Emphatic statements respecting the prevalence of robbers during the stormy period preceding the fall of Jerusalem, and an account of the measures adopted by Felix in consequence, may be found in Josephus — ' as to the number of the robbers he caused to be crucified, and of those who were caught among them, and whom he brought to punishment, they were a multitude not to be enumerated' {BJ II. xiii. 2).
Literature. — C. A. J. Skeel, Travel in the First Century after Christ, Cambridv'e, 1901 ; J. R. S. Sterrett, Epviraphic Journey in Asia Minor, Boston, 1888; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire, London, 1S93, p. 23 f. art. ' Roads and Travel (in NT)' in HDB v. K. STRONG.
ROBE See Clothes.
ROCK {wiTpa, Ro 9^^ 1 P 28, 1 Co 10^ Rev 6'^- " ; cf. Ac 27™, .Tude '-). — Of the physical features of Palestine, rocks form a conspicuous part. Rock walls and escarpments, deep gorges and desolate crags, caves, fastnesses, and mighty boulders, are common in many portions of the country. Allu- sions to them on the part of the biblical writers were, therefore, inevitable. Symbolically they stood for solid foundations (Mt T-*), for confession of the Deity of Christ (16'«), and for Christ Himself (1 Co 10*). Among the rocks mentioned in Scrip- ture are Sela (Jg 1» RV), Oreb (7=^), Etam (15»), and Rimmon (20'"). Precipitation from a rock was one form of execution (2 Ch 25'^ ; cf. Lk 4^^').
Of the four principal references to ro<k8 in apostolic history, those in Ro 9^ and in 1 P2'' may appro|iriately he considered together. Roth St. Paul and St. Peter quote and combine the same two prophetic passages (Is 8'* 28"), adapting the LXX version of them .so as to show that Israel had failed to attain unto God's true law of righteous- ness, because they sought it not by faith but by works. Because they had not apprehended the wisdom of (iod's salvation in Jesus Christ, St. Paul decl.'ires th.at he had become unto them 'a stone of stumbling and a rock of otl'ence.' St. Peter probably bad St. Paul's statement (Ro9^) before him when lie wrote, for his use of the two passages from Isaiah is practically the same. He tells bis readers that they arc stumbling through disobedi- ence, and failing to obey what they must recognize is true. Instead of availing themselves of the blessing of the gospel offered them, they are refusing to submit to its influence, and so come into collision with the power and authority of Christ. Roth apostles boldly apply to Christ what is spoken by the prophet of jahweh, and they i)oint to the prophet's words as a prediction of tlicir own people's spiritual blindness and conse- quent failure. As Jahweh is a firm foundation to those who trust in Him, so is Jesus ; but to those who disbelieve, both He and His Son may be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.
A more difficult passage is that contained in 1 Co 10^, 'And did all drink the same spiritual drink : for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ ' (fTrivoc yap ^K TTvei'naTLKTji a.Ko'KovdovaT}^ Tr^rpaj, 7? 5^ irlrpa i^v 6 XpiffTcSs). There is a Rabbinical legend, which can be traced back as far as the 1st cent. A.D., to the effect that the rock of Rephidim (Ex 17"; cf. Nu 20-"'), 'globular, like a bee-hive,' rolled after the camp in Israel's wandering.s, and supplied them with water. But in the face of Nu 2P, which must have been known to the Apostle, it is scarcely likely tl^at St. Paul believed this. Rather he adapted it, stating explicitly tliat the rock which followed them was a 'spiritual,' i.e. a supernatural, rock, and that Christ was a rock. The manna was literally ' food from heaven' to him (1 Co 10"; cf. Ps 78-"'), and so were the water and the rock (Ps 78'°^-) ; and both the water and the manna were a foreshadowing of the Christian sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper (1 Co 10-- '"). St. Paul's argument is briefly this : ' all ' ate of the same spiritual food (v.*), and ' all ' drank of the same spiritual drink (v.'') — the manna and the water being in- tended to sustain the spirit as well as the body — but only two (Caleb and Joshua) recognized the spiritual presence of Christ, who in His pre-existent state was ever with Israel in their gathering of the manna and be.side every cliff which Moses struck. Philo bad already identified the rock of Dt S"> with the Wisdom of God, and the rock of Dt 32'3 with His Wisdom and Word ; hence it was easy for St. Paul to take another step and identify the smitten rock with Christ, the Rock spiritual. A parallel to this mode of interpretation may be found in He 11^', where the Apostle represents Moses as ' accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.' See also art. Metaphor.
In a passage in Acts (27^'), St. Paul and his ship companions are described as fearful of being driven ashore on 'rocky ground' (rpaxe<s tAttoi, literally 'rough places'). While a different expression is used here in the Greek, the reference is evidently to rocks, upon which it would be hazardous to let their vessel strike. In Jude'^, also, a kindred expression (cririXdSes) is used, in a similar but metajihorical way. ' These are they who are hidden