The Hebrew noun tsur (צוּר) means rock, cliff, crag — the solid, unmovable stone of mountains and fortresses. It appears over 70 times in the Old Testament, frequently as a divine title. God is called Tsur Yisrael — "the Rock of Israel" — (2 Samuel 23:3) and Tsuri — "my Rock" — throughout the Psalms. The word conjures images of the solid bedrock beneath shifting ground, an immovable stronghold in treacherous terrain, a place of safety above the flood. Moses struck a tsur in the wilderness and water flowed from it (Exodus 17:6).
Tsur is one of the most powerful and beloved of God's names. It communicates His absolute stability, strength, and reliability in contrast to every human and earthly support. David's songs return to this image again and again: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer" (Psalm 18:2). The Rock metaphor becomes explicitly Christological in the New Testament: Paul writes that the Israelites "drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus builds His church "on this rock" (Matthew 16:18). Isaiah 26:4 commands: "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal." When everything else shifts and fails, the Rock remains.