Today's Reading:
Hebrews 12
Exodus 16:1-17:16
Proverbs 7:6-27
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| Listen to the Bible |
Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading:
The thoughts I will share with you today are from my co-authored
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the
sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in
the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all
drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well
pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our
examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also
lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit
fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty
thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur
ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. 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. Wherefore let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:1-12.
When he wrote 1 Corinthians 10:1-12, Paul was not
writing to Jews. He was writing to a mixed multitude in Corinth, composed of
both Jews and Gentiles who had accepted Yahshua
as the Messiah. And this God’s Standard Operating Procedure, for Moses also led
a mixed multitude to become the congregation of Israel.
Numbers chapter thirty-three provides the listing of
Israel’s forty-two campsites, faithfully recorded by Moses. As 1 Corinthians
10:11 explains, the camp experiences in this list are the tests which the
people of God will face in the End of the World.
Everything about this Wilderness Journey, even the
numbers, holds great significance. The fact that there were 42 recorded camp
locations in the Wilderness is not just an interesting fact, rather it is a
message bearing deep spiritual Truths:
- As we have already stated, from Egypt to Canaan, a total of 42 campsites, with their related lessons and tests, are listed by Moses (in Numbers 33).
- Yahweh’s sealing Name, translated into the KJV Bible as “I AM THAT I AM,” is 42 letters long in Hebrew:
אב”ג ית”ץ קר”ע
שט”ן נג”ד יכ”ש בט”ר צת”ג חק”ב טנ”ע יג”ל פז”ק שק”ו צי”ת
- Forty-two is also the number indicating the duration of the final Antichrist’s reign. Signifying the extreme testing God’s people will face in their confrontation with the Antichrist. (Revelation 11:2; 13:5).Forty-two is made up of 6x7. Six is the number signifying man’s failure and weakness. Seven is the number of God’s perfection and strength. Thus 42 reveals the keys to Sanctification and Victorious Christian living.Two bears came out of the woods and slew forty-two young men, who were showing disrespect to God and His servant Elisha (2 Kings 2:24). Thus we see a connection between the number 42 and Divine Judgment.The phrase 'little children' appears forty-two times in the Old Testament, connecting the message of 42 with the process of becoming sons of the living God.Minus the 6 cities of refuge, the tribe of Levi was given 42 cities as part of their inheritance in the land of milk and honey. (Numbers 6 – 7) This reveals a connection between the faithful priesthood and their Heavenly Inheritance.Matthew records 42 patriarchs in the genealogy of Yahshua, connecting 42 with the Everlasting Covenant.“The Life” as referred to in John 14:6, occurs 42 times in Scripture, the first being the record of the angel guarding the way to the Tree of Life. This reveals that 42 signifies everlasting Life, and the steps one takes to regain it.Showing the Covenant, there are 42 lines in each column of Torah text.Being the very heart of the Torah and the root system of all Truth, it is significant that the Torah text known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) is 42 words in Hebrew.Psalms 100, a praise to the Creator God’s most exalted Name, contains 42 words.Deepening the connection to the Sealing Message of 42, one must note that there are 42 days between the last day of Unleavened Bread (the time of getting sin out of the life) and Pentecost (the infilling of the Holy Spirit, or the Latter Rain, and the final Sealing).The deceiver tries to mimic the significant things of Yahweh, for we see that Balaam offered 42 sacrifices trying to curse Israel (Num. 23:1, 14, 29). However, it is notable that Israel could not be cursed by the 42 – signifying God’s eternal blessing and Covenant.Forty two is connected with Light, specifically being the Light of the World. We see this in that it is the sum of the Menorah parts (knobs, flowers, and branches) Ex. 25:31-40.
Being these things in mind, let's turn our attention to the Bible reading in Exodus for today. As we have seen, Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan involved staying in 42 campsites (listed in Numbers 33). In our Bible reading today, we read about Elim and Rephidim. Alush, which was listed in Numbers 33, is unmentioned here in the Exodus account. For today, I'd like to focus on Rephidim. This was the place where Israel camped when water flowed from the rock.
Only a hint of detail regarding the spiritual lessons of this tenth campsite (since leaving Egypt), is recorded in Numbers Chapter thirty-three. But, the lessons and experiences of Israel, which took place at the camp of Rephidim, are some of the most important in their wilderness journey. For this reason, the abbreviated account in Numbers is greatly enhanced by the details found in Exodus Chapter Seventeen.
And all the congregation of the Children of Israel…
pitched in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. 2Wherefore, the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water
that we may drink. And Moses said unto
them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? 3And
the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and
said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us
and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4And
Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be
almost ready to stone me. 5And the LORD said unto Moses,
Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy
rod... 6Behold I will stand before thee there upon
the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water
out of it, that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And
he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of
the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD
among us, or not? Exodus 17:1-7.
True physical thirst is not a pleasant
experience. Dehydration can be painful... Extreme thirst
may produce such symptoms as headaches, muscle cramps, a
sudden episode of visual “snow,” decreased blood pressure, dry mouth and thick
saliva, and dizziness or fainting when standing up.
Some hallucinate; some have seizures. Untreated, dehydration generally results
in delirium, unconsciousness, swelling of the
tongue and in extreme cases death. People over fifty are most susceptible to
dehydration symptoms, since the sense of thirst diminishes with age.
Having passed through the mere discomfort of
thirst in Alush, by Rephidim the need for water had reached
a fevered pitch. Throughout the camp, could be found misery, uncertainty, the
bellowing of cattle, the sobs of children, the curses of strong men, and the
complaining of the worried women. The joys of Pi Hahiroth, Etham and Dophkah
were long forgotten. Gone also, with the good times and victories, was the
spirit of patience and praise. Yet, it is especially in times of trial that we
are most instructed to rejoice.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations: Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience, But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, James 1:2-4
To review the events which took place while Israel camped at Rephidim, read the seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of Exodus. As the Scriptures plainly record, Rephidim was a place of chaos, bitterness, and rowdiness.
While this chaos was overtly caused by dehydration, in truth thirst was only the catalyst. The
Moses was burdened and deeply troubled. Seeking to
meet the people’s angry demands, he walked with the elders out of the camp
looking for water, and asking Yahweh for direction. The Heavenly Father revealed
to him a large rock near Mount Horeb. Moses assembled the elders and struck the
rock, and water gushed out, (Exodus 17:6). This was no small miracle. For the
volume of water which sprang from this rock had to fill a moderate lake, or it
never could have assuaged the thirst of a few million people and their
livestock.
Actually, the idea of striking a rock in
order to release water isn’t as foreign as it may sound. The late
archaeologist, Michael Blaine, after traveling extensively through this area, noted
that the native Bedouins use a similar technique to find water. Calcium
deposits form over the places where water has been, as the moisture from the
last rain disappears. By striking the calcium crust, which has formed over the
water source, it can be broken away. This allows the water below the crust to
flow again, making it appear that striking the rock has produced water, when
actually the strike merely released it.
But, as
archaeological evidence amply proves, the miracle in Rephidim cannot be explained by the Bedouin rock-striking
technique.
The
Bedouin technique simply allowed water from an underground spring to flow
again, which formerly flowed through a crack in the rock. But, the water Yahweh
provided at Rephidim didn’t flow through
the rock, having been sourced from a hidden spring. It flowed from the
rock, itself, as it says in Exodus 17:6:
"Behold
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the
rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink."
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| The Rock of Rephidim is massive - the lower area here would have held the water - enough for 2 million people and cattle |
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| Close up of the huge rock - notice the split doesn't go all the way down! |
Ron Wyatt, of Wyatt Archaeological Research,
located the rock Moses struck at Rephidim
(pictured above and on the left). Documented in Wyatt's visits to Jebel el Lawz, in the 1980’s, and later
by Jim and Penny Caldwell, in 1992; there is compelling evidence to support
Wyatt’s claim that this is indeed the Rock Yahweh used to provide water for the
multitude. First, the rock is monumental
in size, standing nearly six stories tall upon a two-hundred foot tall mount.
It is located near Rephidim at the
foot of Mount Horeb. As the pictures reveal, it is split through the middle,
yet the split does not fully cleave the rock in half. It is still joined at the base, lest
anyone question whether the water actually came from the rock itself.
“Water is a symbol of the
Water of Life, (representing) the Spirit’s life-giving work in the heart
and soul. ”
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| The Altar stones of Jehovah-nissi still stand, which Moses erected at Rephidim |
About 200 yards from this rock, stands an
altar constructed of stones. This is also consistent with the Exodus record of
what took place at Rephidim.
“And
Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi,” Exodus
17:15.
This region also features a plain, large
enough to accommodate a battle. But, let us not get too far ahead of our story.
First, we will delve into the spiritual significance of the water having flowed
from a rock.
Water, here, is a symbol of the Water of
Life, which is representative of the Spirit’s life-giving work in the heart and
soul. The Children of Israel were physically thirsty, but their spiritual need
for Living Water was even greater. Having been reduced to backbiting, rebellion,
and murderous rage; the people amply revealed the harsh dryness of their own
spiritual condition. This deeper thirst
could not be quenched by any water to be found in the world around them.
One must note with a bit of irony that Yahweh
chose to bring water, symbolic of life, from a rock. Evolutionists teach that
all life on earth came from the earth itself. In other words, they claim life
came from a rock. Yet, in making this claim, they have failed to reverence and
worship the right “Rock.” Yahshua is the only true Rock, from which the Water
of Life can flow. Nothing else will substitute. There is no Source of Life,
other than Yahshua, the true Rock.
“From Messiah, the stricken
Rock , flows water to bring life and strength to repentant sinners.”
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“Surely
He (Yahshua) hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for
our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:4-5.
It is out of His mercy, rather than any
merits of our own, that Yahweh provides the water. That same, Life-giving
water, which, in symbol, flowed from the riven Side of the Saviour – the Lamb
of God, is still available to the spiritually thirsty today. Yahweh is faithful
to provide for our needs, just as He has promised. Literally and figuratively,
we serve the One Who fills even the harshest deserts with pools of Living
Water.
“When the
poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues fail for
thirst, I the LORD, will hear them; I the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
I will open rivers in desolate heights, and fountains in the midst of the
valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs
of water,” Isaiah 41:17.
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