Psalms 78:15

Psa 78:15 He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as [out of] the great depths.

Ver. 15. He clave the rocks] And set them abroach, both that in Rephidim, Exo 17:1-8, and the other in Kadesh, Num 20:1-13 Moses Nehamides, on Exo 17:1-8, saith, that the old Jewish doctors held that the rock of Rephidim not only yielded waters like a river all those forty years wherein they were in the wilderness, but followed them also there whithersoever they went. This agreeth well with that of the apostle St Paul, 1Co 10:4, who sweetly allegorizeth this history.

As out of the great depths] i.e. In great abundance, Ad satietatem usque. Rocks sooner yield fire than water; but what cannot God do?

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_78:15-16

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

Streams from the rock

I. Consider thy rock as a representation of Christ.

1. What does a rock remind us of?

(1) Solidity and firmness. Christ is the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

(2) Power of defence. Christ is mighty to save. Able to save to the uttermost.

(3) Power of support. Upon this rock I will build My Church.

(4) Power of refreshment. This is desirable; but bow is it with regard to Christians as to their relation to Christ? By believing they enter into rest; they feel a peace that passeth all understanding; in all their afflictions, tribulations, and trials, whether personal or relative, they find here the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

2. We pass from the image to its condition; we mean with regard to its being smitten. And how did the Lord Jesus become the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him? Not only by the dignity of His nature, though this was necessary; not only by the innocence of His life, though this was necessary; and not only by the perfection of His righteousness, but by suffering and by death: He was wounded for our transgressions, etc.

3. It was not only smitten, but smitten by Moses--a type of the law. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, etc.

4. The last article of conformity is the result, for from this rock, as Smitten by Moses, streams flowed. He brought streams also out of the rock.

II. To survey some of the fine streams which flowed from it.

1. The promises. These are exceeding great and precious--exceeding great, because of their contents; exceeding precious to the Christian, because of the estimation they are held in by him. All these are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.

2. Pardoning mercy. His blood cleanseth from all sin.

3. Sanctifying grace. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature.

4. Spiritual consolation. It is I, be not afraid.

5. Future blessedness. Fulness of joy. Eye hath not seen, etc.

III. The quality of these streams.

1. They were marvellous and unlikely. Who ever saw a stream of water rising out of a flinty rock? How much more supernatural is the stream of redemption!

2. They were gratuitous. He did not deal with them according to their sine, nor reward them after their iniquity, but furnished them with those supplies they needed. And how was it with us? for they were an exact counterpart of us. It was not by works of righteousness that we have done that He saved us, but by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; thus showing the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us by Christ Jesus.

3. They were copious (verse16). So in regard to the waters of life, there is enough and to spare; enough for you, enough for others, enough for all. Ho, every one that thirsteth; come ye to the waters.

4. They were constant, at least enough so to furnish an exact representation of the waters of salvation, for you have heard how far the reality has the pre-eminence. This rock in its streams followed them partially, and only for a while; and the people moved on in another direction, leaving these streams, and then they thirsted again. But it is true, perfectly true, without any exception, that this rock, or the streams thereof, follow Christians in all their travels in the wilderness, and it will never leave them, nor forsake them. When they look forward, therefore, they may say with holy confidence, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and the meanest of them feels assured that he shall dwell for ever in Gods house above. (W. Jay.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. (Psa 78:15) He cleaves rocks in the wilderness, and gives them drink as a great deep. This last is a hyperbolical description of an abundant flow of water in the desert. Some account for it by supposing an allusion to the flood, from the account of which (Gen 7:11) some of the expressions are borrowed. The verse has reference to both miraculous supplies of this kind, one in the first, and one in the last year of the error in the wilderness. See Exo 17:6, Num 20:8.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. He clave the rocks in the wilderness. The Psalmist produces another evidence of the fatherly love by which God testified the greatness of the care which he exercised about the welfare of this people. It is not simply said that God gave them drink, but that he did this in a miraculous manner. Streams, it is true, sometimes issue from rocks, but the rock which Moses smote was completely dry. Whence it is evident, that the water was not brought forth from any spring, but that it was made to flow from the profoundest deeps, as if it had been said, from the very center of the earth. Those, therefore, who have interpreted this passage as meaning, that the Israelites drank in the bottomless deeps, because the waters flowed in great abundance, have failed in giving the true explanation. Moses, in his history of the miracle, rather enhances its greatness, by intimating, that God commanded those waters to come gushing from the remotest veins.

The same truth is confirmed in the following verse, in which it is stated, that where there had not been a single drop of water before there was a large and mighty river. Had there only sprung out of the rock a small rivulet, ungodly men might have had some apparent ground for cavilling at, and underrating the goodness of God, but when the water gushed out in such copious abundance all on a sudden, who does not see that the ordinary course of nature was changed, rather than that some vein or spring which lay hidden in the earth was opened?

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) And gave . . .—Literally, and gave them to drink as it were a great deep, or as we might say, “oceans of drink”—a poetical exaggeration; or are we rather to think of the gift of water as produced by striking or boring through the rock to the great ocean on which the earth was supposed to rest?

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15, 16. He clave rocks in the wilderness,

And gave them drink as out of the depths abundantly:

And he brought forth streams out of a cliff.

Two different words are used, with reference to the two occasions upon which the Israelites were miraculously supplied with water: first in Rephidim at the beginning of their journey when Moses was commanded to smite ‘the rock’ (Exo_17:6), and secondly, in Kadesh, at the close of their wanderings, when Moses smote ‘the cliff,’ to which he was commanded to speak (Num_20:8 ff.). The depths are the reservoirs of water hidden in the earth (Psa_33:7; Gen_7:11; Deu_8:7).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He brought streams also out of the rock,.... Which is expressed in the singular number, as also in Psa 78:20, because the children of Israel were not come to Kadesh, and the second rock was not smitten when they lusted after flesh, and murmured against God, and tempted him, as is after related:

and caused waters to run down like rivers; from the descent of the rock, which followed them all the way in the wilderness; this was a most marvellous thing, that water should flow from a flinty rock upon striking it, from whence fire rather than water might have been expected; and that it should flow in such great abundance, and that from a rock in a wilderness.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He clave the rocks in the wilderness - There were two occasions on which the rock was smitten for water; one Exo 17:6 at Mount Horeb, shortly after they came out of Egypt; and the other Num 20:11, when they had nearly ceased their wanderings in the wilderness. Hence, the plural term (rocks) is used here.

And gave them drink as out of the great depths - As if he had formed a lake or an ocean, furnishing an inexhaustible supply.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rocks; he useth the plural number, because it was twice done; once in Rephidim, Exo 17:6, and again in Kadesh, Num 20:1,11.

The great depths; in great abundance.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 15. He clave the rocks in the wilderness. Moses was the instrument, but the Lord did it all. Twice he made the flint a gushing rill. What can he not do?

And gave them drink as out of the great depths, --as though it gushed from earth's innermost reservoirs. The streams were so fresh, so copious, so constant, that they seemed to well up from the earth's primeval fountains, and to leap at once from "the deep which coucheth beneath." Here was a divine supply for Israel's urgent need, and such an one as ought to have held them for ever in unwavering fidelity to their wonder working God.

Ver. 15. The rocks. They were typical of Christ, 1Co 10:4; who is frequently compared to one for height, strength, and duration, shade, shelter, and protection; and is called the "Rock of Israel, " the "Rock of offence to both houses of Israel, "the "Rock of salvation, "the "Rock of refuge, "the "Rock of strength, "the "Rock that is higher than, "the saints, and on which the church is built, and who is "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." John Gill.

Ver. 15. Gave them drink as out of the great depths. As if he had formed a lake or an ocean, furnishing an inexhaustible supply. Albert Barnes.

Ver. 15-16. Divine supplies seasonable, plentiful, of the best, marvellous.

Psalms 78:16*

Ver. 15-16. Divine supplies seasonable, plentiful, of the best, marvellous.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Rocks—The plural indicates that the psalmist compresses into one the two miracles, the first at Horeb in the first year after the exodus, (Exo_17:6,) and the second in the fortieth year, at Kadesh, Num_20:1; Num_20:11.

Great depths—The Hebrew word signifies ocean depths, abyss, as in Gen_1:2. Both at Sinai and Kadesh vast quantities of water were required; at the former place because of the length of their stay there, and at the latter because there were fewer natural supplies. This is specially true if we locate Kadesh, with Dr. Robinson, at Ain el-Weibeh in the Arabah, in the southeast limit of Palestine, though this feature of the case would be much relieved if we adopt Mr. Palmer’s hypothesis, and locate Kadesh at Ain Gadis, (“a name which, in meaning and etymology, is identical with the Kadesh of the Bible,”) seventy miles south by west from Ain el-Weibeh, in a region well cultivated in ancient times.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 15, 16. He clave the rocks in the wilderness; rather, he clave rocks. The word has no article. The reference is probably to both Exo_17:6 and Num_20:8-11. And gave them drink as out of the great depths; rather, "and gave them drink abundantly, as out of the depths" (so Cheyne and the Revised Version). On the abundance of the water, see Num_20:11, and compare the next verse: He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

The rock. (Cf. 1Co_10:4 Nu 20) What rock was this? Travellers have described such rock; but we do not know that it was this one. But we do know that it existed; that the waters which flowed from it followed Israel; which is what Paul means by saying that the "rock followed them;" and that this rock was a type of Christ not Christ himself, but a type of him. Note

I THE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE ROCK,

1. In nature. A rock is like Christ; it is stable, solid, fit for a foundation. A rock may be a great defence. "Be thou my strong Rock, a House of defence to cover me." A refreshing shade. "The shadow of a great rock," etc.

2. In the fact that the rock was smitten ere the waters flowed out.

3. Moses, the Laws representative, was the smiter. And to obey the Law, Christ was smitten.

II THE STREAMS WHICH FLOWED FROM IT. These tell of what from Christ flow to us pardoning mercy, sanctifying grace, spiritual consolation, eternal life. And as those streams, so these are free, satisfying, copious, constant.

III THE INQUIRIES SUGGESTED. Have we drunk of them? If not, do so. Are we drinking of them? Invite others. S.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wilderness - In Rephidim, and again in Kadesh.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

He split

"God split"

enough to fill the depths of the sea

This is probably hyperbole. AT: "more water than they could possibly drink" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

streams

small rivers

translationWords

desert

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

He split rocks (Exod. 17:6): “and you shall strike the rock.”

and He gave them to drink as [from] great deeps in the great deeps. Even as they went through the midst of the sea, whose waters are salty, He sweetened fountains for them in the midst of the sea.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.