The Everlasting Covenant

Men should be more Discerning than Cattle

It made all the difference in the world whether or not the people recognized Christ as the source of their life. If they did, if they drank in faith, they received spiritual life from the Rock. If they did not recognize the Lord in His gracious gift, then the water was no more to them than it was to their cattle. “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” ³ But when the people with their superior abilities did not recognize God in His gifts any more than their cattle did, they showed themselves even less discerning than the cattle. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider.” ⁴ EVCO 265.1

In view of the miracle of the water from the Rock, the Lord Himself,—we can better understand the force of His words when He afterward thus expressed the greatness of the sin of His people in departing from Him: “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” ⁵ EVCO 265.2