided a sacrifice on Mt Moriah, but then read carefully that Issac is NOT mentioned coming down off the mountain with Abraham. The next time we even hear of Isaac is when the servant delivers his bride to him in the field 2 chapters later. This is Jesus missing for 2000 years until His Bride is delivered to Him in the Rapture. If you want to get some revelation about the Rapture, look up "The King Is in the Field". It is observed in the month of Elul right before Tisheri 1 and Trumpets. The King gets off his throne to come mingle with the peasants in the Kingdom to listen to their petitions. The whole month of Elul is fasting and repenting (Teshuva)getting ready for the Feast of Trumpets and the day no one knows the day or the hour, wink wink, hint hint.

I wrote a whole course written on Spiritual symbolism in Scripture to make the Bible easier to read and understand. Most Christians get very little teaching on certain things they need to know. When you read Scripture with this knowledge you realize a tree planted by water produces much fruit is a man reading the Word of God produces what God intended from His people. Trees are almost always people. Types of trees represent types of people. Olive trees are anointed men, and so on.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks for your lengthy essay. We share a keen appreciation for the symbolic treats with which our Lord has laden Scripture, although you've developed yours more fully.

I very much enjoyed your treatment of unnamed servant=Spirit, a congruence I had not previously considered or seen elsewhere, but which is a thoroughly satisfying, not to mention quite inspiring, understanding of the stories of "Eliezer" and Mt. Moriah's aftermath. (By the way, while telling of Eliezer's journey in Episode #15 of this series I was well aware that the servant was unnamed, but all the artist's titles named him, so I went along to minimize confusion.)