God is my rock: the name Moses sang

God is my rock is one of the oldest ways people in the Bible talked to God. The title "the Rock" comes from the Hebrew tsur, which means a cliff or a great rock that cannot be moved. Moses used it as a name for God in his final song, He is the Rock, his work is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4), and David and the psalm writers picked it up again and again.

Moses and the two rocks of the desert

Deuteronomy 32 is called the Song of Moses. It is the last song of a man who was about to die. For forty years he had led Israel through the wilderness, and he knew that country well. In a flat, hot desert, a great rock matters. It throws shade at midday. It marks the way when every sand dune looks the same. Storms do not shift it, and it was there long before you came along.

Moses also had two very personal memories of rocks. Early in the journey, the people were dying of thirst at a place called Rephidim. God told him to strike a rock at Horeb with his staff:

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Exodus 17:6

To smite means to hit. Water poured out of solid stone, enough for a whole nation.

Almost forty years later, at Kadesh, the people were thirsty and angry again. This time God told Moses to speak to the rock. But Moses was worn out and furious. He shouted at the crowd, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? and then he smote the rock twice (Numbers 20:10 to 11). The water still came. But because Moses did not honor God in front of the people, God told him he would not lead Israel into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:12).

Think about that when you read Deuteronomy 32. Moses was about to die outside the land, in part because of a rock. And when he opened his last song about God, one of the first titles he chose was the Rock.

He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

A chorus in the Song of Moses

Moses comes back to the title several times in the same song, almost like a chorus. He warns that Israel, once it grew rich and comfortable, lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation (Deuteronomy 32:15). To lightly esteem means to treat as if it hardly mattered. A few lines later he says Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful (Deuteronomy 32:18), which means you have forgotten the Rock who gave you life. Then he sets God beside the gods of other nations: For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges (Deuteronomy 32:31).

Tsur: a cliff you cannot carry

Strong's dictionary, a standard word list for the King James Bible, defines tsur as a cliff or sharp rock, a rock or boulder, and in a figurative sense a refuge, which is a safe place to run to. The King James most often translates it "rock," but sometimes "strength" or even "God." A tsur is not a pebble in your pocket. It is usually a wall of stone or the face of a mountain. You can climb it, stand on it or hide under it, but you will never pick it up.

Hebrew has other words for rock and stone. Sela means a crag, a jagged rock high up. Both words sit side by side in Psalm 18:2. Where the King James says The LORD is my rock, the word is sela. Where it says my God, my strength, the word for strength is tsur. So in that one verse David calls God his rock twice. A different word, even, means a stone small enough to set up or build with, and you can read about it on the page for the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.

One of the most famous uses of tsur is hidden in English. Isaiah 26:4 in the King James says Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. The Hebrew behind "everlasting strength" is tsur olamim, literally "rock of ages." That is where the phrase comes from.

King James verses that call God the Rock

There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

1 Samuel 2:2

Hannah sang this after God answered her prayer for a son. After years of pain and teasing, she praised God as a rock like no other.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:2

David prayed this when he felt far away and overwhelmed. A rock only helps in a flood if it is higher than you are. He asked God to lift him there.

He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

Psalm 62:2

Notice the honest words not be greatly moved. David did not claim he would never wobble. He said that with God under him, he would not fall.

What are you standing on?

Jesus ended His Sermon on the Mount with a story about two houses, one built on sand and one on rock (Matthew 7:24 to 27). The same storm hit both. Only one was still standing, because it was founded upon a rock. The difference was not the weather. It was the foundation.

Here is a simple test. Imagine losing the thing you count on most: your job, your grades, your looks, your health, your reputation or one special person. Would you still be standing? If the honest answer is no, this name is an invitation to build on something deeper.

For teens especially, life can feel like it changes every week. Friend groups shift, moods swing and what people say about you online can flip overnight. The Rock is the one thing in your life that will be the same when you are eighty.

• When you feel overwhelmed, pray Psalm 61:2 out loud, word for word.
• Write down what your life is really resting on right now, and be honest.
• Read Deuteronomy 32:1 to 4 and notice how Moses praised God before he warned Israel.

The Rock is name 36 of the 70 in the book. David often called God his rock and his fortress in the same breath, and that is the next name: my fortress and my deliverer. You can also browse all the Hebrew names of God or see the names of God in the Bible.