2.2. Water from the rock
As the people of Israel made their journey towards the promised land they endured many difficulties and problems but the Lord was on their side. The Lord saved them from the hand of Pharoah by making a way for them to pass through the red sea on dry ground. He worked miracles through the instrumentality of Moses; using the staff that he carried on his journey to lead the people of Israel. After passing through the sea, these people arrived in a place where there was not a drop of water to quench their thirst. Human as they were, weak and fragile they immediately forgot what the Lord had done for them. Their memory was so short, that quickly they had forgotten the mighty power of the Lord who saved them from the hand of Pharoah. Their experience of thirsting for water made them grumble against Moses, it was he who led them to that place. They blamed him.
Moses, on the other hand, had no option but to turn to the Lord as usual, and “The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock of Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink”.
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However, this water that quenched the thirsty people of Israel, points to greater things. It revealed the presence of the Lord who journeyed along with them. It shows that the Lord Himself, who gave them this water, traveled with them. Ratzinger says “the gift of water from the rock increasingly became a motif of messianic hope” for the people of Israel. It is true, just as Moses provides food and drink for the people of the Old Law while they were in the wilderness, Christ provides food and drink for the people of the New Law in and through His body and blood in the form of the Eucharistic