John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: April 24

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

John Kitto Morning Bible Devotions: April 24

Today is: Thursday, April 25th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)

Select a Day for a Devotion in the Month of April: (Show All Months)

Rephidim

Exo_17:1-7

Nothing particular is recorded of the onward march of the Israelites till they reached a place called Rephidim which appears to be just one day’s journey short of their destination—which was the base of the central mountains of Sinai. Their entrance into this mountain wilderness is generally supposed to have been through the Wady Feiran—a broad valley which is overspread with vegetation and tamarisk trees, or occupied with gardens and date plantations. It is now much frequented by the Bedouins for pasturage. Rephidim is supposed to have been at the extremity of this valley, which has now assumed the name of esh-Sheikh, where it enters by a narrow gorge into the high granite cliffs of the central region. We may suppose, then, that it was somewhere in this vicinity that the Israelites encamped at Rephidim. Here they again wanted water; their murmurings were now more violent, and their conduct more outrageous, than at Marah. We had then some sympathy for them, and were inclined to plead some extenuating circumstances in their behalf. But we have not a word to say for them now. Their behavior is most flagrant; and the harshest judgment cannot estimate their offence too severely. They had lately seen their wants relieved in a similar emergency; and at this very time they were receiving, day by day, from heaven their daily bread. Yet so strangely unreasonable was their spirit, that they reproached Moses for having brought them out of Egypt, to kill them and their children and their cattle with thirst; and their violence of manner was such as led Moses to cry unto the Lord, saying, “What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.” Alas! and it had come to this already. Thus already—in one little month—were the ransomed people prepared to deal with their deliverer, all whose toil and thought was spent for their advantage. Thus soon did they justify the prescient reluctance with which he had abandoned for these responsibilities the safe and quiet life he loved so well. It seems to have been in order that Moses might not be plunged in deeper discouragement, that the Lord forbore to declare his own displeasure. He simply indicated the mode in which he meant to provide for their wants. There was something remarkable in this. The people were to remain in the camp. But Moses himself, attended by the elders of Israel, and having in his hand the rod with which he had smitten the Nile to change its sweet waters into blood, was to proceed onward to Horeb. There he was to smite a rock, from which a copious stream of waters should flow out, to furnish the people with drink.

It is usually, but erroneously, supposed that the miracle was wrought at, or close by, the encampment. But if this had been the case, the Israelites, in their parched condition, would doubtless have gladly accompanied their leader on his mission. The account of the selection of the elders, and their going to Horeb, implies that there was some considerable distance to go. This is also implied in the words that follow: “And Moses did so in the eyes of the elders of Israel”—clearly in their eyes only, as witnesses, and not in those of the people also—as would have been the case had the place been near. If the camp at Rephidim were at the spot indicated, it was a good day’s journey from Sinai, and so situated that a stream of water flowing from Horeb would run directly to it. The waters of the rock thus smitten, flowing in a downward stream through the valleys, is doubtless that alluded to in other passages by which this interpretation is corroborated. So, in a later day, when Moses says: “I took your sin—the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it very small, even till it was as small as dust, and I wet the dust thereof with the brook that descended out of the mount.” The water may have flowed to the Israelites when encamped at Rephidim, at the distance of miles from the rock, as the winter torrents do now through the valleys of Arabia-Petrea. The language of the psalmist would also lead us to conclude that this was actually the case: “He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.” “The rock, too,” as Dr. Wilson thinks, “may have been smitten at such a height, and at a place bearing such relation to the Sinaitic valleys, as to furnish in this way supplies of water to those Israelites during the first of their journeyings ‘from Horeb by way of Mount Seir, unto Kadesh-barnea.’ Deu_1:2. On this supposition new light is thrown upon the figurative language of the apostle, when he speaks of the ‘rock following’ the Israelites—meaning the stream from the rock. On this supposition, also, we see why the rook should have been smitten to yield a large supply to flow to a distance, even though springs and rills may have been pre-existent in Sinai.” Note: Lands of the Bible, i. 233-235.

It must be admitted that, bearing these considerations in view, the remarkable rock in Sinai, which tradition regards as the one which Moses smote, is at least well chosen in regard to its situation—whatever opinion we may form of the truth of that tradition, which it seems to be the disposition of late travelers to regard with more respect than was formerly entertained. It is an isolated mass of granite, nearly twenty-feet square and high, with its base concealed in the earth—we are left to conjecture to what depth. In the face of the rock are a number of horizontal fissures, at unequal distances from each other; some near the top, and others at a little distance from the surface of the ground. An American traveler says: “The color and whole appearance of the rock are such that, if seen elsewhere, and disconnected from all traditions, no one would hesitate to believe that they had been produced by water flowing from these fissures. I think it would be extremely difficult to form these fissures or produce these appearances by art. It is not less difficult to believe that a natural fountain should flow at the height of a dozen feet out of the face of an isolated rock. Believing, as I do, that the water was brought out of a rock belonging to this mountain, I can see nothing incredible in the opinion that this is the identical rock, and that these fissures and the other appearances should be regarded as evidences of the fact.” Note: Dr. Olin, Travels in the East, i. 417.

A still later American traveler Note: Dr. Durbin, Observations on the East, i. 149. declares that he visited the spot with the settled conviction that “the legend with regard to the rock was but a fable,” and that the fissures had been wrought by art to give it an apparent sanction. But he confesses, notwithstanding his skepticism on this point, “This stone made more impression upon me than any natural object claiming to attest a miracle ever did.” He adds: “Had any enlightened geologist, utterly ignorant of the miracle of Moses, passed up this ravine, and seen the rock as it now is, he would have declared—though the position of the stone, and the present condition of the country around should have opposed any such impression—that strong and long-continued fountains of water had once poured their gargling currents from it and over it. He could not waver in his belief for a moment, so natural and so perfect are the indications. I examined it thoroughly; and if it be a forgery, I am satisfied, for my own part, that a greater than Michael Angelo designed and executed it. I cannot differ from Shaw’s opinion, that ‘Neither art nor chance could by any means be concerned in the contrivance of these holes, which formed so many fountains.’ The more I gazed upon the irregular mouth-like chasms in the rock, the more I found my skepticism shaken; and at last, I could not help asking myself, whether it was not a very natural solution of the matter, that this was indeed the rock which Moses struck, that from it the waters ‘gushed forth,’ and poured their streams down Wady Leja to Wady esh-Sheikh, and along it to Rephidim, where Israel was encamped, perishing with thirst?”

Whether or not this were the particular rock which sent forth its streams when smitten by the rod of Moses—which, after all, it is of little importance for us to know—there can be little doubt that, from the nature of the case, it was somewhere in this upper region, to which Israel afterwards made a day’s journey, and where they remained encamped for nearly a year. Had not this been the case, another miracle would have been required to furnish water for the camp in Sinai; but the fountain being placed at the head of the valley in Horeb, it formed a source of supply to the people during the whole of their stay in the vicinity, if not after they had taken their departure.