Moses Striking Water from the Rock
Tintoretto
Wikimedia Commons

“For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?” (2 Samuel 22:32) He is the Rock “that begot” us (Deuteronomy 32:18), and whose “work is perfect” and “ways are justice” (Deuteronomy 32:3-4).  “There is no rock like our God” (1 Samuel 2:2).  David sings praises to the Rock, “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior … blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God” (2 Samuel 22:2-3 and 47-49).

When Israel and Judah drifted from their Lord God, Isaiah warns that they “have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge” (Isaiah 17:10).   Isaiah also speaks of the Messiah to come as a Rock, who will became “a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (Isaiah 8:13-14).  The prophet Isaiah also spoke of the Messianic feast to come, “You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel” (Isaiah 30:29).

The supernatural rock that stood before Israel at Horeb (Exodus 17:6) from which water came out and Israel drank was Christ“ (1 Corinthians 10:4).   We are feed at Christ’s eucharistic banquet “with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock” (Psalms 81:16).

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalms 19:14)  For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? (Psalms 18:31)  Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:4)