1 Corinthians 10:1-12, Part 3

[Hidden In Him]

Christ Jesus: The Old Testament God Of War And Judgment, Part 3

                             

     In warning the Corinthians not to eat meat sacrificed to idols, the apostle Paul gave them four examples from Israel's history of why "lusting after evil things" could bring judgement from the Lord, and that they would not be exempted from similar judgments if they foolishly chose to do the same things. It was a serious matter before the Lord to essentially reject Him and turn to worshipping other gods after He had manifested Himself so powerfully on the Israelites' behalf, and the Corinthians were here essentially flirting with committing the same kinds of sins.
     But in these last two examples Paul will give, the sin was less about worshipping other gods and more about simply coming to a place of despising Him, though food was essentially still the reason. They were not living for the things of the Spirit but the things of the flesh, which put them automatically at odds with the God of Heaven.
     Returning to our passage, Paul will add these last two examples, and why turning against God because He wasn't providing enough gratification of the flesh was not a wise move to make:   

     10 Brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things just as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. Neither should we put the Lord to the test, as some of them tested Him, and were being destroyed by serpents. Neither let us murmur as some of them also murmured, and perished by the destroyer. These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:1-7, 11-12)

     Paul now added two more examples from Israel's history, telling the Corinthians, "Neither should we put the Lord to the test, as some of them tested Him, and were destroyed by serpents. Nor let us murmur as some of them also murmured, and perished by the destroyer." The first of these accounts was given in Numbers 21, which recorded the events as follows:

     4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:4-8)

     According to Paul's description, this was actually a test. The Israelites wanted to see just how much they could get away with in criticizing the Lord over the food He was providing, despite being delivering out of slavery and bondage in Egypt by His supernatural power. This is why they quickly turned repentant when they found out He wasn't playing their childish games.
     Why the serpent on the stick? It was God's way of reminding the Israelites that His power had been greater than that of the gods of the Egyptians. Jesus prophesied that He would be lifted up from the earth just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness (John 3:14). This meant the serpent lifted up on the pole represented Christ Jesus, the "Rock" Paul stated was following the Israelites in the desert. But snakes were also used by the Egyptians to represented a couple of their goddesses named Renenutet and Wadjet, who served as protectors over the very region the Israelites had settled in, in Lower Egypt. According to Wikipedia, "as a snake goddess worshiped over the whole of Lower Egypt (i.e. Northern Egypt, where Goshen was located), Renenutet was increasingly associated with Wadjet, Lower Egypt's powerful protector and another snake goddess represented as a cobra." (Reneutet, Wikipedia.com)

                                                 

     Sometimes Renenutet appeared on Egyptian base reliefs and paintings as a half snake, half woman, and on other occasions purely as a snake but wearing a double-plumed headdress and a solar disk to represent her. As was the case with the Egyptians, however, the fact that she sometimes took on a half human form suggests she was merely another demonic spirit the Egyptians were worshipping, one charged by the Devil with leading them into occultism, false religion and spiritual oppression.

                                                               
 
     Thus, the supernatural dual which took place before Pharaoh was for all intents and purposes a battle to see which god had more power. And as stated in Exodus, the staff of Moses - i.e. the Lord Himself - turned into a serpent just like the staffs of the magicians did, only He proceeded to swallow their staffs alive, proving He was more powerful than the gods the Egyptians were summoning through occult magic.
     Thus, the message to the Israelites was that the Lord was likewise more powerful than real snakes in a desert, and could and would heal all who trusted in Him. Unfortunately, however, this would not be the last time the Israelites murmured against the Lord concerning such matters, for Paul's next example was of how they turned against Him many years later, and were again complaining they had supposedly had things better when they lived in the land of Egypt. Once again, the compliant was over food in that they wanted to gratify the flesh, and missed the variety they once had when they were back in Egypt, apparently forgetting that they were being scourged half to death to make sure they performed enough work. But still they complained anyway, wanting to satisfy the lusts of their flesh.

     4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving, so the children of Israel also wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.
     10 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused. Moses also was displeased... (Numbers 11:4-10)

     The text here goes on to describe how the Lord then instructed Moses to choose seventy men from among the Israelites to serve as elders, and how the Lord poured out His Spirit upon them and they began to prophesy to the people (Numbers 11:11-15). No mention is made of what they prophesied specifically, but the context suggests they likely began warning the Israelites not to lust after things they had back in Egypt, but be satisfied with what God was providing them and not grumble against Him. But from what happened next, the suggestion is that they had already come to a place of despising God, and were determined not to come back to Him no matter what He did for them:

     16 So the Lord said to Moses... “You shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, 'Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, 'Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?'"
     21 And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?” 23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not”... 31 And a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. 32 And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. (Numbers 11:4-34)

     What did they murmur about on both of these occasions? Food. They were displeased with what God was providing, and secretly despised Him over it rather than simply ask Him to provide them with some meat as a break from the manna they were normally eating. But they restored to a huge pity party instead, and the Lord knew what was in their hearts, and that all the crying actually masked a secret disdain for Him. As a result, He demonstrated that He was fully capable of providing anything they needed if they asked. Yet even after supernaturally providing a million and a half people with more quail than they could eat in a month, many of the Israelites were still ungrateful and still secretly despised the Lord, which eventually led to their downfall.
     Paul added these stories to illustrate what the Corinthians should NOT be doing before the Lord. Were some now likewise disdaining Him over the commandment not to eat meat sacrificed to idols? The context seems to suggest this was possible, for that is what both these last two stories emphasized was the Israelites' principle mistake. And again, it must be understood that one could not just find meat anywhere back then. Those who wanted it could usually only find it being offered in the temples, and thus some appear to have been complaining they should be allowed to eat it, and were therefore making up theological arguments for why doing so should not be considered a sin.


Murmuring, Fornication, Idolatry And Gnosticism

     Though I have not discussed in until now, it's possible that those spreading the false teachings in Corinth could have actually been Gnostics, as is evident from the fact that they were advocating for the exact same practices the Gnostics became notorious for; the eating of meats sacrificed to idols and engaging in sexual immorality. Such was the case in the church at Pergamos in the Book of Revelation:

     I have a few things against you, because you have those there who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 So you also have there those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. (Revelation 2:14-16)

     The Nicolaitans were early Gnostics, which means Gnosticism was clearly infiltrating the churches during the New Testament era, and later church writers would be replete with similar statements about how idolatry and fornication were the principle sins the Gnostics engaged in. Speaking in regard to Basilides, a Gnostic magician and heretic from his own time, Irenaeus would state:

     He attaches no importance to eating meats offered in sacrifice to idols, thinks them of no consequence, and makes use of them without hesitation. He also holds the use of other things (i.e. prostitutes), and the practice of every kind of lust, as a matter of perfect indifference. These men, moreover, practice magic, and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1, XXIV, 5)

     The Gnostics were notorious for committing these two sins in combination because feasting and sexual immorality naturally went together in the ancient world, and their relation to one another is made all the more obvious in passages like in Jude and 2nd Peter. They were described in these letters as likewise frequently attending the Christian Agapes as "brethren," but were doing so with the secret intention of preying upon Christian women sexually, even the married Christian women:

     But there were false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you, who will stealthily bring in destructive heresies, denying the Master who purchased them, and bring swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sexually licentious ways, through whom the way of truth will be blasphemed… These are spots and blemishes, lounging about with deceitful intentions while feasting together among you, having eyes preoccupied with an adulteress and with incessant sin, alluring unstable souls, having a heart which has become trained upon sexual covetousness. (2 Peter 2:1-2, 13-14)

     I had need to write to you, exhorting you to lay stress upon that faith originally delivered to the saints. For certain men crept in secretly, those of old having been proscribed unto this condemnation: They are "ungodly ones," transforming the grace of our God into sexual licentiousness... These are blemishes in the midst of your Agapes, fearlessly shepherding themselves while feasting together among you. (Jude 1:2b-4a, 12)

     Not coincidentally concerning the current study, the Gnostics were also known to be murmurers against God, and secretly despised the Old Testament God just as some of the Israelites did:

     But Enoch, the seventh-generation descendant from Adam, also prophesied to these men, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy angels to execute judgment upon all, and reprove all the ungodly concerning all their ungodly deeds which they committed in ungodliness, and concerning all the harsh words these ungodly sinners spoke against Him." These are murmurers and complainers, walking in accordance with their lusts… (Jude 1:14-16a)

     And why exactly would they profess to follow "Christ" yet harbor a hatred for the God of the Old Testament at the same time? Because the "gods" who gave them their religion were demons, as ls readily apparent from the amulets which were used by them. The principle and highest "god" of the Gnostics was Abraxas, and he was usually depicted as a demon with the body of a man, but the head of a chicken and snakes for legs:

                                                     

     Some could say there is no specific mention of the Gnostics in this letter, but again as both Peter and Jude had stated, the Gnostics were expert at infiltrating congregations covertly by pretending to be something they were not, thereby entering in "stealthily" and "secretly" as the New Testament writers put it, or as the King James rendered it, they "crept in unawares." Had the Gnostics infiltrated the church at Corinth, and were secretly the ones advocating for eating the meats sacrificed to idols and engaging in temple prostitution? There is insufficient evidence to prove it beyond doubt, but the Gnostics also professed to walk in "Gnosis," or special "knowledge" others were not aware of, and the fact that Paul kept refuting the virtues of "knowledge" in this letter suggests he may have actually been refuting some of the earliest manifestations of Gnostic doctrines in church history. (1 Corinthians 8:1, 10-11)


Flee Fleshly Lusts, Which War Against The Soul

     The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was Israel's Champion during the Exodus. He overpowered the gods of the Egyptians and then destroyed Pharaoh's armies, supernaturally drowning them by letting the waters of the Red Sea close in around them to set His people free from spiritual and military oppression. As Paul shared in our passage, He also performed other wonders for them, causing water to flow from rocks in the desert, and not just on one occasion but on several (Exodus 17:5-7; Numbers 20:6-13), and supernaturally providing food for them by raining manna down upon them as they traveled.
                                                   

     This had direct correlation to New Testament times, for just as He had in the wilderness, Christ Jesus was now manifesting Himself supernaturally on behalf of His followers, feeding entire multitudes with just two fishes and five loaves of bread. He was again healing the sick just as when He was lifted up on a pole in the wilderness, and the early church fully understood that He was the True Passover Lamb who had now been slain for their atonement, and was again leading a people - this time the New Testament church - through their own spiritual wilderness on their way to the True Promised Land awaiting them in Heaven.
     But if they were to make it, one major thing stood in their way: They would have to flee fleshly lusts, and stand against the temptations the Devil would send their way. There was little the Lord Jesus Christ could do if His people succumbed to Satan's temptations and aroused His jealousy just as the Israelites had, which was Paul's primary point in our passage:

     All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink... 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 And these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. (1 Corinthians 10:2b-6)

     What had they lusted after in the wilderness, and what did every single example Paul gave from Israel's history have in common? Food, and the temptation to eat what God had forbidden. The apostle John likewise declared this to be a primary strategy used by the Devil against believers, citing the temptation of Eve in the garden, who was lured through "the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life." In other words, she was seduced through what looked good to eat, what she believed would bring physical pleasure by eating, and the deception that doing so would also supposedly make her "like God, knowing good and evil."
     Such were the temptations now also being presented to Christians in the early church as a result of Gnostic infiltration. And among the Corinthians, it is likely no accident that teachings which espoused indulgence in food and drink were coinciding with an increase in sexual sin among them, for as Irenaeus stated a hundred years later, these sins commonly went together among the Gnostics, and such temptations were still ultimately coming from the Devil himself, whom the Lord described in the Book of Revelation as "the Serpent of old," i.e. the serpent in the garden (Revelation 20:2; Genesis 3:1-15).

     Wherefore it also comes to pass that the "most perfect" among them addict themselves without fear to all those kinds of forbidden deeds of which the scripture assures us that "they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." They make no scruple about eating meats offered in sacrifice to idols, imagining that in this way they can contract no defilement. Then, again, at every heathen festival celebrated in honor of the idols, these men are the first to assemble... Others of them yield themselves up to the lusts of the flesh with the utmost greediness, maintaining that carnal things should be allowed to the carnal nature, while spiritual things are provided for the spiritual. Some of them, moreover, are in the habit of defiling those women to whom they have taught the above doctrine, as has been frequently confessed by those women who have been led astray by certain of them, on their returning to the church of God, and acknowledging this along with the rest of their errors. Others of them, too, openly and without a blush, having become passionately attached to certain woman, seduce them away from their husbands, and contract marriages of their own with them. Others of them, again, who pretend at first to live in modesty with them as with sisters, have in course of time been revealed in their true colors, when the sister has been found with child by her [pretended] brother. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1, VI, 3)

     All those who in any way corrupt the truth, and injuriously affect the preaching of the church, are the disciples and successors of Simon Magus of Samaria... They set forth indeed the name of Christ Jesus as a sort of lure, but in various ways they introduce the impieties of Simon. And thus they destroy multitudes, wickedly disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a good name, and, through means of its sweetness and beauty, extending to their hearers the bitter and malignant poison of the Serpent, the great author of apostasy. (irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1, XXVII, 4)

     Thus, instead of attaining to eternal life, the early church teaching was that those who succumbed to these heresies and never repented of it would suffer destruction from the Lord, often bringing swift judgment upon themselves even in this life, just as the Israelites had in the wilderness:

     But there were false prophets among the people, as there will also be false teachers among you, who will stealthily bring in destructive heresies, denying the Master who purchased them, and bring swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sexually licentious ways, through whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. (2 Peter 2:1-2)

     And to the angel of the church at Thyatira write: "These things saith the Son of God… I know your works, and love, and service, and faith, and your endurance, and that your last works are more than [your] first. But I have against you that you suffer the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and misleads My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her time that she might repent of her sexual immorality, but she does not want to repent of it. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction if they will not repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the reins and hearts, and will give to each of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:18-23)

     How do these things relate to the end-times? As I have taught for more than a decade now, Gnosticism is returning in the earth, and with it there will come an increasing need to separate ourselves from the lusts of the flesh. Those who cannot flee from fleshly lusts which war against the soul may find themselves fighting against the very God of Heaven and earth Himself, who has long demonstrated He is a victorious God of war, and a God who brings judgment upon all who reject Him, and turn to serving evil instead.   






Links to sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renenutet#:~:text=Renenūtet%20%28also%20transliterated%20Ernūtet%2C%20Renen-wetet%2C%20Renenet%29%20was%20a,time.%20Initially%2C%20her%20cult%20was%20centered%20in%20Terenuthis.