The Saviour is here portrayed as the dependable rock upon which sinful, stumbling, repentant men can rely for refreshing, life-giving drink that will quench their burning thirst for divine truth (see Ps. 42:1, 2; Ps. 63:1; John 7:37). The great truth taught by this verse is that Jesus is with His people all the way through this earthly life, and is ever ready to supply their needs when they call upon Him. The world is a dry, dreary desert, providing neither food nor drink for the soul that is hungry and thirsty for spiritual truth, but the steadfast Saviour is willing and able to uphold, sustain, and strengthen His fainting people if they will but call upon Him (see Ps. 46:1; 91:15).

Historically, Christ was Israel’s leader, not only in their wilderness wanderings, but throughout their entire history as a nation. In fact, all of God’s dealings with fallen humanity have been through Christ (see PP 311, 366, 373, 396; DA 52).

 Like the “spiritual meat” of v. 3, the “spiritual drink” was so named because of its supernatural origin. It was provided for the Israelites by the Lord, to meet their urgent need when they were without water in the wilderness (see Ex. 17:1, 6; Num. 20:2, 8). God did not forsake His ungrateful people in spite of their unreasonable complaining, but He supplied their need through the ministration of His chosen servant, Moses (see PP 298, 411).

 Some commentators believe that Paul here refers to the rabbinical tradition that a rock-well followed the children of Israel throughout their wilderness wanderings. If so, he does not therefore give credence to the tradition any more than Jesus gave credence to the doctrine of a conscious state in death by His parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (see on Luke 16:19). The Tosephta (see Vol. V, p. 100) reports the tradition thus: “It was likewise with the well that was with the children of Israel in the wilderness, it [the well] was like a rock that was full of holes like a sieve from which water trickled and arose as from the opening of a flask. It [the rock-well] ascended with them to the top of the hills and descended with them into the valleys; wherever Israel tarried there it tarried over against the entrance to the tabernacle” (Sukkah 3. 11 ff., cited in Strack and Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament, vol. 3, p. 406). Compare PP 411-421.