Jesus was the rock

JESUS WAS THE ROCK
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
1 Corinthians10:4 4and drank the same spiritual
drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompaniedthem, and that rock was Christ.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
"that Spiritual Rock."
1 Corinthians 10:4
J.R. Thomson
There is no need, in explaining this passage, to suppose a reference on the part
of the writer to the Jewishfable that the rock in question was rolled along
with the advancing camp of Israelthrough the wilderness ofwandering, and
that upon the chant of the chiefs," Spring up, O well!" the watergushed forth
for the supply of the thirsting tribes. There seems to be no need. even to adopt
the common supposition that watersprang miraculously from rocks atevery
station of the wonderful journey. It is enough to acceptthe plain record that
the miraculous event did happen, once at the commencementand once
towards the close ofthe pilgrimage of the chosenpeople. The apostle's mind
was filled with memories of the consecratednation, and so clearbefore that
mind was the unity of the two dispensations, that it seemedmost natural to
him, in drawing a parallel betweenthe Israelites and the Corinthian

Christians, to assertthat the spiritual Rock was Christ - the Source and
Author of all blessings in every period of history and in all circumstances of
humanity. The assertionmay be regarded -
I. HISTORICALLY. As a matter of fact, the Word, the Wisdom of God, was
the Angel of the Church in the wilderness. It is the privilege of the Christian
to trace his Saviour's presence throughout the whole of human history. He
who was the Rock of salvationto the tribes ready to die from thirst, is the
same to all mankind in every age. His presence never removes and. his grace
never fails. He is Jehovah, the Rock ofeternal ages.
II. SPIRITUALLY. Evidently the apostle draws his readers'attention to the
supply of ether than physical necessities. To Israeland to the Church of this
dispensationof grace the Lord Christ is the all sufficient channel of Divine
mercy and blessing.
1. Generallyspeaking, there is an obvious aptness in the similitude.
(1) As a Rock, Christis distinguished by stability, and is not to be shakenor
removed.
(2) He has heights for refuge into which his people canflee, a strongholdand
security to all who put their trust in him.
(3) As the rock has cliffs and clefts for shadow and for shelterfrom the great
heat in a dry and thirsty land where no wateris, so Christ screens the soul
from fiery temptations and distresses.
2. Specially, and upon the suggestionofthe incident referred to, it must be
remarkedthat Christ is the Rock becausehe is the Source of living waters.
This is no doubt the central thought of the passage, andthe resemblance is
very striking and very full and rich. Thus it is apparent:
(1) That Christ supplies an urgent need. It was in the sorestextremity of the
nation that the rock was smitten and yielded the streams which the dry desert
knew not; and, in like manner, the need of humanity was distressing and
urgent when the Divine Rock gave forth the springs of life eternal.

(2) The supply came from an unexpected source. What so unlikely as the hard
rock of the desertto yield rivulets of limpid water? And who that saw Christ
in his humiliation, who grew up "as a rootout of a dry ground," could
imagine what stores of blessing were in his sacredbeing?
(3) From Christ proceeds satisfactionfor all spiritual wants. These are the
thirst of the soul, which desires knowledge,favour, peace, refreshment, and
joy, - all which is included in the phrase "eternallife." "If any man thirst,"
says Jesus, "lethim come unto me, and drink? He has promised "living water,
of which whoso drinks shall not thirst again." The dying revive, the thirsting
are satisfied, the wearyare refreshed, the labourers are cheered, as they
togetherdraw near to the spiritual fountains which flow from Christ.
(4) The blessings which proceedfrom Jesus proceedin an enduring and
unfailing stream of supply. Generations drink at the same/spring, and quench
their thirst, only to commend the living fountain to all succeeding ages.
III. SACRAMENTALLY. The allusionis unmistakable to the communion of
the Lord's Supper. Both the streams in the wilderness and the cup of the
Eucharistsymbolize the spiritual participation, which is the privilege of those
to whom the Word of the Lord. is addressed, in the supply afforded by the
Divine and living Rock. The voice of heavenreaches our grateful ear: "Eat, O
friends; drink,... O beloved!" The superiority of the new covenantis manifest:
the Israelites drank of water;Christ is not only the Stream of waterin the
desert, he is the Cup of wine at the banqueting table. "The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" - T.
The Rock
Prof. Godet.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Moreover, brothers, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our
fathers were under the cloud…

Is it not perfectly simple to explain this figure by the numerous passages in
which the Lord is called the Rock of Israel(Deuteronomy 32:4, 15, 18; Isaiah
17:10;Isaiah 26:4)? Only the title of Rock ofIsrael is given by Paul not to
Jehovah, but to Christ. The passageforms one analogyto the words (John
12:41), where the apostle applies to Jesus the vision of Isaiah (chap. Isaiah6.).
Christ is representedin these passages by Paul and John as pre-existent and
presiding over the theocratic history. In chap. 1 Corinthians 8:6 Paul had
designatedChrist as the Being by whom God createdall things. Here he
represents Him as the Divine Being who accompaniedGod's people in the
cloud through the wilderness, and who gave them the deliverances whichthey
needed. We have the same view here as appears in "the angelof the Lord," so
often identified in Genesis with the Lord Himself, and yet distinct from Him,
in the Being who is calledin Isaiah(Isaiah 63:9) "the angelof His presence,"
and in Malachi(Malachi3:1) "the angelof the covenant, Adonai," the
mediator betweenGod and the world, especiallywith view to the work of
salvation. It is easyto understand the relation there is betweenthe mention of
this greattheocratic factand the idea which the apostle wishes to express in
our passage. The spiritual homogeneity of the two covenants, and of the gifts
accompanying them, rests on this identity of the Divine Head of both. The
practicalconsequence is obvious at a glance:Christ lived in the midst of the
ancient people, and the people perished. How canyou Christians think
yourselves secure from the same lot?
(Prof. Godet.)
The Rock -- Christ
J. Jowett, M.A.

In what respects did the rock at Horeb represent Christ?
I. IT FOUND THE PEOPLE PERISHING WITH THIRST. This is just our
condition by nature. We are destitute of all that can refreshor satisfythe soul.
II. IT WAS A MOST IMPROBABLE MEANS OF RELIEF. In countries like
our own the springs of watergenerally take their course along a rocky bed
below the surface. But in those sandy deserts the case is far otherwise. Horeb,
a vast mass of stone, only increasedthe desolationof the prospect. And such
were the gloomyanticipations of many to whom Jesus offeredHimself as their
Redeemer. Scribes and Phariseeswere offendedat His personalmeanness —
the sonof a carpenter! no worldly show! His own disciples were continually
stumbled, and "all forsook Him and fled." Learned Gentiles heard with scorn
that one executedas a malefactorwas to be receivedas king of the world, Nay,
even to this day men will hope nothing, and therefore seek nothing from
Christ till they are compelled.
III. IT REQUIRED TO BE SMITTEN ERE IT GAVE A SUPPLY. And how
exactly did this actiontypify the suffering Redeemer!It was not by His
miracles nor by His instructions that Jesus provided salvationfor us, but by
His death, ReadIsaiah53 and Zechariah 13:7. Notonly Christ was smitten;
but He was to be smitten. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?"
etc. Here then let us fix our attention. "Beholdthe wounded Lamb of God,"
etc., and say, " God forbid that I should glory," etc.

IV. IT YIELDED AN ABUNDANT SUPPLY. For such a host no ordinary
stream of waterwould suffice;but here was enoughand to spare. And such is
the supply of spiritual blessings whichis treasured up in Christ Jesus
(Colossians1:19).
V. IT SAVED THE LIVES OF REBELS IF THEY WOULD BUT DRINK.
(J. Jowett, M.A.)
The Rock in the Desert
R. D. Hitchcock, D.D.
I. THE DESERT.
1. Our sinful parentage is our Egypt, and death our Jordan. What lies
betweenis the desertof our wanderings.
2. Considerwhat it is that renders a desertformidable. To the dromedary it is
what the sea is to a ship; almostwhat the air is to a winged bird. But not so
with man. His nature is not so well suited to those trackless wastes.So we were
not made to feel at home here. Many tokens are there that we are only
strangers and pilgrims.

(1) Now it is a loss of property, now a loss of health, now a loss of friends.
(2) But, to say nothing of what is lost, who needs be reminded of the countless
prizes which we may sigh for, but have never gained? To no man is life a
holiday. To most is it a scene rather of feverish and but poorly requited toil.
The one secretof all this suffering is to be sought in the contradictionwhich is
found to exist betweenour circumstances and our endowments. We are all of
us like kings in exile. We have lostour thrones, and are pawning our jewels
for our daily bread.
(3) But the greatburden and the saddestblight of all is our sense ofsin. Years
ago and yesterday we sinned; and all the period betweenis dark with
remorseful memories. The soul has no perfectrest. And so the world becomes
a desertto us.
3. But courage, brother. Even this blank desertis better than it seems. Though
it has no waving wheat-fields, it has manna for its morning dew. Though its
sands be trackless, there move on always before us the pillar of cloud and fire.
But in addition to, and above all, though there be no running streams, there is
the rock smitten to assuage ourthirst.
II. And THAT ROCK IS CHRIST.
1. What men call pleasure only palls upon our jaded senses.Chesterfield, in
his old age, saidof the world: "I have enjoyed all its pleasures, and
consequentlyknow their futility, and do not regrettheir loss." As for gold, no
wealth everyet purchased a night's rest. As for power, the Alexanders and
Napoleons have all shed bitter tears of disappointment, either conquering or

conquered. As for wisdom, from Solomonto Burke, the wisesthave been also
the saddestof men. As for friendship and affection, eventheir idols are
shivered one by one. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." All around us sweeps
the glimmering desert, with no refreshment for us but what is furnished by
the gushing rock. And that rock is Christ.
2. But who and what is the Christ we speak of? I challenge man's own aching
heart for an answer. What is the Christ thou cravest? Is it only a human
brother? Is it only an awful God? Or is it the two united in a sweetbut
stupendous miracle of love? The answercannotbe doubtful. Annihilate my
faith in the God-man, and what then is life? But give me now the God-man,
and this dreary desert of my sorrow-stricken, sinful life receives atonce its
gushing rock. Let redeeming love shootits beams into the darkness, letthe
radiant form of the Sonof God be seenwalking up and down the furnace of
our earthly afflictions, and straightwaythe torturing problem is solved. We
take up the line of our march through the desertwithout murmuring, when
we behold the smitten rock moving on before us over the sterile sand. To us
now this world is brighter than it would have been without the heavy shadows
of sin upon it; for in its sky has been setthe Star of Bethlehem. Our own
nature has been dignified, as it would not have been but for our fall; for now
God's own Son is our brother. Even our life of sorrow is glorified since those
shining feethave traversedit so meekly from the mangerto the tomb. With
this rock in our desert, the desert shouts and sings.
3. But of what avail to us is this smitten rock, unless we stoopto drink? Of
what avail to us the presence of this Divine humanity, unless we are
consciouslyrelatedto it by a living faith? To each heart there speaks the voice
of mercy. And eachheart must answerfor himself. What shall our response
be? Christ's greatcentralwork is not teaching, which rivals the lessons of
sages;not example, which rivals the exploits of heroes, but atonement, which
scatters the clouds of Divine wrath, and takes awayour sin.

4. That spiritual rock, we are told, followedthe Hebrews. So, too, shall our
Rock follow us. In health and peace and prosperity it shall pour its libations
upon our gladness. In sickness, war, and want it shall coolour feveredveins.
In death it shall moisten our parched lips.
(R. D. Hitchcock, D.D.)
The Rock ofAges
C. Kingsley, M.A.
1. St. Paul is warning the Corinthians. He says, "Youmay come to the
Communion and use the means of grace, and yet become castaways. Ikeep
under my body lest I should be one. Look at the old Jews in the wilderness.
They all partook of God's grace;but they were not all saved. Spiritual meat
and spiritual drink could not keepthem alive, if they sinned, and deserved
death. And nothing will save you if you sin."
2. The spiritual rock which followedthe Jews was Christ. It was to Him they
owedtheir deliverance from Egypt, their knowledge ofGod, and His law, and
whateverreason, righteousness, and goodgovernment there was among them.
And to Christ we owe the same. The rock was a type of Him from whom flows
living water. "Whosoeverdrinketh of the water which I shall give," etc.

3. Herein is a great mystery. Something of what it means, however, we may
learn from Philo. The soul, he says, falls in with a scorpion in the wilderness;
and then thirst, which is the thirst of the passions, seizesonit, till God sends
forth on it the stream of His own perfectwisdom, and causesthe changedsoul
to drink of unchangeable health. Forthe steeprock is the wisdom of God (by
whom he means the Word of God, whom Philo knew not in the flesh, but
whom we know as the Lord Jesus Christ), which, being both sublime and the
first of all things, He quarried out of His own powers;and of it He gives drink
to the souls which love God; and they, when they have drunk, are filled with
the most universal manna.
4. Christ is rightly calledthe Rock, the Rock of Ages, the Eternal Rock,
because onHim all things rest, and have rested since the foundation of the
world. He is rightly called the Rock of living waters;for in Him are hid all the
treasures of wisdomand knowledge, andfrom Him they flow forth freely to
all who cry to Him in their thirst after truth and holiness. To be parted from
Christ is death. To be joined to Christ and the body of Christ is life — the life
of the soul. Holiness, righteousness, goodness. And why? Because it is the life
of Christ. For who is Christ but the likeness and the glory of God? And what
is that but goodness? FromChrist, and not from any createdbeing, comes all
goodness in man or angel.
5. Let the goodwhich a man does be much or be it little, he must say, "The
goodwhich I do, I do not, but Christ who dwelleth in me." It is Christ in the
child which makes it speak the truth, and shrink from whatever it has been
told is wrong; in the young man, which fills him with hopes of putting forth all
his powers in the service of Christ; in the middle-aged man, which makes him
strong in goodworks;so that having drunk of the living waters himself, they
may flow out of him again to others in gooddeeds;in the old man, which
makes him look on with calm contentwhile his own body and mind decay,
knowing that the kingdom of God cannot decay. Yes, such a man knows

whom he has believed. He knows that the spiritual Rock has been following
him through all his wanderings in this wearyworld, and that that rock is
Christ. He canrecollecthow, againand again, at his Sabbath haltings in his
life's journey, it was to him in the Holy Communion as to the Israelites ofold
in their haltings in the wilderness, when the priests of Jehovahcried to the
mystic rock, "Flow forth, O fountain," and the waters flowed.
6. But if these things are so, will they not teachus much about Holy
Communion, how we may receive it worthily, and how unworthily? If what
we receive in the Communion be the goodChrist who is to make us good, then
how can we receive it worthily, if we do not hunger and thirst after goodness?
If we do not, we are like those Corinthians who came to the Lord's supper to
exalt their own spiritual self-conceit;and so only ate and drank their own
damnation, not discerning the Lord's body — a body of righteousness and
goodness.We need not stay awaybecause we feelourselves burdened with
many sins; that will be our very reasonfor coming, that we may be cleansed
from our sins.
(C. Kingsley, M.A.)
Meatand Drink for God's People
D. Fraser
1 Corinthians 10:3, 4
And did all eatthe same spiritual meat;…
By a few master strokes ofhis pen St. Paul indicated the typical significance of
Israel's life in the wilderness. His object in these allusions to the Old

Testamentwas to correctparty spirit among the Greek Christians of the first
century, by showing that, like the tribes of Israel in the old time, the people of
Christ are one in respectof their redemption and consolationin him. As all
the Hebrew fathers were delivered from slaveryin Egypt, so all the Christians
are delivered from the bondage of the flesh. As all of them were baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and the sea, so all the Christians have been baptized into
Christ by death and burial with him. As all of them ate of the manna from the
Lord, so all Christians have the same spiritual food; and as all of them drank
of the waterfrom the smitten rock in Horeb, so all Christians drink of the
same spiritual Rock, whichis Christ. Thus what God did for Israel, he did for
all; what he gave to Israel, he gave to all that people. It was the fault of the
people that this unity was broken. "Some of them were idolaters;" "some of
them committed fornication;" "some of them tempted the Lord;" "some of
them murmured." Christians should mark this, and beware lestany of them,
through temptations to idolatry, fleshliness, or wilfulness, forfeit what the
Lord has provided for all of them without respectof persons. Here are the
necessariesofthe spiritual as of the natural life - food and drink, bread and
water.
I. SPIRITUAL FOOD. The Israelites gotmanna as a direct and free gift from
God. Christians receive Christ as "the true Bread which came down from
heaven," a direct and a free gift from God. The bread is his flesh which he has
given for the life of the world; i.e. Christ nourishes his people through the
efficacyof his atonement. Whosoeverheartily believes in Christ crucified eats
by faith of the flesh which is heavenly bread. The emphasis in this passagelies
on the words, "They all did eatthe same." In the wilderness, everyfamily of
the whole redeemednation ate daily of exactlythe same bread with every
other family. Moses himself partook of the manna, and so did the lowestof the
people. There was no difference betweenthe princes of Israeland the feeblest
in the tribes, betweenthe old people and the children, or betweenmasters and
servants. All partook of the same daily bread. So there is the same Christ for
all of us. Believers have the same life and the same support or staff of life. No
matter what socialand intellectual distinctions may be among us, or what
varieties of view on secondarypoints; in this we are at one, that we have the

same spiritual food. And we show this when we all partake togetherof the
Lord's Supper.
II. SPIRITUAL DRINK. The waterfrom the rock at Horeb not only supplied
the immediate want, but was of use to the tribes of Israelfor many days. Now,
that rock signified Christ. Jehovahsaid to Moses, "Iwill stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb." So God is now before us in Christ Jesus, able
and willing to satisfyall the poor and needy whose hearts faint and" fail them
for thirst." Christ as the Rock smitten is a Fountain of life, available to us
now, and not now only, but all our lives long. As the bread resolves itselfinto
the flesh, so the stream also into the precious blood of Christ. We eat the flesh
and drink the blood of the Son of man, according to his own teaching at
Capernaum. Thus we are againbrought to the fact and virtue of the
atonement. That which it would be gross and intolerable to eatand drink
after a literal and carnal manner, is, after a spiritual manner, full of sweetness
and strength. And again, the emphasis is on the participation by all Christians
of the same spiritual drink, which is symbolized in the Lord's Supper. "The
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of
Christ?" Other Scriptures follow more closelythe idea of watergushing from
a rockyfountain. As the blood of Christ signifies his atonement, so the water
is a sign of the communication of the Holy Ghost. By the former our Lord
gives peace to the conscience;by the latter, cleansing and healing to the heart.
Christ, our Rock, spokemore than once of his powerto impart to all comers
the waterof life (John 4:10-14;John 7:37-39). And now, as from a height
above the plain on which his people still walk as pilgrims, our Saviour in
heaven gives this waterto the thirsty. To it all are welcome. Wateris no
luxury for the few, but an acknowledgeduniversalnecessaryof life; and so a
participation of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is no privilege of a few
superlative Christians, but necessaryto the inward life of every one who is a
Christian at all "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
How can a rock follow? The rock in Horeb did not move from its place, but
followedthe people in the stream which issued from it and flowed through the
lowerlevels of the wilderness. So Jesus Christ remains at God's right hand;
yet is with us always in the continual efficacyof his shed blood and the

continual fellowship of his Holy Spirit. The fountain never runs dry. We never
find anything less than fulness in him. And there is no need to go on a long
pilgrimage to our sacredwell. The Rock follows us.
III. HOW TO GET THIS NOURISHMENT.By grace, throughfaith. When
the children of Israelsaw the manna, they "wistnot what it was." ThenMoses
told them from God what it was, and bade them gather it, "everyman
according to his eating." So now, men do not know of themselves what Christ
is; but it is preached or proclaimed as from God that this is the true Bread.
Take, and eat, and live. Why should any household be without the heavenly
Bread? When the rock was smitten, no one stoodby but Moses and the eiders,
who had gone in advance of the host. One can imagine those elders hastening
back to the camp, and calling aloud to the severaltribes, "Water!water!He,
every one that thirsteth, come to the waters!" Shall we who have found life
and peace in Jesus Christ hold our peace? Nay, but we call to every thirsty
soul, "Come, and drink, and live." - F.
The Spiritual Meatand Drink
R. Tuck
And did all eatthe same spiritual meat;…
Give accountof the historicalfacts to which the apostle refers. It seems as if
he had in mind also the Jewishtradition that the rock - i.e. a fragment broken
off from the rock smitten by Moses - followedthe Israelites through their
journey. St. Paul sees,in that symbol of the Divine presence and providing, an
aid towards our realizing the gracious abiding presence ofthe Lord Jesus

Christ with his Church. His point here is that God's people, in the olden times
and still, are divinely led and divinely fed; so no excuse for apostasycanbe
found in any "straitening in God."
I. DIVINELY LED. By God in the pillar cloud that loomed dark againstthe
clearsky by day, but shone like fire at night, and moved or restedto direct the
people's journeyings. By God's powerthrough the RedSea, whose waters
were held back, making a greatpathway over the dried sands. The fact of
such leadings ought to have bound the people to Jehovahin everlasting bonds.
Then show what is the answering Christian fact to this, and how, when we are
brought to Christ, a new light shines upon the wondrous providences of our
whole lives, and so we feel freshly bound to our Lord, and say -
"Jesus, stilllead on,
Till our rest be won."
II. DIVINELY FED. By God in the provision of the manna day by day. By
God in the smitten rock, that provided in a miraculous manner for them when
natural supplies failed. Such daily signs of Divine presence and care ought to
have held them fast to daily obedience and service. Then we may realize that
(1) the manna answers to Christ, the Breadof life for us; and
(2) the wateranswers to Christ, the Rock sorelysmitten for us. And then we
should feelhow, in the daily provisions of Christ's grace in the supply of all
our need, we are bound to his service, daily urged to "yield ourselves unto
him, and our members instruments of righteousness unto his service." -R.T.

Biblical Illustrator
Give none offence... Jews...Gentiles...the Church of God.
Gratuitous offences ofthe ministry
J. B. Owen, M.A.
I. THE ESSENTIALOFFENCE, OF THE CROSS MUST NOT BE
EVADED. The doctrine of a crucified Christ with its correspending duty of
crucified affections will ever provoke the hostility of "the carnalmind."
Offence is inevitable where disaffectionrules. "Love or hatred" is the sole
alternative. Our mission is, "Christ and Him crucified" — not Christ and
Him Judaised, or philosophised, or adumbrated in a myth, or held in reserve,
or the Shibboleth of a faction. Far from St. Paul was the leastsuppressionof
the faith in deference to the fashion of the world or the fury of his adversaries.
If "to the Jew he became as a Jew, it was to gain the Jew," etc. His evangelical
theologycoupled with his chivalrous life of toil presentthe safestcomment
upon the mingled courtesy, charity, and policy of his injunction — "Give none
offence, neither to the Jews,"etc.
II. WHAT ARE THE CIRCUMSTANTIALAFFRONTS THAT MUST BE
AVOIDED? The Jew, the Gentile, and the Church presentthe three types of
those severalrelations of the world to religion, and whose spiritual interests
may be gratuitously obstructed by ministrational offensiveness.
1. Ritualism.(1) This was "the rock of offence on which Zion stumbled" and
lost her standing.(a) The Jew gloriedin his descentfrom Abraham; but St.
Paul did not ridicule the pretension, but, pointing it in its right direction to the
faith of Christ, courteouslyconceded"then are ye Abraham's seed," etc.(b)
The Jew restedin the law. Paul "bare them record, they had a zealfor God,"
etc., because "the law was their schoolmasterto bring them to Christ."(c) The
Jew stoodupon his circumcision. Was it asked, "Whatprofit was there of
circumcision?" The reply was, "Muchevery way," except indeed in their own
way, but in such a way as they would be more disposed to listen to as "the
more, excellentway."(2)Apply this apostolic gauge to our own modes of

dealing with modern Jews.(a)Take the English Jew;his national and
hereditary dislike of Christianity is not likely to be propitiated by our too
generalindifference to the means of his conversion, which strikes him as
irresistibly at variance with our evangelicalpremises.(b)Take the spirit of
ritualism as embodied in Romanism. To unchurch Rome — the communion of
a Borromeo, Fenelon, and Pascal — is not the spirit which acknowledgedtheir
prototypes, "who are Israelites."The civil concessionofher antiquity pleads
the conciliatoryparallel, "whose are the Fathers." The gracefulrecognitionof
her early evangelising labours finds a gentler precedentin the admission, "of
whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came," than in the loose ignoring of all
old better times. Neither is it an obstacle, but rather ancillary to our argument
to let her share the honour of having had "committed unto her the oracles of
God." Rome must be vanquished by her own instruments. The Christianity in
her Vulgate will yet displace the Popery in her creeds.
2. Rationalism.(1)There canbe no antagonismbetweenreasonand faith.
Christianity and science are both from the same Author, and it robs Him of
part of His glory to take either away. Dealwith such particles of truth as exist
in rationalistic or socialisticwritings, as Paul did with the inscription on the
Athenian altar, or the maxims of a Menander or Aratus. He "disputed daily in
the schoolofone Tyrannus," but "gave no offence to the Gentiles."(2)But the
text includes the unconverted, and there is a risk of gratuitously offending the
mere worldling by the style, as well as matter of preaching. Do not blacken
poor human nature darker than she is. Look upon the young keeperof the
commandments as Jesus "lookedandloved him."(3) The Church of God. The
really enlightened children of God are susceptible of offence from an
incautious ministry. There is such a contingencyas "making my weak brother
to offend" in various shapes. We may scandalise, damage, ordiscourage a
fellow-Christianby the class of amusements in which ourselves or families
fraternise with the world, or by the inconsiderate denouncement of all
recreation;by showing respectof persons in the way of sparing the follies of
the rich, and bearing hard upon the vices of the poor, or contrasting the
assiduity of pastoral attention to the former, with a comparative neglectof the
latter; by careless. partial, imperfect or indistinct statements of truth; by an
obvious disparity betweenour public preaching and personalconversation;by

any inattention to the commoner charities, morals, and civilities of life, as if
Christianity contained no such precepts as "use hospitality," "be courteous,"
"render unto all their dues."
(J. B. Owen, M.A.)
An incentive to Christian liberality
Sketches ofSermons.
I. THE GREAT OBJECT AT WHICH THE APOSTLE AIMED — the profit,
the salvation, of many. The term "profit" may apply, in general, to anything
which improves either the man or his condition. So "wisdomis profitable,"
etc. (Ecclesiastes 10:10);and Paul profited in Jewishlearning, etc. (Galatians
1:14). But as happiness is man's summum bonum, his highest good, whatever
promotes this evidently deserves to be so characterised. In this view salvation
appears to be eminently profitable.
1. Deliverance from the shackles ofsuperstition — of a superstition erroneous
in sentiment — extravagantin its hopes, fears, etc. — painful in its services.
2. Deliverance from the guilt of sin, and from that danger which always, and
from those fearful anticipations which frequently, attend it.
3. Deliverance from the slavery of sin (Romans 6:12-14).
4. It is an abiding profit.
II. THE MEANS BY WHICH THE APOSTLE ENDEAVOURED TO
ATTAIN HIS OBJECT.
1. Observe his disinterestedness. "Notseeking mine own profit." How
different from the man who, when any subject is proposedto him,
immediately inquires, "What shall I gainby it?"
2. Mark the apostle's benevolence. Aiming at "the profit of many."
3. Considerthe apostle's labours. "Seeking the profit of many"; in devising
plans to promote their prosperity (2 Corinthians 11:28).

4. Consideralso the sacrifices he made.
(Sketches ofSermons.)
The duty of an inoffensive conduct
J. Mason, A.M.
I. THE NATURE OF THE DUTY HERE RECOMMENDED.
1. What are we to understand by the word "offence." This word is takenin
two senses. In the sacredwritings it generally signifies a stumbling-block, or
whateveris the occasionofanother's fall. But the word "offence," in the
common acceptationofit, is takento signify an occasionofanger, grief, or
resentment. Whoeverfinds these passions stirring in his mind, is said to be
offended; and whateverbe the incentive or cause ofthem, is called the offence.
In this latter sense we sometimes find the word used in Scripture, as well as in
the former (Psalm 119:165;Matthew 17:27). It is this latter sense in which I
intend to improve the words of the text, and considerthem as a precept, to
follow after things that make for peace, and to keepour consciencevoid of
offence towards all men.
2. With what restrictions this preceptmust reasonablybe taken.(1)When
peace with men stands in competition with our duty to God, we should not be
afraid of giving them offence.(2)Notonly the honour of God, but the rights of
consciencemust be maintained as sacredin opposition to all that would
invade them, howeverthat opposition may offend them.(3) Nor are the
perverse and unreasonable humours of men to be always submitted to for fear
of giving offence. The truth ought to be sometimes boldly asserted, strongly
proved, and closelyurged; and the vanity and ignorance of the conceited
humorist mortified and exposed.(4)It is lawful sometimes to give offence to
others for the sake oftheir good. That is, when that goodwe are able to do
them cannot be done without it. This especiallytakes place in case of
reproof.(5)Nor should we be afraid of giving a private offence when it is
necessaryto the public good. Otherwise magistrates wouldnot be faithful to
their trust, nor could penal laws be executed.(6)We should not be too

scrupulous of giving offence in justifying an injured character, orin
vindicating the honour and reputation of an absent person, when aspersedby
the petulance of an unbridled or malicious tongue.(7)When the honour,
interest, and credit of religion are manifestly concerned, they ought not to be
meanly prostituted for the sake ofpeace.
3. The proper latitude and extent of it in a few particulars wherein men are
most apt to forgetit.(1) We should take care we do not give a needless offence
to others in matter of opinion.(2) In like manner we should take care how we
give just offence to weak Christians in matters of practice.(3)We should take
care not to give offence in our discourse or conversationwith others.(4)We
should take care to give no just offence in our way of commerce or dealings
with men. Either by exactionand oppression, or by rigorous and exorbitant
claims, beyond the rules of equity and mercy, where there is but small ability
to answerthem.(5) We should take care not to give offence to others by our
tempers. In some tempers there are many things very offensive, which tend
very much to disturb the peace ofsocietyand dissolve the bonds of Christian
love and friendship.(a) A vain and ostentatious temper — when a man
appears to centre all his views in himself, and to be so full of secretpride and
self-applause that it is continually running over his lips.(b) A rigid, censorious,
and detracting spirit, which often proceeds from the same original as the
other, viz., secretpride and excessive self-love.(c)A passionate andrevengeful
temper is a very offensive one.(d) An arbitrary, over-bearing, and imperious
temper, which tyrannises over ingenuous modesty, and thinks to carry all
before it by mere dint of noise and confidence.(e)A mercenary and selfish
temper, which shows a little, contractedheart, wrapped up in itself, and shut
fast to all the world beside; whereas the heart of a goodman is open and
generous, and longs to diffuse joy and gladness all around it.(6) We should
take care to give no offence to others by the abuse of those talents which we
enjoy more than they.(7) We should take care how we give offence in any of
those severalrelations in life wherein Providence hath placedus.
II. I SHALL RECOMMENDTHIS DUTY OF AN INOFFENSIVE
CONDUCT FROM TWO CONSIDERATIONS.

1. The first is from the example of our greatLord and Master, Jesus Christ.
Which is not only our greatestmotive to it, but at the same time will be our
best direction in the practice of it. He was not ashamedto maintain the cause
of God and truth at the expense of His own peace and fame; nor afraid to
oppose and reprove the proud priests and bigoted Pharisees, thoughHe knew
He should give them offence and incur their hatred by so doing. Here He
showedthe courage of a lion; in other casesallthe meekness ofa lamb.
2. He who makes no conscienceofoffending men, will make no conscienceof
offending God. Nay, herein he actually does offend Him. A just occasionof
offence given to them is a real offence offered to Him, because it is a wilful
violation of His laws, which in the most express manner have forbidden it.
(J. Mason, A.M.)
Christian influence
J. G. Rogers,B.A.
1. The apostle did not shrink from giving offence where the honour of his
Masteror the rights of His gospelwere to be maintained, where sin was to be
rebuked, and hypocrisy unmasked. The public opinion of those times
doubtless regarded him as an extreme man (1 Corinthians 4:3, 4). Wherever
he went he rousedthe fiercestpassions ofthe Jews. Itwas from no inability to
perceive the "offence ofthe Cross," that he made it the theme of his ministry.
Even to the Church he gave offence where duty required — to Barnabas, to
Peter, to the JewishChristians in general.
2. How singular, then, sound such words as those of the text. "He give no
offence!" might be the comment of some of his opponents, "why, it is not
possible that any man should give more." These words, however, prove that
Paul had no love for antagonism. Truth must be served first, but where it did
not callhe would not grieve either Jew or Gentile or fellow-Christian. He is
speaking here of things not necessaryto salvation.

I. GOD HAS GIVEN EVERY CHRISTIAN SOME INFLUENCE IN THE
WORLD.
1. With many it may be very feeble and restricted, but to none has it been
wholly denied. To some have been given two, and to a few even five talents,
but there is not one who can saythat he has no talent at all. One of the
mightiest forces thus lies within the reach of all. An innocent babe, all
insensible of the power which it wields, will sometimes almosttransform the
spirit of a father.
2. Few things are more marvellous than the way in which such influence
propagates itself. Take, e.g., the simple Christian man whose sympathy was
excited on behalf of the ignorant and godless children in the city of
Gloucester. He little knew how his Christian thought would fructify. So the
Christian woman who invited her young apprentice to the evening service in
the Tabernacle was unconsciouslysetting in motion a train of influence, the
full results of which are not yet fully developed. That evening sermon was to
lead John Williams to the foot of the Cross.
3. Noris it only that a man may exercise suchinfluence, it is certain that he
must do so. It is not that no man ought to live to himself, but that, as a matter
of fact, no man can live to himself. Be not deceived, if you are not a blessing
you will be a curse to the world. A purely negative existence, evenif desirable,
is not possible to any of us.
II. THIS INFLUENCE IS A TALENT TO BE DILIGENTLY CULTIVATED.
1. It may be regardedunder two aspects, the direct and the indirect power
which we exert. The Christian must strive to serve his Masterin both. He
must not only engage in Christian labours, but he must breathe a Christian
temper. The power of earnestwords and generous deeds will be neutralised by
the inconsistencywhichawakens doubts as to his sincerity, or the offensive
bearing which, in exciting prejudice againsthimself, creates a new obstacle to
the success ofthe messagewhich he bears. It is to this that the apostle chiefly
alludes. The offence of the Cross was notto be removed by silence as to Christ
crucified; but whateverhis messagemight be, he soughtthat he himself
should not be a stumbling-block.

2. Some men make it their boastthat they take no heed to the opinions of
others. They have the approval of their own conscience. Whatcan it matter to
them though they are condemned by the unanimous voice of their brethren?
A doubt of their own infallibility never appears to occurto them, nor a desire
to spare the feelings and respectthe convictions of others to influence their
modes of speechor action. Of course it is better to be unpopular than untrue;
but even if regardto the highest principle require a man sometimes to oppose
himself to those whom he most respects, there is a way of acting by which he
may avoid provoking that unpleasant irritation which is sure to defeat the
very purpose he seeks to achieve. Keepback nothing which fidelity to God
requires you to utter; but let there be the courtesywhich pays a due respectto
the opinions it is compelledto oppose, and the readiness to make everything
subordinate to the one greatwork of promoting the gospel. It is pitiable to
mark the way in which some men, by little defects of character, mar the effect
of labours inspired by the purest motive and apparently fitted to secure the
richest fruit. They are like a gardenerwho, having sownhis seeds, no sooner
sees them breaking the ground than he begins to trample them down.
3. "Notseeking mine own profit," etc. Such, too, is our principle, but may we
not learn something even from those who seek the inferior end? If men can
stoopto secure an earthly prize — if they deem no labour too hard, no rebuff
too humiliating, no arts too mean which are necessaryto ensure success —
what effort should not Christians put forth, and what sacrifice shouldthey not
make in order to win a powerwhich they may use for the profit of many?
(J. G. Rogers,B.A.)
True wisdom and charity
J. Lyth, D.D.
I. THE DUTY.
1. Give none offence.
2. Pleaseall men.

3. Sacrifice self.
II. THE OBJECT — that they may be saved.
III. THE INCENTIVE — the example of Christ and His apostles (1
Corinthians 11:1).
(J. Lyth, D.D.)
Even as I please all men in all things
Paul pleasing and not pleasing men
H. W. Beecher.
I. HOW HE PLEASED ALL MEN. Consider —
1. The case of Timothy (Acts 16:3).
2. Paul at Athens.
3. Paul at Corinth.
4. His address to Agrippa.
5. His words in reference to meats and drinks.
II. HOW INFLEXIBLY HE REFUSED TO PLEASE MEN WHEN CHRIST
OR THE HONOUR OF THE GOSPELWAS CONCERNED(Galatians
1:10).
III. HOW THESE TWO PHASES OF THE APOSTLE'S SPIRIT ARE IN
HARMONY. Learn —
(1)Christian truth and principle must at all rates be maintained.
(2)Christian moderation and suavity must be exhibited.
(H. W. Beecher.)

The abuse and proper use of the apostolic principle
C. Hodge, D.D.
I. THE PRINCIPLE HAS OFTEN BEEN LAMENTABLYPERVERTED.
1. On the plea of becoming all things to all men, Christians are tempted into
sinful conformity with the habits and amusements of the world.
2. On the same plea the Church of Rome adopted heathen rites, until the
distinction betweenPaganismand Christianity was little more than nominal.
Heathen temples were calledchurches; Pagangods were baptized as saints,
and honoured as before.
II. THE APOSTLE SO ACTED AS TO PRESERVE THE CHURCH FROM
EVERY TAINT OF EITHER PAGANISM OR JUDAISM. The rules which
guided the apostles may be easily deduced from the conduct and epistles of
Paul.
1. They accommodatedthemselves to Jewishor Gentile usages only in matters
of indifference.
2. They abstainedfrom all accommodationevenin things indifferent, under
circumstances whichgave to those things a religious import. They allowed
sacrifices to be eaten;but eating within a temple was forbidden.
3. They concededwhenthe concessionwas notdemanded as a matter of
necessity;but refused when it was so regarded. Paul said circumcisionwas
nothing and uncircumcision was nothing; yet he resistedthe circumcisionof
Titus when it was demanded by the Judaisers.
4. The object of their concessionswas not to gain mere nominal converts, nor
to do awaywith the offence of the Cross (Galatians 4:11), but to save men. No
concessiontherefore, whetherto the manners of the world or to the prejudices
of the ignorant, canplead the sanctionof apostolic example, which has not
that objecthonestly in view.
5. It is included in the above particulars that Paul, in becoming all things to all
men, never compromisedany truth or sanctionedany error.

(C. Hodge, D.D.).
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(4) That spiritual Rock that followedthem.—There was a Jewishtradition
that the Rock—i.e., a fragment broken off from the rock smitten by Moses—
followedthe Israelites through their journey, and St. Paul, for the purpose of
illustration, adopts that accountinstead of the statement in Numbers 20:11.
The emphatic repetition of the word “spiritual” before “drink” and “rock”
reminds the readerthat it is the spiritual and not the historic aspectofthe fact
which is presentto St. Paul’s mind. The traditional accountof the Rock was a
more complete illustration of the abiding presence ofGod, which was the
point that the Apostle here desires to bring forward.
And that Rock was Christ.—As Christ was “Godmanifest in the flesh” in the
New Dispensation, so Godmanifest in the Rock (the source of sustaining life)
was the Christ of the Old Dispensation. The Jews had become familiar with
the thought of God as a Rock. (See 1Samuel2:2; Psalm91:12;Isaiah 32:2.)
Though the Jews mayhave recognisedthe Rock poeticallyas God, they knew
not that it was, as a manifestation of God’s presence, typical of the
manifestation which was yet to be given in the Incarnation. Such seems to be
the force of the statement and of the word “But” which emphatically
introduces it. But though they thought it only a Rock, orapplied the word
poeticallyto Jehovah, that Rock was Christ.
BensonCommentary
1 Corinthians 10:4. And did all drink the same spiritual — That is, typical;
drink — Namely, typical of Christ and of the living water, the divine influence

derived from him, John 8:37. For they drank of that spiritual — Or
mysterious; rock — The wonderful streams of which followedthem in their
severaljourneyings for many years through the wilderness. It must be
observed, waterwas twice brought from a rock by a miracle, for the Israelites
in the wilderness;once in Rephidim, which was their eleventh station, and in
the first year after they came out of Egypt; of which miracle we have an
account, Exodus 17.; the secondtime was at Kadesh, which was their thirty-
third station, and in the fortieth year after their leaving Egypt, Numbers 20:1.
To both places the name of Meribah was given; but the latter was called
Meribah-Kadesh, to distinguish it from Meribah of Rephidim. It is the
miracle performed in Rephidim of which the apostle here speaks. The water,
it appears, that issuedfrom this rock formed a brook, which (Deuteronomy
9:21) is said to have descendedout of the mount, that is, out of Horeb;
(Exodus 17:5-6;) for before that miracle there was no brook in these parts.
And it issuedin such abundance as to be termed a river, Psalm78:16; Psalm
105:41. Indeed, six hundred thousand men, with their women and children,
and cattle, required a river to supply them with drink. And Horeb being a
high mountain, there seems to have been a descentfrom it to the sea;and the
Israelites, during the thirty-seven years of their journeying, appear to have
gone by those tracts of country in which the waters from Horeb could follow
them, till in the thirty-ninth year they came to Ezion-Gaber, (Numbers 33:36,)
a port of the Red sea, fardown the Arabian side, where it is supposed the
waterfrom Horeb went into that sea. The country through which the
Israelites journeyed so long a time, being wateredby this river, produced, no
doubt, herbage for the cattle of the Israelites, which, in this desert, must
otherwise have perished. And that Rock was Christ — A manifest type of him,
the Rock ofages, who, being smitten in his death and sufferings, poured forth
streams of redemption, grace, andheavenly blessings, whichfollow his people
through all this wilderness, and will end in rivers of pleasure at the right hand
of God for ever.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
10:1-5 To dissuade the Corinthians from communion with idolaters, and
security in any sinful course, the apostle sets before them the example of the
Jewishnation of old. They were, by a miracle, led through the Red Sea, where

the pursuing Egyptians were drowned. It was to them a typical baptism. The
manna on which they fed was a type of Christ crucified, the Breadwhich
came down from heaven, which whoso eatethshall live for ever. Christ is the
Rock on which the Christian church is built; and of the streams that issue
therefrom, all believers drink, and are refreshed. It typified the sacred
influences of the Holy Spirit, as given to believers through Christ. But let none
presume upon their greatprivileges, or professionof the truth; these will not
secure heavenly happiness.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
And did all drink the same spiritual drink - The idea here is essentiallythe
same as in the previous verse, that they had been highly favored of God, and
enjoyed tokens of the divine care and guardianship. That was manifestedin
the miraculous supply of water in the desert, thus showing that they were
under the divine protection, and were objects ofthe divine favor. There canbe
no doubt that by "spiritual drink" here, the apostle refers to the waterthat
was made to gush from the rock that was smitten by Moses. Exodus 17:6;
Numbers 20:11. Why this is called "spiritual" has been a subject on which
there has been much difference of opinion. It cannotbe because there was
anything specialin the nature of the water, for it was evidently realwater,
suited to allay their thirst. There is no evidence, as many have supposed, that
there was a reference in this to the drink used in the Lord's Supper. But it
must mean that it was bestowedin a miraculous and supernatural manner;
and the word "spiritual" must be used in the sense ofsupernatural, or that
which is immediately given by God. Spiritual blessings thus stand opposedto
natural and temporal blessings, and the former denote those which are
immediately given by God as an evidence of the divine favor. That the Jews
used the word "spiritual" in this manner is evident from the writings of the
Rabbis. Thus, they calledthe manna "spiritual food" (Yade Mose in Shemor
Rabba, fol. 109. 3); and their sacrifices theycalled "spiritual bread" (Tzeror
Hammer, fol. 93. 2). - Gill. The drink, therefore, here referred to was that
bestowedin a supernatural manner and as a proof of the divine favor.
For they drank of that spiritual Rock - Of the waters which flowed from that
Rock. The Rock here is called"spiritual," not from anything specialin the

nature of the rock, but because it was the source to them of supernatural
mercies, and became thus the emblem and demonstration of the divine favor,
and of spiritual mercies conferredupon them by God.
That followedthem - Margin. "Wentwith" ἀκολουθούσης akolouthousēs.
This evidently cannot mean that the rock itself literally followed them, any
more than that they literally drank the rock, for one is as expresslyaffirmed,
if it is taken literally, as the other. But as when it is said they "drank of the
rock," it must mean that they drank of the water that flowedfrom the rock;
so when it is said that the "rock followed" oraccompaniedthem, it must mean
that the water that flowedfrom the rock accompaniedthem. This figure of
speechis common everywhere. Thus, the Saviour said 1 Corinthians 11:25,
"This cup is the new testament," that is, the wine in this cup represents my
blood, etc.;and Paul says 1 Corinthians 11:25, 1 Corinthians 11:27,
"whosoevershalldrink this cup of the Lord unworthily," that is, the wine in
the cup, etc., and "as oftenas ye drink this cup," etc., that is, the wine
containedin the cup. It would be absurd to suppose that the rock that was
smitten by Moses literally followedthem in the wilderness;and there is not
the slightestevidence in the Old Testamentthat it did. Water was twice
brought out of a rock to supply the needs of the children of Israel. Once at
Mount Horeb, as recordedin Exodus 17:6, in the wilderness of Sin, in the first
year of their departure from Egypt. The secondtime water was brought from
a rock about the time of the death of Miriam at Kadesh, and probably in the
40th year of their departure from Egypt, Numbers 20:1. It was to the former
of these occasions that the apostle evidently refers. In regard to this we may
observe:
(1) That there must have been furnished a large quantity of waterto have
supplied the needs of more than two million people.
(2) it is expresslystatedDeuteronomy 9:21), that "the brook ‫לחנ‬ nachal,
stream, torrent, or river, see Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4, Joshua 15:47;1
Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7) descendedout of the mount," and was evidently a
stream of considerable size.

(3) mount Horeb was higher than the adjacent country, and the water that
thus gushed from the rock, instead of collecting into a pool and becoming
stagnant, would flow off in the direction of the sea.
(4) the sea to which it would naturally flow would be the Red Sea, in the
direction of the Easternor Elanitic branch of that sea.
(5) the Israelites would doubtless, in their journeyings, be influenced by the
natural direction of the water, or would not wander far from it, as it was daily
needful for the supply of their needs.
(6) at the end of thirty-seven years we find the Israelites at Ezion-geber, a
seaporton the easternbranch of the Red Sea, where the waters probably
flowed into the sea;Numbers 33:36. In the 40th year of their departure from
Egypt, they left this place to go into Canaanby the country of Edom, and were
immediately in distress again by the lack of water. It is thus probable that the
waterfrom the rock continued to flow, and that it constituted a stream, or
river; that it was near their camp all the time until they came to Ezion-geber;
and that thus, togetherwith the daily supply of manna, it was a proof of the
protection of God, and an emblem of their dependence. If it be said that there
is now no such stream to be found there, it is to be observedthat it is
representedas miraculous, and that it would be just as reasonable to look for
the daily descentof manna there in quantities sufficient to supply more than
two million people, as to expect to find the gushing and running river of
water. The only question is, whether God canwork a miracle, and whether
there is evidence that he has done it. This is not the place to examine that
question. But the evidence is as strong that he performed this miracle as that
he gave the manna, and neither of them is inconsistentwith the power, the
wisdom, or the benevolence of God.
And that Rock was Christ - This cannot be intended to be understood
literally, for it was not literally true. The rock from which the waterflowed
was evidently an ordinary rock, a part of Mount Horeb; and all that this can
mean is, that that rock, with the streamof waterthus gushing from it, was a
representationof the Messiah. The wordwas is thus often used to denote
similarity or representation, and is not to be taken literally. Thus, in the

institution of the Lord's Supper, the Saviour says of the bread, "This is my
body," that is, it represents my body. Thus, also of the cup, "This cup is the
new testamentin my blood," that is, it represents my blood, 1 Corinthians
11:24-25. Thus, the gushing fountain of watermight be regardedas a
representationof the Messiah, andof the blessings which result from him. The
apostle does not say that the Israelites knew that this was designedto be a
representationof the Messiah, andof the blessings which flow from him,
though there is nothing improbable in the supposition that they so understood
and regardedit, since all their institutions were probably regardedas typical.
But he evidently does mean to saythat the rock was a vivid and affecting
representationof the Messiah;that the Jews did partake of the mercies that
flow from him; and that even in the desert they were under his care, and had
in fact among them a vivid representationof him in some sense corresponding
with the emblematic representationof the same favors which the Corinthian
and other Christians had in the Lord's Supper. This representationof the
Messiah, perhaps, was understoodby Paul to consistin the following things:
(1) Christians, like the children of Israel, are passing through the world as
pilgrims, and to them that world is a wilderness - a desert.
(2) they need continued supplies, as the Israelites did, in their journey. The
world, like that wilderness, does not meet their necessities,orsupply their
needs.
(3) that rock was a striking representationof the fulness of the Messiah, ofthe
abundant grace which he imparts to his people.
(4) it was an illustration of their continued and constantdependence on him
for the daily supply of their needs. It should be observedthat many expositors
understand this literally. Bloomfield translates it: "and they were supplied
with drink from the spiritual Rock which followedthem, even Christ." So
Rosenmuller, Calvin, Glass, etc. In defense of this interpretation, it is said,
that the Messiahis often called"a rock" in the Scriptures;that the Jews
believe that the "angelof Jehovah" who who attended them (Exodus 3:2, and
other places)was the Messiah;and that the designof the apostle was, to show
that this "attending Rock," the Messiah, was the source of all their blessings,

and particularly of the waterthat gushed from the rock. But the
interpretation suggestedabove seems to me to be most natural. The design of
the apostle is apparent. It is to show to the Corinthians, who relied so much on
their privileges, and felt themselves so secure, that the Jews had the very same
privileges - had the highesttokens of the divine favor and protection, were
under the guidance and grace ofGod, and were partakers constantlyof that
which adumbrated or typified the Messiah, in a manner as real, and in a form
as much suited to keepup the remembrance of their dependence, as even the
bread and wine in the Lord's Supper.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
4. drink—(Ex 17:6). In Nu 20:8, "the beasts" also are mentioned as having
drunk. The literal water typified "spiritual drink," and is therefore so called.
spiritual Rock that followedthem—rather, "accompaniedthem." Not the
literal rock (or its water) "followed" them, as Alford explains, as if Paul
sanctionedthe Jews'tradition (Rabbi Solomon on Nu 20:2) that the rock
itself, or at leastthe streamfrom it, followedthe Israelites from place to place
(compare De 9:21). But Christ, the "Spiritual Rock" (Ps 78:20, 35;De 32:4,
15, 18, 30, 31, 37; Isa 28:16; 1Pe 2:6), accompaniedthem (Ex 33:15).
"Followed"implies His attending on them to minister to them; thus, though
mostly going before them, He, when occasionrequired it, followed"behind"
(Ex 14:19). He satisfiedall alike as to their bodily thirst wheneverthey needed
it; as on three occasions is expresslyrecorded(Ex 15:24, 25;17:6; Nu 20:8);
and this drink for the body symbolized the spiritual drink from the Spiritual
Rock (compare Joh4:13, 14;see on [2288]1Co10:3).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
And all the Jews, as wellthose that perished in the wilderness, as those that
were preserved to go into Canaan, they drank of the waterwhich came out of
the rock, ofwhich we read, Exodus 17:6 Numbers 20:11;which waterwas
spiritual drink in the same respects that the manna was spiritual meat, being
miraculously produced, and being a figure of Christ. For, saith the apostle,

that rock was Christ; that is, that rock did signify or prefigure Christ; the
rock was Christ in the same sense that the bread in the Lord’s supper is the
body of Christ, that is, a sign which by Divine institution did signify Christ.
Here ariseth a question in what sense it is said, that the
rock followedthem? That by the rock is to be understood the waterthat God
made to flow out of the rock, is evident; but though we read of watertwice
fetched out of the rock upon Moses smiting of it; once at Rephidim, before
they came so far as Mount Sinai, Exodus 17:6; anothertime at Kadesh,
Numbers 20:7,8;yet we no where read in the history of the Jewish
journeyings to Canaan, that the rock followedthem. But this is not the only
thing that we read in the New Testamentrelating to the history of the Old
Testament, with some circumstances which we do not find recordedthere; it is
enough that it is plainly assertedhere, and it must be presumed, or how can
we imagine that the Israelites were supplied with waterfor forty years
together? Whereas some object, that if the water, which came out of the rock
at Rephidim, had followedthem, there would have been no need of Moses
striking the rock at Kadesh; it is answered, that God, to try them, probably
causedthe waterto stop. For the analogybetweenthe rock and Christ, divines
make it to lie in these particulars:
1. That Christ is the firm and unmovable foundation of his church, called
therefore a stone, a tried stone, Isaiah28:16 Romans 9:33 1 Peter2:6.
2. As this rock sent out no waterfor the refreshment of the Israelites, till
Moses hadstruck it; so all the benefit we have from Christ as Mediator,
floweth from him as smitten of God, and afflicted.

3. As the waterof the rock servedboth for cleansing, and upholding life in
satisfying thirst; so the blood of Christ is useful to the soul, both for washing
from the guilt of sin, and the upholding spiritual life in a soul.
4. As the rock that followed the Israelites afforded waternot only to that
generationthat were alive and present when the rock was smitten, but to all
the succeeding generations,until the Israelites came into Canaan;so the blood
of Christ is useful not only to his people in this or that place or age, but to all
that shall believe in him, and that till they shall come into the heavenly
Canaan.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And did all drink the same spiritual drink,.... By which is meant the waterout
of the rock, which was typical of the blood of Christ, which is drink indeed,
and not figurative, as this was, forwhich reasonit is calledspiritual; or of the
grace ofChrist, often signified by water, both in the Old and New Testament;
and is what Moses andthe law could not give; for righteousness andlife, grace
and salvation, could never be had by the works of the law:and very
unpromising it was, and is to carnal men, that these should come by a
crucified Christ, as it was to the Israelites, that water, in such plenty, should
gush out of the rock in Horeb; but as those waters did not flow from thence
without the rock being strickenby the rod of Moses, so the communication of
the blessings ofgrace from Christ is through his being smitten by divine
justice with the rod of the law;through his being, strickenfor the
transgressions ofhis people, and and being made sin, and a curse of the law in
their room and stead. And as those waters continued through the wilderness
as a constantsupply for them, so the grace of Christ is always sufficient for his
people; a continual supply is afforded them; goodness andmercy follow them
all the days of their lives:
for they drank, of that spiritual rock that followed them; by which the apostle
means not Christ himself, for he went before them as the angel of God's
presence, but the rock that typified him; not that the rock itself removed out
of its place, and went after them, but the waters out of the rock ran like rivers,

and followedthem in the wilderness whereverthey went, for the space ofeight
and thirty years, or thereabout, and then were stopped, to make trial of their
faith once more; this was at Kadesh when the rock was struck again, and gave
forth its waters, which, as the continual raining of the manna, was a constant
miracle wrought for them. And this sense ofthe apostle is entirely agreeable
to the sentiments of the Jews, who say, that the Israelites had the well of water
all the forty years (k). The JerusalemTargum (l) says of the
"wellgiven at Mattanah, that it againbecame unto them violent overflowing
brooks, and againascendedto the tops of the mountains, and descendedwith
them into the ancient valleys.''
And to the same purpose the Targum of Jonathanben Uzziel (m),
"that it again ascendedwith them to the highestmountains, and from the
highest mountains it descendedwith them to the hills, and encompassedthe
whole camp of Israel, and gave drink to everyone at the gate of his own
dwelling place; and from the high mountains it descendedwith them into the
deep valleys.''
Yea, they speak of the rock in much the same language the apostle does, and
seemto understand it of the rock itself, as if that really went along with the
Israelites in the wilderness. Thus one of their writers (n) on those words,
"must we fetch you water out of this rock?" makesthis remark:
"for they knew it not, , "for that rock went", and remained among the rocks.''
And in another place it is said (o),
"that the rock became in the form of a beehive; (elsewhere (p) it is said to be
round as a sieve;) and rolled along, , "and came with them", in their journeys;
and when the standard bearers encamped, and the tabernacle stoodstill, the
rock came, and remained in the court of the tent of the congregation;and the
princes came and stoodupon the top of it, and said, ascend, O well, and it
ascended.''

Now, though in this accountthere is a mixture of fable, yet there appears
something of the old true tradition receivedin the Jewishchurch, which the
apostle has here respectto.
And the rock was Christ: that is, it signified Christ, it was a type of him. So
the Jews (q) say, that the Shekinahis called , "the holy rock";and Philo the
Jew says (r) of this rock, that the broken rock is , "the wisdom of God".
Christ may be comparedto the rock for his outward meanness in his
parentage and education, in his ministry and audience, in his life and death;
and for his height also, being made higher than the kings of the earth, than the
angels in heaven, and than the heavens themselves;and for shelterand safety
from the wrath of God, and from the rage of men; and for firmness, solidity,
and strength, which are seenin his upholding all things by his power, in
bearing the sins of his people, and the punishment due unto them, in the
support of his church, and bearing up his people under all afflictions and
temptations, and in preserving them from a total and final falling away:and a
rock he appears to be, as he is the foundation of his church and every believer,
againstwhich hell and earth can never prevail; and to it he may be likened for
duration, his love being immovable, his righteousness everlasting, his
salvationeternal, and he, as the foundation of his church, abiding for ever.
(k) Jarchi in Numbers 20.2.((l)In Numbers 21.20. (m) In ib. (n) Jarchiin
Numbers 20.10. (o)Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 177. 2.((p) Gloss. in T. Bab.
Pesach. fol. 54. 1.((q) Zohar in Num. fol. 87. 4. & Imre Binah in ib. (r) Lib.
Allegor. l. 3. p. 1103.
Geneva Study Bible
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual
Rock that {f} followedthem: and that Rock was {g}Christ.
(f) Of the River and running Rock, who followedthe people.
(g) Did signify Christ as an ordinance, so that togetherwith the sign, there
was the thing signified, and the truth itself. ForGod does not offer a bare sign,
but the thing signified by the sign togetherwith it, which is to be receivedwith
faith.

EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
4. and did all drink the same spiritual drink] This miraculous supply of water,
vouchsafedon two occasions (Exodus 17:1-6;Numbers 20:1-11)belonged, like
the manna, not to the natural, but to the spiritual order of God’s Providence,
which has its necessarypoints of contactwith the lowerand more contracted
natural order, and issues in what we callmiracles. Hence they were types of
still greatermiracles, which belong howevermore exclusively to the spiritual
order of things, namely, the nourishing the Christian Church with the
“spiritual food of the Body and Blood of Christ” In this sense, StAugustine
(Tract. 26 super Joannem)says well, “Sacramentailla fuerunt, in signis
diversa fed in re quæ significatur paria,” because it was Christ who was the
miraculous support and preservationof the Israelites in the wilderness, as
well as of Christians in their pilgrimage through the world.
for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followedthem] The Targums of
Onkelos and Jonathanspeak of a ‘well’ which followed the Israelites in their
wanderings. In the Bemidbar Rabbah (c. i.) it is a Rock, in shape like a bee-
hive, which rolled. continually forward to accompanythe Israelites ontheir
way (for the tradition consult Wetstein, or Schöttgen). Our greatRabbinical
scholarLightfoot rejects this interpretation, and believes that the expression
refers, not to the rock, but the streams which issuedfrom it, and which were
gatheredinto pools wherever they encamped. It was to this, and not to the
rock, that the words in Numbers 21:17 are supposedto be addressed. Estius
cites Psalm78:16; Psalm105:41 in support of the same view. See also
Deuteronomy 9:21, ‘the brook that descendedfrom the mount.’ Meyerthinks
that the tradition was a later invention of the Rabbis, since the Targums in
their present shape cannot be traced back farther than the secondcentury. It
possibly grew out of an older tradition, here referred to, that a spiritual power
invisibly accompaniedthe Israelites, and ministered to their temporal wants.

and that Rock was Christ]See last note but one. Christ was the true source of
all their nourishment, and He went with them whithersoeverthey went He,
the Angel of the Covenant(Exodus 23:20-21;Exodus 23:23; Exodus 32:34;
Joshua 5:13) was their guide and their support. Cf. St John 4:10; John 4:14;
John 7:37-38. Forthe term Rock, as applied to God, see Deuteronomy32:4;
Deuteronomy 32:15;Deuteronomy 32:18;Deuteronomy 32:30-31;
Deuteronomy 32:37;Psalm18:1, and many other passagesin the Psalms too
numerous to quote. We can hardly dismiss this passagewithout quoting
Bengel’s remark;“Had there been more than two Sacraments, StPaul would
have pointed out some spiritual resemblance to them.”
Bengel's Gnomen
1 Corinthians 10:4. Πόμα, drink) This relates rather to Exodus 17:6, than to
Numbers 20:8, where mention is made also of cattle.—γὰρ,for) Such as is the
rock, such is the water.—ἐκ πνευματικῆς ἀκολουθούσης πέτρας, from the
spiritual rock, that followedthem) The article τῆς is not added. The people
did not know, what the rock was;therefore Paul long after adds, but the rock
was Christ. This spiritual rock is spokenof as following them, not on account
of its following the people; for it rather went before them; but because,
although at that time it was really present with them, 1 Corinthians 10:9, yet
it was only in after ages that at length it was made knownto them; comp. on
the word ἀκολουθεῖν, to follow, 1 Timothy 5:24; on the order of natural and
spiritual things, 1 Corinthians 15:46.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 4. - The same spiritual drink. The waterfrom the smitten rock might
(Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11)be called a "spiritual" drink, both as being a
miraculous gift (comp. Galatians 4:29, where Isaac is said to be "born after
the spirit"), and as being a type of that "living water" which "springs up into
everlasting life" (John 4:14; John 7:37), and of the blood of Christ in the
Eucharist(John 6:55). These "watersin the wilderness" and "rivers in the
desert" were a natural symbol of the grace of God (Isaiah43:23; Isaiah55:1),
especiallyas bestowedin the sacramentthrough material signs. They drank;
literally, they were drinking, implying a continuous gift. Of that spiritual

Rock that followedthem; rather, literally, of a spiritual following Rock. This
is explained
(1) as a mere figure of speech, in which the natural rock which Moses smote is
left out of sight altogether;and
(2) as meaning that not the rock, but the waterfrom the rock, followedafter
them in their wanderings (Deuteronomy 9:21). There can, however, be little or
no doubt that St. Paul refers to the common JewishHagadah, that the actual
material rock did follow the Israelites in their wanderings. The rabbis said
that it was round, and rolled itself up like a swarm of bees, and that, when the
tabernacle was pitched, this rock came and settledin its vestibule, and began
to flow when the princes came to it and sang, "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto
it" (Numbers 21:17). It does not, of course, follow from this allusion that St.
Paul, or even the rabbis, believed their Hagadahin other than a metaphorical
sense. The JewishHagadoth - legends and illustrations and inferences of an
imaginative Oriental people - are not to be taken au pied de la lettre. St. Paul
obviates the laying of any stress on the mere legend by the qualifying word, "a
spiritual Rock." And that Rock was Christ. The writings of Philo, and the
Alexandrian schoolof thought in general, had familiarized all Jewishreaders
with language ofthis kind. They were accustomedto see types of God, or of
the Word (Logos), in almostevery incident of the deliverance from Egypt and
the wanderings in the wilderness. Thus in Wisd. 10:15 and Wisdom 11:4 it is
Wisdom - another form of the Logos - who leads and supports the Israelites.
The frequent comparison, of God to a Rock in the Old Testament
(Deuteronomy 32, passim; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 91:12, etc.)would render the
symbolism more easy, especiallyas in Exodus 17:6 we find, "Behold, I
[Jehovah] will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb."
Vincent's Word Studies
Drink - spiritual drink

Spiritual, like the meat, in being supernaturally given. The aoristtense
denotes something past, yet without limiting it to a particular occasion. They
drank at Rephidim (Exodus 17:6), but they continued to drink spiritual drink,
for -
They drank (ἔπινον)
The imperfect tense denoting continued action - throughout their journey.
That spiritual rock
For that read a. Paul appears to recall a rabbinic tradition that there was a
well formed out of the spring in Horeb, which gathered itself up into a rock
like a swarmof bees, and followedthe people for forty years;sometimes
rolling itself, sometimes carried by Miriam, and always addressedby the
elders, when they encamped, with the words, "Spring up, O well!" Numbers
21:17. Stanley says:"In accordance withthis notion, the Rock ofMoses, as
pointed out by the localtradition of Mt. Sinai, is not a cleft in the mountain,
but a detachedfragment of rock about fifteen feet high, with twelve or more
fissures in its surface, from which the wateris said to have gushed out for the
twelve tribes. This localtradition is as old as the Koran, which mentions this
very stone."
Was Christ
Showing that he does not believe the legend, but only uses it allegorically. The
important point is that Christ the Word was with His people under the old
covenant. "In eachcase we recognize the mystery of a 'real presence"'
(Ellicott). "Godwas in Christ" here, as from the beginning. The mosaic and
the christian economies are only different sides of one dispensation, which is a
gospeldispensationthroughout. The Jewishsacraments are not mere types of
ours. They are identical.
END OF BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
SIMEON
DISCOURSE:1969
THE MANNA AND ROCK TYPES OF CHRIST
1 Corinthians 10:3-4. They did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all
drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock that
followedthem: and that rock was Christ.
THOUGH it is certain that the covenantof grace is ordered in all things and
sure, and that God will fulfil his promises to all who believe, yet there is no
man so absolutely assuredof his own interest in the Divine favour, as that he
can with safetycastoff all watchfulness and circumspection. The Corinthians,
by going to the utmost verge of their Christian liberty in eating things offered
to idols, were in danger of being drawn back into actualidolatry. The Apostle
recommends to them therefore to exercise self-denial, as wellfor their own
sake, thatthey might not be ensnared, as for the sake ofothers, whose weak
consciencesmight be wounded. He tells them that he himself felt the necessity
of mortifying all his appetites, and that he was obligedto “keephis body
under, and to bring it into subjection, lestby any means, after having
preachedto others, he himself should be a cast-away.” He then proceeds to
remind them of the Israelites, who, notwithstanding the numberless privileges
that they enjoyed, as God’s peculiar people, perished in the wilderness for
their manifold provocations. Among the privileges which he specifies, we shall
fix our attention upon that referred to in the text; and shall take occasion
from it to inquire,
I. What was that spiritual food which the Israelites partook ofin the
wilderness?
God, having brought his people into the wilderness, sustainedthem there with
miraculous supplies of bread and water—

[About six weeks aftertheir departure out of Egypt [Note: Exodus 16:1.],
their provisions were spent, and they began to be in want of bread. God
therefore promised them a constantsupply from day to day: forbidding them
to reserve any for the morrow, except on the day preceding the sabbath, when
they were to gather sufficient for two days’ consumption. This food(which for
want of any more appropriate name they called manna, i. e. a portion)
descendedfrom the clouds every night; and, when the dew that coveredit was
exhaled by the sun, it appeared on the face of the ground: it was a very small
white thing like coriander seed, which they ground in their mills, and baked;
and, in taste, it was like wafers made of fresh oil and honey [Note:Exodus
16:13-31. with Numbers 11:8.]. Of this there was a constantand regular
supply for forty years; nor did it ever fail, till their want of it was superseded
by the corn, of which they got possessionin the laud of Canaan. In like
manner, waterwas given them out of a rock in Horeb, by a stroke ofthat rod,
with which Moses had divided the Red Sea [Note:Exodus 17:5-6.]:and it was
made to follow them in all their encampments for about thirty-eight years;
when, for their further trial, the stream was dried up, and a similar miracle
was wrought for them againin Kadesh-barnea [Note: Numbers 20:8-11.].]
This food, though carnal in its nature and use, was truly “spiritual;”
inasmuch as it was,
1. A typical representationof Christ—
[Our Lord himself copiouslydeclares this with respectto the manna: He
draws a parallel betweenthe bread which Mosesgave to the Israelites, and
himself as the true bread that was given them from heaven; and shews that, as
the manna supported the natural life of that nation for a time, so he would
give spiritual and eternallife to the whole believing world [Note:John 6:48-
58.]. The same truth he also establishes, in reference to the waterthat
proceededfrom the rock. He told the Samaritanwoman, that if she would
have askedof him he would have given her living water [Note:John 4:10-14.].
And on another occasionhe stoodin the place of public concourse, and cried,
“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink [Note:John 7:37-38.];”
thereby declaring himself to be the only “wellof salvation,” the only rock
from whence the living watercould proceed. Indeed, the Apostle, in the very

words of the text, puts this matter beyond a doubt; “they drank of that
spiritual Rock that followedthem;” and “that Rock was Christ.”]
2. A sacramentalpledge of his blessings—
[Under the Gospeldispensationthere are two sacraments, baptismand the
Lord’s supper: and these are not only “outwardand visible signs of an inward
and spiritual grace,”but they are also “means whereby we receive that grace,
and a pledge to assure us thereof.” Thus when the Israelites were “baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea,” they were consecratedunto God; and
they received, as it were, an earnestfrom him, that all the blessings of his
covenantshould in due time be imparted to them, unless they, by their
violation of the covenant, should provoke him to withhold them. In the same
manner the bread and watermiraculously given and continued to them, were
a pledge, that they should one day “eatof the hidden manna,” and “drink of
the rivers of pleasure which are at his right hand for evermore,” provided
they continued steadfastin the covenant, and walkedworthy of their heavenly
calling. Thus while their daily food typically represented, and, to those who
partook of it in faith, really conveyed, spiritual blessings, it was “anearnestto
them of that Spirit,” whom the watertypified, and “an earnestof that
inheritance,” which Christ should purchase for them by his obedience unto
death [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:22. Ephesians 1:14.].]
And that this food was not peculiar to them may be shewn by considering,
II. In what respects it was the same with that which we now partake of—
When the Apostle says, that they all eat the same spiritual meat, he does not
mean that all the Israelites subsistedon the same food (for that was obvious
enough, and was of no consequenceto his subject) but that their spiritual
food, representedby the manna and the water, was the same that still
nourishes the Church of God. To elucidate this we may observe, it was the
same,
1. In its nature and substance—
[As their bodies could not have maintained their vigour without the daily use
of bread and water, so neither could their souls flourish, unless they daily fed

upon Christ, the living bread, and receivedfrom him renewed
communications of his Spirit. And are there any other means of subsistence
for our souls? Has not our Lord expresslytold us, that “exceptwe eat his flesh
and drink his blood, we have no life in us?” Has not St. Paul also assuredus,
that none can belong to Christ unless they be partakers ofhis Spirit [Note:
Romans 8:9.]? We are as destitute of strength in ourselves as the Israelites
were;and need the same direction, support, and succour. If any man could be
sufficient of himself, surely the greatApostle of the Gentiles was:but he
corrects himself instantly when he appeared to have suggestedan idea that
was capable of that interpretation; “I live,” says he, “yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me [Note:Galatians 2:20.].”
This is preciselywhat the believers in the wilderness did, when they subsisted
on their spiritual food; and it is what every believer must do as long as the
world shall stand.]
2. In its use and tendency—
[The daily supply of manna, and of the waterfrom the rock, continually
reminded them of their dependence upon God, and encouragedthem to serve
him with a willing mind. But the conveyance ofspiritual blessings to them
under these symbols would go further still, and actually produce the
dispositions, which the outward blessings couldonly tacitly recommend. And
what are the dispositions which the eating of the bread of life, and the
drinking of the living water uniformly create? Do they not lead us to a
dependence on God’s care, and a devotedness to his service? The very end for
which our Saviour died, was, that they who live should not henceforthlive
unto themselves, but unto him who died for them: no doubt therefore his love,
when shed abroad in the heart, will incline us to do this [Note:2 Corinthians
5:14-15.];and his grace communicatedto the soul, will enable us to do it.]
We may learn from hence,
1. In what spirit we should attend the ordinances of the Gospel—
[The Israelites were left to feel their need of food before the miraculous
supplies were given them: and with what avidity would they gather up the

new createdbread! with what insatiable appetite would they bow down to
drink of the flowing stream! Such is the spirit with which we should approach
the ordinances of our God. In them the manna is rained round about our
tents: in them the rock is struck, and the waters of salvationflow around us:
and if we come hungering and thirsting, we shall never be sent empty away.
Let none then considerthe ordinances as mere occasionsforgratifying their
curiosity, but as the place where spiritual food is set before them for the
support and comfort of their souls. The Israelites would ask but one question:
Is this provision suited to my necessities? So neither should we concern
ourselves much about the manner in which the ordinances are dispensed, but
rather go, that we may receive Christ in them, and have more abundant
communications of his Spirit imparted to us.]
2. What should be the habit of our minds when we have partakenof spiritual
blessings—
[The particular objectof the Apostle in the text is, to inculcate the necessityof
fear and caution: and the argument he uses is well calculatedto effect his
purpose. Two millions of Israelites came out of Egypt: they were brought in
safetythrough the Red Sea, and supported by this miraculous food: yet, of all
who had attained the age of twenty, two only were suffered to enter into the
promised land. All the rest perished in the wilderness:and the very profession
which they made, and the privileges which they enjoyed, servedbut to
enhance, in most instances, it is to be feared, their eternal condemnation.
Moreoverthey were intended by God himself as examples to us [Note:τυποι,
ver. 6, 11.];that we, admonished by their fate, might suppress all irregular
desires, and walk more worthy of our high calling. Well therefore does the
Apostle add, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heedlest he fall.” We
never are so much in dangeras when we think ourselves mostsecure. Let us
then “not be high-minded, but fear:” whatever mercies we have experienced,
and whateverenjoyment of spiritual blessings may have been vouchsafedto
us, let us remember, that we are not beyond the reachof temptation: we may
“have escapedfor a while the pollutions of the world, and yet be again
entangledtherein and overcome [Note:2 Peter2:20.]:” it is not sufficient for
us to have “tastedthe goodword of God, and the powers of the world to
come:” we may still “fall away, and return to a state from whence we shall

never be renewedto repentance [Note:Hebrews 6:5-6.].” “Let all then take
heed, lest, a promise being left them of entering into God’s rest, they should
by any means come short of it [Note: Hebrews 4:1.].”]
1 CORINTHIANS, X. 3, 4.
See Sermon on 1 Timothy 1:11. where it forms the third Sermon of a series.
Verse 11
DISCOURSE:1970
THE JUDGMENTSON THE ISRAELITES TYPICAL
1 Corinthians 10:11. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come.
THE Holy Scriptures were not given to the world, to amuse us with an
accountof past occurrences, but to instruct us in the way to eternallife. Nor
are the historical parts less conducive to this end, than the preceptive; since
they shew us, in a striking view, the characters ofthem that are saved, and of
them that perish. The history of the Israelites would be entertaining as a
romance;but, as an exemplification of God’s dealings with his Church, it is
inestimable. Hence the Apostle expresses greatconcernthat the Corinthian
Church should be acquainted with the things that had happened to the Jewish
nation; in order that they themselves might be on their guard, lest, resembling
the Jews in their conduct, they should also resemble them in their fate.
Let us consider,
I. The typical events here specified—
The Jews, notwithstanding the mercies vouchsafedto them, perished in the
wilderness for their iniquities—

[Great, exceeding great, were the favours conferredupon them: they were
brought, under the immediate direction of God, through the Red Sea, and
were baptized thereby into the covenant which God made with them by
Moses.Theywere also sustainedby food miraculously afforded them, food,
not carnalonly, but “spiritual,” if spiritually improved [Note:ver. 1–4.].
But, instead of following the Lord fully, “they forgat God their Saviour,” and
addicted themselves to idolatry, to fornication, to distrust and murmuring
[Note:ver. 7–10.].
For these, and other impieties, the heavy wrath of God came upon them; and
two only, of all the adults who had come out of Egypt, were suffered to enter
into the promised land.]
In this view they were intended as types and ensamples [Note:τύποι.] to us—
[St. Petermentions the judgments inflicted on fallen angels, the antediluvian
world, and the cities of the plain, as exemplifying those which should come
upon all, who at any period, should live and die in an ungodly state [Note:2
Peter2:4-6.]. St. Jude, in addition to those instances, mentions also the
Israelites, who perished in the wilderness [Note:Jude, ver. 5.]. The former
might properly representthe people, who are wholly ignorant of God; the
latter may more particularly characterize those who profess religion:and the
disappointment which they experiencedin consequenceoftheir sins, was
typical of that, which all must experience, who profess to have been called
with a holy calling, and yet walk unworthy of their profession. In them we see
that the greaterour privileges, the heavier, if we abuse them, will be our
condemnation.]
Being so deeply interested in the events recordedconcerning them, we should
considerattentively,
II. The admonitions they give us—
The Jewishdispensationclosed, and the Christian dispensationcommenced,
in the apostolic age:and, this being the last that ever shall be given to the
world, we who live under it may be said to live in the concluding period of the
world.

Now the foregoing events admonish us,
1. Notto restin a mere professionof religion—
[It was to no purpose that the Israelites calledthemselves the people of God,
while they were unmindful of the obligations which such a professionentailed
upon them. While they called God and Abraham their father, they were, like
their descendants also, children of the wickedone [Note:John 8:39; John
8:41; John 8:44.]. Thus it will be in vain for us to call ourselves Christians, if
we have not the poweras well as the form of godliness [Note:Jeremiah7:4.].
On the contrary, as God disowned the people before referred to, so, however
confident our claims to his favour may be, will He disown us in the day of
judgment [Note: Compare Deuteronomy 9:12. with Matthew 7:21-23.]. Let us
seek then to be Christians, “not in word, and in tongue, but in deed and in
truth.” Let us not only unite ourselves to the church of God, but also devote
ourselves to Godin body, soul, and spirit.]
2. Notto indulge any evil desires—
[This is particularly specified by the Apostle as a principal end for which these
events were recorded [Note:ver. 6]. Had the Israelites watchedagainstthe
first risings of sensualityand lewdness, they had not fallen into those
numerous sins which brought upon them God’s heavy displeasure. And, if we
would be preservedfrom spiritual idolatry, or even from the grossestacts of
uncleanness, we must avoid all needless connexionwith an idolatrous world,
and labour to suppress the first motions of sin which work in our members.
“Godrequires truth in our inward parts;” nor shall any but the pure in heart
ever behold his face in peace [Note:Matthew 5:8.]. An “hypocrite in heart
only treasures up wrath againstthe day of wrath.”]
3. Notso to presume on any past mercies, as to forgetthat we have need of
continual watchfulness and circumspection—
[The Israelites thought, that, after so many signalmanifestations of God’s
favour towards them, they could never be castoff. But, like Lot’s wife, they
stand as a pillar of salt to us [Note: Luke 17:32.]. Let not us then forget, that
we may have “escapedthe corruption that is in the world through lust, and

yet be entangledagain with it and overcome [Note:2 Peter2:20.];” and that
“we may have been enlightened by the word of God, and have tasted of the
powers of the world to come, and yet so apostatize, as never to be renewed
unto repentance [Note:Hebrews 6:4-6.].” The Apostle himself felt the
necessityof“keeping his body under, lest, after having preached to others, he
himself should be a cast-away[Note:1 Corinthians 9:27.]:” much more
therefore should we, howeverconfident we may be of our own steadfastness,
“take heedlest we fall [Note:ver. 12.].” Let us then not be satisfiedwith
having come out of Egypt, or having put ourselves under the Divine guidance,
or having lived hitherto on Christ, the living bread and living water:but let us
go on in dependence on his grace, and in obedience to his will. Let us combine
a consciousnessofour proneness to fall, with an humble affiance in him, “who
alone is able to keepus from falling, and to present us faultless before the
presence ofhis glory with exceeding joy [Note:Jude, ver. 24.].”]
Be admonished then, every one of you, my beloved brethren—
1. Ye who are resting in outward forms—
[See how earnestthe Apostle Paul was in impressing these facts on the minds
of his Corinthian converts:“I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant
of these things [Note:ver. 1.].” So sayI to you: “I would not have you ignorant
of them.” Indeed, indeed, they are too little considered. If you had askedall
the six hundred thousand men after they had passedthe Red Sea, and beheld
all their enemies dead upon the seashore,Whither are you going? They would
all have confidently replied, “We are going to Canaan, and doubt not but that
we shall in due time possessit.” And this is what all say respecting heaven. But
of them only two ever arrived in safetyat that goodland. And I tremble to
think how many of you will in all probability fall short of the promised restin
heaven. You are all Christians in name: but are you all such in truth? Would
to God ye were! Would to Godthat ye were all living by faith on the Lord
Jesus, and altogetherdevotedto his service! — — — But I must tell you, that
“the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent must take it by
force:” for neither can a race be won, nor a battle gained, without very
different exertions from what we behold in the Christian world at large.]

2. Ye who make a professionof vital godliness—
[This was the state of the Corinthian Church, on whose minds St. Paul
laboured so earnestlyto impress these known and acknowledgedfacts. Think
not then, my brethren, that it is superfluous for me to inculcate the
considerationof them upon you, and such an improvement of them as your
state demands. Think not that ye have attained such stability as to render
these admonitions unnecessary:but know, that the more you possess ofholy
fear, the more certain will you be of God’s effectualaid. It is only when you
are weak in yourselves, that you are really strong; and, when in a simple
dependence upon God you are “following the Lord fully,” then only canyou
hope, with Caleband Joshua, to possess thatgoodland that floweth with milk
and honey.
Chuck Smith
Sermon Notes for 1 Corinthians 10:4
"THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST"
I. PAUL IS POINTING OUT THAT THE EXPERIENCESTHAT THE
CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WENT THROUGH WERE INTENDEDAS
EXAMPLES FOR US AND WERE WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION.
A. This is known as Biblical typology. These things become spiritual types.
1. Their bondage in Egypt is a type of our bondage in sin.
2. Pharaohis a type of Satan, who sought to hold them in bondage, and even
after they escapedsoughtto pursue them that he might keepthem in bondage.
3. Their passing through the Red Sea on dry ground was a type of our
baptism whereby we are separatedfrom our old life through baptism.
4. Their receiving the life giving waterout of the smitten Rock is a type of our
receiving life from our Saviorbeing smitten for us.

5. Their miraculous preservationthrough the wilderness wanderings while
journeying to the promised land are a type of God's preservationof us as we
journey toward the promised land.
6. Their crossing Jordaninto the promised land is a type of our dying to the
life ruled by the flesh and entering into the life governed by the Spirit.
B. Paul reminds them of the waterthat flowedout of the smitten rock that
brought them life when they were perishing of thirst.
1. Paul declares to us that that rock was Christ.
2. Jesus spoke ofthe waterof life that He would give to those who were
thirsty.
C. Jesus spoke ofthe waterof life that He could give to those who were
thirsty.
1. To the Samaritanwoman at the well.
2. Jesus saidif she drank of that watershe would thirst againbut if she drank
of the waterthat He could give to her she would never thirst againbut that it
would be like a wellof living waterspringing up from within.
3. On the feastday Jesus cried to the assembledmultitude. "If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me and drink and he that drinks of the water that I give, as
the scripture says, out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
4. In the book of Revelation, the last invitation that is made by God to man
concerns drinking of the water of life.
REV 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth
say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoeverwill, let him take
the waterof life freely.
II. THE ROCK IS OFTEN USED AS A SYMBOL OR A TYPE OF GOD.
DEU 32:3 BecauseI will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness
unto our God.
DEU 32:4 [He is] the Rock,

Jesus was the rock

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