I'm not a preacher, but God willing, I'll give you my interpretation of it. The first thing that sticks out to me is in the first story in Exodus. 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go."
Well, what happened at the Nile?
Exodus 7:15-32
Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.
16And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.
17Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.
18And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.
19And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
20And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
21And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 22And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.
I see a few things here. God tells Moses to use AARON'S rod that turned in to a serpent to strike the river of the Nile! The Nile was their source of life! Every source of water was turned to blood, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone! It was also done in the sight of Pharoah, and in the sight of his servents. We then see that the magicians of Egypt did so as well!
Now we get to the wilderness and no water to drink. God tells Moses to walk ahead of the people with some of the elders from Israel now, as Pharaoh was with his servants. He was then told to strike the rock and water will flow out for all to drink! First, the SAME ROD that turned into a SERPENT struck the rock! We also notice that as before, when Moses struck the Nile, he was told to say that he was SENT by God. At the rock, however, the LORD said that HE would stand before him by the rock HIMSELF! How did the people test God? By saying " is the LORD among us or not?"
We know that Spiritually, this is Christ!
Exodus 7:1
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
We know that we need physical water to sustain life. But spiritually water represents the true word of God. When the rod of Aaron struck the nile, spiritually this is showing us that we cannot be justified by the works of the law. The law of nature states that we need water to survive! The true law of God says man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God!
Romans 7:9-11
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Aaron represented a prophet of Moses who represented the LORD. The rod which turned into a serpent struck the water (truth of the law) and turned it into BLOOD! Now the last place naturally speaking to look for water is a rock! Nature's law says a rock can't produce water. But remember Moses was told to go ahead of the people. Only the elders witnessed Moses hitting the rock. These were the only ones that had faith that the Lord was indeed among them!
Now to the second story. What jumps out is that now Moses and Aaron is to gather the WHOLE ASSEMBLY in the presence of the rock. He is to take the same staff that turned into a serpent and SPEAK to the rock in the company of everyone! But do you also see that the staff is NO LONGER IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD! Also pay attention to the tone in which Moses uses this time. Before he was afraid of being stoned by the people. Now he boldly calls them REBELS and states: "must we bring you water out of this rock?" The Lord then tells moses that he will not bring the people into the promised land because he did not trust in Him enough to make Him holy before Israel.
Again, the rock represents Christ! And as before only the elders were present, now all of Israel is together. And althogh the rod is NOT in the presence of the Lord, Moses was commanded still to take it. Calling them rebels, he then strikes the rock twice! I notice first that naturally, he does the same as the first time. The difference is that in seeing it the first time, he is now confident it will work this time! Moses knows that a rock naturally can't sprout water. He knew that it was the Lord who was with him. But this time he did not give the glory to God. Being in front of now the whole congregation, moses tried to justify himself by striking the rock as before. The waters came out more abundantly as also the Lord was still sanctified in the people of Israel. But striking the rock this time had nothing to do with it! He was told simply to speak with the rod at his side! Remember the rock was struck by the rod once already to produce water! He called the people rebels and then proceeds to rebel himself against God!
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Galatians 2:14-21
14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
15We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
17But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Spiritually, water represents the truth of the word of God. The waters of Egypt were turned to blood including the vessels of wood and stone. What are God's vessels of water?
Acts 9:15
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Romans 9:21-23
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Daniel 5:17-23
Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation.
18O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:
19And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.
20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
21And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
22And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; 23But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:
These vessels aren't cups and plates. Spiritually these are people just like Paul. These are the saints!
Revelation 17:3-6
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
1 Peter 2:1-5
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
2As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
I hope that helps a little. God bless
