Lessons #319 and 320
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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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Death of some Israelites in the desert (1 Cor 10:5-13)
… 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Recall the message of 1 Corinthians 10:5-13 is that Enjoyment of God’s blessing under a good spiritual leader will not shield you from His judgment if you displease Him. In our last study we began to consider the first of the evil things that some of the Israelites of exodus generation desired or were guilty that led to their death that we are warned against. This first evil desire of some of the Israelites concerns idolatry. Hence, we have the command of 1 Corinthians 10:7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. Because of this command, we briefly examined the subject of idolatry and identified modern forms of idolatry, but we did not apply these to the command that we have. It is with application that we begin our study today.
The instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul, as we have indicated is Do not be idolaters. So how are we to apply this instruction to ourselves who no longer worship idols or images as representing God? We are to apply it based on the form idolatry manifests itself today as we considered in our previous study. Therefore, the command not to become idolaters or not to be involved in idolatry implies that we should not be those who are devoted to things of this life more than God. In other words, we should not be devoted to anything in this life more than God or we should not be more loyal to anything or any person than God. We are saying that the Holy Spirit commands us not to be devoted or committed to anything or anyone more than we are committed to God. Put in another way, we should be those who have wholehearted commitment to God and anything related to Him.
How does a believer go about being devoted to God? It begins by recognizing that God demands us to have wholehearted committed to Him. God commands us to be devoted to Him as we read, for example, in Deuteronomy 6:5:
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
The idea of total devotion to God is first implied in the word “love.” The word “love” here involves not only affection but also devotion and commitment. So, believers are expected to be devoted completely to God in every way as implied in the use of the word “all” three times in the verse. In effect, we are commanded to be devoted to the Lord in all we think and do. The idea of total devotion to the Lord is implied in the instruction that requires believers to seek the Lord with their entire being as we find, for example, in Psalm 119:2:
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
The psalmist declared that those who are in state of happiness and joy are those who are totally committed to the word of God in the sense they devote themselves to its study and application. You see, the phrase with all their heart of Psalm 119:2 means total commitment that implies full devotion to the Lord so that those who seek the Lord in the sense of avoiding anything that will distract them from being totally devoted to the Lord are those who are happy. That aside, we contend that total devotion to the Lord is conveyed in the phrase with all their heart. The same concept of devotion to the Lord is also given in Romans 12:1:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
This passage requires that we believers should devote ourselves to God as that is implied in the verbal phrase to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. The phrase your bodies is to be understood to mean “yourselves” so that believers are urged to dedicate their entire person – body and soul – to God and His service. We are to be devoted to the Lord in every way so that we can view ourselves as if we are dead although still living since sacrifice normally involves death of an animal but we are to be living sacrifices. Anyway, the point is that if we remember this passage then we should not be devoted to anything more than God.
Again, we ask how does a believer go about ensuring that the individual is not more loyal to anything or anyone in this life than God? It is by having the mindset that nothing is to be compared to the knowledge of God. This understanding is reflected by Apostle Paul when he indicated that whatever that was advantageous to him was nothing compared to knowledge of Christ as we read in Philippians 3:7–8:
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
A believer who would avoid being an idolater in the sense of avoiding being more loyal to anything or anyone than God, must be convinced of the reality of God and the blessings of worshipping Him and Him alone. The person must believe that God is constantly concerned with those who are totally committed to Him as Hanani, the seer, assured King Asa as we read in 2 Chronicles 16:9:
For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
If you are convinced not only that God is ever present to care for you but that He rewards faithfulness to Him, then you will find yourself being more devoted to Him than anything or anyone else in this life.
How can you show that you are devoted to God more than anything material? The fundamental way we show that we are devoted to the Lord begins with being devoted to the word of God. In effect, if you are devoted to the Lord that must show itself first in your devotion to the study of the word of God that will then lead to its application. This kind of devotion characterized the early church that were devoted to the teaching of the word of God as we read in Acts 2:42:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
The early church was devoted to teaching by the apostles, implying that today a pastor’s devotion to the Lord must be evident in his devotion to the teaching of God’s word so to enable believers learn God’s word. We learn this requirement not only because of the apostles’ devotion to the teaching of the word of God but also because the Lord Jesus conveyed to Apostle Peter that the way to show his commitment to Him is by teaching believers as implied in John 21:15:
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
The Lord’s command Feed my lambs implies teaching the word of God to believers. This aside, the truth is that if you must be devoted to the Lord above everything, your devotion must begin with being totally committed to studying God’s word. This, of course, requires you align yourself with a pastor that is devoted to the study of the word of God so that you have someone that teaches you the word of God on a consistent basis. It is easy to think that you are devoted to the word of God because you go to a Bible teaching church. That in and of itself does not prove you are devoted to the word of God. The proof of devotion to the word of God is to be seen in the time you spend in the study of word of God privately. It is probably difficult for some of us to conceive the point I am making so let me provide you a test to help in a practical way that will enable you decide if you are deeply committed to the study of God’s word. You can do this by comparing the time you spend in the study of the word of God outside going to church to that spent on other activities. The way you do this is to compare the time you spend in the word of God to the time you spend in anything else other than work. Work is commanded by God, so subtract the number of hours you are at work from the time available for you to do other things in life daily. Then compare the time you spend in pleasure or entertainment to the time you spend in the word of God. If you, do it that way, you will get a sense of what takes more of your time. If anything, other than work takes more of your time than spending time in the word of God, you are probably not devoted to the word of God as you should. Anyway, the first way we obey the command Do not be idolaters is to ensure that we are more devoted to God than anything else in this life.
Another way we obey the command Do not be idolaters is by avoidance of greed. We have, of course, considered in the past how to avoid greed that we review here. When faced with the desire to have more things to the point you are tempted to ignore God, then there are two facts that you should remember to help you deal with greed. The first is to remember that material possessions are not transferable from this world to the next. In other words, you should remember that you brought nothing into this world when you arrived in it and in the same way that you will take nothing out of it when you exit, that is, you remember the assertions of 1 Timothy 6:7-10:
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Second, you should remember that God will never leave you stranded on this planet, according to the promise of Hebrews 13:5:
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."
There are two implications of remembering this passage. First, you should be content with what you have. Second, you should not be afraid of the future. You see, one reason we want to have more and more of things is that we never know how much we need for the future. We are not certain that what we have would be enough for us in the future or in our old age. Therefore, we want to have more and more things. However, if we replace fear with trust in the Lord and uncertainty with confidence that the Lord will take care of us then we would avoid greed. Now, it does not mean that you do not save for the future only that you do not do so to the extent that it causes you to neglect God’s instruction of being generous to those poorer than you are or in support of the ministry. The points we have made can be summed up as: You should trust in the Lord’s ability to take care of you, and you should realize that you would take nothing out of this world. If you do, then you will guard against greed. Thus, when faced with the temptation to become greedy, you quickly apply these two facts we have given, and you will be protected from greed.
Still another way we obey the command Do not be idolaters is by avoidance of materialism. By the way, we should be clear that by materialism we do not mean the classical materialism that is a philosophical doctrine that states that matter is the ultimate reality from which all else emerges. No believer would subscribe to this view of materialism and so not the kind of idolatry that concerns us. We say this because this classical doctrine of materialism is ultimately characterized by rejection of God the creator. This view is clearly condemned in the Scripture since only a fool takes the position that there is no God as we read in Psalm 14:1–2:
1The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
Furthermore, anyone who holds to the classical materialism certainly would reject the concept of bodily resurrection. It is that kind of person that the Holy Spirit directed the argument of Apostle Paul recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:12–17:
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Paul’s argument implies that there is a bodily resurrection which conflicts with doctrine of classical materialism that nothing exists beyond this life. This notwithstanding, the materialism that concerns us is that type we indicated is idolatry in the sense of ultimate allegiance directed toward material possessions. Hence, as we indicated in our previous study, materialism should be understood as the desire to possess things at the expense of one’s spiritual life. In other words, the desire to acquire wealth or power at any cost because one is in love with wealth or power than with God is what we mean by materialism. This form of materialism is characterized by desire for wealth and gratification of self. The kind of thing the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul described as what we find with those who deny bodily resurrection as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:32:
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Anyway, it is this form of materialism that we stated is idolatry that we are concerned. Thus, using this understanding of materialism as idolatry we are concerned with how a believer will obey the command of 1 Corinthians 10:7 Do not be idolaters.
Avoidance of idolatry in form of materialism begins with a believer arming self with knowledge of the pitfalls of materialism that should cause the individual to reject it and therefore does not become an idolater. First and foremost, the believer should recognize that the Scripture condemns materialism in the way we have defined it since the psalmist conveyed the destruction of the person that is involved in materialism in that the person places his trust in his wealth instead of God leading to his destroying of others to get wealth, as we read in Psalm 52:7:
“Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!”
This aside, there are other negative things the believer should recognize regarding materialism. Material things are not permanent but transitory as implied in Proverbs 27:24:
for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.
If wealth or riches are transitory, it is foolhardy to put wealth or riches over God who is eternal. This realization of the nature of material things should dissuade a believer from being involved in materialism in the form of putting material things over God. Another pitfall of materialism or pursuit of material things more than God is that materialism offers no true satisfaction in life. A person who chases wealth at the expense of worship of God will discover that such does not satisfy hence the constant chase of wealth by people. The richest man in biblical history, Solomon, testified that wealth never brings satisfaction if one goes after it at the expense of the person’s spiritual life as implied in Ecclesiastes 5:10:
Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.
Solomon admitted that it is incomprehensible to him that a person would never find satisfaction with wealth and so continues to want more of it. Anyhow, God certainly ensures that any believer involved in materialism as a form of idolatry will not find satisfaction in it. This declaration we made is proved in the experience of the Israelites who returned from Babylonian captivity, as we may gather from Haggai 1:5–6:
5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
The situation that caused Israel not to find satisfaction in their material things is because God brought judgment on them for ignoring Him while pursuing material gain. The people ignored God in the sense that they did not put their resources to the rebuilding of the temple but pursued their own desires for material things. Because of this, the Lord brought judgment on them so that they could not find satisfaction in what they possessed. The implication is that if a believer gets involved in materialism as a form of idolatry the person will not find satisfaction in material things and so it does not make sense to pursue material things at the expense of worshipping God. Another pitfall of materialism is that it could cause a person to be distracted from true devotion to God. Thus, God warned Israel about it through Moses as implied in Deuteronomy 8:13–14:
13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
It is because of the danger of materialism that the Lord Jesus issued the warning He gave to His disciples as recorded in Luke 12:15:
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
This passage links materialism to greed. The clause a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions in the Greek text is very difficult to translate as evident in the several ways in which our English versions rendered it. An alternative translation suggested in the standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG is he does not live because of his possessions. In any event, it seems that the sense here is that a person should not be greedy because his true life is independent of abundance of material things. In effect, abundance of material things does not guarantee that a person will continue to live, nor does that guarantee that a person will enjoy good quality of life in this planet. You can have little material possessions and still have an enjoyable life because your true life is entirely separate and independent of your possessions. It is this independence of life and material possessions that caused Satan to make the proposal to God that in effect says God should allow him to go after the life of Job because man will give all his possessions to spare his life as we read in Job 2:4-5:
4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
This truth is quite evident today for, if a man’s life is threatened, he would be willing to part with his worldly possession or wealth if that would mean that he would keep living. Of course, we insist that you can enjoy your life with little material possession. This truth is stated in various forms in the Scripture. The writer of Proverb states it in terms of absence of turmoil in Proverbs 15:16:
Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.
And the writer of Ecclesiastics expressed it in form of tranquility in Ecclesiastes 4:6:
Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.
Society today tends to define a person based on the individual’s material possession but what our Lord taught is just the opposite. Wealth is really of no help when it comes to true living or life. You cannot, for example, prolong your life because of your material possessions. Your life really does not belong to you, so it is human madness or ignorance that leads to greed or materialism. Since material things add nothing to a person’s life once death occurs then it does not make sense to devote oneself to material things than God. It pays to have the proper perspective regarding material things as God’s creation. In fact, it is God who gives a person wealth as David conveyed in his praise of God as recorded in 1 Chronicles 29:12:
Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
Since God is one that grants wealth then it will be wrong to worship things created instead of the creator. It is this sort of thing that the Holy Spirit condemned about those who reject the truth as we read in Romans 1:25:
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
A believer who understands the negative facts we have presented should be motivated to avoid idolatry in the form of materialism. Hence, a believer who avoids materialism obeys the command of 1 Corinthians 10:7 Do not be idolaters.
It is important for us to assert that although modern idolatry is prevalent but not all believers are involved in it. This is in keeping with what the Holy Spirit states through Apostle Paul regarding the Israelites of the exodus generation in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 10:7 as some of them were. It is not the intent of the Holy Spirit through the apostle to tell us the number of the Israelites that were involved in idolatry and so could be described as idolaters. No, the Holy Spirit intended for us to recognize that not every Israelite was involved in idolatry. You see, the word “some” is translated from a Greek pronoun (tis) that refers to someone or something indefinite. When it is used as an adjective it may mean “certain” or “any” or “some.” It is in the sense of “certain” that Apostle Paul used it to describe undetermined or unidentified number of men that were involved in false teaching the apostle wanted Timothy to deal with in 1 Timothy 1:3:
As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer.
The Greek pronoun when it functions as a noun may mean “someone, anyone, somebody” but when it is used with a word in the genitive it often means “some” as it is used in charging certain individuals in Corinthian of being arrogant in 1 Corinthians 4:18:
Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:7, the pronoun functions as a noun especially since it is related to a genitive of a Greek personal pronoun (autos) translated “them” in 1 Corinthians 10:7 and so means “some.” The point is that an unidentified number of the Israelites of the exodus generation was involved in idolatry and those involved were described as idolaters.
The apostle after making this assertion did what most of us fail to do, which is to support our position or statement from the Scripture when arguing with someone about a position we believe to be true. The only authority we have for asserting the validity of our position is the Scripture. Consequently, Apostle Paul supported his statement about some of the Israelites being idolaters by quoting from the Scripture as conveyed in the clause as it is written. This clause is one that is associated in the NT Scripture with referencing OT Scripture either in a general or specific sense. The clause is used in a general sense in Jesus’ description of His death on the cross without referencing a specific Scriptural passage as we read in Matthew 26:24:
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
There was not a specific passage that the Lord Jesus cited but a general reference to the OT Scripture. Apart from this general reference to the Scripture, the clause as it is written or its equivalent For it is written is a formula for quotation from the OT Scripture. The Lord Jesus used it to cite Scripture to Satan during His temptation as we read in Matthew 4:4:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
He quoted exactly from Deuteronomy 8:3:
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
Interestingly, Satan used the same formula in his quotation of Scripture in his temptation of Jesus Christ as we read in Luke 4:10–11:
10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Satan quoted exactly from Psalm 91:11–12:
11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
The Jews who contended with the Lord Jesus used the formula as it is written in their quotation of the OT Scripture as we read in John 6:31:
Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
The Jews did not quote exactly any passage of the OT Scripture but they in sense referenced the account given in Exodus 16:4:
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
Apostle Peter in addressing the disciples regarding replacement of Judas Iscariot supported that move by citing Psalms using the formula we are considering, as we read in Acts 1:20:
“For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’
The apostle pieced together two different psalms. The first quotation May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it is from Psalm 69:25:
May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
In this verse of Psalm 69, the psalmist desired for complete destruction of his enemies and their families so that there would be no inhabitants left to occupy their cities and homes so rendering them empty. However, the apostle applied what was aimed at all the enemies of the psalmist to one person, Judas Iscariot, viewed probably as enemy of Christ because he betrayed him. Anyway, the second quotation of Acts 1:20‘May another take his place of leadership’ is from Psalm 109:8:
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
Again, the psalm is concerned with the psalmist’s desire or prayer for the death of his enemy so that another person will take up the position the enemy occupies. One thing we learn from the quotation in Acts 1:20 is that although the apostle pieced together two different passages in Psalms, but the two passages have something in common, desire or petition for the death of an enemy. Peter’s approach lets us know that we could piece together various passages of the Scripture that are domain to our position in support of our arguments. The human author of Hebrews used the formula we are considering in quoting from the Scripture as we read in Hebrews 10:7:
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.’”
The quotation is from Psalm 40:7–8:
7Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Comparison of the quotation in Hebrews 10:7 to the original passage reveals that there is a change in the order of the sentences. In the original, the sentence I have come comes before the sentence it is written about me in the scroll but in the quotation the reverse was the case. Furthermore, the quotation left out the sentence I desire in the original and assimilated the rest of the verbal phrase to do your will, O my God to the sentence I have come leading to the reading I have come to do your will, O God. The implication is that the OT Scripture may be used in argument not necessarily citing every word in the text. In short, we may summarize a passage in the OT in support of an argument. That aside, Apostle Paul quoted the OT Scripture to support his assertion of some of the Israelites being involved in idolatry and so were idolaters.
The quotation of Apostle Paul in support of his statement from the OT Scripture that some of the Israelites were idolaters, is given in the last sentence of 1 Corinthians 10:7 The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. The incident the apostle had in view in this quotation was the event that occurred after Israel had requested and had Aaron make for them the Golden Calf as summarized in Exodus 32:3–4:
3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Aaron then announced to the people that there would be a celebration to the Lord in front of the calf he built as we read in Exodus 32:5:
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.”
The people assembled and celebrated as Aaron announced regarding holding a festival to the Lord. This celebration is described in Exodus 32:6:
So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
The last clause of verse 6 Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry is what the apostle quoted. Literally, the Hebrew reads and the people sat to eat and drink, and they rose up to revel. The expression “indulge in revelry” of the NIV is translated from a Hebrew word (ṣāḥǎq) with the basic meaning of “to laugh.” However, in Exodus 32:6 the sense of the word is “to revel,” that is, to celebrate noisily or engage in riotous festivities, often indulging in drinking and sexual activity including orgies.
Apostle Paul certainly quoted from the Septuagint where the expression “indulge in pagan revelry” of the NIV of 1 Corinthians 10:7 is translated from a Greek word (paizō) that appears only once in the Greek NT but appears severally in the Septuagint where it is used with the meaning “to dance” in a religious sense as in the celebration of Israelite women under Miriam’s leadership after God delivered them from the Egyptians as we read in Exodus 15:20:
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.
The religious sense of dancing associated with the word was applied to pagan worship in ancient times as in the dancing of prophets of Baal during their showdown with Prophet Elijah as we read in 1 Kings 18:26:
So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “O Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
Another meaning of the Greek word as used in the Septuagint is “to jest, mock” as it is used to describe Ishmael’s action towards Isaac in Genesis 21:9–10:
But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
Nonetheless, in the NT the Greek word means to engage in some activity for the sake of amusement and/ or recreation, hence “to play, amuse oneself.” In our passage, it has the sense of religious dancing and licentiousness associated with idolatry.
Be that as it may, although we cannot be certain but it seems some of the Israelites who celebrated before the golden calf probably were involved in some form of sexual activity that was prohibited by the Lord. Their celebration that involves drinking and eating was typical of pagans before their gods, so the celebration of the Israelites involved the same kind of activities the pagans did before their gods. The people’s involvement in idolatry meant they have been defeated spiritually. It is no wonder Moses tells us that such celebration was a sign of spiritual defeat and not victory as we read in Exodus 32:17–18:
17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.” 18 Moses replied: “It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
Although many Israelites were defeated by idolatry that was not true of all. Certainly, some from the tribe of Levi were not involved as we may gather by their being on Moses’ side in killing some of those who were involved it as we read in Exodus 32:26–29:
26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. 27 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” 28 The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. 29 Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.”
By the way, the fact that there were about three thousand Israelites that were killed did not mean that that was the number of people involved in idolatry. If that was the case Moses would not have used the word some in his declaration of Israel’s idolatry but the number in the passage.
The apostle referenced eating and drinking involved in Israel’s idolatry to caution believers that although we may not be involved in explicit idolatry that it is possible to become involved in idolatry by practicing the same kind of celebrations that characterize pagans in worship of their gods. In other words, while we may not explicitly become involved in idolatry, we may follow the world in their various celebrations that are aimed at worshipping pagan gods as many do today in various celebrations of so-called Christmas and Easter festivities without recognizing they are being idolaters because of such celebrations. Anyway, it is because some of the Israelites were involved in idolatry that Apostle Paul stated that some of the Israelites of exodus generation were idolaters. This being the case, we are warned to ensure we avoid idolatry. It is something that God does not tolerate as we have already considered. To this end, we should pay heed to the instruction of 1 John 5:21:
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.