Paul makes the connection explicit: in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock that supplied Israel was Jesus. Exodus 17 gives him more to work with than first appears. God says, "I will stand before you there on the rock" (v. 6), so the water comes from the place where God is already standing. Israel has just put Him to the test with the legal word riyb and demanded proof of His presence (vv. 2, 7); the answer is that the accused is waiting at the rock while His accusers drink.

Christian readers have long heard in that scene the Son, struck on behalf of people who were quarreling with Him, and John 7:37-38, where Jesus calls the thirsty to come and drink, pulls the same thread. This is a typological reading, not something Exodus says outright. The hill is an older cross-shadow.

The Epistle of Barnabas (chapter 12) and Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 90) both read Moses' extended arms as the shape of the cross, and Justin stresses that Israel prevailed only while the posture held. The rabbis read the scene differently but land nearby: Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3:8 asks whether Moses' hands really made war, and answers that Israel prevailed when they looked upward and gave their hearts to their Father in Heaven.

Both traditions agree the victory was never in the arms themselves. Christian readers press the contrast further. Moses' arms tire and need Aaron and Hur, and his victory holds only until the next Amalek. The feud resurfaces in Saul's failure (1 Samuel 15) and in Haman the Agagite (Esther 3:1), so Rephidim was a battle, not the end of the war. A Messiah whose arms stay outstretched to the end is the victory this chapter keeps leaning toward.