Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 10:8
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
8. Neither let us commit fornication ] i.e. the natural result of joining in the impure worship of Ashtaroth, or Astarte, the Syrian Venus. The temple of Aphrodite, on the Acro-Corinthus, contained a thousand priestesses devoted to the same licentious worship. See Introduction. The warning in the text was, therefore, by no means needless. The occasion referred to is that related in Num 25:1-6.
three and twenty thousand ] In Num 25:9 we find 24,000. The actual number would no doubt be between the two, so that both here and in the book of Numbers only round numbers are given. “Our Apostle saith not definitely three and twenty thousand perished, but three and twenty thousand at the least.” Lightfoot.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neither let us commit fornication … – The case referred to here was that of the licentious contact with the daughters of Moab, referred to in Num 25:1-9.
And fell in one day – Were slain for their sin by the plague that prevailed.
Three and twenty thousand – The Hebrew text in Num 25:9, is twenty-four thousand. In order to reconcile these statements, it may be observed that perhaps 23,000 fell directly by the plague, and 1,000 were slain by Phinehas and his companions (Grotius); or it may be that the number was between 23,000 and 24,000, and it might be expressed in round numbers by either – Macknight. At all events, Paul has not exceeded the truth. There were at least 23,000 that fell, though there might have been more. The probable supposition is, that the 23,000 fell immediately by the hand of God in the plague, and the other thousand by the judges; and as Pauls design was particularly to mention the proofs of the immediate divine displeasure, he refers only to those who fell by that, in illustration of his subject – There was a particular reason for this caution in respect to licentiousness:
(1) It was common among all idolaters; and Paul in cautioning them against idolatry, would naturally warn them of this danger.
(2) It was common at Corinth. It was the prevalent vice there. To Corinthianize was a term synonymous among the ancients with licentiousness.
(3) So common was this at Corinth, that, as we have seen (see the introduction), not less than 1,000 prostitutes were supported in a single temple there; and the city was visited by vast multitudes of foreigners, among other reasons on account of its facilities for this sin. Christians, therefore, were in a special manner exposed to it; and hence, the anxiety of the apostle to warn them against it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Fell in one day three and twenty thousand.] In Nu 25:9, the number is 24,000; and, allowing this to be the genuine reading, (and none of the Hebrew MSS. exhibit any various reading in the place,) Moses and the apostle may be thus reconciled: in Nu 25:4, God commands Moses to take all the heads (the rulers) of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun; these possibly amounted to 1000, and those who fell by the plague were 23,000, so that the whole amounted to 24,000. Instead of , 23,000, two MSS., with the later Syriac and the Armenian, have , 24,000; but this authority is too slender to establish a various reading, which recedes so much from the received text. I think the discordance may be best accounted for by supposing, as above, that Phineas and his companions might have slain 1000 men, who were heads of the people, and chief in this idolatry; and that the plague sent from the Lord destroyed 23,000 more; so an equal number to the whole tribe of Levi perished in one day, who were just 23,000. See Nu 26:62; and see Lightfoot.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The story to which this verse relates is that, Num 25:1-9. When Balaam could not curse the Israelites, he advised the debauching of them by the Moabitish women, first enticing them to fornication and adultery, then to idolatry: and they were enticed, which caused a plague amongst them, which destroyed amongst them
in one day three and twenty thousand, saith our apostle: Moses saith, that there died twenty and four thousand. There are many guesses for the clearing of that seeming contradiction. Some say, that Moses mentioneth not one day, there might in all die twenty-four thousand, but not all the same day, nor possibly by the same death. But nothing is in Scripture more ordinary, than to speak of things or persons in round numbers, though something over or under; and also to speak according to the common reckoning of people, who also may talk variously. Some might report twenty-three, some twenty-four thousand: or possibly Paul chose to mention the lesser rather than the greater round number. The sense of Moses might be, about twenty-four thousand, or near up to that number, all of which probably had not been guilty of adultery or fornication. Paul saith, there died twenty-three thousand. If there did die twenty-four thousand, there must needs die twenty-three thousand.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. fornicationliterally,Fornication was generally, as in this case (Nu25:1-18), associated at the idol feasts with spiritualfornication, that is, idolatry. This all applied to the Corinthians(1Co 5:1; 1Co 5:9;1Co 6:9; 1Co 6:15;1Co 6:18; 1Co 8:10).Balaam tempted Israel to both sins with Midian (Re2:14). Compare 1Co 8:7;1Co 8:9, “stumbling-block,””eat . . . thing offered unto . . . idol.”
three and twenty thousandinNu 25:9 “twenty and fourthousand.” If this were a real discrepancy, it would militaterather against inspiration of the subject matter and thought,than against verbal inspiration. The solution is: Moses inNumbers includes all who died “in the plague”; Paul, allwho died “in one day“; one thousand more may havefallen the next day [KITTO,Biblical Cyclopdia]. Or, the real number may have beenbetween twenty-three thousand and twenty-four thousand, saytwenty-three thousand five hundred, or twenty-three thousand sixhundred; when writing generally where the exact figures were notneeded, one writer might quite veraciously give one of the two roundnumbers near the exact one, and the other writer the other [BENGEL].Whichever be the true way of reconciling the seeming discrepantstatements, at least the ways given above prove they are not reallyirreconcilable.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither let us commit fornication,…. To which the Corinthians were much addicted: hence the apostle elsewhere, in this epistle, makes use of arguments, to dissuade from it, as he does here, they judging it to be no evil:
as some of them committed; i.e. fornication; as they did at Shittim, with the daughters of Moab, Nu 25:1 which was a stratagem of Balaam’s, and the advice he gave to Balak king of Moab, to draw them into that sin, which made way for their commission of idolatry, which they committed by eating the sacrifices of their gods, and bowing down unto them; particularly they joined themselves to Baal Peor, the same with Priapus, one part of whose religious rites lay in acts of uncleanness, and this brought the divine displeasure on them:
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand; in Nu 25:9 the number said to be “twenty and four thousand”: and so say all the three Targums on the place w, and both the Talmuds x and others y; on the other hand, all the Greek copies of this epistle, and the Oriental versions, agree in the number of twenty and three thousand; so that it does not appear to be any mistake of copies, in either Testament. To reconcile this matter, or at least to abate the difficulties of it, let the following things be observed; as that the apostle does not write as an historian, and so not with that exactness as Moses did; besides, he does not say that there fell “only” three and twenty thousand, and this beings lesser number than is contained in his, and so a certain truth; moreover, Moses and the apostle use different words in their account; Moses says there died so many, including the heads of the people that were hanged up against the sun, and all that perished by the sword; the apostle says, that there fell such a number, referring only to the latter, who only could be properly said to fall, and not those that were hanged up: now the heads of the people that suffered the first kind of death, might, as is very probable, be a thousand; and they that died in the other way, three and twenty thousand, which make the sums to agree, and both are expressed by Moses, under the general name of a plague or stroke; to all this, that the apostle uses a limiting clause, which Moses does not, and says that these three and twenty thousand fell in one day. So that it is very likely that the heads of the people, supposed to be a thousand, were hanged up in one day; and the three and twenty thousand that fell by the sword died the next, which the apostle only takes notice of. Hence the Jew z has no reason to charge the apostle with an error.
w Targum Onkelos, Jon. ben Uzziel & Jerusalem in Numb, xxv. 9. x T. Hieros Sota, fol. 21. 4. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 106. 1. y Midrash Kohelet, fol. 68. 4. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 127. 3. z R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, par. 2. c. 36. p. 468.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neither let us commit fornication ( ). More exactly, And let us cease practicing fornication as some were already doing (1Cor 6:11; 1Cor 7:2). The connection between idolatry and fornication was very close (see Jowett, Epistles of Paul, II, p. 70) and see about Baal-Peor (Nu 25:1-9). It was terribly true of Corinth where prostitution was part of the worship of Aphrodite.
In one day ( ). An item that adds to horror of the plague in Nu 25:9 where the total number is 24,000 instead of 23,000 as here for one day.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) Neither let us commit fornication. (mede porneuomen) “Neither let us commit fornication.” Carnal fornication and adultery were closely associated with sacrificial rituals of the Moabites and many other nations that worshipped heathen and idol gods, Num 25:1-3.
2) “As some of them committed.” (kathos tines auton epornuson) “In the same manner some of them committed fornication,” Num 25:4-9. This reference recounts how Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the high priest of Israel, thrust an Israelite man and Midianite woman both through the belly with a javelin and slew them, Psa 106:30.
3) “And fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (epesan mia hemera eikosi treis chiliades) “And fell down in one day twenty-three thousand.” Twenty-three thousand were slain in one day, but those that fell in this plague of Divine Judgement, extending beyond the one, were twenty-four thousand, a thousand were thus slain after the first day of the plague, Num 25:9; Num 25:14-18. A total of 14,750 were slain in another plague at the Rebellion of Korah, Num 16:35; Num 16:49.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. Neither let us commit fornication Now he speaks of fornication, in respect of which, as appears from historical accounts, great licentiousness prevailed among the Corinthians, and we may readily infer from what goes before, that those who had professed themselves to be Christ’s were not yet altogether free from this vice. The punishment of this vice, also, ought to alarm us, and lead us to bear in mind, how loathsome impure lusts are to God, for there perished in one day twenty-three thousand, or as Moses says, twenty-four. Though they differ as to number, it is easy to reconcile them, as it is no unusual thing, when it is not intended to number exactly and minutely each head, (546) to put down a number that comes near it, as among the Romans there were those that received the name of Centumviri , (547) (The Hundred,) while in reality there were two above the hundred. As there were, therefore, about twenty-four thousand that were overthrown by the Lord’s hand — that is, above twenty-three, Moses has set down the number above the mark, and Paul, the number below it, and in this way there is in reality no difference. This history is recorded in Num 25:9
There remains, however, one difficulty here — why it is that Paul attributes this punishment to fornication, while Moses relates that the anger of God was aroused against the people on this account — that they had initiated themselves in the sacred rites of Baalpeor. (548) But as the defection began with fornication, and the children of Israel fell into that impiety, not so much from being influenced by religious considerations, (549) as from being allured by the enticements of harlots, everything evil that followed from it ought to be attributed to fornication. For Balaam had given this counsel, that the Midianites should prostitute their daughters to the Israelites, with the view of estranging them from the true worship of God. Nay more, their excessive blindness, in allowing themselves to be drawn into impiety (550) by the enticements of harlots, was the punishment of lust. Let us learn, accordingly, that fornication is no light offense, which was punished on that occasion by God so severely and indeed in a variety of ways.
(546) “ De faire vn denombrement entier des personnes par testes, comme on dit;” — “To make a complete enumeration of persons by heads, as they say.”
(547) “ Les juges qui estoyent deputez pour cognoistre des matieres ciuiles, estoyent nommez les cent, et toutes lois il yen auoit deux par dessus;” — “The judges who were deputed to take cognizance of civil matters were called The Hundred, and yet there were two above the hundred.” As the Centumviri were chosen out of the thirty-five tribes, into which the Roman people were divided, three from each tribe, they consisted properly of 105 persons. — Ed.
(548) “ Auoit sacrifie a Baalpheor;” — “Had sacrificed to Baalpeor.”
(549) “ Non pas tant pour affection qu’ils eussent a la fausse religion;” — “Not so much from any attachment that they had to a false religion.”
(550) “ Vne impiete si vileine;” — “An impiety so base.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) And fell in one day three and twenty thousand.In Num. 25:9 the statement is that twenty-four thousand perished. Various and ingenious attempts have been made to reconcile these two accounts of the actual numbers. The explanation most in harmony with the character of the writer, and the utterly unessential nature of the point historically, is, I venture to think, that either the Apostle quoted from memory a fact of no great importance, or else that he referred for his figures to some copy of the LXX., in which the numbers might be specified as here.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Let us Paul, perhaps, reverts here to the first person from delicacy.
Fornication Any illicit sexual connexion. This caution well follows next after that against idolatry; for the idol rites consisted largely of debauchery, as is illustrated by the case to which Paul now refers.
Committed While the Israelites yet sojourned on the east side of the Jordan, the Moabite women first invited them to their sacrificial banquets, and thereby seduced them to whoredom. Numbers 25. The worship of the Corinthian Venus was of precisely the same kind; in which debauchery was consecrated as a religious rite. How liable the Corinthian Christians were to that sort of seduction the case of the incestuous man indicates.
Three and twenty thousand The Old Testament (Num 25:9) says, four and twenty thousand. Scholars generally admit that Paul wrote as this present text stands; and many, as Alford and Kling, treat it as a failure of apostolic memory. Alford considers it discreditable to maintain any other view. Grotius reconciles the contradiction by supposing that the twenty-three thousand were slain by the plague and one thousand by Phinehas and his fellows. Wordsworth supposes that Paul gives the number who fell in the single day, while Numbers gives all that fell in consequence of the crime. Bengel supposes, that both accounts giving only the round numbers, the exact count might be between the two, and so both numbers be equally correct. Of course no moral truth is affected by the variance.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Nor let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.’
Here the sin of sexual immorality is more clearly spelled out. If the reference is to Num 25:1-3 it also includes being influenced by idolatry, and eating in the presence of idols. But ‘us’ shows his consciousness that the sin is one he too might commit, so he does not emphasise the connection with idols directly. Sexual impropriety was highly prevalent in Corinthian society, as it is for many today. It was so easy to think, ‘everyone does it, it is part of modern culture’. But Paul condemns it out of hand.
There would appear to have been a possible tradition that 23,000 died ‘in one day’, with the remainder dying soon after, making 24,000 in all (Num 25:9), or it may be that Paul is accentuating the severity of the punishment by stressing how quickly the large majority died, while not wishing to commit himself to all dying in one day.
The 24,000 may well have deliberately reflected twice twelve stressing the intensity of the punishment on the twelve tribes. Paul would recognise this. His 23,000 would then reflect the large majority, but not all, as dying in one day by a simple reduction by a fraction (a thousand). Numbers were regularly used in this kind of way in those days, to convey ideas rather than be exact. Note the mention of ‘the day of the plague’ in Num 25:18 which draws attention to the severity of the first day.
It is extremely unlikely that Paul got it wrong accidentally. He knew the Scriptures too well. That Paul clearly saw the ‘one day’ as significant in expressing the severity of the punishment comes out in the next verse where the imperfect suggests that in contrast the snake judgment occurred over a period of time, but he was clearly wary of saying that all without exception died in one day, thus he reduced the number lightly.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 10:8. Neither let us commit fornication This was common at the many idolatrous feasts among the heathen; and it was the more proper for the Apostle to caution these Christians against it, as it was proverbially called “the Corinthian practice.” See the Introduction to and Inferences on ch. 1.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 10:8 . ] Num 25:1 ff.
] According to Num 25:9 , there were 24,000. So too Philo, de vit. Mos. 1, p. 694 A; de fortit. p. 742 D; and the Rabbins in Lightfoot, Horae , p. 205; also Josephus, Antt. iv. 6. 12. A slip of memory on the apostle’s part, as might easily take place, so that there is no need of supposing a variation in the tradition (Bengel, Pott), or an error in his copy of the LXX. (Ewald). Among the arbitrary attempts at reconciliation which have been made are the following: that Paul narrates only what happened on one day, Moses what happened on two (Grotius); that Moses gives the maximum, Paul the minimum (Calvin, Bengel); that 23,000 fell vi divina , and 1000 gladio zelotarum (Krebs, after Bernard and Havercamp on Josephus, loc. cit. ); that Paul states merely what befell the tribe of Simeon (Michaelis). Cajetanus and Surenhusius would have us read , as, in point of fact, is given in a few codd [1601] , but manifestly by way of correction. Osiander too leans to this; comp Valckenaer.
[1601] odd. codices or manuscripts. The uncial manuscripts are denoted by the usual letters, the Sinaitic by .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Ver. 8. And fell in one day ] The apostle, instead of the cloak of heat of youth, puts upon fornication a bloody cloak, bathed in the blood of twenty-three thousand. (Knewstub. on Com. 7.)
Three and twenty thousand ] Moses mentions 24,000, whereof one thousand were the chief princes, the others inferiors, provoked to sin by their example. But why doth the apostle insist in the special punishment of the people? To show (saith learned Junius) how frigid and insufficient their excuse is, that pretend for their sins the examples of their superiors.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] Another prominent point in the sins of the Corinthian church.
.] The number was twenty-four thousand, Num 25:9 , and is probably set down here from memory. The subtilties of Commentators in order to escape the inference, are discreditable alike to themselves and the cause of sacred Truth. Of the principal ancient Commentators, Chrysostom and Theophyl. do not notice the discrepancy: cum. notices it, and says that some ancient copies here (so m tol syr-txt arm), but passes it without comment.
Although the sin of Baal-peor was strictly speaking idolatry , yet the form which it exhibited was that of fornication , as incident to idolatrous feasting , see Num 25:1-2 . Thus it becomes even more directly applicable to the case of the Corinthians.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 10:8 . : here P. comes closer to his readers, adopting the communicative 1st pl [1438] For the prevalence of this vice at Cor [1439] and its connexion with Cor [1440] idolatry, see 1Co 7:2 , 1Co 6:11 , and Introd ., p. 734 ( cf. Num 25:1 f. also Rev 2:14 ); for its existence in the Cor [1441] Church, ch. 5. above, and 2Co 12:21 . Wis 14:12 affirms, of idolatry at large, ; see the connexion of Rom 1:24 with the foregoing context. “23,000” is a curious variation from the figure given in Num 25:9 for the slain of Baal-Peor, which is followed by other Jewish authorities, vix., 24,000. It is more respectful to credit the Ap. with a trifling inadvertence than to suppose, with Gd [1442] , that he makes a deliberate understatement to be within the mark. Ev [1443] gives no evidence for his alleged “Jewish tradition” in support of the reduced estimate. Possibly, a primitive error of the copyist, substituting for (Hn [1444] ).
[1438] plural.
[1439] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[1440] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[1441] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[1442] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
[1443] T. S. Evans in Speaker’s Commentary .
[1444] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
three and twenty thousand. See Num 25:1-9 where the number is given as 24,000, but this included the princes of the people of verse 4. See note there. [Conversion note: verse 4 of what book and chapter? Num 25:4? 1Co 10:4? Neither verse describes “princes of the people”, so I left the original text as “verse 4”.]
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] Another prominent point in the sins of the Corinthian church.
.] The number was twenty-four thousand, Num 25:9, and is probably set down here from memory. The subtilties of Commentators in order to escape the inference, are discreditable alike to themselves and the cause of sacred Truth. Of the principal ancient Commentators, Chrysostom and Theophyl. do not notice the discrepancy: cum. notices it, and says that some ancient copies here (so m tol syr-txt arm), but passes it without comment.
Although the sin of Baal-peor was strictly speaking idolatry, yet the form which it exhibited was that of fornication, as incident to idolatrous feasting, see Num 25:1-2. Thus it becomes even more directly applicable to the case of the Corinthians.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 10:8. , committed fornication) Num 25:1.- , twenty-three thousand) They are said to have been twenty-four thousand, Num 25:9. A stroke from God swept them away; but besides, the princes [the heads of the people, Num 25:4] were hanged, and the judges were commanded to put to death their men, over whom they presided, who had been joined to Baal-peor. Moses as well as Paul gives the number of them, whom the plague itself of that day destroyed. Why then does Paul subtract a thousand? The precise number of the dead, we may suppose, was between the round numbers, 23,000, and 24,000, say 23,600, and had been known by tradition. We do not follow the subtilties of other interpreters.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 10:8
1Co 10:8
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,-They were guilty of fornication with the daughters of Moab, and by them led into idolatry and three and twenty thousand were destroyed. This is held up as a warning to Christians to avoid associations that lead to idolatry. [The danger of fornication was always connected with idolatry. At Corinth, therefore, it might easily follow participation in sacrificial feasts.]
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.-In Num 25:1-9, it is said that there were four and twenty thousand. Why this discrepancy I am not able to explain.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
fell in one day
Cf. Num 25:9. A discrepancy has been imagined. 1Co 10:8. gives the number of deaths in “one day”; Num 25:9, the total number of deaths “in the plague.” Some discrepant statements concerning numbers are, however, found in the existing manuscripts of the Hebrew Scriptures. These are most naturally ascribed to the fact that the Hebrews used letters in the place of numerals. The letters for Koph to Tau express hundreds up to four hundred. Five certain Hebrew letters, written in a different form, carry hundreds up to nine hundred, while thousands are expressed by two dots over the proper unit letter: e.g. the letter Teth, used alone, stands for 9; with two dots it stands for nine thousand. Error in transcription of Hebrew numbers thus becomes easy, preservation of numerical accuracy difficult.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
1Co 6:9, 1Co 6:18, Num 25:1-9, Psa 106:29, Rev 2:14
Reciprocal: Gen 34:7 – thing Exo 32:28 – there fell Num 25:9 – General Jos 22:17 – from which Pro 7:26 – General Pro 23:28 – increaseth 1Co 5:11 – or an idolater Eph 5:3 – fornication Heb 12:16 – any fornicator
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 10:8. The case of fornication referred to is recorded in Numbers 25. The occasion of it was the failure of Balaam to curse Israel in his speeches. Afterward, however, he gave Balak some advice by which the men of Israel were induced to commit fornication with the girls of Moab; this is mentioned in Rev 2:14. The secular history of the event is recorded in Josephus, Antiquities, Book 4, Chapter 6, Sections 6-9. It was especially appropriate to warn the Corinthians against fornication, in view of the immorality that was so common in that city.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 10:8. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Four and twenty thousand, says Num 25:9; but as the actual number would probably be between the two, the thing is here stated in round numbers.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. [Num 25:1-9 . While Paul gives the number as twenty-three thousand, Moses gives it as twenty-four. Alford and Kling think the discrepancy is due to a failure in Paul’s memory, but why should the Spirit of God let him thus forget? Grotius says that a thousand were slain by Phinehas and his followers, and the rest were destroyed by the plague. Kitto varies this a little by saying that Paul gives the number that fell on one day, as his words show, while Moses gives the full number that perished on both days. But Bengel’s solution is a sufficient one. The Hebrews habitually dealt in round numbers, so that a number between twenty-three and twenty-four thousand could be correctly stated by either figure. Moses gave the maximum and Paul the minimum. The sin mentioned was not only an ordinary accompaniment of idolatry, but often a consecrated part of it, as in the rites of Baal-peor among the Moabites and those of Venus among the Corinthians. Sins are gregarious.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
8. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and fell in one day twenty-three thousand. All deflection from God after the world is spiritual fornication, whose sweeping spiritual ruin is here vividly symbolized by twenty-three thousand in one day dropping dead. When churches reject sanctification, they always go after worldly gods, i. e., side-track away into spiritual fornication, as sanctification is simple holy wedlock with Jesus, which the Holy Ghost wants to celebrate, every recusant of course deciding in favor of rival lovers inimical to Jesus. The reason why we see the wholesale apostasy in all denominations is because God has brought on them the test of the Holiness gospel. Hence they are bound to receive it or backslide. Perhaps the Jews would have remained loyal to Jehovah many centuries if He had not sent to them His Son, who became to them an immediate stumbling block, because they rejected Him, then and there apostatizing and becoming a hiss and by-word in all the earth, rejected of God and reprobated.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 8
This verse refers to transactions recorded in Numbers 25:1-5. The number mentioned in the original account, (1 Corinthians 10:9,) as destroyed in consequence of the sin, is twenty-four thousand. Many ingenious modes of accounting for this difference have been proposed; but, as it is a difference not at all affecting the point which the apostle had in view, it seems to be of no greater importance than the other verbal diversities between the quotations in the New Testament and the originals in the Old. The evangelists and the apostles never attempt, when they quote, to transcribe the words; the give the substance from memory. It would have been very inconvenient and difficult to have referred always to the passages intended, on account of the forms of the manuscripts in use in those days, and the nature of the character; and the Holy Spirit never interposes, with miraculous aid, to accomplish what would have been of no real advantage; for the substance of the quotation is all that is required.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Second, the Israelites practiced immorality (lit. fornication) when they participated in one of the Moabites’ religious feasts (Num 25:1-9). Paul said 23,000 Israelites died in one day. Moses in Num 25:9 said 24,000 died as a result of the plague God sent to judge the people. There is, therefore, no conflict between the numbers since they describe somewhat different groups of people. Another explanation that has been suggested is that the larger number included Israel’s leaders, and the smaller one did not. If immorality is only implicit in the record of the Golden Calf incident, it is explicit in the account of the Baal Peor incident. Clearly this was taking place in the Corinthian church (1Co 5:1-5; 1Co 5:10-11; 1Co 6:9-10; 1Co 6:12-20). Some modern Christians have participated in fornication that unbelievers have lured them into.