Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Corinthians 10:4

4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink : for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock-was Christ .

And all the Jews, as well those that perished in the Wilderness, as those that were preserved to go into Canaan, they drank of the water which came out of the Rock, of which we read, Exod. 17.6. Num. 20.11. which water was spiritual drink in the same respects that the Manna was spiritual meat, being miraculously produced, and being a figure of Christ. For,

saith the Apostle, That Rock was Christ, that is, that Rock did signifie or prefigure Christ, the Rock was Christ in the same sense that the Bread in the Lords Supper is the Body of Christ, that is, a sign which by Divine Institution did signifie Christ. Here ariseth a question in what sense it is said, That the Rock followed them? That by the Rock is to be understood the water that God made to flow out of the Rock, is evident; but though we read of water twice fetched out of the Rock upon Moses smiting of it, once at Rephidim, before they came so far as Mount Sinai, Exod. 17.6. another time at Cadesh, Num. 20.7, 8. yet we no where read in the History of the Jewish journeyings to Canaan, that the Rock followed them. But this is not the only thing that we read in the New Testament relating to the History of the Old Testament, with some circumstances which we do not find recorded there, it is enough that it is plainly asserted here, and it must be presumed, or how can we imagine, that the Israelites were supplied with water for forty years together? Whereas some object, That if the water, which came out of the Rock at Rephidim, had followed them, there would have been no need of Moses striking the Rock at Kadesh: It is answered, That God, to try them, probably caused the water to stop. For the Analogy betwixt the Rock and Christ, Divines make it to lie in these particulars. 1. That Christ is the firm and unmoveable Foundation of his Church, called therefore a Stone, a tried Stone, Isa. 28.16. Rom. 9.33. 1 Pet. 2.6. 2. As this Rock sent out no water for the refreshment of the Israelites, till Moses had struck it: So all the benefit we have from Christ as Mediator, floweth from him as smitten of God, and afflicted. 3. As the water of the Rock served both for cleansing, and upholding life in satisfying thirst: So the Blood of Christ is useful to the Soul, both for washing from the guilt of sin, and the upholding spiritual life in a Soul. 4. As the Rock that followed the Israelites, afforded water not only to that generation that were alive and present when the Rock was smitten, but to all the succeeding generations, until the Israelites came in Canaan: So the Blood of Christ is not useful only to his people in this or that place or Age, but to all that shall believe in him, and that till they shall come into the heavenly Canaan.

Marginal references: Psal. 7[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 2 letters]; Or, [illegible: 1 span] the[illegible: 1 letter].