Blessings and Abuses of Freedom in Messiah
10: 1-13
The benefits and abuses of freedom in Messiah DIG: After reminding them of the discipline needed to “run the race” (9:24-27), Paul cites this example of Isra’el’s past. Why were these reminders necessary? How do they relate to the Corinthian situation? What is the “moral” of Paul’s teaching? Was Paul in error when he said 23,000 people died? Why or why not?
REFLECT: What temptations do you most consistently have to face? Hence, does verse 13 encourage or frustrate you? How so? How are you a witness to the people in your family, at school, in your neighborhood, or at work? Could any of your actions or attitudes be a stumbling block and disqualify you as a representative of our Lord, stumbling them?
Our freedom in Messiah is not meant to lead us to self-indulgence, but to selfless service.
The ancient Israelites were to be a channel through which all the families of the earth were to be blessed (Genesis 12:3b). It was in that race (9:24-27) that the nation had misused her freedom and became disqualified as a witness to the world by falling into idolatry, immorality, and rebelliousness. Likewise, the believers in Corinth were supposed to be a channel of blessing to that wicked city. For brothers, I don’t want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers as they left Egypt on their way to the Land of Promise (10:1a). This introduces an illustration showing that the reality of being disqualified by God is real (compare Psalms 78 and 106). Even though all the Israelites, believers and unbelievers, had extraordinary advantages, with the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert (10:5). Therefore, Paul was saying to the self-confident Corinthians, “Don’t let what happened to the nation of Isra’el happen to you!”
Isra’el enjoyed five blessings:
1. Paul begins by reminding the Corinthians about the blessings the Israelites experienced – blessings that he could relate to specific experiences of the Corinthian believers. All of them, both believers and unbelievers, were guided by the pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21-22). The Israelites enjoyed the presence of God in the pillar of cloud that led them in their exodus from Egypt and their journey through the desert (10:1b). The Corinthians had also experienced God’s guidance (Luke 1:79) and protection (First Peter 1:5).
2. In 10:1c Paul says: And they all passed through the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 14:19-31; Psalms 105:39 and 136:13-15). The point being that just as the Corinthians’ life in Messiah began by faith and then baptism, so “our fathers” deliverance from Egypt began with a kind of “baptism” – passing through the Sea of Reeds. But even that, Paul will go on to say, did not keep them from being seduced by idolatry and thus falling short of the prize (9:24-27).249
3. And in connection with the cloud and with the sea they all immersed themselves into Moshe (10:2). Therefore, the immersion into Moshe means being united with him, accepting his vision, goals and leadership. The Israelites did this by trusting him in connection with the cloud and in connection with the Sea of Reeds. Translations which have the Israelites being immersed in the cloud and in the Sea of Reeds are misleading – according to the TaNaKh they were next to or under the cloud, and they passed on dry ground between walls of sea water on either side of them. Rather, as an anonymous critic has pointed out, it was the Egyptians who were “baptized in the sea, well and truly!” Nevertheless, there is an analogy here between the immersion into Moshe and immersion into Messiah (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; First Corinthians 1:13-15 and 12:13), just as in the following verses the food and drink are in some measure analogous with the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.250 The Corinthians had been immersed into the Body of Messiah (12:13), of which He is the Head (Ephesians 1:22), and in whom they trusted (Matthew 12:21; Ephesians 1:12).
4. Also, they all ate the same food (manna) pertaining to the Spirit (10:3). The manna they ate uniquely points to the Lord’s Supper. The manna given in the desert is called “spiritual food” because it was in no way a product of nature but grain from heaven and the bread of angels (Psalm 78:24-25), a gift from the Ruach Ha’Kodesh. It’s origin was spiritual, and thus, although it nourished the body, which Yeshua points out so forcibly in John 6 on His teaching on the Bread of Life, this manna should also have had an effect upon the soul.251 The Corinthians too had eaten bread from heaven (John 6:31-34).
5. And they all drank the same drink from the Spirit – for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which accompanied them, and that Rock was the Messiah (10:4), he was quoting from a story later written in the Talmud (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law), that from the time that Moshe struck the rock at Horeb and brought forth water until the death of Miriam (Numbers 20:1), this water-giving rock “accompanied the children of Isra’el through the desert and provided water for them each day” (Taanit, 9a Bava Metzia, 86b). Throughout the TaNaKh, there are several instances where the title Rock (Hebrew: tzur) is directly associated with YHVH (Deuteronomy 32:4, 15 and 32:30-31; Isaiah 26:4 and 44:8). Yes, Paul says, a little of the story from the Talmud is true: a rock did accompany Isra’el throughout the desert wandering, a rock out of which they kept drinking all the time. But this was not the rolling boulder of the legend. This was a mass of rock that was far greater and far higher and entirely spiritual in its nature: That rock was Yeshua Messiah. The word Paul uses here for Rock is not petros, meaning a small stone or pebble, but petra, meaning a massive immovable cliff, rock or ledge, just like the one at Caesarea Philippi (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Fx – On This Rock I Will Build My Church). Messiah was also the source of supernatural water for the Corinthians. Yeshua had said: Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them (John 7:37b-38).
Nevertheless, despite all the blessings above, Paul told the Corinthians, the Israelites failed to obtain the prize: With the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert (10:5). All Isra’el, both believers and unbelievers, had been graciously blessed (see the commentary on Romans Cp – The Grief of Isra’el’s Past Paradox), liberated and sustained by the LORD in the wilderness, but in the “race,” that test of obedience and service, of being a witness to the world, most of them were disqualified (9:24-27). They misused and abused their freedom and their blessings. In self-centeredness and self-will they fell into temptation, and then into sin, as the book of Numbers can attest. Overconfidence was their undoing.
Many of the disqualified Israelites were believers who became unfit for God’s service. They became what Paul refers to as vessels of dishonor. They had not cleansed themselves from youthful lusts and had not pursued righteousness, faith, love and peace. They had not called upon the Lord out of a pure heart (Second Timothy 2:21-22 Berean Study Bible). As a result, they were scattered around the desert like pieces of broken vessels that were no longer useful. Since this was so, the Corinthians’ complacency in matters of self-discipline and their corresponding fondness for self-indulgence required immediate attention.252
Our freedom in Messiah is not meant to lead us to self-indulgence, but to selfless service (see the commentary on Galatians Bu – Brothers and Sisters, You were Called to Freedom). Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did (10:6). While a variety of sinful behaviors can be considered here, although the connection remains only implicit in the argument, the echo of Numbers 11:1-3 sounds ominous for those Corinthians who desire to eat meat sacrificed to idols.253
Paralleling the five blessings enjoyed by Isra’el in the new found freedom from Egypt, Paul proceeded to recount five failures experienced by Isra’el during that time.
1. Paul began by summarizing the sad cry: Give us meat to eat (see the commentary on Numbers Bs – The Complaining at the Kivrot Ha’Ta’avah)! The Israelites named the cemetery for those who were killed Kivrot Ha’Ta’avah, meaning graves of the craving. ADONAI gave them what they wanted, but while the meat was still between their teeth, He struck them with a plague. The application to the Corinthian situation was obvious: To sum up, if food will be a snare for my brother, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to sin (8:13).
2. Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were – as the TaNaKh puts it, “The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry” (10:7). The warning against idolatry was very relevant to the conditions in Corinth. Paul quotes Exodus 32:6, where eating, drinking and dancing point to a typical idol festival. Often such a festival degenerated into debauchery. For those believers who thought they could freely take part in idolatry, Paul intended, with illustrations like this, to knock out the false props which supported their behavior before God intervened and took their lives like the immoral brother (see Ba – Failure to Discipline an Immoral Brother).254 He would not have His name dragged through the mud of their spiritual adultery.
3. And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day (10:8). In the Israelites case, the immorality associated with idolatry (Numbers 25:1-2), which also characterized much pagan worship in the first century. But the Corinthians indulged in immorality in contexts other than idolatry, as instances of rebuke in 5:1 and 6:18 illustrate. As God had brought death to the immoral among the Israelites (Numbers 25:4-9), He could also do in Corinth as with the case of the immoral brother above. This was a sobering thought for those who could flaunt their freedom in Messiah because everything seemed permissible to them (6:12 and 10:23).255
Was Paul in error when he said that 23,000 died in a single day? Some have linked Paul’s 23,000 with the 3,000 who died in Exodus 32:28. But it is clear that here in 10:5-10, Paul drew all his illustrations from the book of Numbers. And in Numbers 25:9 it records how 24,000 people died as a result of God’s judgment. It seems that the Numbers account records the total of those who died, including the leaders, who apparently numbered one thousand (see the commentary on Numbers Ae – The Issue of Rounded Numbers). Paul’s figure of 23,000 refers only to those who perished in the plague.256
4. And let us not put the Messiah to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes (10:9). Because God took the Isrealites on a longer route to the Promised Land, their tempers grew short because of the detour and they spoke against God and against Moshe saying: Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? To die in the desert? Ha’Shem sent poisonous snakes and many of Isra’el’s people died (Numbers 21:4-6). Paul’s point is that the Corinthians’ challenge of his former prohibition against their attending pagan meals was actually putting Messiah to the test like the ancient Israelites had put ADONAI to the test in the desert. They wanted to eat at the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.257
5. And don’t grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel (10:10). The verb grumble is used a number of times of the Israelites complaining against ADONAI, a complaint followed in each case by suitable punishment. The people also spoke rebelliously against God’s appointed leaders Moses and Aaron (see the commentary on Numbers Cw – The Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram). Grumbling against God calls down divine punishment.258 Paul was facing a similar situation (see Ai – Divisions in the Church at Corinth).
These things happened to them (the Exodus generation) as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim, or the end times (10:11). These were examples and warnings to the Corinthians that the God with whom they were accountable, who was bringing His people to a close at the end of days, was the same God who disciplined the Israelites with death, and could do so again (11:30). If the Exodus generation met such a horrifying end by rejecting the spiritual Messiah who nurtured them throughout their journey, how much more the Corinthians would be condemned by rejecting the risen Messiah.259
Paul now brings this review of Isra’el’s history to its conclusion by directly applying these warnings to the believers in Corinth. Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing up be careful not to fall (10:12)! The Bible is full of examples of the dangers of overconfidence. The book of Esther, for example, centers around the plan of a proud and overconfident man who saw his plan backfire. King Ahasuerus of Persia promoted Haman to be his second in command, with the instructions for the people to bow before Haman as they would the king. Mordecai, however, would not bow down to him, and when the proud and arrogant Haman was told that Mordecai was a Jew, he persuaded Ahasuerus to declare an edict that would give him revenge on all the Jews in the land by having them destroyed. Through the intercession of Queen Esther, Haman’s evil plan was exposed, and in the process Haman was impaled on the pole he had set up for Mordecai (Esther 7:1-10), who was given all of Haman’s possessions and the royal honor Haman had expected for himself (see the commentary on Esther Cf – The Greatness of Mordecai).
Just as the Israelites kept falling into temptation and sin in spite of their redemption from Egypt, the same thing can happen to us. Thus, those who feel confident that they could be disciplined by falling under the Lord’s judgment should watch out, lest they do so. This warning will soon lead Paul back to the specific issue of participating in banquets at idol temples.260 If the Corinthians thought that their standing in Messiah and corresponding freedom could be exercised in sin with impunity, they were wrong . . . possibly dead wrong.
None of us are immune to temptation. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin. God knows this, so He has assigned us as individual believers the responsibility of keeping each other on track. The Bible says: Encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:13 NIV). “Mind your own business” is not a phrase that we should be using. We are called and commanded to be involved in each other’s lives. If you know someone who is wavering spiritually right now it is your responsibility to go after them and bring them back into the fellowship. James tells us: If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back (James 5:19 The Message).261
After a strong warning about self-confidence and pride, Paul gives a strong word of encouragement about God’s help when tempted. No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. After kicking out the props of their false security, Paul pointed to the One on whom the Corinthians could rely. The temptations that seized the Corinthians were like those people had always faced. They could be met and endured by depending on God, who is faithful. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure (10:13). Part of the problem, of course, was that some, in the face of temptation, were not looking for a way out by endurance, but a way in for indulgence.262
Reading between the lines, it was as if Paul were saying, “There is no risk of failing as long as the Corinthians were dealing with ordinary temptations. God would help them through such temptations. But that would not be the case with idolatry. The way out in that case is simply put: run from idolatry, which is the concern of what Paul says next (see Bs – The Truth About Idolatry).263
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