Verses 6 through 10 of this chapter warns us to refuse to be blasé about our salvation. The example given is the Jewish nation - God rescued them from slavery under Egyptian pharaohs; He fed them and watered them for 40 years in the desert region of Sinai; He conquered whole nations to provide them a place to live. The record is clear from Genesis through 2 Chronicles - God took care of them completely. Even so, it took almost nothing for them to turn on God, disobey and follow false gods. That is the example presented here. The Jews had every thing they needed for faith in God and Christ. The message is: don’t fall into the same spiritual trap. Be strong and courageous in your faith in Christ. Be of the Same Mind and Spirit
1 Corinthians 10:6-11
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to pray.”
8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.
10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
V. 6 - “Now these things happened as examples for us” - They were not set up simply to be warnings for us. I do not believe God is saying, “See what happens to people who do not obey me. This could happen to you” Nor did He decide to wipe some people out as object lessons. On the other hand, it has been fairly clearly stated that disobedience has negative consequences, and that obedience and faithfulness to the Lord has positive consequences.< /p>
There are several lessons. God’s blessings flow to those who don’t earn it - God chose Abraham, Isaac, David to demonstrate His grace and mercy. They did not earn the grace shown. These examples are samples of the declaration: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) The Lord saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, even though most of the Jews were fairly ignorant of the Lord God. God brought victories to Israel during the exodus and during the takeover of the Promised Land - and these people were not faithful followers.
“so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved” - It is indisputable that the Jews chased after some evil things and practices. Some of the things they ‘craved’ were sinful - worshipping idols and false gods, etc., - but some were were fairly ‘natural’. They wanted food, water, safety. It seems that many were willingly ready to jump to the conclusion, “You brought us out here to die!” It wasn’t very often that their response to a perceived crisis was to go to the Lord in prayer and supplication.
V. 7 - “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were” - I tend to think of idolators as people who worship some false god or another person. However, it goes deeper than that. Whether it is food, or golf (any sport or activity), or cars, or politics, etc., anything that grabs our attention and keeps it away from the Lord - that may be idolatry.
“The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to pray.” - (See: Exo. 32:19) This was from the golden calf incident - they went about their lives oblivious to their sin. This statement is different than the defiant, “Eat. Drink. Be Merry, for tomorrow we die!” We can get so wrapped up in our lives and activities that the Lord is not part of our existence. He is not just on the ‘back burner’, but not even on the stove.
V. 8-10 - “Nor let us act immorally… try the Lord… grumble” - Three incidents from the Exodus saga, see: Num. 25:1-9; Num. 21:5-9; Num. 16:41-49. In the first, the Israelites were consorting (immorally) with Moabite women and even marrying them, thereby disobeying the Lord’s commands. In the second, the Israelites accused God and Moses of trying to kill them in the desert. Some of the people accused Moses, Aaron, and God of bringing them out of Egypt just to kill them (Note: this was just after God had dealt with rebellious Levites in a spectacular way!). In each case, the Lord was being challenged - they were not going to be told what to do, or not to do, by Moses, Aaron, or even God. (Does that sound familiar in your life?) It does not end well for them.
V. 11 - “they were written for our instruction” - If you are like me, you must be wondering why Paul is including ancient Jewish history in a letter to some Gentiles in Corinth. There probably were some Jews in the church, because he usually started each mission in a synagogue wherever he stopped. These incidents from Numbers were most likely taught to Israelite children in school or synagogue. (On the other hand, considering the state of history education in the U.S., maybe the Jewish children were also ignorant of their past. On the other, other hand, looking back at Old Testament account sometimes it seems the Jews didn’t seem to learn from their own mistakes even when taught.)
The facts of God’s miracles for the Jews, his chosen people, are amazing and we are fortunate to have this recorded history. The facts of God’s judgements against His own people are just as astounding! We can see that God is intensely interested in His people and their successes, and equally concerned when they fail. It is clear God does not ignore His own, especially when they begin to stray - He takes corrective action.
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