Isaiah 48:21

“And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts, &c.] As when he led the people of Israel through the wilderness to Canaan’s land, though they sometimes thirsted for want of water, yet they were supplied with it, by which their thirst was extinguished, to which the reference here is. So when they came out of Babylon, and passed through the waste and desert places which lay between that and Judea, they were supplied with all necessaries. Thus the apostles of Christ, when they travelled through the Gentile world, comparable to a desert, publishing redemption and salvation by Christ, had every needful supply, both of temporal and spiritual things; they lacked not any thing. In like…”

“Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert [KIMCHI]. The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt (Exo 17:6; Num 20:11; Psa 78:15; Psa 105:41) and of that from Babylon, are blended together; the language, while more immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot wholly refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel.”

“And they thirsted not - This is a part of that for which they would be called to celebrate his name. It was not merely that he had redeemed them, but that he had abundantly provided for their needs in the desert, and guided them safe through the pathless wilderness to their own land (see the notes at Isaiah 35:6-7; Isaiah 41:17-18). He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them - The allusion here is undoubtedly to the fact that God caused the waters to flow out of the rock that Moses smote in the wilderness Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11. This is not to be regarded as literally true that God would, in like manner, smite the rocks and cause waters to flow by miracle on their return from…”

“They thirsted not - They shall not thirst. He speaks of things to come, as if they were already past. Isaiah 48:22”

“48:21 not thirsty . . . rock . . . water gushed: These reminders of God’s provision in the Exodus provide a fitting summary of what he would do to rescue Israel from captivity in Babylon (see Num 20:11).”

“they thirsted: Isa 30:25, Isa 35:6, Isa 35:7, Isa 41:17, Isa 41:18, Isa 43:19, Isa 43:20, Isa 49:10; Jer 31:9 he caused: Exo 17:6; Num 20:11; Neh 9:15; Psa 78:15, Psa 78:20, Psa 105:41 Isaiah 48:22”