Library Theodoret Questions on Exodus
Questions on Exodus 27: “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”
How should we understand what the Apostle said: “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ”?
The old things were a type of the new; the law of Moses was a shadow, but the grace is the body. Since, then, the Egyptians were pursuing the Hebrews, and the Hebrews, having crossed the Red Sea, were freed from the bitter mastery of the Egyptians, the sea holds the type of the baptismal font; the cloud, of the Spirit; Moses, of the Savior Christ; the rod, of the cross; Pharaoh, of the devil; the Egyptians, of the demons; the manna, of the divine food; and the water from the rock, of the saving blood. For just as those, after crossing the Red Sea, enjoyed both the strange food and the marvelous stream, so we, after saving baptism, partake of the divine mysteries.
Greek: Theodoret of Cyrus, Quaestiones in Octateuchum / Questions on Exodus (CPG 6200.02; cf. Fernández Marcos and Sáenz-Badillos; also PG 80, cols. 225–298). English: study translation for BWAB Library—not the copyrighted Robert C. Hill (CUA Press) translation. The full Questions on Exodus (72 questions) is hosted here.