Page 32 - Biblical Backgrounds

Idolatry on Mount Sinai (Exodus 32):

When Moses took the people to Mount Sinai, he went to get the commands of Yahweh. While he was
gone, the people chose to abandon Yahweh, make a calf for themselves to worship, and go back to
Egypt. The calf/bull was a symbol of fertility in the Mesopotamian and Canaanite cultures. Part of the
worship would have included rampant sexual promiscuity.

Paul picks up that citation in 1 Corinthians 10. He warns the Christian readers not to fall away from
following Christ closely as the Jews did in the wilderness. His point in bringing it up was not that they
may lose their salvation but that the desire for evil can cause their destruction. Does this mean they are
not saved because they die before seeing the promise? No! One simply needs to ask this to clarify: Was
Moses unsaved because he failed to enter the promised land? Clearly, he was not, but his sin made him
miss out because he died in the wilderness. Paul is similarly using the analogy. They believed the
kingdom would come at any moment. The promised New Jerusalem was almost there. If you become
ensnared by evil and die, you will miss its arrival. Unlike the wandering generation and the promised
land of Canaan, the Bible is clear that you will enter the New Jerusalem at the resurrection if you are in
Christ.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and
all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and
all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the
spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them
God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do
not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink
and rose to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-
three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did
and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by
the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written
down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who
thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not
common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but
with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
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14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

Notice that the example is not used to tell them how to get to heaven. The example derived
from the wandering is that if you desire evil and act on it, an early death may be your
consequence. Paul agrees that premature death is possible because of sin (1 Corinthians 11:30).
Often, we as Christians have “Will I go to Heaven?” on our minds in every text of the Bible. The
problem is that it is not what was on the mind of the authors in many texts of the Bible. Careful
reading will help you avoid this error and help people you disciple to avoid it as well.

73 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Co 10:1–14). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

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