Timeline

Moving Rock in the Wilderness

The midrash of the moving rock arises from attempts to reconcile and find additional meaning in the two water-from-the-rock episodes in Exodus and Numbers. Rather than two separate miracles, later traditions imagined a single rock that followed the Israelites through the wilderness. This idea appears in diverse forms across early Jewish and Christian texts—including the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Pseudo-Philo, Paul, and rabbinic literature—each adapting the motif to their own theological literary frameworks.

Timeline

Exodus 17:6 / Numbers 20:8 / Numbers 21:18 / Numbers Rabbah 1:2
1. 750–400 BCE
  
  Exodus 17:6
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What will I do with this people?—a little more and they will stone me!” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
2. 750–400 BCE
  
  Numbers 20:8
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They then threw themselves down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 8 “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and then speak to the rock before their eyes. It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.” 9 So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, just as he commanded him. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the community together in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11 Then Moses raised his hand, and struck the rock twice with his staff. And water came out abundantly. So the community drank, and their beasts drank too.
3. 750–400 BCE
  
  Numbers 21:18
  
  Hebrew Bible
  
  16 And from there they traveled to Beer; that is the well where the Lord spoke to Moses, “Gather the people and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well, sing to it! 18 The well which the princes dug, which the leaders of the people opened with their scepters and their staffs.” And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah; 19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; 20 and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the country of Moab, near the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the wastelands.
4. 1200 CE
  
  Numbers Rabbah 1:2
  
  Rabbinic
  
  The manna was due to the merit of Moses. Know that it is due to the merit of Moses; when Moses departed, “The manna ceased on the following day” (Joshua 5:12). The clouds of glory were due to the merit of Aaron. From where do we derive it? When Aaron departed, what is written: “The spirit of the people became restive on the way” (Numbers 21:4), as the sun was beating down on them. The well was due to the merit of Miriam. What is written? “Miriam died there and was buried there” (Numbers 20:1). What is written thereafter? “There was no water for the congregation” (Numbers 20:2). Of what was the well constituted? It was a boulder. It was like a beehive, and it would roll and come with them on their journeys. When the banners would encamp and the Tabernacle would stand, that boulder would come and settle in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. The princes would stand over it and say: “Rise, well” (Numbers 21:17).
CD 6:3 / 1 Corinthians 10:4
1. 100–80 BCE
  
  CD 6:3
  
  Dead Sea Scrolls, Sectarian and Community Texts
  
  2 God. But God remembered the covenant of the first ones, and he raised up from Aaron men of understanding, and from Israel 3 wise men, and he made them hear. And they dug the well: “The well that princes dug, that 4 the nobles of the people excavated with a staff.” The well is the Torah, and those who dug it are 5 the returnees of Israel who went out from the land of Judah and sojourned in the land of Damascus, 6 all of whom God called princes, for they sought him, and their renown was not 7 turned back by the mouth of anyone. And the staff is the interpreter of the Torah, of whom 8 Isaiah said, “He brings out a tool for his work.” And the nobles of the people are 9 those who come to excavate the well with the staffs that the staff decreed,
2. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.
Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7 / 1 Corinthians 10:4
1. 1–100 CE
  
  Pseudo Philo, Biblical Antiquities 10:7
  
  Classical
  
  6 Israel crossed over on dry land in the middle of the sea. The Egyptians saw and went on pursuing them, and God hardened their minds, and they did not realize that they were entering the sea. So while the Egyptians were in the sea, God commanded the sea once again and said to Moses, “Strike the sea once more.” And he did so. The Lord commanded the sea, and it returned to its waves and covered the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen, to this day. 7 But as for his own people, he led them out into the wilderness. For forty years he rained bread from heaven for them, and he brought them quail from the sea, and he brought out for them a well of water that followed them. In a pillar of cloud he led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night he gave them light.
2. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.
Philo, Allegorical Interpretation / 1 Corinthians 10:4
1. 20–50 CE
  
  Philo, Allegorical Interpretation
  
  Classical
  
  and quenches with unfailing health the thirst of the soul that had turned from Him. For the flinty rock is the wisdom of God, which He marked off from His powers as highest and chief, and from which He satisfies the thirsty souls that love God. And when they have been given water to drink, they are filled also with the manna, the most generic of substances, for the manna is called “somewhat,” and that suggests the summum genus. But the primal existence is God, and next to Him is the Word of God; all other things subsist in word only, and in their active effects some of them are as good as non-subsisting.
2. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.
Onkelos Numbers 21:19 / 1 Corinthians 10:4
1. 50–500 CE
  
  Onkelos Numbers 21:19
  
  Targum
  
  16 And from there they were given the well, which is the well that the Lord spoke to Moses about, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 17 Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well; sing all of you to it. 18 The well which the leaders dug, the chiefs of the people cut it, the scribes with their staffs; it was given to them in the wilderness. 19 And from the time that it was given to them it descended with them to the rivers, and from the rivers it went up with them to the height, 20 and from the height to the valley which is in the fields of Moab, at the head of Ramatha, which looks toward Beth-jeshimon.
2. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.
1 Corinthians 10:4 / Tosefta Sukkah 3
1. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did.
2. 190–230 CE
  
  Tosefta Sukkah 3
  
  Rabbinic
  
  And also : By the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for meat, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail ; it shall bring forth first-fruits every month, because the waters thereof issue out of the sanctuary ; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for healing intimating that all "the waters of creation" will come forth as from the mouth of this flask. So the well, which was with Israel in the wilderness, was like a rock of the size of a k'bara, and was oozing out and rising as from the mouth of this flask, travelling with them up the mountains and going down with them to the valleys. Wherever Israel encamped it encamped opposite them before the door of the Tabernacle. The princes of Israel with their slaves surrounded it, and said over it this song, Spring up, O well, sing ye unto it. Then the waters bubbled forth, and rose on high like a pillar; and every one drew out the staff of his tribe and family, as it is said, The well which the princes digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre and with their staves. And from Mattanah to Nahaliel ; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth ; and from Bamoth to the valley, etc. going round every camp of the Lord, and watering all Jeshimon ; and it made mighty streams, as it is said, And streams overflowed. 3 And they were sitting in skiffs, going from place to place, as it is written, They ran in the dry places like a river. If Israel went up on the right, it would come down on the right ; if on the left, it would come down on the left. The waters which emptied themselves from it became a great river, pouring themselves into the Mediterranean, and bringing thence all the precious things of the world, as it is said, These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing.
1 Corinthians 10:4 / Numbers Rabbah 1:2
1. 55–57 CE
  
  1 Corinthians 10:4
  
  New Testament
  
  1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness.
2. 1200 CE
  
  Numbers Rabbah 1:2
  
  Rabbinic
  
  The manna was due to the merit of Moses. Know that it is due to the merit of Moses; when Moses departed, “The manna ceased on the following day” (Joshua 5:12). The clouds of glory were due to the merit of Aaron. From where do we derive it? When Aaron departed, what is written: “The spirit of the people became restive on the way” (Numbers 21:4), as the sun was beating down on them. The well was due to the merit of Miriam. What is written? “Miriam died there and was buried there” (Numbers 20:1). What is written thereafter? “There was no water for the congregation” (Numbers 20:2). Of what was the well constituted? It was a boulder. It was like a beehive, and it would roll and come with them on their journeys. When the banners would encamp and the Tabernacle would stand, that boulder would come and settle in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. The princes would stand over it and say: “Rise, well” (Numbers 21:17).