the good story
there was a just man named abraham.
- promise to abraham from god
- abrahams descendents go to egypt, become cruelly enslaved
- god draws them out, not of themselves, but by his power
- god guides them through the wilderness
- they are attacked; god protects them
- they are hungry; god feeds them
- they are thirsty; god gives them drink
god loves and cares for his people; he blesses them and shows them
his concern; he reveals himself personally to them
1. all were under the cloud (v1,2)
exd 13:21
and the lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to
lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light
israel had god in a visible manifestation
showing them where to go and providing them with light.
(the almighty god does this personally?)
2. all passed through the sea (v1,2)
exd 14:21,22
and the lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and
turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. and the sons
of israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the
waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
3. baptized into moses in the cloud and the sea(v2)
(previous verses)
paul compares these experiences to be baptism into moses; both were public
affirmations and declarations of god's covenant with man.
notice that both were things that god did for man and not vice versa; they
received much from god...
4. ate the same spiritual food (v3)
exd 16:4, 14-18
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven
for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every
day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.
When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness
there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
When the sons of Israel saw {it,} they said to one another, "What is
it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is
the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
5. drank the same spiritual drink (christ was the rock)
exod 17:6
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at
Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of
it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the
elders of Israel.
num 20:7-13
(moses strikes twice rather than speak to it)
"which followed them"
there was a rabbinic tradition which said that the rock from horeb
actually "rolled after, followed, or went with" (thiselton, p726)
israel.
whether paul is pulling from the tradition literarilly or literally isn't
much of an issue, as the point is the same.
1. israel received significant blessings from god
2. notice the kindness of god in dealing with his people
the dark side of the story
the people whom god had redeemed from slavery turned against him.
- they pursued other gods, even making up their own to worship instead.
- they ignored his commands and sinned sexually.
they are our example; v11
1. do not be idolaters.
ex 32:1-6 - the golden calf
ex 24:18 - moses goes up for 40 days; he comes down in 32 and they have
given themselves over to idolatry.
moses commands the levites to go through the camp and kill the immoral...
3,000 die.
'rose up to play' is sometimes interpreted as a sexual euphenism
paul pins this on corinth in the latter half of this chapter...
2. do not act immorally; 23,000 fell in a day
sounds like corinth...
num 25:1-9
israel is at shittim and 'the people begin to play the harlot with the
daughters of moab'
again, moses commands the 'judges of israel' to go through the camp and kill
the immoral...
there is also a plague killing the israelites; it is halted when phinehas kills
the offending couple. as a result, god blesses phinehas.
23,000 or 24,000 dead?
who knows; calvin says the number was between, and paul takes the low
boundary while moses rounds up.
3. do not try the lord; destroyed by serpents
num 21:4-9
"why have you brought us up out of egypt to die in the wilderness? for there
is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food"
god sends 'fiery serpents'...
"we have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you"...
do not speak against the lord, try the lord.
4. do not grumble; destroyed by the destroyer
this happened frequently...
ex 15:24, 16:2,7,8
num 14:27 - the people grumble and want to return to egypt; god says to them
that their "corpses shall fall in this wilderness"
this last warning may be a summary of the character and pattern of israel; grumbling
against the lord.