Foreshadowing of Christ's Eternal Sacrifice in Exodus 17:1-7
Today I happened to read Exodus 17 and I believe I found a perfect foreshadowing of the eternal sacrifice of Christ.
Exodus 17:1-7 esv
All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Summary of the verse
In the text we see the people of Israel complaining and turning their backs against God even preferring to be in bondage in Egypt because there is no water. Moses goes and pleads with the Lord and despite their grumblings and complaints God has mercy on his people. Moses is then commanded to bring elders, and the staff that he struck the Nile with to a rock on Horeb on this rock God would stand and Moses will strike it causing water to flow out sustaining the people.
Symbolism and Foreshadowing
Just as the ancient Israelites' humanity as a whole complains and sins against a holy God for which we and they deserve punishment, despite our sins, God offers us a gracious solution and offers himself for punishment. As God stood upon the very rock, he commanded Moses to strike with the staff of judgment, just as Christ was nailed to the cross for our inequities and struck with the judgment of death for sins that weren't his own. As the water flooded from the rock where God stood, so does eternal grace and salvation flow from the foot of the cross where Christ was nailed. The best part is that the same grace that flowed from the cross 2000 years ago is still flowing today and forever more waiting to fill us all with Christ's holy grace once we drink upon it.
Prayers
O Lord ,our Rock grant us the insight of faith, and give us the stability, refuge, and living water that we need. Amen