The Funeral of St. Fina
Domenico Ghirlandaio
1473 - 1475
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Exodus 17:3-7
The Water from the Rock
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[3] But the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" [4] So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." [5] And the Lord said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. [7] And he called the name of the place Massah' and Meribah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the proof by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
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Commentary:
17:1-7. The severity of desert life (notably hunger and thirst) leads God to help the Israelites in various ways, all of them full of theological implications. The miracle of the manna, which was preceded by that of the water which Moses made drinkable (15:22-25), is followed by a new work of wonder to do with water: Moses causes water to flow from a rock. This happened at Rephidim, probably what is now Wadi Refayid, some 13 km (8 miles) from Djébel Müsa.
The sons of Israel's faith in God and Moses has been strengthening little by little; but they often doubt whether God is there at all (v. 7). They begin to murmur and to seek proofs of his presence: have they been brought out of Egypt to die, or to attain salvation? The water which Moses causes to come out of the rock is a further sign to bolster their faith. This episode names two places--Meribah, which in popular etymology means "contention", "dispute", "lawsuit", and Massah, which is "proof', "test", "temptation". Many biblical passages recall this sin (cf. Deut 6:16; 9:22-24; 33:8; Ps 95:8-9), even adding that Moses himself lacked faith and struck the rock twice (cf. Num 20:1-13; Deut 32:51; Ps 106:32). Lack of trust in the goodness and power of God means tempting God and it is a grave sin against faith--even more so in the case of Moses, who had experienced God's special love and who ought to have given good example. When man meets some contradiction or some difficulty he cannot immediately solve, his faith may waver but he should never doubt because "if deliberately cultivated, doubt can lead to spiritual blindness" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 2008).
There is a rabbinical tradition which says that the rock stayed with the Israelites throughout their sojourn in the desert; St Paul refers to this legend when he says "the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4). On the basis of biblical references to the wondrous nature of waters (cf. Ps 78:15-16; 105:4; Wis 11:4-14) the Fathers said this episode prefigures the wonderful effects of Baptism: "See the mystery: 'Moses' is the Prophet; the rod is the word of God; the priest touches the rock with the word of God, and water flows, and the people of God drink" (St Ambrose, "De Sacramentis", 8,5, 1,3).