2Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
3And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.
6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
There is much typology involved in this incident. The rock is a type of the Lord Jesus (I Cor.10:1-13). The water is a type of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). The rock being struck is a type of the crucifixion of our Savior. Moses struck the rock and living water poured out and followed the Israelites through the desert, and remained with them. When Jesus was sacrificed on Calvary, the Holy Spirit proceeded from Him, and the Spirit stays with the believer forever.
Later, Moses sinned and got in trouble with God, when God told Moses to SPEAK to the rock. Speaking to the rock would have been a type of prayer. But Moses got angry (a life long character flaw) and struck the rock a second time (Num. 20:2-13). Striking the rock a second time ruined God’s intended typology, because Jesus was ONCE crucified for our sins. The result was that God became angry at Moses and kept him out of the Promised Land. This is a lesson in how it is important to obey what God says and not decide to do things our own way.