Ps. 78.15-16 (from necessity to festive)

He split rocks / in the wilderness
and let them drink / as from a great deep.
Then he caused streams / to flow from a crag
water ran down / like rivers. 

We commented in the previous reflection on the contrast between the death-dealing water of the sea and the life-giving water of the desert. We saw there that God’s approach to both is to provide life for his family by way of ‘splitting’: splits the death-dealing water in half  and splits rocks in half so as to provide life-giving water. In addition, the actions taken by God are indicative of this life: the death-dealing waters are shaped like walls, highly structured and controlled; the life-giving waters flow with a type of prodigal abandon. One thing we see here in this verse is another contrast not noted: the sea is made into dry land; the desert is made into water (or, ‘the deep’). In both the action of God is one of a profound deliverance that works the ‘water’ completely to his family’s advantage and blessing. In this verse, the contrast is perhaps more pronounced: rocks in the wilderness actually become the source of abundant water. This draws out the sense of these verses as God’s ‘wonder-working’ care for Israel; performing actions for them that display a complete fidelity on his part to their well-being and life. This is the deep covenant power of their God. Furthermore, what these lines provide us in contrast to the death-dealing waters is the fact that God’s act on behalf of his family is not to merely deliver them; nor is it merely to provide for them; rather, as with most blessings that occur in the psalms, when God provides he moves toward them in what we have called a prodigal abandon. Its reality cannot be accounted for by its use. It is joyous. It is lavish; it crosses every boundary of what is necessary and enters into the realm of the festive. He is not merely providing them water in the dessert; he is making “water run down like rivers”; they drink “as from a great deep”. All of this said, the psalmist is constructing this entire ‘edifice of water’ for (at least) one goal in mind—to show how, in the direct midst of this festive prodigality, God’s family will “continue to sin against him”. In other words, the psalmist is preparing the path for the real absurdity of sin.