Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:15
He cleaved the rocks in the wilderness, and gave [them] drink as [out of] the great depths.
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).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15, 16. There were two similarmiracles (Exo 17:6; Num 20:11).
greatdepthsandriversdenote abundance.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He clave the rocks in the wilderness,…. The one at Rephidim, Ex 17:1, and the other at Kadesh, Nu 20:1 both to be seen at this day; [See comments on Ex 17:1],
[See comments on Ex 17:2],
[See comments on Ex 17:3],
[See comments on Ex 17:4],
[See comments on Ex 17:5],
[See comments on Ex 17:6],
[See comments on Nu 20:1],
[See comments on Nu 20:2],
[See comments on Nu 20:3],
[See comments on Nu 20:4],
[See comments on Nu 20:5],
[See comments on Nu 20:6],
[See comments on Nu 20:7],
[See comments on Nu 20:8],
[See comments on Nu 20:9],
[See comments on Nu 20:10],
[See comments on Nu 20:11], though of the latter no modern traveller makes mention but one, yet Jerom b from Eusebius affirms that it was shown in his day: 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. The cleaving of the rocks is ascribed to God, which was done by the hands of Moses; and so the Targum adds,
“by the rod of Moses their master;”
but Moses was only the instrument, it was the Lord that did it; Moses with his rod could never have done it, had not the power of God went along with it. This smiting and cleaving the rocks were an emblem of the sufferings of Christ, who was smitten of God with the rod of justice, according to the law of Moses, in a judicial way, for the sins of his people, and in order to obtain salvation for them:
and gave them drink as out of the great depths; such a large quantity of water flowed out of the rocks when smitten, as if it came out of the great sea, which furnished them with drink sufficient, and more than enough for them and their cattle; this was typical of the large abundance of grace, and the blessings of it, which flow freely and plentifully from Christ and his fulness, and through his sufferings and death.
b De loc. Heb. fol. 93. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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?
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) And gave . . .Literally, and gave them to drink as it were a great deep, or as we might say, oceans of drinka 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?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
clave. Hebrew. baka’ (in Piel), implying repeated cleaving.
rocks. Hebrew. zur. Same word as in Ex. 17. The two events brought together here.
drink as out of. Some codices, with seven early printed editions, read “drink in the”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 105:41, Psa 114:8, Exo 17:6, Num 20:11, Isa 41:18, Isa 43:20, Joh 7:37, Joh 7:38, 1Co 10:4, Rev 22:1, Rev 22:17
Reciprocal: Num 20:8 – bring forth Deu 8:15 – who brought 1Ki 17:6 – the ravens 2Ki 3:20 – filled Isa 35:6 – for Isa 44:3 – floods Isa 48:21 – he caused Hab 3:9 – Thou