Page 34 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

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 need simply asks 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 using the analogy in a similar way. 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 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,
three 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 up 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 the 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 a premature death is possible because of sin (1 Corinthians
11:30). Often, we as Christians have “will I go to Heaven?” on our mind in every text of the Bible.
The problem is that 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.

Rebellion in the wilderness (Hebrews 3):

Like Paul, the author of Hebrews views the return of Christ as coming at any moment. He warns the
people not to go back to Judaism. He reminds them that the last time the people of God failed to go

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

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