1 Corinthians: A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians

10 1 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 The Warning Example of the Wilderness Generation For I would not have you ignorant, brothers , of the fact that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 21 and were all bsptized1 into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 31 and all · ate the same spiritual food and all drank.the same spiritual drink.2 41 That is, they drank3 from a spiritual rock which followed them. The rock, however, was Christ. 51 But with most of them God4 was not well pleased ;s for "they were laid low in the wilderness." 61 But these things have become6 examples for us, in order that we should not have a craving for evil as they craved it. 7 I Do not become idolaters either, as some of them were; as it is written. "The people sat down to eat and drink,7 and rose up to play (or: dance)." 8 I Neither let us practice sexual immorality, as some of them did; and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 I Neither let us tempt Christ,8 as some of them did; and they were destroyed9 by serpents. 10 I Do not grumble either, as some of them did; and they perished at the hand of the Destroyer. 11 I But these things happened to them by way of example; and they were written down to be a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 I Therefore let the man who thinks he stands beware lest he fall I 131 You have (so far) been overtaken by no temptation save only what is human. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond your powers, but along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you can bear it. 164 2 3 4 5 6 p•6 originally had E{3a7rrL!;owro, but corrected it to E{3a1rrLuavro. Zuntz, T ext, 234, holds that the road from middle to passive is easier than the reverse. Caution is called for in assessing the middle, since 7 the use of the language has lost its precision and the sense is determined not so much by the formal 8 rules of grammar as by the actual process of baptism. All the same, it may well be that we here catch a glimpse of the parae~eti:: purpose. They had them- 9 selves baptized, and afterwards changed their minds 10 again. Take warning! The aorist indicates a fact. The imperfect indicates the manner. Om. Marcion, see below. Notice the tone that is imparted by putting the negative at the beginning [in the Greek text]. EMOKELII Ell, "be well pleased with": :I il~i. Number [of the Greek verb] in accordance with the noun in the predicate: also classical, KUhner- BlassGerth 1:75£. The aorist denotes the result, BlassDebrunner §327. 7rELII is the Hellenistic, contracted infinitive of 7rLvw, Blass- Debrunner §31 (2) . XpLCTTOS is the reading of p 46 D G Marcion, Clem AI, Orig, st latt, KVpLOS NBC p 3 3 syrhma. Zuntz, Text, 126f is emphatically in favor of XpLCTTOS. Ct7rWAAOIITO NB; Ct1rWAovro CD G st. His exegetical method has earlier patterns in Hellenistic judaism. The content is in part also drawn from there. The most important material for comparison is provided by Philo. Perhaps we have a glimpse of differences between Jewish schools of exegesis , see on 11 :2ff. On Philo see Edmund Stein, Die allegorische Exegese des Philo aus Alexandrien, BZAW, 51 (Giessen : Topelmann, 1929). On typology in general : Leonhard Goppelt, Typos. Die typolo- 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Verses 1-10 constitute a self-contained, scribal discourse on passages from the biblical exodus narrative: the cloud (Ex 13:21), the sea (Ex 14:21f), the manna (Ex 16:4, 14-18), the spring (Ex 17:6; Num 20:7-13), the apostasy (Ex 32:6). The style of Paul's "typological" exposition shows that the biblical material is assumed to be known: 10 "the" cloud, etc. The new element which Paul has to offer is the interpretation introduced by ov (){)\w Vf.J.n5 a:yvoELV "I would not have you ignorant." biblical story of"the cloud" requires only to be alluded to because it is known. The accent lies on 1ravns, "all"; cf. the repetition in vv 2, 3, 4. The interpretation is focused in the first instance entirely upon the...