SEV Biblia, Chapter 10:4
y todos bebieron la misma bebida espiritual; porque bebían de la Piedra espiritual que los seguía, y la Piedra era el Cristo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 10:4
Verse 4. Spiritual drink] By the brwma pneumatikon spiritual meat, and poma pneumatikon, spiritual drink, the apostle certainly means both meat and drink, which were furnished to the Israelitish assembly miraculously, as well as typically: and he appears to borrow his expression from the Jews themselves, who expressly say ynjwr zlh jlh hallechem hallaz ruchani, that bread was spiritual, and wyh yynjwr yym meyim ruchainiyim haiu, the waters were spiritual. Alschech in legem. fol. 238, to which opinion the apostle seems particularly to refer. See Schoettgen.
The spiritual rock that followed them] There is some difficulty in this verse. How could the rock follow them? It does not appear that the rock ever moved from the place where Moses struck it. But to solve this difficulty, it is said that rock here is put, by metonymy, for the water of the rock; and that this water did follow them through the wilderness. This is more likely; but we have not direct proof of it. The ancient Jews, however, were of this opinion, and state that the streams followed them in all their journeyings, up the mountains, down the valleys, &c., &c.; and that when they came to encamp, the waters formed themselves into cisterns and pools; and that the rulers of the people guided them, by their staves, in rivulets to the different tribes and families. And this is the sense they give to Num. xxi. 17: Spring up, O well, &c. See the places in Schoettgen.
Others contend, that by the rock following them we are to understand their having carried of its waters with them on their journeyings. This we know is a common custom in these deserts to the present day; and that the Greek verb akolouqew, to follow, has this sense, Bishop Pearce has amply proved in his note on this place. The Jews suppose that the rock itself went with the Israelites, and was present with them in their thirty-eight stations, for only so many are mentioned. See Alschech in legem. fol. 236. And see Schoettgen.
Now, though of all the senses already given that of Bishop Pearce is the best, yet it does appear that the apostle does not speak about the rock itself, but of Him whom it represented; namely, Christ: this was the Rock that followed them, and ministered to them; and this view of the subject is rendered more probable by what is said ver. 9, that they tempted Christ, and were destroyed by serpents. The same rock is in the vale of Rephidim to the present day; and it bears aboriginal marks of the water that flowed from it in the fissures that appear on its sides. It is one block of fine granite, about seven yards long, five broad, and - high. A fragment of this typical rock now lies before me, brought by a relative of my own, who broke it off, and did not let it pass into any hand till he placed it in mine. See the note on Exod. xvii. 6.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And did all drink the same spiritual drink , etc.] By which is meant the water out of the rock, which was typical of the blood of Christ, which is drink indeed, and not figurative, as this was, for which reason it is called spiritual; or of the grace of Christ, often signified by water, both in the Old and New Testament; and is what Moses and the law could not give; for righteousness and life, grace and salvation, could never be had by the works of the law: and very unpromising it was, and is to carnal men, that these should come by a crucified Christ, as it was to the Israelites, that water, in such plenty, should gush out of the rock in Horeb; but as those waters did not flow from thence without the rock being stricken by the rod of Moses, so the communication of the blessings of grace from Christ is through his being smitten by divine justice with the rod of the law; through his being, stricken for the transgressions of his people, and and being made sin, and a curse of the law in their room and stead. And as those waters continued through the wilderness as a constant supply for them, so the grace of Christ is always sufficient for his people; a continual supply is afforded them; goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their lives: for they drank, of that spiritual rock that followed them ; by which the apostle means not Christ himself, for he went before them as the angel of Gods presence, but the rock that typified him; not that the rock itself removed out of its place, and went after them, but the waters out of the rock ran like rivers, and followed them in the wilderness wherever they went, for the space of eight and thirty years, or thereabout, and then were stopped, to make trial of their faith once more; this was at Kadesh when the rock was struck again, and gave forth its waters, which, as the continual raining of the manna, was a constant miracle wrought for them.
And this sense of the apostle is entirely agreeable to the sentiments of the Jews, who say, that the Israelites had the well of water all the forty years f177 . The Jerusalem Targum says of the well given at Mattanah, that it again became unto them violent overflowing brooks, and again ascended to the tops of the mountains, and descended with them into the ancient valleys.
And to the same purpose the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel f179 , that it again ascended with them to the highest mountains, and from the highest mountains it descended with them to the hills, and encompassed the whole camp of Israel, and gave drink to everyone at the gate of his own dwelling place; and from the high mountains it descended with them into the deep valleys. Yea, they speak of the rock in much the same language the apostle does, and seem to understand it of the rock itself, as if that really went along with the Israelites in the wilderness. Thus one of their writers on those words, must we fetch you water out of this rock? makes this remark: for they knew it not, [lsh lh ypl , for that rock went, and remained among the rocks.
And in another place it is said f181 , that the rock became in the form of a beehive; (elsewhere it is said to be round as a sieve;) and rolled along, hm[ tabw , and came with them, in their journeys; and when the standard bearers encamped, and the tabernacle stood still, the rock came, and remained in the court of the tent of the congregation; and the princes came and stood upon the top of it, and said, ascend, O well, and it ascended.
Now, though in this account there is a mixture of fable, yet there appears something of the old true tradition received in the Jewish church, which the apostle has here respect to. And the rock was Christ : that is, it signified Christ, it was a type of him. So the Jews say, that the Shekinah is called wdq [ls , the holy rock; and Philo the Jew says of this rock, that the broken rock is h sofia tou yeou , the wisdom of God. Christ may be compared to the rock for his outward meanness in his parentage and education, in his ministry and audience, in his life and death; and for his height also, being made higher than the kings of the earth, than the angels in heaven, and than the heavens themselves; and for shelter and safety from the wrath of God, and from the rage of men; and for firmness, solidity, and strength, which are seen in his upholding all things by his power, in bearing the sins of his people, and the punishment due unto them, in the support of his church, and bearing up his people under all afflictions and temptations, and in preserving them from a total and final falling away: and a rock he appears to be, as he is the foundation of his church and every believer, against which hell and earth can never prevail; and to it he may be likened for duration, his love being immovable, his righteousness everlasting, his salvation eternal, and he, as the foundation of his church, abiding for ever. Ver. 5. But with many of them God was not well pleased , etc.] As he is with none but those that are in Christ; and with none of the services of men, but what are done in faith, which become acceptable to him through Jesus Christ; for in him only persons and services are accepted with God; and this was the way of acceptance in the Old, as in the New Testament dispensation: how many of the Jewish fathers God was not well pleased with, or took no delight in, but hated and abhorred, which is the sense of the phrase here, whether they were the greatest part or not, is not certain; however, they were not all, excepting Joshua and Caleb, as some interpreters understand it; for not all that died in the wilderness were out of the special grace and favour of God, witness Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and, it is to be supposed and hoped, hundreds and thousands more; but the apostle has respect to such who were the instances of Gods direful vengeance and displeasure, as appears from the reason given; for they were overthrown in the wilderness : he does not say merely that they died there, for many with whom God was well pleased died there; but these, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, being stricken, thrown down, and overthrown by the immediate hand of God; they did not die a common death, according to the ordinary course of nature; but by the plague, or by the sword, or by fire from heaven, or by fiery serpents, or by a destroying angel, or by one judgment or another, as hereafter mentioned.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-5 - To dissuade the Corinthians from communion with idolaters, and securit in any sinful course, the apostle sets before them the example of the Jewish nation of old. They were, by a miracle, led through the Red Sea where the pursuing Egyptians were drowned. It was to them a typica baptism. The manna on which they fed was a type of Christ crucified the Bread which came down from heaven, which whoso eateth shall liv for ever. Christ is the Rock on which the Christian church is built and of the streams that issue therefrom, all believers drink, and ar refreshed. It typified the sacred influences of the Holy Spirit, a given to believers through Christ. But let none presume upon their great privileges, or profession of the truth; these will not secur heavenly happiness.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 CONJ παντες 3956 A-NPM το 3588 T-ASN αυτο 846 P-ASN πομα 4188 N-ASN πνευματικον 4152 A-ASN επιον 4095 5627 V-2AAI-3P επινον 4095 5707 V-IAI-3P γαρ 1063 CONJ εκ 1537 PREP πνευματικης 4152 A-GSF ακολουθουσης 190 5723 V-PAP-GSF πετρας 4073 N-GSF η 3588 T-NSF δε 1161 CONJ πετρα 4073 N-NSF ην 2258 5713 V-IXI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM χριστος 5547 N-NSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
4. Drink - spiritual drink. Spiritual, like the meat, in being supernaturally given. The aorist tense denotes something past, yet without limiting it to a particular occasion. They drank at Rephidim (Exod. xvii. 6), but they continued to drink spiritual drink, for - They drank (epinon). The imperfect tense denoting continued action - throughout their journey.That spiritual rock. For that read a. Paul appears to recall a rabbinic tradition that there was a well formed out of the spring in Horeb, which gathered itself up into a rock like a swarm of bees, and followed the people for forty years; sometimes rolling itself, sometimes carried by Miriam, and always addressed by the elders, when they encamped, with the words, "Spring up, O well!" Num. xxi. 17. Stanley says: "In accordance with this notion, the Rock of Moses, as pointed out by the local tradition of Mt. Sinai, is not a cleft in the mountain, but a detached fragment of rock about fifteen feet high, with twelve or more fissures in its surface, from which the water is said to have gushed out for the twelve tribes. This local tradition is as old as the Koran, which mentions this very stone." 108 Was Christ. Showing that he does not believe the legend, but only uses it allegorically. The important point is that Christ the Word was with His people under the old covenant. "In each case we recognize the mystery of a 'real presence"' (Ellicott). "God was in Christ" here, as from the beginning. The mosaic and the christian economies are only different sides of one dispensation, which is a gospel dispensation throughout. The Jewish sacraments are not mere types of ours. They are identical.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
10:4 {For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them} (epinon ek pneumatikes akolouqouses petras). Change to the imperfect epinon shows their continual access to the supernatural source of supply. The Israelites were blessed by the water from the rock that Moses smote at Rephidim (#Ex 17:6) and at Kadesh (#Nu 20:11) and by the well of Beer (#Nu 21:16). The rabbis had a legend that the water actually followed the Israelites for forty years, in one form a fragment of rock fifteen feet high that followed the people and gushed out water. Baur and some other scholars think that Paul adopts this "Rabbinical legend that the water-bearing Rephidim rock journeyed onwards with the Israelites" (Findlay). That is hard to believe, though it is quite possible that Paul alludes to this fancy and gives it a spiritual turn as a type of Christ in allegorical fashion. Paul knew the views of the rabbis and made use of allegory on occasion (#Ga 4:24). {And the rock was Christ} (he petra de en ho cristos). He definitely states here in symbolic form the preexistence of Christ. But surely "we must not disgrace Paul by making him say that the pre-incarnate Christ followed the march of Israel in the shape of a lump of rock" (Hofmann). He does mean that Christ was the source of the water which saved the Israelites from perishing (Robertson and Plummer) as he is the source of supply for us today.
