Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 10:3
And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
3. and did all eat the same spiritual meat ] The manna (Exodus 16), “inasmuch as it was not like common bread, a product of nature, but came as bread from heaven (Psa 78:24; Wis 16:20 ; St Joh 6:31), the gift of God, Who, by His Spirit, wrought marvellously for His people.” Meyer. Cf. also Neh 9:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And did all eat the same spiritual meat – That is, manna. Exo 16:15, Exo 16:35; Neh 9:15, Neh 9:20. The word meat here is used in the old English sense of the word, to denote food in general. They lived on manna. The word spiritual here is evidently used to denote that which was given by the Spirit, or by God; that which was the result of his miraculous gift, and which was not produced in the ordinary way, and which was not the gross food on which people are usually supported. It had an excellency and value from the fact that it was the immediate gift of God, and is thus called angels food. Psa 78:25. It is called by Josephus divine and extraordinary food. Ant. Psa 3:1. In the language of the Scriptures, that which is distinguished for excellence, which is the immediate gift of God, which is unlike that which is gross and of earthly origin, is called spiritual, to denote its purity, value, and excellence. Compare Rom 7:14; 1Co 3:1; 1Co 15:44, 1Co 15:46; Eph 1:3. The idea of Paul here is, that all the Israelites were nourished and supported in this remarkable manner by food given directly by God; that they all had thus the evidence of the divine protection and favor, and were all under his care.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Spiritual meat] The manna which is here called spiritual.
1. Because it was provided supernaturally; and,
2. Because it was a type of Christ Jesus, who speaking of it, Joh 6:31, &c., tells us that it was a type of that true bread which came down from heaven, which gives life to the world, Joh 6:33, and that himself was the bread of life, Joh 6:48.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Those of the Jews that perished in the wilderness, did all eat the same manna which Caleb and Joshua ate of, who went into Canaan; or, those Jews that so perished in the wilderness did eat the same spiritual meat that we do, they in the type, we in the antitype. Manna is called
spiritual meat:
1. Because it was bread which came down from heaven, the habitation of spiritual beings, Joh 6:31.
2. It was miraculously produced.
3. Because it was angels food, given out by their ministry.
4. But principally, because it signified Christ, who was the true bread from heaven, Joh 6:32.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. same spiritual meatAs theIsraelites had the water from the rock, which answered to baptism,so they had the manna which corresponded to the other of the twoChristian sacraments, the Lord’s Supper. Paul plainly implies theimportance which was attached to these two sacraments by allChristians in those days: “an inspired protest against those wholower their dignity, or deny their necessity” [ALFORD].Still he guards against the other extreme of thinking the mereexternal possession of such privileges will ensure salvation.Moreover, had there been seven sacraments, as Rome teaches, Paulwould have alluded to them, whereas he refers to only the two. Hedoes not mean by “the same” that the Israelites and weChristians have the “same” sacrament; but thatbelieving and unbelieving Israelites alike had “the same”spiritual privilege of the manna (compare 1Co10:17). It was “spiritual meat” or food; becausegiven by the power of God’s spirit, not by human labor [GROTIUSand ALFORD] Ga4:29, “born after the Spirit,” that is, supernaturally.Ps 78:24, “corn ofheaven” (Ps 105:40).Rather, “spiritual” in its typical signification,Christ, the true Bread of heaven, being signified (Joh6:32). Not that the Israelites clearly understood thesignification; but believers among them would feel that in the typesomething more was meant; and their implicit and reverent, thoughindistinct, faith was counted to them for justification, of which themanna was a kind of sacramental seal. “They are not to be heardwhich feign that the old fathers did look only for transitorypromises” [Article VII, Church of England], as appears from thispassage (compare Heb 4:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And did all eat the same spiritual meat. Meaning the manna; and which the Jews also call h , “spiritual food”, as also their sacrifices, i , “spiritual bread”: not that the manna was so in own nature; it was corporeal food, and served for the nourishment of the body; but either because it was prepared by angels, who are ministering spirits, at the command of God, and hence called angels’ food, Ps 78:25 or rather because it had a mystical and spiritual meaning in it; it was not the true bread, but was typical of Christ, who is so: it resembled Christ in its original; it was prepared of God, as Christ is, as his salvation prepared before the face of all his people; it was the free gift of God, as Christ is to the mystical Israel; it came down from heaven, as Christ, the true bread of life did: it answered to him in its nature; it was in form round, expressive of his being from everlasting to everlasting, and of the perfection both of his divine and human natures; it was in colour white, signifying his purity of nature, and holiness of life and conversation; it was in quantity small, setting forth his outward meanness and despicableness in the eyes of men; and in quality it was sweet in taste, as Christ, and all the blessings and fruits of his grace are to believers. The usefulness of the manna was very great, a vast number, even all the Israelites, were supplied with it, and supported by it for forty years together, as all the elect of God, and the whole family of Christ are by the fulness of grace which is in him; and as in order that it might be proper and suitable food, it was ground in mills, or beaten in a mortar, and baked in pans; so Christ was bruised, and wounded, and endured great sufferings, and death itself, that he might be agreeable food for our faith: and as the Israelites had all an equal quantity of this food, none had more or less than others, so all the saints have an equal share and interest in Christ, in his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice; as they have the same like precious faith, they have the same object of it. To say no more, as the manna was the food of the wilderness, or of the people of Israel, whilst travelling in it, so Christ, and the fulness of grace that is in him, are the food and supply of the spiritual Israel, and church of God, whilst they are passing through this world to the heavenly glory. Now, though all the Israelites did not eat of Christ, the true bread, which was typified by the manna; yet they all ate the same food, which had a spiritual meaning in it, and a respect to Christ, but did not all enter into the land flowing with milk and honey.
h Yade Mose in Shemot Rabba, fol. 109. 3. i Tzeror Hammor, fol. 93. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The same spiritual meat ( ). Westcott and Hort needlessly bracket to . is food, not just flesh. The reference is to the manna (Ex 16:13ff.) which is termed “spiritual” by reason of its supernatural character. Jesus called himself the true bread from heaven (Joh 6:35) which the manna typified.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Spiritual meat. The manna, called spiritual because coming from heaven. See Psa 78:25; Joh 6:31; and on Rev 11:8; Rev 2:17.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) And did all eat.” (kai pantes ephagon) “And all ate,” all delivered by the blood, identified voluntarily by baptism unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, did also have food adequately and divinely supplied.
2) The same spiritual meat.” The same spiritual (Greek broma) means food – (angel-food) manna, or food for spiritual people. This referred to the manna given from heaven six days a week for 40 years Exo 16:4; Exo 16:12-15; Exo 16:31; Exo 16:35. That manna typified Christ our bread of Life, Joh 6:33; Joh 6:48-51.
God has never provided or required his minister to preach but one way of salvation – not by works, ceremonies, or keeping of laws, but by faith in the blood, Act 10:43; Rom 3:24-25. Those saved by the blood are to yield to his leadership of the Spirit in service to honor his name, Rom 8:14; Eph 2:10. In such service he guides and provides, Php_4:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. The same spiritual meat He now makes mention of the other sacrament, which corresponds to the Holy Supper of the Lord. “The manna,” says he, “and the water that flowed forth from the rock, served not merely for the food of the body, but also for the spiritual nourishment of souls.” It is true, that both were means of sustenance for the body, but this does not hinder their serving also another purpose. While, therefore, the Lord relieved the necessities of the body, he, at the same time, provided for the everlasting welfare of souls. These two things would be easily reconciled, were there not a difficulty presented in Christ’s words, (Joh 6:31,) where he makes the manna the corruptible food of the belly, which he contrasts with the true food of the soul. That statement appears to differ widely from what Paul says here. This knot, too, is easily solved. It is the manner of scripture, when treating of the sacraments, or other things, to speak in some cases according to the capacity of the hearers, and in that case it has respect not to the nature of the thing, but to the mistaken idea of the hearers. Thus, Paul does not always speak of circumcision in the same way, for when he has a view to the appointment of God in it, he says, that it was a seal of the righteousness of the faith, (Rom 4:11,) but when he is disputing with those who gloried in an outward and bare sign, and reposed in it a mistaken confidence of salvation, he says, that it is a token of condemnation, because men bind themselves by it to keep the whole law (Gal 5:2.) For he takes merely the opinion that the false apostles had of it, because he contends, not against the pure institution of God, but against their mistaken view. In this way, as the carnal multitude preferred Moses to Christ, because he had fed the people in the desert for forty years, and looked to nothing in the manna but the food of the belly, (as indeed they sought nothing else,) Christ in his reply does not explain what was meant by the manna, but, passing over everything else, suits his discourse to the idea entertained by his hearers. “Moses is held by you in the highest esteem, and even in admiration, as a most eminent Prophet, because he filled the bellies of your fathers in the desert. For this one thing you object against me: I am accounted nothing by you, because I do not supply you with food for the belly. But if you reckon corruptible food of so much importance, what ought you to think of the life-giving bread, with which souls are nourished up unto eternal life?.” We see then that the Lord speaks there — not according to the nature of the thing, but rather according to the apprehension of his hearers. (530) Paul, on the other hand, looks here — not to the ordinance of God, but to the abuse of it by the wicked.
Farther, when he says that the fathers ate the same spiritual meat, he shows, first, what is the virtue and efficacy of the Sacraments, and, secondly, he declares, that the ancient Sacraments of the Law had the same virtue as ours have at this day. For, if the manna was spiritual food, it follows, that it is not bare emblems that are presented to us in the Sacraments, but that the thing represented is at the same time truly imparted, for God is not a deceiver to feed us with empty fancies. (531) A sign, it is true, is a sign, and retains its essence, but, as Papists act a ridiculous part, who dream of transformations, (I know not of what sort,) so it is not for us to separate between the reality and the emblem which God has conjoined. Papists confound the reality and the sign: profane men, as, for example, Suenckfeldius, and the like, separate the signs from the realities. Let us maintain a middle course, (532) or, in other words, let us observe the connection appointed by the Lord, but still keep them distinct, that we may not mistakingly transfer to the one what belongs to the other.
It remains that we speak of the second point — the resemblance between the ancient signs and ours. It is a well-known dogma of the schoolmen — that the Sacraments of the ancient law were emblems of grace, but ours confer it. This passage is admirably suited for refuting that error, for it shows that the reality of the Sacrament was presented to the ancient people of God no less than to us. It is therefore a base fancy of the Sorbonists, that the holy fathers under the law had the signs without the reality. I grant, indeed, that the efficacy of the signs is furnished to us at once more clearly and more abundantly from the time of Christ’s manifestation in the flesh than it was possessed by the fathers. Thus there is a difference between us and them only in degree, or, (as they commonly say,) of “more and less,” for we receive more fully what they received in a smaller measure. It is not as if they had had bare emblems, while we enjoy the reality. (533)
Some explain it to mean, that they (534) ate the same meat together among themselves, and do not wish us to understand that there is a comparison between us and them; but these do not consider Paul’s object. For what does he mean to say here, but that the ancient people of God were honored with the same benefits with us, and were partakers of the same sacraments, that we might not, from confiding in any peculiar privilege, imagine that we would be exempted from the punishment which they endured? At the same time, I should not be prepared to contest the point with any one; I merely state my own opinion. In the meantime, I am well aware, what show of reason is advanced by those who adopt the opposite interpretation — that it suits best with the similitude made use of immediately before — that all the Israelites had the same race-ground marked out for them, and all started from the same point: all entered upon the same course: all were partakers of the same hope, but many were shut out from the reward. When, however, I take everything attentively into consideration, I am not induced by these considerations to give up my opinion; for it is not without good reason that the Apostle makes mention of two sacraments merely, and, more particularly, baptism. For what purpose was this, but to contrast them with us? Unquestionably, if he had restricted his comparison to the body of that people, he would rather have brought forward circumcision, and other sacraments that were better known and more distinguished, but, instead of this, he chose rather those that were more obscure, because they served more as a contrast between us and them. Nor would the application that he subjoins be otherwise so suitable — “All things that happened to them are examples to us, inasmuch as we there see the judgments of God that are impending over us, if we involve ourselves in the same crimes.”
(530) See Calvin on John, vol. 1, p. 247. — Ed.
(531) “ Choses qui ayent apparence sans efibt;” — “Things that have an appearance, without reality.”
(532) “ Entre ees deux extremitez;” — “Between these two extremes.”
(533) Our author, having occasion to refer to the same “Scholastic dogma” as to the Sacraments of the Old and New Testaments, (when commenting on Rom 4:12,) says, “ Illis enim vim justificandi adimunt, his attribuunt :” — “They deny to the former the power of justifying, while they assign it to the latter.” — Ed.
(534) “ Les Israelites;” — “The Israelites.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Spiritual meat.The manna (Exo. 16:13) was not natural food, for it was not produced in the natural way, but it was supplied by the Spirit and power of God. Bread from earth would be natural bread, but this was bread from heaven (Joh. 6:31). Our Lord (Joh. 6:50) had already made the Christian Church familiar with the true bread, of which that food had been the typical forecast.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3, 4. All same The same baptism, the same spiritual meat, the same spiritual drink were shared by all. And all shared the same faith. The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. This emphatic repetition of the same spiritual state of all deserves a more marked attention than has usually been bestowed upon it. Israel was now the complete Church, in which all had the same faith, baptism, and, consequently, the same regeneration. Yet the large majority of them apostatized utterly and totally, and under divine wrath their carcasses strewed the wilderness. Here not the bare possibility of apostasy is affirmed, but its actual reality. The racers all start in the same Christian race alike. The Israelites all start alike through regeneration for the promised land. Yet they fail of both the earthly and the heavenly Canaan.
Spiritual meat spiritual drink Of which the manna and the water from the smitten rock are the suggestive similes. Like the bread and wine of the sacrament, the manna, the water, and even the rock, are all emblematical of the body or blood of Christ. Hence all Israel partook not only of the manna, but of the spiritual meat of which the manna was the emblem.
Spiritual drink The water of life, of which the water from the smitten rock was an emblem.
Spiritual Rock Christ Hence it is not the rock smitten by Moses that St. Paul calls the spiritual Rock; but Christ, typified by the smitten rock, is the real spiritual Rock, of which they all did drink. Dr. Hodge and most other commentators involve themselves in inextricable confusion by making Paul call the material manna water, and rock spiritual.
Rock that followed them Rabbinical tradition affirmed that either the rock smitten by Moses, or the water flowing from it, followed the Israelites through all their journey from Rephidim to Canaan. If, as Dr. Hodge interprets, it is the material manna, water, and rock, that Paul means, then it follows conclusively that Paul endorses the tradition as true. And Alford not only carries the physical interpretation through, but he affirms that it is violence not to agree that Paul actually affirms the truth of the tradition! But when Paul tells us that the Rock was Christ, it is inadmissible to make him say that the material rock, or the stream from it, followed them.
That Christ was the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the angel-Jehovah, has ever been a scriptural maxim in the Christian Church. Dr. Hodge well says: “Our Lord said, Abraham saw his day, for he was before Abraham.
Joh 8:58. John says, (Joh 12:41,) Isaiah beheld his glory in the temple; Paul says, the Israelites tempted him in the wilderness, (1Co 10:9😉 and that Moses suffered his reproach. Heb 11:26. Jud 1:5 says, the Lord, or (as Lachmann, after the ancient versions and manuscripts, reads) Jesus, saved his people out of Egypt.” Hence there was a rock and a stream that followed Israel all their journey through; but that rock was not the rock of Horeb, as the rabbins fancied, but Christ himself.
Schoettgen quotes a Jewish writer thus: “There was a rock, shaped like a beehive, globular, and it rolled itself and went with them in their journeyings. When the camps stopped at their stations, and the tabernacle stood still, this rock came and placed itself in the threshold of the tent. Then came the princes, and, standing near it, said, Spring up, O well, etc., (Num 21:17,) and it sprung up.”
Dr. Wordsworth says, that as there were clouds to rain manna all their journey through, so there were rocks (genetically, rock) to supply water.
“He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.” Psa 78:15. “He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.” Psa 105:41.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 10:3-4. Spiritual meatspiritual drink It is not necessary to understand by the same meat and drink,the same by which genuine Christians are supported; for that could not properly be said of any Israelites who were not true believers: but the meaning is, that they all, good and bad, shared the same miraculous supply of food and drink, which was , signifying somewhat spiritual. It is observable, that St. Paul, speaking of the Israelites, uses the word all five times in the compass of the foregoing verses; besides that, he carefully says the same meat, and the same drink, which we cannot suppose to be done by chance; but emphatically to signify to the Corinthians, (who probably presumed too much upon their baptism, and eating of the Lord’s supper, as if that would recommend them to God) that though the Israelites, all to a man, ate the very same spiritual food, and drank the very same spiritual drink, yet they were not all to a man preserved; but many of them, notwithstanding, sinned, and fell under the avenging hand of God in the wilderness. The Jews have a tradition, that the water which issued from the rock in Horeb, Exo 17:6 followed the Israelites through the wilderness: it has been objected, however, that this stream did not constantly follow them; for in that case they would have had no temptation to have murmured for want of water, as we know they did at Kadesh in the circumstances so fatal to Moses; nor would they have had any occasion to buy water of the Edomites, as they proposed to do, Deu 2:6. To this Mr. Mede replies, That perhaps the streams from the first rock at Rephidim failed, for a further trial of their faith; and at Kadesh God renewed the like wonder: but that, likewise, might probably fail, when they came into the inhabited country of the Edomites, which was not till near the end of their wanderings. But it should be observed, that the Apostle does not speak of the real, but the spiritual rock; namely, Christ; whom that rock in the wilderness signified. The word was frequently bears this import; and instances of the like use of it every where abound in Scripture. This rock was indeed a striking representation of Christ, the rock of ages, the sure foundation of his people’s hopes; from whom they derive those streams of blessings, whichfollow and minister to them through all this wilderness of mortal life, and will end, for every faithful soul, in rivers of pleasure at the right hand of God for ever. See Locke, Hammond, and Mede’s Diatrib. on the place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 10:3-4 . Just as all received the self-same type of baptism (1Co 10:1-2 ), so too all were partakers of one and the same analogue of the Christian ordinance of the Supper. [1583]
] so that each one therefore stood on the very same level of apparent certainty of not being cast off by God.
The is the manna (Exo 16:13 ff.), inasmuch as it was not, like common food, a product of nature, but came as bread from heaven (Psa 78:24 f.; Wis 16:20 ; Joh 6:31 f.), the gift of God, who by His Spirit wrought marvellously for His people. Being vouchsafed by the of Jehovah, it was, although material in itself, a , a food of supernatural, divine, and spiritual origin. Comp Theodore of Mopsuestia: , . , . What the Rabbins invented about the miraculous qualities of the manna may be seen in von der Hardt, Ephem. phil. pp. 101, 104; Eisenmenger’s entdeckt. Judenth . II. p. 876 f., I. pp. 312, 467. Philo explains it as referring to the Logos, Leg. alleg. ii. p. 82, Quod deter. pot. insid. sol. p. 213.
] Exo 17:1-6 ; Num 20:2-11 . Regarding the forms and , see Lobeck, Paral. p. 425 f.
] a parenthetic explanation in detail as to the quite peculiar and marvellous character of this . The imperfect does not, like the preceding aorist, state the drinking absolutely as a historical fact, but is the descriptive imperfect, depicting the process of the according to the peculiar circumstances in which it took place; it thus has a modal force, showing how things went on with the , while it was taking place. Bengel remarks rightly on the : “qualis petra, talis aqua.”
. . .] from a spiritual rock that followed them; the Rock, however (which we speak of here), was Christ . has the emphasis; it corresponds to the preceding , and is explained more specifically by . . The relation denoted by , again, is assumed to be self-evident, and therefore no further explanation is given of the word. The thoughts, to which Paul here gives expression, are the following: (1) To guard and help the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness, Christ accompanied them, namely, in His pre-existent divine nature, and consequently as the Son of God (= the of John), who afterwards appeared as man (comp Wis 10:15 ff.). (2) The rock , from which the water that they drank flowed, was not an ordinary natural rock, but a ; not the mere appearance or phantasm of a rock, but an actual one, although of supernatural and heavenly origin, inasmuch as it was the real self-revelation and manifestation of the Son of God, who invisibly accompanied the host on its march; it was, in other words, the very Christ from heaven, as being His own substantial and efficient presentation of Himself to men (comp Targ. Isa 16:1 , and Philo’s view, p. 1103 A, that the rock was the ). (3) Such being the state of the case as to the rock, it must of necessity be a rock that followed , that accompanied and went with the children of Israel in their way through the desert; for Christ in His pre-existent condition, the heavenly “substratum,” so to speak, of this rock, went constantly with them, so that everywhere in the wilderness His essential presence could manifest itself in their actual experience through the rock with its abundant water; and, in point of fact, did so manifest itself again and again. In drinking from the rock , they had their thirst quenched by Christ , who, making the rock His form of manifestation, supplied the water from Himself , although this marvellous speciality about the way in which their thirst was met remained hidden from the Israelites.
Since the apostle’s words thus clearly and completely explain themselves, we have no right to ascribe to Paul, what was a later invention of the Rabbins, the notion that the rock rolled along after the marching host ( Bammidbar, R. S. 1; Onkelos on Num 21:18-20 ; and see Wetstein and Schttgen, also Lund, Heiligth. , ed. Wolf, p. 251); such fictions as these, when compared with what the apostle actually says, should certainly be regarded as extravagant aftergrowths (in opposition to Rckert and de Wette). It is just as unwarrantable, however, to explain away, by any exegetical expedient, this rock which followed them, and which was Christ. The attempts which have been made with this view run directly counter to the plain meaning of the words; e.g. the interpretation of Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Piscator, Drusius, Grotius, Lightfoot, Billroth, al [1587] (which dates from Theodore of Mopsuestia), that the rock means here what came from it, the water (!), which, they hold, followed the people and prefigured Christ ( ). That denotes here significabat (so too Augustine, Vatablus, Salmasius, Bengel, Loesner, al [1588] ), is a purely arbitrary assumption, seeing that Paul neither says , nor , or the like, nor even indicates in any way in the context a typico-allegorical reference. This applies also against what Ch. F. Fritzsche has in his Nova opusc . p. 261: “The rock in the wilderness was a rock of blessing, strength, and life-giving for the Jews, and thus it prefigures Christ,” etc. Paul does not say anything of the sort; it is simply his expositors who insert it on their own authority. Baur, too, does violence to the apostle’s words (comp his neut. Theol. p. 193), by asserting that Paul speaks of Christ as the . only in so far as he saw a type which had reference to Christ in the rock that followed the Israelites, according to the allegoric interpretation which he put upon it. [1590] See, in opposition to this, Rbiger, Christol. Paul. p. 31 f.; Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 319. The ordinary exposition comes nearer to the truth, but fails to reach it in this respect, that it does not keep firm enough hold of the statement, that “ that rock was Christ ,” and so of its identity with Him, but takes Christ to be the Rock only in an ideal and figurative sense, regarding Him as different from the rock from which the water flowed, but as the author of its supply. So, in substance, Chrysostom, [1591] Oecumenius, Theophylact, Melanchthon, Cornelius a Lapide, and many others, among whom are Flatt, Kling in the Stud. und Krit. 1839, p. 835; Osiander, Neander, Hofmann. [1592]
[1583] Bengel well says: “Si plura essent N. T. sacramenta, ceteris quoque simile quiddam posuisset Paulus.” At the same time, it should be observed that the ecclesiastical notion of a sacrament does not appear in the N. T., but is an abstraction from the common characteristics of the two ordinances in question. Both, however, are equally essential and characteristic elements in the fellowship of the Christian life. Comp. Baur, neut. Theol. p. 200; Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 353.
[1587] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1588] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.
[1590] Baur is wholly unwarranted in taking , ver. 3 f., in the sense of typical or allegorically significant . His appeal to Rev 11:8 and Barnab. 10 is irrelevant.
[1591] , , .
[1592] Comp. his Schriftbew. I. p. 171: “The rock from which the water flowed was a natural one, and stood fast in its own place; but the true Rock that really gave the water was the (Isa 30:29 ), was Jehovah, who went with Israel.” By not calling the Rock God, but Christ, the apostle points forward, as it were (according to Hofmann), to the application which he is about to make of the words, namely, to the cup which Christ gives us to drink. But Paul’s words are so simple, clear, and definite, that it is impossible to get off by any quid pro quo. For the rest, it is to be observed that in this passage, as in the previous one, where the crossing of the sea is taken as a typical prefiguration of baptism, we have doubtless a Rabbinical process of thought on the part of the apostle, which, as such, is not to be measured by the taste of our day, so that this unvarnished exegetical conception of it might be set down as something “absurd,” as is done by Hofmann. The Rabbinical culture of his time, under which the apostle grew up, was not done away with by the fact of his becoming the vessel of divine grace, revelation, and power. Comp. Gal 4:22 ff. Our passage has nothing whatever to do with Isa 30:29 , where men go up into the temple to Jehovah, the Rock of Israel. It is of importance, however, in connection with Paul’s doctrine regarding the pre-existence of Christ and its accordance with the doctrine of the Logos.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1969
THE MANNA AND ROCK TYPES OF CHRIST
1Co 10:3-4. They did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them: and that rock was Christ.
THOUGH it is certain that the covenant of grace is ordered in all things and sure, and that God will fulfil his promises to all who believe, yet there is no man so absolutely assured of his own interest in the Divine favour, as that he can with safety cast off all watchfulness and circumspection. The Corinthians, by going to the utmost verge of their Christian liberty in eating things offered to idols, were in danger of being drawn back into actual idolatry. The Apostle recommends to them therefore to exercise self-denial, as well for their own sake, that they might not be ensnared, as for the sake of others, whose weak consciences might be wounded. He tells them that he himself felt the necessity of mortifying all his appetites, and that he was obliged to keep his body under, and to bring it into subjection, lest by any means, after having preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away. He then proceeds to remind them of the Israelites, who, notwithstanding the numberless privileges that they enjoyed, as Gods peculiar people, perished in the wilderness for their manifold provocations. Among the privileges which he specifies, we shall fix our attention upon that referred to in the text; and shall take occasion from it to inquire,
I.
What was that spiritual food which the Israelites partook of in the wilderness?
God, having brought his people into the wilderness, sustained them there with miraculous supplies of bread and water
[About six weeks after their departure out of Egypt [Note: Exo 16:1.], their provisions were spent, and they began to be in want of bread. God therefore promised them a constant supply from day to day: forbidding them to reserve any for the morrow, except on the day preceding the sabbath, when they were to gather sufficient for two days consumption. This food (which for want of any more appropriate name they called manna, i. e. a portion) descended from the clouds every night; and, when the dew that covered it was exhaled by the sun, it appeared on the face of the ground: it was a very small white thing like coriander seed, which they ground in their mills, and baked; and, in taste, it was like wafers made of fresh oil and honey [Note: Exo 16:13-31. with Num 11:8.]. Of this there was a constant and regular supply for forty years; nor did it ever fail, till their want of it was superseded by the corn, of which they got possession in the laud of Canaan. In like manner, water was given them out of a rock in Horeb, by a stroke of that rod, with which Moses had divided the Red Sea [Note: Exo 17:5-6.]: and it was made to follow them in all their encampments for about thirty-eight years; when, for their further trial, the stream was dried up, and a similar miracle was wrought for them again in Kadesh-barnea [Note: Num 20:8-11.].]
This food, though carnal in its nature and use, was truly spiritual; inasmuch as it was,
1.
A typical representation of Christ
[Our Lord himself copiously declares this with respect to the manna: He draws a parallel between the bread which Moses gave to the Israelites, and himself as the true bread that was given them from heaven; and shews that, as the manna supported the natural life of that nation for a time, so he would give spiritual and eternal life to the whole believing world [Note: Joh 6:48-58.]. The same truth he also establishes, in reference to the water that proceeded from the rock. He told the Samaritan woman, that if she would have asked of him he would have given her living water [Note: Joh 4:10-14.]. And on another occasion he stood in the place of public concourse, and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink [Note: Joh 7:37-38.]; thereby declaring himself to be the only well of salvation, the only rock from whence the living water could proceed. Indeed, the Apostle, in the very words of the text, puts this matter beyond a doubt; they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.]
2.
A sacramental pledge of his blessings
[Under the Gospel dispensation there are two sacraments, baptism and the Lords supper: and these are not only outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace, but they are also means whereby we receive that grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof. Thus when the Israelites were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, they were consecrated unto God; and they received, as it were, an earnest from him, that all the blessings of his covenant should in due time be imparted to them, unless they, by their violation of the covenant, should provoke him to withhold them. In the same manner the bread and water miraculously given and continued to them, were a pledge, that they should one day eat of the hidden manna, and drink of the rivers of pleasure which are at his right hand for evermore, provided they continued steadfast in the covenant, and walked worthy of their heavenly calling. Thus while their daily food typically represented, and, to those who partook of it in faith, really conveyed, spiritual blessings, it was an earnest to them of that Spirit, whom the water typified, and an earnest of that inheritance, which Christ should purchase for them by his obedience unto death [Note: 2Co 1:22. Eph 1:14.].]
And that this food was not peculiar to them may be shewn by considering,
II.
In what respects it was the same with that which we now partake of
When the Apostle says, that they all eat the same spiritual meat, he does not mean that all the Israelites subsisted on the same food (for that was obvious enough, and was of no consequence to his subject) but that their spiritual food, represented by the manna and the water, was the same that still nourishes the Church of God. To elucidate this we may observe, it was the same,
1.
In its nature and substance
[As their bodies could not have maintained their vigour without the daily use of bread and water, so neither could their souls flourish, unless they daily fed upon Christ, the living bread, and received from him renewed communications of his Spirit. And are there any other means of subsistence for our souls? Has not our Lord expressly told us, that except we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we have no life in us? Has not St. Paul also assured us, that none can belong to Christ unless they be partakers of his Spirit [Note: Rom 8:9.]? We are as destitute of strength in ourselves as the Israelites were; and need the same direction, support, and succour. If any man could be sufficient of himself, surely the great Apostle of the Gentiles was: but he corrects himself instantly when he appeared to have suggested an idea that was capable of that interpretation; I live, says he, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me [Note: Gal 2:20.]. This is precisely what the believers in the wilderness did, when they subsisted on their spiritual food; and it is what every believer must do as long as the world shall stand.]
2.
In its use and tendency
[The daily supply of manna, and of the water from the rock, continually reminded them of their dependence upon God, and encouraged them to serve him with a willing mind. But the conveyance of spiritual blessings to them under these symbols would go further still, and actually produce the dispositions, which the outward blessings could only tacitly recommend. And what are the dispositions which the eating of the bread of life, and the drinking of the living water uniformly create? Do they not lead us to a dependence on Gods care, and a devotedness to his service? The very end for which our Saviour died, was, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them: no doubt therefore his love, when shed abroad in the heart, will incline us to do this [Note: 2Co 5:14-15.]; and his grace communicated to the soul, will enable us to do it.]
We may learn from hence,
1.
In what spirit we should attend the ordinances of the Gospel
[The Israelites were left to feel their need of food before the miraculous supplies were given them: and with what avidity would they gather up the new created bread! with what insatiable appetite would they bow down to drink of the flowing stream! Such is the spirit with which we should approach the ordinances of our God. In them the manna is rained round about our tents: in them the rock is struck, and the waters of salvation flow around us: and if we come hungering and thirsting, we shall never be sent empty away. Let none then consider the ordinances as mere occasions for gratifying their curiosity, but as the place where spiritual food is set before them for the support and comfort of their souls. The Israelites would ask but one question: Is this provision suited to my necessities? So neither should we concern ourselves much about the manner in which the ordinances are dispensed, but rather go, that we may receive Christ in them, and have more abundant communications of his Spirit imparted to us.]
2.
What should be the habit of our minds when we have partaken of spiritual blessings
[The particular object of the Apostle in the text is, to inculcate the necessity of fear and caution: and the argument he uses is well calculated to effect his purpose. Two millions of Israelites came out of Egypt: they were brought in safety through the Red Sea, and supported by this miraculous food: yet, of all who had attained the age of twenty, two only were suffered to enter into the promised land. All the rest perished in the wilderness: and the very profession which they made, and the privileges which they enjoyed, served but to enhance, in most instances, it is to be feared, their eternal condemnation. Moreover they were intended by God himself as examples to us [Note: , ver. 6, 11.]; that we, admonished by their fate, might suppress all irregular desires, and walk more worthy of our high calling. Well therefore does the Apostle add, Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. We never are so much in danger as when we think ourselves most secure. Let us then not be high-minded, but fear: whatever mercies we have experienced, and whatever enjoyment of spiritual blessings may have been vouchsafed to us, let us remember, that we are not beyond the reach of temptation: we may have escaped for a while the pollutions of the world, and yet be again entangled therein and overcome [Note: 2Pe 2:20.]: it is not sufficient for us to have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come: we may still fall away, and return to a state from whence we shall never be renewed to repentance [Note: Heb 6:5-6.]. Let all then take heed, lest, a promise being left them of entering into Gods rest, they should by any means come short of it [Note: Heb 4:1.].]
1 CORINTHIANS, X. 3, 4.
See Sermon on 1Ti 1:11. where it forms the third Sermon of a series.
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
Ver. 3. And did all eat ] They fed upon sacraments, and yet died in God’s displeasure. The carcase of the sacrament cannot give life, but the soul of it, which is the thing represented. It is well observed that sacraments do not work as physic, whether men sleep or wake, ex opere operate, by virtue inherent in them; but ex opere operantis, according to the disposition and qualification of the party that partaketh.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] They had what answered to the one Christian sacrament, Baptism: now the Apostle shews that they were not without a symbolic correspondence to the other, the Lord’s Supper. The two elements in this Christian sacrament were anticipated in their case by the manna and the miraculous stream from the rock: these elements, in their case, as well as ours, symbolizing THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. The whole passage is a standing testimony, incidentally, but most providentially , given by the great Apostle to the importance of the Christian sacraments , as necessary to membership of Christ , and not mere signs or remembrances : and an inspired protest against those who, whether as individuals or sects, would lower their dignity, or deny their necessity.
… ] The manna is thus called, from its being no mere physical production, but miraculously given by God the work of His Spirit. Thus Isaac is called, Gal 4:29 , , in opposition to Ishmael, . Josephus calls the manna , Antt. iii. 1. 6: and in Ps. 77:24, it is said .
We can scarcely avoid recognizing in these words a tacit reference to our Lord’s discourse, or at all events to the substanee of it, Joh 6:31-58 . “For the sense of , as ‘ typical ,’ ‘seen in the light of the spirit,’ cf. Rev 11:8 , .” Stanley.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 10:3-4 . After deliverance came the question of sustenance . This was effected in the desert by means no less miraculous and symbolic: “and they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink” the manna of Exo 16:13 ff., etc., and the stream drawn from the rocks of Rephidim (Exo 17 .) and Kadesh (Num 20 .). The epithe does not negative the materiality of the and , any more than the corporeality of the ripe Christian man described in 1Co 2:15 ; it ascribes to these nutriments a higher virtue such as, e.g ., the bread of Christ’s miracles had for intelligent partakers a spiritual meaning and influence : for the bread, see Deu 8:2 f. ( cf. Mat 4:3 f., Joh 6:31 ff., Psa 78:23 ff.); for the water, Exo 17:7 , Num 20:13 , Psa 105:41 , Isa 35:6 . In drinking from the smitten rock the Israelites “were drinking” at the same time “of a spiritual rock ” and that not supplying them once alone, but “following” them throughout their history. 1Co 10:4 b explains 4 a ( ): P. justifies his calling the miraculous water “spiritual,” not by saying that the rock from which it issued was a spiritual (and no material) rock, but that there was “ a spiritual rock accompanying” God’s people; from this they drank in spirit, while their bodies drank from the water flowing at their feet. The lesson is strictly parl [1414] to that of Deu 8:3 f. respecting the manna. In truth, another rock was there beside the visible cliff of Rephidim: “Now this rock ( ) was the Christ! ” The “meat” and “drink” are the actual desert food “the same” for “all,” but endowed for all with a “spiritual” grace; the “spiritual rock” which imparted this virtue is distinguished as “following” the people, being superior to local limitations a rock not symbolic of Christ, but identical with Him . This identification our Lord virtually made in the words of Joh 7:37 . The impf [1415] ( ) (4 b ), exchanged for (4 a ), indicates the continuous aid drawn from this “following rock”.
[1414] parallel.
[1415]mpf. imperfect tense.
Baur, Al [1416] , and others suppose P. to be adopting the Rabbinical legend that the water-bearing Rephidim rock journeyed onwards with the Israelites (see Bammidbar Rabba , s. 1; Eisenmenger, Entd. Judenthum , I. 312, 467, II. 876 f.). Philo allegorized this fable in application to the Logos ( Leg. alleg . II. 21 f.; Quod det. pot. insid. solet , 30). This may have suggested Paul’s conception, but the predicate ) emphatically discards the prodigy; “we must not disgrace P. by making him say that the pre-incarnate Christ followed the march of Israel in the shape of a lump of rock!” (Hf [1417] ). not the doctrine , nor the hope of the Christ, but Himself assumes that Christ existed in Israelite times and was spiritually present with the O.T. Church, and that the grace attending its ordinances was mediated by Him. “The spiritual homogeneity of the two covenants” which gives to the Apostle’s warning its real cogency “rests on the identity of the Divine Head of both. The practical consequence saute aux veux : Christ lived already in the midst of the ancient people, and that people has perished! How can you suppose, you Christians, that you are secured from the same fate!” (Gd [1418] ).
[1416] Alford’s Greek Testament .
[1417] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).
[1418] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
Holsten rejects the parenthetical clause as a theological gloss; but it is necessary to explain the previous . . , and is covered doctrinally by the of 1Co 8:6 (see note). Already Jewish theology had referred to the hypostatized “Wisdom” (see Wisdom 10), or “the Logos” (Philo passim ), the protection and sustenance of ancient Israel. The O.T. saw the spiritual “rock of Israel” in Jehovah (Deu 32 , 2Sa 23:3 , Isa 17:10 ; Isa 26:4 , etc.), whose offices of grace, in the N.T. view of things, devolve on Christ. The Ap. does not in so many words associate the “spiritual food” and “drink” of 1Co 10:3 f. with the Lord’s Supper, as he did the crossing of the Red Sea with Baptism; but the second analogy is suggested by the first, and by the reference to the Eucharist in 1Co 10:15 ff. In no other place in the N. T. are the two Sacraments collocated.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
spiritual. Greek. pneumatikos. See 1Co 12:1.
meat = food.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3.] They had what answered to the one Christian sacrament, Baptism: now the Apostle shews that they were not without a symbolic correspondence to the other, the Lords Supper. The two elements in this Christian sacrament were anticipated in their case by the manna and the miraculous stream from the rock: these elements, in their case, as well as ours, symbolizing THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. The whole passage is a standing testimony, incidentally, but most providentially, given by the great Apostle to the importance of the Christian sacraments, as necessary to membership of Christ, and not mere signs or remembrances: and an inspired protest against those who, whether as individuals or sects, would lower their dignity, or deny their necessity.
…] The manna is thus called, from its being no mere physical production, but miraculously given by God-the work of His Spirit. Thus Isaac is called, Gal 4:29, , in opposition to Ishmael, . Josephus calls the manna , Antt. iii. 1. 6: and in Ps. 77:24, it is said .
We can scarcely avoid recognizing in these words a tacit reference to our Lords discourse, or at all events to the substanee of it,-Joh 6:31-58. For the sense of , as typical, seen in the light of the spirit, cf. Rev 11:8, . Stanley.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 10:3. , and all) The three former particularly refer to baptism; this and the following, to the Lords Supper. If there were more sacraments of the New Testament, Paul would have laid down something that bore likewise a resemblance to the others.- ) the same, in respect of the fathers that fell, or did not fall; not in respect of them and us; for in the New Testament there is none of the Mosaic manna; comp. of one [partakers of that one bread], 1Co 10:17.-, meat) Exo 16:14.-, spiritual) Manna was spiritual food, not in itself, Joh 6:32; nor merely in the way of prefiguration; but because there was give from Christ to the Israelites, along with food for the body, food for the soul, the manna, which is far more noble than external food: comp. the next verse; and in this better sense, the denomination is given; comp. Psa 78:24-25 : and there was spiritual food not only to believers, but also, on the part of God [as far as Gods part is concerned], to the others.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 10:3
1Co 10:3
and did all eat the same spiritual food;-They ate of the food that God gave them-the manna and the quails. [Spiritual is to be taken in contrast with natural, not as regards the nature of the food, but of its source, which was supernatural and miraculous.] The manna given by God is contrasted by Jesus with himself as the true bread that came down from heaven. (See Joh 6:31-35). As the Israelites ate of the manna and were preserved alive, so the disciples ate of the true bread, Jesus Christ. The disciples ate of him by making him their Lord and doing his will. Jesus said: My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. (Joh 4:34). So it is the meat of his disciples to do the will of Jesus and to finish the work he has given them to do. To do his will strengthens the soul as bread does the body.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Exo 16:4, Exo 16:15, Exo 16:35, Deu 8:3, Neh 9:15, Neh 9:20, Psa 78:23-25, Psa 105:40, Joh 6:22-58
Reciprocal: Deu 7:9 – the faithful Psa 78:13 – He divided Psa 78:24 – had rained Psa 91:6 – destruction Joh 6:31 – He gave Joh 6:49 – and are 1Co 2:13 – spiritual things 1Co 6:13 – but God 1Co 10:17 – that 1Co 11:24 – this
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 10:3-4. The meat they ate was literal but had a typical or spiritual significance, because it had to be provided by miracle; it refers to the manna and quails recorded in Exodus 16. The drink also was literal water but had to be produced by miracle (Exo 17:6). The rock at Horeb from which the drinking water was drawn was a type of Christ who is the Rock of Ages.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 10:3. and did all eat the same spiritual meatthe manna which, by a mysterious arrangement of heaven, fed them all their journey through.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
They, that is, the fathers in the wilderness, did all eat of the manna which came down from heaven, which is here called spiritual meat; either because it came down from heaven, which is the habitation of spiritual beings; or because it was food given out by the ministry of angels, those spiritual agents; or else it is called spiritual, that is, sacramental, meat, because it typified Christ, who is the bread of life, the true bread which came down from heaven.
That manna was a type of Christ, thus appears: “Was manna provided by God for the Israelites without their labour and industry? so is Christ given unto men without any merit or work of theirs, but of the free gift and goodness of God.
Did manna come down from heaven beside the ordinary course of nature?
so was Christ’s birth wonderful, and not as the birth of other men; being not begotten of mortal seed, but by the influence of the Holy Ghost.
Was manna distributed to all alike, one not having more, and another less, but all an equal share?
in like manner Christ communicates himself unto all alike, without acceptance of persons.
A beggar may have as great a part in Christ as a prince.
Again, as manna was food, plentiful food, sweet and pleasant food; so is Christ the food of life, very sweet to such a soul as can truly relish him.
Farther, must the manna, before fit for food, be beaten in a mortar, or broken in a mill, and baked in an oven?
so Christ, our heavenly manna, was broken on the cross, scorched in the fire of his Father’s wrath, that he might become the spiritual food wherewith our souls are nourished unto everlasting life.
Finally, as manna was given only in the wilderness, and ceased when the Israelites came into Canaan; so is Christ our spiritual meat, our sacramental food, whilst we are in the wilderness of this world; but when we shall come to the heavenly Canaan, we shall have no more any need of sacramental supports, but shall behold him face to face, and be satisfied with his likeness.”
And they did all drink of that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock Christ. Here the water out of the rock is also called spiritual drink, it being typically and sacramentally so.
That rock was Christ; that is, it typified Christ. The word is doth import as much as signifies or represents; so the rock is Christ; that is, it signified, represented, and typified Jesus Christ.
For as the rock gave no water before it was smitten with the rod of Moses; so was Christ smitten upon the cross, and out of his side came forth water; and it was the rod in Moses’s hand that smote and broke the rock; so was Christ smitten with the curse of the law, in the day when his soul was made an offering for sin.
In a word, as the rock yielded water, not only to them that were first present at the proaching of it, but followed them with its streams, in their stations through the wilderness; in like manner the water which gushed out from our smitten Saviour, the sweet fruits and benefits of his death, did not only belong to them who were present at the time and place of his suffering, but it doth and will accompany all believers to the end of this world. The virtue and efficacy of Christ’s blood is now as great, as efficacious and effectual, as it was the first hour it was shed; the divinity of his person adds an eternal efficacy to his passion.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 3, 4. And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4. And did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.
As the Holy Supper serves to maintain in salvation those who have entered into it by the faith professed in baptism, so the Israelites also received, after the initial deliverance, the favours necessary to their preservation. These benefits, corresponding to the bread and wine of the Supper, were the manna daily received, and the water which God caused to issue from a rock in two cases of exceptional distress. The epithet , spiritual, cannot refer to the nature of these two Divine gifts; for they were material in substance. We may interpret it in two ways: either in the sense of typical, if we regard the material gift as the figure of a higher and future one; or in the sense of supernatural, in so far as these gifts were the immediate products of creative energy, regarded as proceeding from the Divine Spirit (Gen 1:2; Psa 33:6). I doubt whether examples can be quoted sufficient to establish the first of these two meanings; Rev 11:8, the only passage adduced by Edwards, is not convincing. The second meaning, on the contrary, is in harmony with biblical language in general and with that of the apostle in particular, though Holsten alleges the contrary; comp. Gal 4:29. Moreover, it must be considered that the first meaning, by lowering the gifts made to the Israelites to the level of mere figures, would so far diminish the force of the argument; while the second, by representing them as miraculous gifts, gives it additional solidity: Heavenly food, and He did not save them! Supernatural water, and those who drank it perished under condemnation! The pronoun , the same (food), does not refer, as is thought by Calvin and Heinrici, to the identity of these gifts with those bestowed on Christians. The one point in question is the relation of the Israelites to one another. All partook equally of this miraculous nourishment; and two were saved!
Vv. 4. Paul here refers to the two events related Exo 17:6 and Num 20:11. The miraculous character of the water which came from the rock is explained by the following proposition (for); it follows from the spiritual nature of the rock whence it flowed. The word spiritual cannot therefore have here a meaning exactly similar to that which it had in the foregoing propositions. There this epithet denoted the supernatural origin of the material gifts. Applied, as it is here, to the source of the miraculous water, it can only designate the nature of the rock; for it is this nature which explains the creative energy that was inherent in it and the supernatural effects it could produce. To produce this supernatural water, there was needed a rock Divine in its nature. Several commentators, Rckert, Baur, de Wette, Meyer (1st edns.), have thought that Paul was here appropriating the Rabbinical fable, according to which a material rock rolled over hill and dale across the desert beside the camp of the Israelites, so as to supply them with the water they needed; it was Miriam, Moses’ sister, who above all was said to possess the secret of getting this water. But how can we imagine for a moment the most spiritual of the apostles holding and teaching the Churches such puerilities? In any case, even if he meant to allude to so ridiculous a fable, which we greatly doubt, he has done so in such a way as to make palpable the wide divergence between the Rabbinical opinion and his own.
In fact, the object of the two epithets and , accompanying and spiritual, is certainly to distinguish exactly the invisible and spiritual Rock of which he himself speaks, from the material rock spoken of in Exodus, that of which the Lord said to Moses the first time: I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, and the second time in the wilderness of Sin: Take the rod…and speak to the rock…, and thou shalt bring forth water from the rock. These two rocks already stood there when Israel arrived in these localities, and they remained there when Israel left them. Paul, therefore, can only mean one thing: that behind these material and immoveable rocks, there was one invisible and moveable, the true giver of the water, to wit, the Christ Himself. If anyhow such is the meaning of the narrative of Exodus, in Paul’s view, where is place left for a third sort of rock at once spiritual and material and of a nature wholly incomprehensible? The imperfect , drank, indicates duration, a repetition of similar cases; and this because the spiritual Rock was always present in the mysterious cloud which accompanied Israel. This is what the apostle expresses when he adds: and that Rock was Christ. Meyer, after abandoning his first explanation, adopts the view, since his 4th ed., that these words constrain us to hold that Paul regarded the Rock as a visible and real manifestation of the Christ, who accompanied Israel in the cloud, according to the words of the Targum of Isaiah (1Co 16:1) and of Philo, who say that the rock was wisdom.
But the idea of the incarnation of the Christ in a rock is so contrary to the spirit of St. Paul, that one cannot entertain it seriously, and 1Co 10:9 represents the Christ in the wilderness acting as the representative of Jehovah, from the midst of the cloud! Is it not perfectly simple to explain this figure of which Paul makes use, by the numerous sayings of Deuteronomy, in which the Lord is called the Rock of Israel: The Rock, His work is perfect (Deu 32:4); Israel lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation (Deu 32:15); Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful (Deu 32:18), etc., and by all those similar ones of Isaiah: Thou hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength (Isa 17:10); in the Lord is the Rock of ages (Isa 26:4)? Only, what is special in the passage of Paul is, that this title of Rock of Israel, during the wilderness history, is ascribed here, not to Jehovah, but to the Christ. The passage forms an analogy to the words Joh 12:41, where the apostle applies to Jesus the vision in which Isaiah beholds Adonai, the Lord, in the temple of His glory (ch. 6). Christ is represented in these passages, by Paul and John, as pre-existent before His coming to the earth, and presiding over the theocratic history. In ch. 1Co 8:6, Paul had designated Christ as the Being by whom God created all things. Here he represents Him as the Divine Being who accompanied God’s people in the cloud through the wilderness, and who gave them the deliverances which they needed. We have the same view here as appears in the angel of the Lord, so often identified in Genesis with the Lord Himself, and yet distinct from Him, in the Being who is called in Isaiah the angel of His presence (Isa 63:9), and in Malachi the angel of the covenant, Adonai (Mal 3:1), the Mediator between God and the world, specially with a view to the work of salvation. It is easy to understand the relation there is between the mention of this great theocratic fact and the idea which the apostle wishes to express in our passage. The spiritual homogeneity of the two covenants, and of the gifts accompanying them, rests on this identity of the Divine head of both. The practical consequence is obvious at a glance: Christ lived in the midst of the ancient people, and the people perished! How can you think yourselves, you Christians, secure from the same lot!
It is clear that there is no good ground for holding, as Holsten does, the second part of this verse to be interpolated. It enters perfectly into the course of the argument.
Reuss alleges that with such a conception of history as the apostle here expresses, one comes very near seeing nothing more in it than pure allegories, and not realities. It seems as if this critic would like to make St. Paul the forerunner of his own critical system. He forgets that it is one thing to derive a moral application from an accomplished fact, and another to assert that the fact itself is only an illustration of the moral idea.
It has been justly observed that in this passage we find for the first time the combination of the two sacred acts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as forming a complete whole: the one representing the grace of entrance into the new life, the other the grace by which we are maintained and strengthened in it. The combination of these two acts, under the particular name of sacraments, is not therefore an arbitrary invention of dogmatic.
The Israelites, after their exodus from Egypt, all received Divine favours analogous though inferior to those which Christians themselves enjoy; and, notwithstanding, what a judgment!
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
and did all eat the same spiritual food;
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 3
Spiritual meat; spiritual food; that is, they all enjoyed the same high spiritual privileges, although, as it is stated in the 1 Corinthians 10:4,5, they greatly misimproved them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
10:3 And did all eat the {d} same spiritual {e} meat;
(d) The same that we do.
(e) Manna, which was a spiritual meat to the believers, who in faith lay hold upon Christ, who is the true meat.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Furthermore, fourth and fifth, all the Israelites, not just some of them, ate the manna and drank water from the rock. They ate supernatural food and received supernatural sustenance. They ate manna throughout their wilderness sojourn (Deu 8:2-4), and they drank from the rock at the beginning (Exo 17:1-7) and at the end of it (Num 20:2-13), namely, throughout their wilderness experience. Paul called the manna and water spiritual food and drink because God provided them supernaturally and because they have spiritual significance. Both of them came ultimately from Christ and point to Christ, the real sustainer of His people (cf. Joh 6:35; Joh 6:48-51; Joh 7:37-38). The Israelites thought of God as a rock (Deu 32:4; Deu 32:15; Deu 32:18; Deu 32:30-31; et al.). He as a rock, not some physical rock, accompanied them in the wilderness. Their eating and drinking of God is similar to and anticipated the Christian Lord’s Supper.
Paul’s point in these first four verses was that the Israelites were the chosen people of God just as Christians are now the chosen people of God. God accompanied and provided for them faithfully in the past just as He does for all Christians now.