Texts in Conversation
1 Corinthians reflects a Jewish tradition where a well or rock followed Israel through the wilderness in Exodus and Numbers. This idea appears in a Rabbinic midrash in Numbers Rabbah, and Paul similarly adopts it by linking the traveling rock to Jesus.
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2500 BCE
1000+ 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.
Date: 55–57 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Numbers Rabbah 1:2
Aggadah
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).
Date: 1200 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It has been recognized for a long time that 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 is related to certain Jewish haggadic traditions; and so, for our purposes, only the salient features of these traditions and their scriptural background need to be rehearsed ... The image of the well or water following Israel in the wilderness appears to stem from Numbers 21:16-18 ... according to Midrash Rabbah on Numbers 1:1, the connection is made between the well and the "rock shaped like a bee-hive". Hence, there is no doubt that there was a connection between the rock and the well in the development of these traditions; and there is no reason to suppose that this connection did not emerge early in the development of these interpretative traditions. At least, it is evident from I Corinthians 10:4 that Paul was familiar with the tradition of the "following" rock which brought forth water to Israel ..."
Aageson, James W.
Paul's Use of Scripture: A Comparative Study of Biblical Interpretation in Early Palestinian Judaism and the New Testament With Special Reference to Romans 9-11
(pp. 264-266) Mansfield College, the University of Oxford, 1983
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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