Lessons #311 and 312
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Israel’s Shared Blessings (1 Cor 10:1-4)
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
The message of this section of 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 that we have been considering is that You should under the right spiritual leadership enjoy God’s blessing through Jesus Christ. We said, its exposition will focus on three blessings a believer should enjoy in this planet through Jesus Christ in keeping with the blessings of Israel in the desert. The first blessing of Israel in the desert under the leadership of Moses consists of God’s presence with them, evident in His guidance and protection. We applied this blessing to us to indicate we should also enjoy God’s presence evident in His guidance and protection for us. The second blessing of Israel in the desert under the leadership of Moses consists of God’s deliverance of them as they crossed the Red Sea on a dry land because the Lord parted it to enable them cross. We applied Israel’s deliverance to believers in four different areas of various dangers that threaten our lives on this planet, of fears, of troubles, and of illnesses. So, what remains is the third blessing but before the apostle gets to it, he conveyed the importance of spiritual leadership as the immediate agency of God’s blessing.
The blessing enjoyed by the Israelites in the desert are related to the leadership of Moses. In effect, it is through Moses’s leadership that the Israelites enjoyed God’s blessing. It is this truth that is conveyed in 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. This sentence seems abrupt or even unnecessary unless the Holy Spirit through the apostle wanted to convey to us the importance of spiritual leadership in the blessings of God’s people. You see, in verse 1, the Holy Spirit through the apostle introduced the blessings of the Israelites in the desert while verses 3 and 4 continued with the subject of blessings of the Israelites in the desert. Verse 2 introduced Moses in such a way to connect him with the blessings mentioned in verse 1 because of the words “cloud” and “sea” used in it. So, why would Moses be mentioned when mentioning him does not, on the surface, enhance the subject of Israel’s blessings? I submit to you that the Holy Spirit did this primarily because He wanted us to recognize Moses’ leadership role in the blessings of the Lord to Israel in the desert. Someone may protest that there is nothing in the immediate context that supports the point I have made. This seems to be the case on a surface reading of the preceding context of our passage. However, upon reflection, we should recognize that there is a connection between what the apostle taught in the previous chapter and the mention of Moses at this point. The apostle in the ninth chapter defended the principle that those who carry out the work of the ministry should be supported by those who benefit from their ministry. Thus, it is possible that someone may say, if we must support ministers, then we probably do not need them. In effect, some people may say that they could progress spiritually without teachers of God’s word although the Scripture is clear that the Lord of the church gave the church communicators of God’s word for spiritual growth of believers as implied in Ephesians 4:11–13:
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Despite this passage or if a person is ignorant of it, someone may declare that there is no need for teachers of God’s word, for example. Some individuals today claim that because the Bible is written in their languages, they do not need teachers of God’s word to explain what they assume they can read for themselves. Furthermore, such individuals appeal to the declaration that implies on the surface that a believer does not need any human teacher, according to 1 John 2:27
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
This passage does not mean that the believer does not need any teacher. For one thing, the epistle that contained this declaration is in and of itself teaching directed to the original recipients, so to say that one does not need a teacher would contradict what Apostle John wrote. The passage simply means that the ultimate teacher to the believer is the Holy Spirit. Those with teaching gifts do the first level of teaching of God’s word that believers should then reflect or meditate on what they heard. It is when such meditation or reflection of what a teacher has taught takes place that the Holy Spirit teaches the believer to fully comprehend what was taught. That aside, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit directed Apostle Paul to introduce Moses in the passage we are studying to squash any thinking that one does not need a teacher of the word of God. I am saying that a major reason Moses was introduced is to cause us to recognize the importance of spiritual leadership in believers’ enjoyment of the blessings of the Lord.
By the way, the concept of enjoyment of the Lord’s blessing being related to good spiritual leadership is evident in the Scripture. We learn of the prosperity of the Jews that returned from exile, that is, their work was progressing, as being related to the preaching ministry of Prophets Haggai and Zechariah, as we read in Ezra 6:14:
So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
The word “prosper” is translated from a Hebrew word (ṣelǎḥ) that may mean “to have success” or “to make progress.” In this passage, the sense of the word is that the Jews were making progress in their work of rebuilding the temple or they were being successful in their work. The progress occurred under the preaching ministry of the two prophets mentioned, implying that success in the people’s endeavor is related to the teaching of the word of God. The point being that good spiritual leadership is necessary for the enjoyment of God’s blessing that may come in different ways. The history of Israel’s kings as recorded in first and second Kings and first and second Chronicles proves this point. When Israel had a good king that was devoted to the Lord, the people avoided idolatry and the Lord blessed them but when they had an evil king, that is, an unbeliever then the people would plunge into idolatry drawing God’s judgment on them. The same truth is realized when Israel had prophets that were true to God’s word. Prophet Samuel, a good spiritual leader, led the people away from idolatry as we read in 1 Samuel 7:3–4:
3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
False prophets, on the other hand, misled the people as in the denouncement of Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:13–14:
13“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”
Thus, it is important we recognize that good spiritual leadership is necessary for believers’ enjoyment of the blessings of the Lord.
In any case, it is our assertion that the blessings enjoyed by the Israelites in the desert are related to the leadership of Moses. They were associated with Moses and were under his leadership as conveyed in 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. That the Israelites were associated with Moses and under his leadership is conveyed in the statement They were all baptized into Moses. This is a unique statement since it is the only place in the NT that we find the Greek phrase translated baptized into is related to an ordinary human being as an action that occurred. As an action that has been completed, the Greek phrase is used mostly in association with Jesus Christ as we read, for example, in Acts 8:16:
because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Similar Greek phrase is used by Apostle Paul as it relates to Jesus Christ in Romans 6:3:
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
To be baptized into Christ means to be baptized into Him so that an individual is in union with Christ or linked with Him, implying that a person so baptized has been incorporated into Christ. This union with Christ is not something that we can understand in a physical sense especially because Christ is God. The most we can say is that baptism into Christ establishes a unique relationship with Christ that implies we belong to Him. Since the Holy Spirit described the baptism in relation to Moses, baptism into Moses could not mean the same as baptism into Christ although the sense of relationship between Moses and those baptized into him is related to that of believers to Christ. We have actually interpreted what it means to be baptized into Moses when we stated that the Israelites were associated with Moses and were under his leadership. To see that the verbal phrase baptized into Moses means that Israel was associated with Moses in the desert and under his leadership, we need to consider the key word used which is “baptized.”
The word “baptized” is translated from a Greek word (baptizō) that has several meanings. The word may mean “to wash, purify” in a ceremonial manner so that something is purified. It is in this sense that the word is used to express the surprise of a Pharisee when Jesus did not wash His hands before meal in Luke 11:38:
But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
The word may refer to the use of water in a religious ceremony for purpose of renewing or establishing a relationship with God so means “to plunge, dip, wash, baptize.” Thus, it was used in this sense of the dedicatory cleansing associated with the ministry of John the Baptist in the record of John 3:23:
Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.
It is in this sense of the use of water in a religious ceremony for purpose of renewing or establishing a relationship with God that the word is used in the Christian ritual of initiation into the community of believers after Jesus’ death, as for example, in Acts 8:12:
But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
The Greek word may mean “to baptize, to plunge” in the sense of causing someone to have an extraordinary experience. It is in this sense that the word is used by Jesus Christ to describe His death on the cross that He would experience, as stated in Luke 12:50:
But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
The sentence I have a baptism to undergo of the NIV is more literally I have a baptism to be baptized, which is an idiom that means to be overwhelmed by some difficult experience or ordeal. Thus, “baptize” may mean to experience something extraordinary, which in this passage in Luke refers to the death of Christ on the cross. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:2, it is in the sense of causing someone to have an extraordinary experience akin to an initiatory water-rite that the word is used. In effect, the word is used with the meaning “to be initiated” or “to be baptized” that is conceived of as being immersed into a group or into the leader of the group. There is therefore a sense that the word is used to affirm Moses’ leadership over Israel. Thus, when it is said that the Israelites were baptized into Moses the meaning is that they were associated with him in the desert in their experiences and under his leadership.
We previously stated that the Holy Spirit in mentioning Moses through Apostle Paul in the passage we are studying, intended to convey to us the importance of spiritual leadership in believers’ enjoyment of God’s blessings on this planet. This being the case, we need to explore factors that contributed to Moses being a great spiritual leader for Israel to warrant him being mentioned in the passage we are studying. We will consider three factors concerning Moses that involve his birth and preservation, his call, and leadership. The factors we are going to consider boil down to one irrefutable truth, which is, that God creates leaders regardless of whether they are spiritual or military leaders.
A first factor about Moses that indicates God creates leaders is his birth and preservation. As a general observation, we can state that God acts in an incredibly special way regarding the birth of leaders that He uses in a special way. Moses was born and preserved in a unique way in Egypt. He was born when there was an edict to kill every baby boy born to Hebrew parents in Egypt as we read in Exodus 1:22:
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
Because of the edict of Pharaoh to kill every Hebrew boy born in Egypt, Moses’ mother hid him for three months before placing him at the bank of River Nile, as we read in Exodus 2:1–4:
1Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
God preserved Moses that he was not eaten by crocodile or an allegator instead sent Pharaoh’s daughter to discover him and adopt him, as we read in Exodus 2:5–10:
5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”
It is not difficult to see God’s hand in the birth and preservation of Moses’ life. He caused Pharaoh’s daughter to show such compassion towards him to make the arrangement of raising up of Moses as her son although raised by his own mother. This ensured that Moses was not only to be preserved but that he would receive a first-class education as the adopted royalty of Egypt as referenced by Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7:22:
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
Thus, we can see that God demonstrated from the birth of Moses and his preservation that he was a special child that He would use to accomplish His plan.
It is our assertion that God generally acts in an incredibly special way regarding the birth of leaders that He uses in a special way. Let me illustrate this statement with examples from some men that God used in a special way as leaders of His people, Israel. Samson was raised by God to be God’s agent of inflicting judgment on the Philistines as indicated first in his proposed marriage to a Philistine woman, according to Judges 14:4:
(His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)
Second, at the time of Samson’s death, we are informed he killed more Philistines when he died than his previous killings of the Philistines as we read in Judges 16:28–30:
28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
The two passages we cited indicate that Samson was a special leader that God raised to accomplish His plan. This purpose of God raising up Samson will be evident in a passage we will cite shortly. Anyway, in keeping with the statement, we are substantiating, his birth was special and or miraculous. We know that his birth was special because the mother had been barren until the Lord intervened in a special way as we read in Judges 13:2–5:
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
The special function in God’s plan for Samson is given in the last clause of verse 5 and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
We move from Samson to Samuel to illustrate our assertion that God generally acts in an incredibly special way regarding the birth of leaders that He uses in a special way. The birth of Samuel came about as Hannah wrestled with the Lord in prayer as we read in 1 Samuel 1:10–16:
10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.” 15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
Prophet Samuel was a special spiritual leader of Israel. He led them away from idolatry as recorded in the passage, we cited previously, that is 1 Samuel 7:3–4:
3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
His further leadership is summarized in 1 Samuel 7:15–17:
15 Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD.
Samuel was the one that anointed Israel’s first king, Saul. Thus, he was an important spiritual leader of Israel as it transitioned from the rule of judges to kings.
Another example of our assertion that God generally acts in an incredibly special way regarding the birth of leaders that He uses in a special way is John the Baptist. His special role was to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ as the angel, Gabriel, announced to his father, Zechariah, as recorded in Luke 1:16–17:
16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
The birth of John involved miraculous act of God because the mother, Elizabeth, has been barren and old as implied in the question of Zechariah to the angel that announced the birth of John, as we read in Luke 1:18:
Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
That Elizabeth had her son in an age no woman was expected to have a child is confirmed by the statement of the angel to Mary, the mother of Jesus, as we read in Luke 1:36:
Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
Anyway, we have demonstrated using these examples we have cited that God generally acts in an incredibly special way regarding the birth of leaders that He uses. This assertion is because of the first factor regarding Moses that indicates God creates leaders which concerns his birth and preservation in Egypt in a period when Hebrew boys born to Hebrew parents in Egypt were to be killed at birth.
A second factor about Moses that indicates God creates leaders is his call. It is our assertion that God is the One who creates and calls leaders to whatever function He wants them to carry out. However, those He uses in a special way He calls in an incredibly unique way. This is particularly the case with those in spiritual leadership. Moses’ call illustrates this point. The call of Moses was unique in that the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush to commission him as the agent of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. His call is given in Exodus 3:2–10:
2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Moses is not the only illustration of the fact that God calls in an incredibly unique way those He uses in a special way. Prophet Samuel, a great spiritual leader of Israel, was called in a unique way as narrated in 1 Samuel 3:1–12:
1The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. 2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end.
The call of Samuel was such that his function as a prophet was implied. You see, the Lord, at least according to this record, did not tell him directly that he was going to be a prophet but through the message He gave him, the Lord implied that Samuel was to be a prophet and so a spiritual leader of Israel. Another illustration of a person that the Lord called in an incredibly unique way is Apostle Paul. The apostle narrated his call in Acts 26:12–18:
12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
The recalling of the apostle’s call by the Lord Jesus Christ indicates that the Lord called him for a special ministry of carrying out the gospel of Jesus Christ to Gentiles and teaching of the Christian doctrines as given in his various epistles. The apostle was certain of his call because the Lord Jesus appeared to him in a unique and undeniable way. He did not wake up one day and decided to be an apostle. No! The Lord called him to that function. This, of course, proves the second factor about Moses that indicates God creates leaders for special function or ministry. So, the examples we have given prove our assertion that God is the One who creates and calls leaders to whatever function He wants them to carry out.
A third factor about Moses that indicates God creates leaders is his leadership of the Israelites. Moses’ leadership role was in a sense first tested when Israel faced their real first crisis following their departure from Egypt. This first crisis was due to the advancing army of the Egyptians in such a way that the Israelites were hemmed in, so to say. In their front was the Red Sea and behind them was the advancing Egyptian army so that the Israelites blamed Moses for what they perceived as certain death in the hands of the Egyptians as we read in Exodus 14:10–12:
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
A good spiritual leader shows composure and faith in the Lord during crisis so as to help assure those under his leadership that they also should remain calm and trust the Lord as the One that would solve the problem associated with the crisis. Thus, Moses calmed the fear of the Israelites with the instruction given in Exodus 14:13–14:
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Moses was certainly confident in the Lord’s ability to deliver Israel although he probably did not know how that was to be accomplished but he was sure the Lord would do something for Israel to keep them safe. It is because of that faith that he uttered the encouragement and assurance we have in these two verses of Exodus 14:13-14. Hence, a good spiritual leader must have full confidence in the Lord to be able to inspire faith in the Lord on the part of those he leads.
Moses’ spiritual leadership was also demonstrated in the several occasions he was involved in intercessory prayer for Israel despite their rebellion against his authority and against the Lord. When the Israelites complained about their hardships in the desert and the Lord brought judgment on them, Moses interceded for them as we read in Numbers 11:1–2:
1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.
On another occasion when the Lord sent venomous snakes to kill many Israelites, Moses again interceded for them as we read in Numbers 21:6–7:
6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
Moses described his intercessory prayer on behalf of the Israelites when the Lord threatened to destroy them as narrated in Deuteronomy 9:25–29:
25 I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin. 28 Otherwise, the country from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the LORD was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the desert.’ 29 But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”
Moses’ intercessory prayers on behalf of Israel indicates that a good spiritual leader should be engaged in intercessory prayers for those he leads. It is therefore not surprising that Prophet Samuel interceded also for Israel on several occasions, as for example, when he interceded with the Lord after the people abandoned idolatry, as recorded in 1 Samuel 7:5–6:
5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel was leader of Israel at Mizpah.
Apostle Paul was involved in intercessory prayers regarding believers he ministered the word of God to, as for example, his prayer for the Ephesians as recorded in Ephesians 3:17–19:
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
In any event, we have been expounding on our statement that a major reason Moses was introduced in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea is to cause us to recognize the importance of spiritual leadership in believers’ enjoyment of the blessings of the Lord.
Another reason for introducing Moses in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea is to cause us to recognize that it is possible to miss out in some blessings of the Lord for believers on this planet if we are not careful in following the Lord’s instruction. Moses did not enjoy the promise of the blessing of the land of Canaan. The Lord kept him from entering the Promised Land as he stated in Deuteronomy 4:21–22:
21 The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance. 22 I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.
The reason the Lord kept Moses from entering the land of Canaan is that he acted in a way that did not demonstrate to Israel that God was uniquely dedicated to them, that is, that He is holy as we read in Numbers 20:12:
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
The incident referenced here is probably when Moses in anger or momentary pride spoke to the Israelites in such a way that implied, he was the one that would bring water out of the rock for Israel to drink, as we read in Numbers 20:9–11:
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
Anyway, Moses’ punishment for his failure related to the miracle of providing water for the Israelites should caution us that we are to be carefully to follow God’s instruction precisely to ensure we do not miss out his blessing for us on this planet. It would seem the Holy Spirit brought this point of failure of Moses in the mind of the apostle when he wrote concerning Moses in the passage we are studying. This is because the apostle in the previous chapter had referenced his precaution to ensure that he was not disqualified from eternal reward. Thus, as he wrote about Moses, he would have been thinking that believers should be careful that they do not lose rewards as implied by the fact Moses did not enter the land of Canaan.
Another reason for introducing Moses in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea is to cause us to be mindful of maintaining proper spiritual character as Moses. Despite the many miracles the Lord performed through Moses he was not an arrogant leader. In effect, he did not allow the fact that God used him in a unique way to lead him into arrogance as a habit of his operation. Instead, he was a model of humility so that the Holy Spirit commented about his humility when the Lord rebuked Aaron and Miriam for rebelling against Moses’ authority as we read in Numbers 12:3:
(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
Humility is an important virtue that all believers should have but it is particularly important on the part of spiritual leaders so that they would not misuse their authority over believers to lord it over them as implied in 1 Peter 5:2–3:
2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
It is not only the humility of Moses that would have been in the mind of Apostle Paul when he wrote sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea but also Moses’ faithfulness. We say this because the Holy Spirit in addition to speaking of Moses’ humility spoke of his faithfulness through the human author of Hebrews in Hebrews 3:2:
He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.
Anyway, Moses is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:2 not only to communicate the importance of being under a good spiritual leadership but also to warn us about being careless in our spiritual life and to encourage us to aspire humility and faithfulness to our God. You should recognize a good spiritual leadership in that such leadership will teach against sin, do everything to lead believers away from any form of idolatry, and inspire faith in the Lord. In any event, let me close by reminding you of the message of the section of 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 which is: You should under the right spiritual leadership enjoy God’s blessing through Jesus Christ.
04/23//21