Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 10:7
Neither be ye idolaters, as [were] some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
7. Neither be ye idolaters ] Tyndale characteristically renders “ worshippers of images ” See Exo 32:6.
to play ] Dancing (see Stanley and Alford in loc.) was probably included, as it formed part of the worship of the heathen deities. Cf. Horace, “Quam nee ferre pedem dedecuit choris. sacro Dianae celebrant die.” Odes, 2:12. 19. But the original Hebrew word has a wider signification, to sport, to laugh, exactly the same as the kindred word from which is derived Isaac, “he shall laugh,” so named from Sarah’s laughter. The same is the case with the Greek word , used here.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neither be ye idolaters – This caution is evidently given in view of the danger to which they would be exposed if they partook of the feasts that were celebrated in honor of idols in their temples. The particular idolatry which is referred to here is, the worship of the golden calf that was made by Aaron Exo 32:1-5.
As it is written – Exo 32:6.
The people sat down to eat and to drink – To worship the golden calf. They partook of a feast in honor of that idol. I have already observed that it was common to keep a feast in honor of an idol, and that the food which was eaten on such an occasion was mainly the meat which had been offered in sacrifice to it. This instance was particularly to the apostles purpose, as he was cautioning the Corinthians against the danger of participating in the feasts celebrated in the pagan temples.
And rose up to play – ( paizein). The Hebrew word used in Exo 32:6 ( tsaachaq) means to laugh, to sport, to jest, to mock, to insult Gen 21:9; and then to engage in dances accompanied with music, in honor of an idol. This was often practiced, as the worship of idols was celebrated with songs and dances. This is particularly affirmed of this instance of idol worship Exo 32:19; and this was common among ancient idolaters; and this mode of worship was even adopted by David before the ark of the Lord; 2Sa 6:5; 1Ch 13:8; 1Ch 15:29. All that the word to play here necessarily implies is, that of choral songs and dances, accompanied with revelry in honor of the idol. It was, however, the fact that such worship was usually accompanied with much licentiousness; but that is not necessarily implied in the use of the word. Most of the oriental dances were grossly indecent and licentious, and the word here may be designed to include such indelicacy and licentiousness.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Neither be ye idolaters] The apostle considers partaking of the idolatrous feasts as being real acts of idolatry; because those who offered the flesh to their gods considered them as feeding invisibly with them on the flesh thus offered, and that every one that partook of the feast was a real participator with the god to whom the flesh or animal had been offered in sacrifice. See 1Co 10:21.
Rose up to play.] See Clarke on Ex 32:6. The Jews generally explain this word as implying idolatrous acts only: I have considered it as implying acts of impurity, with which idolatrous acts were often accompanied. It also means those dances which were practised in honour of their gods. That this is one meaning of the verb , Kypke has largely proved. The whole idolatrous process was as follows:
1. The proper victim was prepared and set apart.
2. It was slain, and its blood poured out at the altar of the deity.
3. The flesh was dressed, and the priests and offerers feasted on it, and thus endeavoured to establish a communion between themselves and the object of their worship.
4. After eating, they had idolatrous dances in honour of their god; and,
5. as might be expected, impure mixtures, in consequence of those dances. The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play; and it is in reference to this issue of idolatrous feasts and dancings that the apostle immediately subjoins: Neither let us commit FORNICATION, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; the people of Israel, being first enticed to whoredom with the daughters of Moab, were after that invited to the sacrifices of their gods, and did eat, and bowed down to their gods. Num 25:2; so, either worshipped the creature instead of the Creator, or worshipped the Creator in and by the creature.
As it is written: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play; thus it is written in Exo 32:6; which history mentioneth another idolatry they were guilty of, in worshipping the golden calf. They were wont to have feasts after their sacrifices, and pastimes and diversions after such feasts; and particularly we are told in the history concerning the golden calf, that they danced before it. Stephen saith, Act 7:41, they rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. idolatersA case in point.As the Israelites sat down (a deliberate act), ate, anddrank at the idol feast to the calves in Horeb, so theCorinthians were in danger of idolatry by a like act, though notprofessedly worshipping an idol as the Israelites (1Co 8:10;1Co 8:11; 1Co 10:14;1Co 10:20; 1Co 10:21;Exo 32:6). He passes here from thefirst to the second person, as they alone (not he also) were indanger of idolatry, &c. He resumes the first person appropriatelyat 1Co 10:16.
someThe multitudefollow the lead of some bad men.
playwith lasciviousdancing, singing, and drumming round the calf (compare “rejoiced,”Ac 7:41).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither be ye idolaters,…. To which they seemed inclined to be, at least there was great danger that such they would be, by carrying their liberty to such a pitch, as to sit in an idol’s temple, and there eat things sacrificed unto them; and which the apostle cautions against, and uses arguments to dissuade them from in the following part of this chapter:
as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play: referring to Ex 32:6 when the Israelites, whilst Moses was in the mount, made a molten calf, and worshipped it, built an altar before it, and instituted a feast and a play; and which was performed by dancing about the calf, and singing to the honour of it, Ex 32:18 for their sitting down to eat and drink is not to be understood of an ordinary meal, but of a feast kept in honour of the golden calf, and which they covered by calling it a feast to the Lord; and their playing also was on the same account, in imitation of the Heathens, who made feasts, and appointed plays to the honour of their deities: some indeed interpret t this last action of uncleanness, which they committed after their feast was over, and which also was sometimes done in the Heathen temples, the word being sometimes used in this sense; see
Ge 39:14 but others understand it of the act of idolatry; so two of the Chaldee paraphrases interpret the words in Exodus u; “they rose up to play”, , in strange service, i.e. idolatry; and though the apostle does not mention their punishment, yet it was a very great one, three thousand persons fell the sword on that account, Ex 32:28.
t Vid. Jarchi in Exod. xxxii. 6. u Targum Jon. ben Uzziel & Jerusalem in ib. Vid. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 53. fol. 47. 4. & Shemot Rabba, sect. 1. fol. 89. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neither be ye idolaters ( ). Literally, stop becoming idolaters, implying that some of them had already begun to be. The word seems to be a Christian formation to describe the Christian view. Eating might become a stepping-stone to idolatry in some instances.
Drink (). Short form for , sometimes even occurs (Robertson, Grammar, p. 204).
To play (). This old verb to play like a child occurs nowhere else in the N.T., but is common in the LXX and it is quoted here from Ex 32:6. In idolatrous festivals like that witnessed by Moses when he saw the people singing and dancing around the golden calf (Ex 32:18f.).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Idolaters. Referring to the danger of partaking of the idol feasts. To play [] . The merrymaking generally which followed the feast, not specially referring to the dancing at the worship of the golden calf. See Exo 32:19.
Commit fornication. Lasciviousness was habitually associated with idol – worship. The two are combined, Act 14:29. A thousand priests ministered at the licentious rites of the temple of Venus at Corinth. 109 Three and twenty thousand. A plain discrepancy between this statement and Num 25:9, where the number is twenty – four thousand. It may have been a lapse of memory.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) Neither be ye idolaters.” (mede eidololatrai ginesthe) “Neither become ye idolaters,” ye who have control of your own will or choices. Col 3:5; 1Jn 5:21, reads “keep or guard yourselves from idols.” Eph 5:5,
2) As were some of them.” (kathos tines auton) “As some of them, the Israelites were,” by their own choice – during their journey. Exo 32:1-35 recounts their making and worshipping the golden calf.
3) As it is written. (hosper) “Just as or for example” (gegraptai) “it has been written or recorded.”
4) The people sat down to eat and drink.” (ho laos phagein kai pein) “The people sat or reclined to eat and to drink.” Exo 32:6. They sat before the idol, beholding it as an object of worship, a sin against the One true God, Psa 1:1; 1Co 8:10-13. To eat and to drink in praise of idols, false gods, brings God’s judgement down, Dan 5:1-30.
5) “And rose up to play. (kai anestesan paizein) “And stood up to play.” The play was of dancing and singing around the golden calf, acts of idolatrous worship practiced by the Egyptians. Note even God’s people are influenced by long association with evil people and evil worship. 2Co 6:14-17; Exo 32:15-20; It was also so true of Lot’s family, Gen 19:1-38.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. Neither be ye idolaters He touches upon the history that is recorded in Exo 32:7, etc. For when Moses made a longer stay upon the mountain than the unseemly fickleness of the people could endure, Aaron was constrained to make a calf, and set it up as an object of worship. Not that the people wished to change their God, but rather to have some visible token of God’s presence, in accordance with their carnal apprehension. God, in punishing at that time this idolatry with the greatest severity, showed by that example how much he abhors idolatry.
As it is written, The people sat down This passage is rightly interpreted by few, for they understand intemperance among the people to have been the occasion of wantonness, (542) in accordance with the common proverb, “Dancing comes after a full diet.” (543) But Moses speaks of a sacred feast, or in other words, what they celebrated in honor of the idol. Hence feasting and play were two appendages of idolatry. For it was customary, both among the people of Israel and among the rotaries of superstition, to have a feast in connection with a sacrifice, as a part of divine worship, at which no profane or unclean persons were allowed to be present. The Gentiles, in addition to this, appointed sacred games in honor of their idols, in conformity with which the Israelites doubtless on that occasion worshipped their calf, (544) for such is the presumption of the human mind, that it ascribes to God whatever pleases itself. Hence the Gentiles have fallen into such a depth of infatuation as to believe, that their gods are delighted with the basest spectacles, immodest dances, impurity of speech, and every kind of obscenity. Hence in imitation of them the Israelitish people, having observed their sacred banquet, rose up to celebrate the games, that nothing might be wanting in honor of the idol. This is the true and simple meaning.
But here it is asked, why the Apostle makes mention of the feast and the games, rather than of adoration, for this is the chief thing in idolatry, while the other two things were merely appendages. The reason is, that he has selected what best suited the case of the Corinthians. For it is not likely, that they frequented the assemblies of the wicked, for the purpose of prostrating themselves before the idols, but partook of their feasts, held in honor of their deities, and did not keep at a distance from those base ceremonies, which were tokens of idolatry. It is not therefore without good reason that the Apostle declares, that their particular form of offense is expressly condemned by God. He intimates, in short, that no part of idolatry (545) can be touched without contracting pollution, and that those will not escape punishment from the hand of God, who defile themselves with the outward tokens of idolatry.
(542) “ Et esgayement desborde;” — “And unbridled excess.”
(543) “ Apres la panse vient la danse;” — “After dinner comes the dance.”
(544) “ Et ne faut point douter que les Israelites n’ayent pour lots adore leur veau auec telle ceremonie et obseruation que les Gentils faisoyent leurs idoles;” — “And we cannot doubt, that the Israelites on that occasion adored their calf with the same ceremony and care as the Gentiles did their idols.
(545) “ Tant petite soit elle;” — “Be it ever so little.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
7. Idolaters Lust, or sensuous desires, in Corinth as in Israel, craved after idolatry. The revels and feasts of the golden calf were the very type of those wanton rites by which Paul’s Gentile Christians were lured to idolatry.
People sat down At the banquet of sacrifice to the golden calf; held by them to be an image representative of Jehovah, yet made in disobedience to the second commandment of the decalogue. Precisely so the Corinthians were liable to join in idolatrous banquets under supposition that the compliance was in perfect allegiance to Jesus.
To play To dance, and other antic sports, tending to but not necessarily including lasciviousness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Nor be you idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’
Reference here is to worship of the molten calf and its accompanying immoral rites (Exo 32:6), again paralleling entering idol temples, and the danger of participation in their immoral behaviour. Note the stress on the fact that they ate in the presence of the idol which resulted in sin as a consequence. That is precisely what the danger was for the Corinthians.
Note also the change from ‘we’ (1Co 10:6) to ‘you’ (1Co 10:7) to ‘us’ (1Co 10:8). Paul could not link himself to idolatry because he had never been involved with it. But he recognised his ever present, (although held under by his walking with the Spirit), propensity for sins of the flesh.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 10:7. To play signifies to dance: feasting and dancing usually accompanied the heathen sacrifices. See Hammond, Whitby, and Elsner.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 10:7 . There follows now upon this general warning the first of four special ones against sins, to which the might very easily lead. “Eligit, quod maxime Corinthiis congruebat,” Calvin.
] also in particular do not . Comp Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 314 [E. T. 366]. The repetitions of which follow, too, from 1Co 10:8 to 1Co 10:10 are also negatived, but in continuance of the special prohibitions.
] in the second person, because of the special danger to which his readers, from their circumstances , were exposed. Comp on 1Co 10:10 .
] What Paul means is the indirect idolatry involved in partaking of the heathen sacrificial feasts. Comp on 1Co 5:11 . This is clear from the quotation which he goes on to make ( . ). Comp 1Co 10:14 ; 1Co 10:20-21 . The passage cited is Exo 32:6 according to the LXX.; it describes the sacrificial feast after the sacrifice offered to the golden calf. The , four times repeated, certain of them , notwithstanding of there being very many (although not all), brings out all the more forcibly the offences over-against the greatness of the penal judgments. Comp on Rom 3:3 .
] to be merry . This comprised dancing , as we may gather from Exo 32:19 , and from ancient customs generally at sacrificial feasts; but to make this the thing specially referred to here (Hom. Od. viii. 251; Hesiod, Scut. 277; Pindar, Ol. xiii. 123) does not harmonize with the more general meaning of in the original text. To understand the phrase as indicating unchastity (Tertull. de jejun. 6) is contrary to Exo 32:18-19 , and Philo, de vit. Mos. 3, pp. 677 D, 694 A.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Ver. 7. And rose up to play ] Now if they were so cheered and strengthened by these murdering morsels, should not we be made active and abundant in God’s word by the dainties of God’s table?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7. ] Now, the special instances of warning follow, coupled to the general by in this negative sentence, as so often by in an affirmative one. Notice, that all four of these were brought about by the , not distinct from it.
This first instance is singularly appropriate. The Israelites are recorded to have sat down and eaten and drunken at the idol feast of the golden calf in Horeb: the very temptation to which the Corinthians were too apt to yield. And as the Israelites were actually idolaters, doing this as an act of worship to the image: so the Corinthians were in danger of becoming such , and the Apostle therefore puts the case in the strongest way, neither be (become) ye idolaters .
, , ‘choreas agere,’ ‘saltare accinentibus tympanis vel cantoribus:’ see reff., where the same word (or its cognate ) occurs in the Heb. The dance was an accompaniment of the idol feast: see Hor. ii. 12. 19: ‘Quam nec ferre pedem dedecuit choris sacro Dian celebris die.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 10:7 . , “And do not become idolaters”: in apposition to the clause of 1Co 10:6 , the dependent sentence of purpose passing into a direct impv [1436] ; for the like conversational freedom, cf. 1Co 1:31 , 1Co 4:16 , 1Co 7:37 , 1Co 9:15 , and notes. The repetition of this warning in 1Co 10:14 shows its urgency. Even where eating of the was innocent, it might be a stepping-stone to . Enforcing his appeal by ref [1437] to the calf-worship at Sinai, the Ap. dwells on the accompaniments of this apostasy: here lay the peril of his readers who, when released from the superstition of the old religion (1Co 8:4 ), were still attracted by its feasting and gaiety: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to sport” (following the LXX precisely). This , as in idolatrous festivals commonly, included singing and dancing round the calf (Exo 32:18 f.); there is no need to imagine a darker meaning. It was a scene of wild, careless merriment, shocking under the circumstances and most perilous, that Moses witnessed as he descended bearing the Tables of the Law. , cf. 1Co 9:4 and note.
[1436] imperative mood.
[1437] reference.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Neither. Greek. mede.
idolaters. See 1Co 5:10.
some. App-124.
is = has been.
people. Greek. laos. See Act 2:47.
rose up. Greek. anistemi. App-178.
play. Greek. paizo. Only here in N.T. This quotation is word for word from the Septuagint of Exo 32:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7.] Now, the special instances of warning follow, coupled to the general by in this negative sentence, as so often by in an affirmative one. Notice, that all four of these were brought about by the , not distinct from it.
This first instance is singularly appropriate. The Israelites are recorded to have sat down and eaten and drunken at the idol feast of the golden calf in Horeb: the very temptation to which the Corinthians were too apt to yield. And as the Israelites were actually idolaters, doing this as an act of worship to the image: so the Corinthians were in danger of becoming such, and the Apostle therefore puts the case in the strongest way, neither be (become) ye idolaters.
, , choreas agere, saltare accinentibus tympanis vel cantoribus: see reff., where the same word (or its cognate ) occurs in the Heb. The dance was an accompaniment of the idol feast: see Hor. ii. 12. 19: Quam nec ferre pedem dedecuit choris sacro Dian celebris die.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 10:7. , be ye) In this ver., and 1Co 10:10, the matter is set before them in the second person; for Paul was beyond the danger of idolatry, nay, he was even the object of their murmuring; the other things are put in the first person-both becomingly so. So 1Pe 4:1; 1Pe 4:3, in the second person.- , some of them) We should mark some; where some begin, the majority of the multitude easily follow, rushing both into sin and to punishment.-, …) So the LXX., Exo 32:6.- , to eat and drink) This quotation is much to the purpose; comp. 1Co 10:21.-, to play) A joyful festival is here indicated (celebrated with lascivious dancing around the calf.-V. g.), and at the same time the vanity of the festival on account of the idol is implied.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 10:7
1Co 10:7
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them;-Some of them had a fondness for idolatry and were drawn into it. When Moses went up into the mountain to receive the law, the people induced Aaron to make them the golden calf, and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. (Exo 32:4).
as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.-[To play here refers to those lively dances which occurred at heathen festivals (Exo 32:3-6; Exo 32:18-19; Exo 32:25), in which the Corinthians, who, before they became Christians, had indulged. Here lay their peril. They had been released from the superstitions of idolatry (1Co 8:4), and were still attracted by the feasting and gaiety, which were directly designed to provoke the most licentious passions-dances of which those now practiced are the direct lineal descendants. Hence the close connection between idolatry and fornication, which appears all through this epistle.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
be: 1Co 14:20-22, 1Co 5:11, 1Co 6:9, 1Co 8:7, Deu 9:12, Deu 9:16-21, Psa 106:19, Psa 106:20, 1Jo 5:21
The people: Exo 32:6-8, Exo 32:17, Exo 32:19
Reciprocal: Gen 35:2 – strange Hos 3:1 – love flagons Amo 2:8 – by 1Co 10:14 – flee
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 10:7. The idolatry referred to is recorded in Exodus 32. Verse 6 of that chapter says the people “rose up to play,” which is the passage Paul quotes in our present verse. And verse 19 of the chapter in Exodus says when Moses came in sight, the people were dancing. The word play in our verse is from PAIZO which Thayer defines, “to play, sport, jest; to give way to hilarity,” and he explains it to mean, “by joking, singing, dancing.” It is significant that Paul connects idolatry with the playing, which we now have learned included dancing. That is a serious conclusion, and we are sure the idea is from the truth that in promiscuous dancing, the participants are devoted to the goddess of lust.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 10:7. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written (Exo 32:6), The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. The word means to play anyhow; more especially to dance to the sound of music. Here it means to dance religiously round an idol; the idol in this case being the golden calf (Exo 32:6-19). And could any warning be more appropriate to those who thought themselves at liberty, as Christians, to sit down to an idol feast and partake of its idolatrous offeringsknowing them to be suchon the plausible pretext that an idol was nothing, and all wholesome food allowable to Christians? But this case only suggests another, no less appropriate.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle being still dissuading the Corinthians from eating of things offered unto idols, and thereby from holding communion with the Gentiles in their idolatrous banquets in their idol-temples, he sets before them the idolatry of the Jews, who sat down to eat and to drink of the sacrifices offered to the golden calf, and rose up to play: that is, to dance before the golden calf, after the manner of the heathen, this being one of their rites by which they honoured their gods.
He farther advises them to take heed how they mix with idolaters in their feasts, lest they be given up to fornication, as the Israelites were in the wilderness with the daughters of Moab, Numbers 25 of whom there fell in one day three and twenty thousand by the immediate hand of God.
Learn hence, That Almighty God has left many instances upon record, in his holy ward, of the severity of his justice upon persons guilty of idolatry and fornication, and all other sins, on purpose to warn all of their sin and danger in the perpetration and commission of them. To sin against example is an aggravation of sin.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Co 10:7-8. Neither be ye idolaters By partaking of their idolatrous feasts: by no means join the heathen in these, because if the persons whose friendship you wish to cultivate, tempt you to commit idolatry, neither your superior knowledge, nor the spiritual gifts which ye possess, will secure you against their allurements: of these things you have a striking proof in the ancient Israelites. As it is written Exo 32:6; Exo 32:19, with relation to the feast of the golden calf; The people sat down to eat and drink Of the sacrifices and libations which were offered to the calf. He says, sat down to eat, for in ancient times the Hebrews always sat at meat: see Gen 43:33. It was in later times only that, in compliance with the manners of eastern nations, they lay on couches at their meals. And rose up to play Or to dance, as the word here signifies, in honour of their idol. Dancing was one of the rites practised by the heathen in the worship of their gods. And that the Israelites worshipped the golden calf by dancing, is evident from Exo 32:19, where it is said of Moses, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and his anger waxed hot. Neither let us commit fornication A sin commonly committed at the idolatrous feasts among the heathen. And it was the more proper for the apostle to caution the Corinthians against it, because in their heathen state they had practised it even as an act of worship, acceptable to their deities; nay, and after their conversion, some of them, it appears, had not altered their manners in that particular, 2Co 12:21. As some of them committed With the Midianitish women, when they partook of the sacrifices offered to Baal-peor: the sad consequence of which was, that there fell in one day three and twenty thousand By the plague, besides the princes who were afterward hanged, and those whom the judges slew; so that there died in all twenty-four thousand, Num 25:1-9.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 7, 8. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
The , neither, connects this proposition closely with the preceding; we pass from lust to the acts in which it seeks its satisfaction.
The example quoted is that of the worship of the golden calf, and of the profane feast which followed it, Exodus 32. The verb , strictly: to play, is specially used of dancing.
Vv. 8. The danger of fornication was always connected with idolatry. At Corinth, therefore, it might easily follow participation in the sacrificial feasts.
The example quoted is that mentioned in Numbers 25, where, according to Balaam’s treacherous advice, the Israelites were enticed to a sacrifice offered by the Midianites to the god Baal-Peor, and where they let themselves be drawn into this sin.
The Old Testament relates (1Co 10:9) that 24,000 perished of the plague, inflicted by the wrath of the Lord. St. Paul speaks only of 23,000. We might admit a slip of memory. But the figure 24,000 is exactly reproduced in Philo and Josephus and the Rabbins. Are we to suppose that Paul did not know his sacred history so well as they? The same fact prevents us from supposing a variant in the text of the Old Testament. May we not here suspect a piece of Rabbinical refinement, similar to the: forty stripes save one, spoken of in 2Co 11:24? To avoid the risk of exaggeration, it had become the habit, in oral teaching we may suppose, to speak of 23,000 instead of 24,000 (see Calvin).
The transition from the second person (that ye become not, 1Co 10:7) to the first (that we commit not) seems to arise from the fact that the second danger was much more common than the first, and might apply to Christians in general.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. [Israel worshipped the golden calf, Moloch, Remphan, Baal-peor, etc. The “playing” which Paul refers to (Exo 32:3-6; Exo 32:19; Exo 32:25) was familiar to the Corinthians, who had indulged in such licentious sportfulness in the worship of Bacchus and Venus. Dancing was the common accompaniment of idolatry (Horace 2:12-19). Eating at the feast of idols was the very privilege for which the Corinthians were contending.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
7. Neither be ye idolaters as some of them, as has been written: The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Idolatry is fearfully prevalent in the churches of the present day. The people worship water gods, day gods, sectarian gods, creed gods, money gods, and many others.
This verse sweeps away all church festivals at a single dash. As in olden time, they are invariably connected with idolatry. They sat down to eat and rose up to play. This is literally verified in the churches all around us.
They have their festivals, followed by plays of different sorts. All religion is spirituality, feeding the soul and not the body, physical festivity being inimical and impedimental to true spiritual life and prosperity.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 7
The people sat down, &c. This was on the occasion of the worship of the golden calf at the time of the giving of the law. (Exodus 32:6.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 10:7-10. Four examples, expounding in detail as they also desired.
Idolaters: put prominently first, preparing the way for 1Co 10:14-22. So fornicators in 1Co 6:9, preparing for 1Co 6:13-20.
The people sat etc.: word for word from Exo 32:6. This verse, without expressly mentioning idolatry, recalls the idolatrous scene; and is specially suitable to dissuade from taking part (1Co 10:21; 1Co 8:10) in idol feasts.
Fornication: ever closely connected with idolatry, especially at Corinth; and expressly in Num 25:1-9, to which Paul here refers.
Twenty-three thousand: 24,000 in Num 25:9, with which agree Josephus, Antiq. bk. iv. 6. 12, and Philo, vol. ii. 382. Since Paul had no source of information but the Old Testament, we cannot evade this discrepancy but supposing that on one day only 23,000 fell. Surely we need not stretch his apostolic authority to trifling numerical details. See my Romans, Dissertation iii. 2. Nor does a trifling slip of memory, if this be such, in a matter no way touching the spiritual life, lessen in the least degree his absolute authority when declaring the commands and promises of God. Cp. Gal 3:17. How needful at Corinth was this second warning, we learn from 1Co 5:1; 2Co 12:21.
The Lord: probably, especially after 1Co 10:4, in its usual sense, viz. Christ, the Master whom all Christians obey.
Tempt, or try: put to the test, as if to see how long His patience will last.
The serpents: plain reference to Num 21:6. Consequently, tempted refers to the murmuring about their food. The similar murmuring in Exo 17:3 is expressly called (Exo 5:7, cp. Deu 6:16) tempting God; and gave a name to the place, Massah, or Temptation. In these cases the Israelites tested whether God was among them and His longsuffering towards them, by looking back to the land of bondage out of which He had brought them. A similar leaning in the Corinthians to the idolatrous practices and the impurity of their past life, prompted the warnings of 1Co 10:7 f. Such looking back was a tempting of their Master, Christ, similar to that punished by the fiery serpents.
Were-being-destroyed; both depicts the scene, and includes the bitten ones who looked at the brazen serpent and recovered. 1Co 10:10 refers evidently to Num 16:41-49; and was naturally suggested by the murmuring of Num 21:5.
The destroyer: Wis 18:25; Exo 12:23. It implies that the plague of Num 16:46 ff was inflicted by a personal agent, probably an angel of God. Cp. 2Sa 24:16; Isa 37:36. The story of Num 16:41 ff is a solemn warning to all who set themselves against a divinely constituted authority; and was perhaps referred to here as a covert warning to those at Corinth who rejected Paul’s apostolic authority.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
In 1Co 10:7-10 Paul cited four practices that got the Israelites into trouble with God. All of them were possibilities for the Corinthians as they fraternized with pagans by participating in their feasts. They are all possibilities for us too.
First, the Israelites participated in idolatry when they ate and played in the presence of the golden calf (Exo 32:6). [Note: See Jerry Hwang, "Turning the Tables on Idol Feasts: Paul’s Use of Exodus 32:6 in 1 Corinthians 10:7," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54:3 (September 2011):573-87.] It is possible that their "play" involved sexual immorality (cf. Gen 26:8; Num 25:1-3). The scene on that occasion must have been similar to what happened at the feasts some of the Corinthians attended. There is a danger that we may compromise our commitment to God, as the Israelites did, when we participate in sinful pagan celebrations.