Lessons #337 and 338
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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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Prohibition of idolatry and reasons (1 Cor 10:14-22)
… 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
The message of this passage of 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 that we have been considering is that Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons, and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord. This message, as we stated previously, captures the prohibition against idolatry and various explanations or reasons the Corinthians and so all believers should not be involved in idolatry. We have examined the prohibition against idolatry in the command flee from idolatry. We started in our last study to consider the reasons or explanation for the prohibition against idolatry. We stated that there are three general reasons the Holy Spirit provided through Apostle Paul about the prohibition against idolatry. A first general reason for prohibition against idolatry we have considered is because of the uniqueness of the Lord’s Supper as described in verses 16 and 17. We noted the significances of the elements of the cup and bread used in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The cup signifies sharing in the blessings of the death of Christ that includes forgiveness of sins while the bread signifies belonging to the church of Christ. This means that the uniqueness of Lord’s Supper that believers partake indicates they share the benefits of the death of Christ on the cross and belong to the church of Christ. Consequently, it is unbecoming for those who have such benefits and unique relation with God through Christ to be involved in idolatry. Having reviewed briefly the first reason for prohibition against idolatry we proceed to consider the second.
A second general reason is the nature of sacrifices in general, both in ancient Israel and among the pagans, argue against believers being involved in idolatry in any form or shape. This second reason is described in verses 18 to 20. The apostle began this second reason by drawing our attention to ancient Israel as in the first expression of 1 Corinthians 10:18 Consider the people of Israel. Literally, the Greek reads Look at Israel according to flesh.
Apostle Paul wanted the Corinthians and so all believers to ponder regarding the Israelites to understand what happens with their sacrifices to the supreme God. In effect, it is not a casual reference to Israel that the apostle meant. No! It is to ponder and reflect on the people of Israel. You see, the word “consider” is translated from a Greek word (blepō) that may mean “to see,” that is, to perceive with eyes as in the instruction given to the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to the Corinthians about focusing on heavenly things than earthly ones in 2 Corinthians 4:18:
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
The word may mean “to watch, be aware of” in the sense of being ready to learn about something that is needed or is hazardous, as it is used in the instruction of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul to the Galatians concerning backbiting each other as in Galatians 5:15:
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
The word may mean to process information by giving thought to it hence may mean “to consider, to direct one’s attention to something as it is used in the instruction of the Lord regarding how we listen to His word as we read in Luke 8:18:
Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18, the meaning is “to consider” or “to look” at in the sense of pondering information given. The use of the present tense in the Greek with our word implies that the action commanded here is one that should be carried out again and again. Thus, the Corinthians and so all believers should ponder again and again on the nature of the sacrifices in Israel to recognize that it is improper for believers to be involved in idolatry.
The information given that the Corinthians and so all believers should ponder again and again concerns the Israelites as in the NIV the people of Israel or literally Israel according to flesh. The literal phrase indicates that there is more to the word “Israel” than meets the eye. Thus, the apostle wants the focus to be on Israel according to the flesh or in the NIV people of. The expression “people of” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (sarx) that literally means “flesh.” The Greek word may mean the soft material that covers the bones of a human or animal body and so means “flesh” as in 1 Corinthians 15:39:
All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another.
The word can refer to the human nature or physical body. It is in the sense of human nature that the word is used in Galatians 6:8:
The one who sows to please his sinful nature [literally, his own flesh], from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
It is in the sense of physical body that the word is used in Ephesians 5:29:
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—
The word can refer to people with the same ancestral connection or earthly descent as this is the sense that Apostle Paul used it in Romans 11:14:
in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
The phrase my own people is more literally my own flesh. Clearly, the apostle did not mean his own body as what needs to be saved but his fellow Jews or people with the same immediate ancestral connection with him so that the meaning of “flesh” is people of the same earthly descent or compatriot. Another meaning of the Greek word refers to the outward side of life as determined by normal perspectives or standards. It is this meaning that is reflected in 1 Corinthians 1:26:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
The phrase by human standards is literally according to flesh. It is in this sense of the word that the apostle used it to indicate that from the time of his conversion that he no longer evaluated people according to the standards of this world by which people evaluate others in terms of outward appearance, social status, ethnicity, or wealth as he stated in 2 Corinthians 5:16:
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
The phrase from a worldly point of view is more literally according to the flesh. I hope that you can say the same thing the apostle stated here. Anyway, in our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18, the word is used with the meaning “ancestral connection” or “earthly descent” so that the literal Greek phrase Israel according to flesh may be translated the earthly Israel.
It is our contention that the apostle had much more in mind when he wrote the literal Greek that reads Israel according to flesh that the translators of the NIV rendered the people of Israel. He wanted the Corinthians and so all of us to focus on the word “Israel.” The word “Israel” refers to those who are descendants of the patriarch Jacob or Israel. The Lord changed the name of Jacob to Israel, as stated in Genesis 32:28:
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Thus, after this change of name, Jacob was often described with the name “Israel” as it is first used to describe his movement in the land of Canaan and as the father of Reuben in Genesis 35:21–22:
21 Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.
Jacob had twelve sons:
It is true that the word “Israelites” was first used in the NIV following the change of name of Jacob in a commentary about Israel’s abstinence from eating a tendon on the socket of hip of an animal as stated Genesis 32:32:
Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.
But the first use of word to describe the descendants of Jacob is when he and his family moved to Egypt as we read in Genesis 47:27:
Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
The sentence the Israelites settled in Egypt is literally Israel settled in the land of Egypt. The sentence They acquired property there indicates that it is not Jacob as Israel that is meant but him and his descendants that moved to Egypt. The word “Israel” may be used to describe the nation or people of Israel as it is used in Romans 11:2:
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
Anyway, Israel is a word used to describe the descendants of Jacob but there is certainly a spiritual Israel in the sense of those regenerated or those who had faith in the Lord as Abraham. We can say this because of the declaration of the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul in defending the doctrine of election as we read in Romans 9:6:
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
The clause For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel makes sense if we understand it to mean that not every Israelite in a physical sense is an Israelite in a spiritual sense. It is like saying “not all who belong to a local Christian church are Christians.” Anyway, not all Israelites in a physical sense are God’s chosen people but only those who have believed in the Lord are the spiritual Israel. It is probably because of this concept that the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul implies that the church of Christ that consist of believers is described as “Israel of God” as stated in Galatians 6:16:
Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
Hence, it makes sense for the apostle to distinguish between the ancient Israel as descendants of Jacob from the spiritual Israel by using the literal phrase Israel according to flesh translated in the NIV as the people of Israel.
The apostle in using the phrase as the people of Israel or literally Israel according to flesh, wants us to recognize that not everyone in Israel is regenerated but that the information he was about to give is concerned with those who are supposed to be part of the spiritual Israel, at least, before the nation of Israel was split into two. Those who were supposed to be a part of the spiritual Israel were the priests that had the responsibility of mediating between God and His covenant people, ensuring proper worship, and maintaining their spiritual life or health. Priests were chosen and consecrated by God. God reminded Eli, the priest, of this truth in 1 Samuel 2:28:
I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your father’s house all the offerings made with fire by the Israelites.
The phrase your father refers to Aaron who is the ancestor of the priests. Of course, God indicated that the priests were consecrated by Him as we read in Exodus 29:44:
“So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.
The consecration of the priests is also described as making them holy in Leviticus 22:9:
“‘The priests are to keep my requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.
The priests as we stated were responsible for the spiritual life of Israel. Thus, they were responsible for Israel’s sacrifices as stated regarding animal sacrifices in Leviticus 1:5:
He is to slaughter the young bull before the LORD, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
This responsibility is evident in grain offering as we read in Leviticus 2:2:
and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the fine flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
This responsibility of priests regarding sacrifices of Israel is also reiterated later in Israel’s history as we read in 1 Chronicles 6:49:
But Aaron and his descendants were the ones who presented offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense in connection with all that was done in the Most Holy Place, making atonement for Israel, in accordance with all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
Spiritual life or health of believers depends primarily on the teaching of the word of God. Therefore, the priests were responsible for teaching the Israelites God’s word or laws given through Moses as stated in Leviticus 10:10–11:
10 You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you must teach the Israelites all the decrees the LORD has given them through Moses.”
Later in the history of Israel, the same truth was conveyed through Prophet Ezekiel, according to Ezekiel 44:23:
They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.
Anyway, we have indicated that the priests had the function of offering sacrifices on behalf of the Israelites as well as teaching them God’s word.
A person may say, there is no mention of priest anywhere in the passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18-20 that is our focus at this point. However, as we have implied the Holy Spirit must have brought in the mind of Apostle Paul the priests as those who represent the true Israel in the nation of Israel that consisted of believers and unbelievers since not every Israelite of the ancient time was a believer in the Lord. The reason we believe that Holy Spirit brought in the mind of the apostle the priests of Israel is because of the rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 10:18 Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? The rhetorical question is tantamount to a statement that those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar. What then is the point of the apostle in this statement? To answer this question, we should begin with answering another question.
Who are those that eat the sacrifices the apostle had in mind? We have in a sense answered the question before even asking it, as priests. There are those who dispute this interpretation by stating the apostle had in mind the festivity associated with tithe that is given in Deuteronomy 14:22–27:
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
The problem with this interpretation that the apostle had in mind festivity related to tithe is that there is no clear reference to sacrifices on altar in this tithe-festivity. Furthermore, it is more likely that apostle still had in mind the same persons he referenced as being supported by Israel’s offerings because of their work in the temple, as we read in 1 Corinthians 9:13:
Don’t you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
Anyway, we need to consider the words used in the rhetorical question Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? to establish clearly that the apostle had in mind priests when he wrote the rhetorical question. Let me begin with the word “sacrifices.”
The word “sacrifices” is translated from a Greek word (thysia) that refers to that which is offered as sacrifice hence means “sacrifice, offering” as the word is used for the various sacrifices under Levitical priesthood, as for example, in Hebrews 10:1:
The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
Figuratively, the word may mean “doing good” in a way that is pleasing to God so that it could refer to praising God or to generosity. Thus, Apostle Paul described the support he received from the Philippians as sacrifice that is pleasing to God in Philippians 4:18:
I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
The human author of Hebrews described praising God as sacrifice in Hebrews 13:15:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18, the word is used with the meaning “sacrifice,” that is, “the act of killing an animal as an act of worship, restitution, or atonement in regard to a deity.”
There are different kinds of sacrifices mentioned in the OT Scripture. A first major usage of sacrifices in the OT Scripture is for offering thanks to God for His goodness. After the Lord delivered Noah from the deluge or the flood, we read of him offering sacrifice to the Lord in form of thanksgiving in Genesis 8:20:
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it.
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, praised God for His goodness to Israel in delivering them from bondage in Egypt, as we read in Exodus 18:9–11:
9 Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the LORD had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10 He said, “Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”
He then completed his praise and thanksgiving to the Lord by offering different kinds of sacrifices as stated in Exodus 18:12:
Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
After the Lord forced the hands of the Philistines, through inflicting them with sufferings, to return the Ark of the Lord they captured in battle with the Israelites, the Levites thanked the Lord by offering sacrifices, as stated in 1 Samuel 6:15–16:
15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.
The psalmist conveyed that sacrifice to God is a way to praise Him for His deliverance as he promised he would do in Psalm 27:5–6:
5For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. 6Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.
A second major usage of sacrifices in the OT Scripture is for atonement or dealing with sins. When an individual sinned, the person was required to offer sacrifices to atone for the person’s sins as stipulated in Leviticus 4:1–3:
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands— 3 “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
The same offering of sacrifices was required in the case the community of Israel sinned, as stated in Leviticus 4:13–14:
13 “‘If the whole Israelite community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, they are guilty. 14 When they become aware of the sin they committed, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the Tent of Meeting.
Sacrifices to the Lord, as we have demonstrated, served the two major purposes of thanksgiving and atonement for sins. However, there were other occasions sacrifices were offered in Israel. These other occasions fall between the two major usages we identified. After King Hezekiah purified the temple, the people offered sacrifices that served both as thanksgiving and dealing with sin, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 29:31–32:
31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the LORD. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the LORD.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams and two hundred male lambs—all of them for burnt offerings to the LORD.
The same purposes of thanksgiving and dealing with sins are reflected in the dedication ceremony of the Second Temple built by the Israelites who returned from exile, as we read in Ezra 6:16–17:
16 Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy. 17 For the dedication of this house of God they offered a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred male lambs and, as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, one for each of the tribes of Israel.
The point is that sacrifices served two major purposes – that of thanksgiving and atonement for sins. Apostle Paul must have in mind all kinds of sacrifices that the priests were able to share as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:18 those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar or literally the ones eating the sacrifices partakers of the altar.
The verbal phrase eat the sacrifices is probably a reason some think that those who eat the sacrifice are not the priest but ordinary Israelites. This is unlikely for even in the case that people were invited in ancient Israel under Samuel to eat of the sacrifice, that was not a norm that is given in the OT Scripture when sacrifices were presented on the altar. I am referring to the incident recorded in 1 Samuel 9:12–13:
12 “He is,” they answered. “He’s ahead of you. Hurry now; he has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place. 13 As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not begin eating until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward, those who are invited will eat. Go up now; you should find him about this time.”
The event reported here indicates that there were sacrifices that Israel community or a select group participated in eating but that does not imply that it was the norm for people to eat every kind of sacrifice offered at the altar. The most we can say is that those who ate the food sacrificed were priests but occasionally the community would be involved. By the way, Samuel was a Levite and probably from the priestly family. This assertion seems to be contradicted by the statement that his father was an Ephraimite as we read in 1 Samuel 1:1:
There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
There is an explanation for asserting that Elkanah was an Ephraimite. It is that since the Levites were stationed among the tribes that he was simply described as an Ephraimite. Records in Chronicles indicate that Elkanah, the father of Samuel, was a Levite, specifically, a Kohathite, as we read in 1 Chronicles 6:33–34:
33 Here are the men who served, together with their sons: From the Kohathites: Heman, the musician, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, 34the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah,
Another reason that supports that Samuel was a Levite and of the priestly family is that Eli accepted him to serve as an apprentice to him or accepting to mentor him as a priest. If Samuel was not of the priestly family that would not have happened. This aside, despite some people being invited to eat of the sacrifice in the time of Samuel, it is not a norm in Israel for ordinary people to eat of the sacrifices offered on the altar. Thus, we still contend the clause of 1 Corinthians 10:18 those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar or literally the ones eating the sacrifices partakers of the altar refers to priests.
The second word we need to consider is the word “participate” in the NIV. It is translated from a Greek noun (koinōnos) that means “one who takes part in something with someone,” hence may mean “partner” in, say, a business, as it is used to describe those who were in fishing business with Simon Peter as we read in Luke 5:10:
and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
The word may mean “sharer” as the word is used by Apostle Paul to indicate that the Corinthians shared in his suffering as we read in 2 Corinthians 1:7:
And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
The sentence of the NIV you share in our sufferings is more literally you are sharers in the sufferings. The word may mean “partaker, participant” as it is used to indicate of believers being given immortality and incorruptibility and exhibiting divine character as stated in 2 Peter 1:4:
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
The sentence of the NIV you may participate in the divine nature is more literally you may become partakers of the divine nature. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18, the word has the sense of “collaborator,” that is, “an associate in an activity or endeavor or sphere of common interest; especially one in which the associates both participate in the profits or benefits.” Thus, those who eat the sacrifices are collaborators or associates in the activity of sacrificing in the altar of Israel’s worship system. This makes much sense if Apostle Paul had in mind priests who were collaborators in the activities that took place in the altar in the nation of Israel as in the verbal phrase of the NIV participate in the altar or literally partakers of the altar.
The word “altar” which is the third word we consider is translated from a Greek word (thysiastērion) that means “altar” as a reference to a structure on which cultic observances are carried out, including especially sacrifices. It can refer to the altar of burnt offering in the inner forecourt of the temple at Jerusalem as the location where Zechariah was murdered that the Lord Jesus referenced in Luke 11:51:
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.
The word may refer to altar of incense as it is used to describe where Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, went to offer sacrifice when an angel appeared to him as we read in Luke 1:11:
Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
The word may refer to an altar in general as in the complaint of Prophet Elijah to the Lord that Apostle Paul quoted in Romans 11:3:
“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
The word may be used figuratively to refer to heavenly altar as it is used in Hebrews 13:10:
We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
It is our interpretation that the sentence we have an altar is a reference to a heavenly altar. In other words, the human author of Hebrews indicates that believers have a heavenly altar in which a different kind of sacrifice is brought to God, a sacrifice of praise that the author mentions later in the passage we cited previously, that is, Hebrews 13:15:
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
It is this heavenly altar that is mentioned in Revelation 8:3:
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
Anyway, our Greek word may be used in different ways in describing an altar. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 10:18, it is used in the sense of “altar” for different kinds of sacrifices. However, there is more to learn about an altar as used in the OT Scripture.
The primary use of an altar in the OT is for blood sacrifice as we may gather from the first reference to an altar that Noah built primarily to offer thanksgiving to God after the flood as in the passage, we cited previously but we recite with an additional verse, that is, Genesis 8:20–21:
20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
This primary usage of an altar notwithstanding, there were other usages of altars. There was the altar for burning incense, according to Exodus 30:1:
“Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.
Israel’s altar was also used for grain offering as we read in Leviticus 2:8–9:
8 Bring the grain offering made of these things to the LORD; present it to the priest, who shall take it to the altar. 9 He shall take out the memorial portion from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
Those who serve in the altar in the temple of Israel, as we have already stated, are clearly the priests who are responsible for offering sacrifices on behalf of Israel. Consequently, the Lord gave instruction regarding their support from the various sacrifices they were to offer. They obtained grains from grain offerings as we read in Leviticus 6:14–18:
14 “‘These are the regulations for the grain offering: Aaron’s sons are to bring it before the LORD, in front of the altar. 15 The priest is to take a handful of fine flour and oil, together with all the incense on the grain offering, and burn the memorial portion on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 16 Aaron and his sons shall eat the rest of it, but it is to be eaten without yeast in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. 17 It must not be baked with yeast; I have given it as their share of the offerings made to me by fire. Like the sin offering and the guilt offering, it is most holy. 18 Any male descendant of Aaron may eat it. It is his regular share of the offerings made to the LORD by fire for the generations to come. Whatever touches them will become holy.’”
The priest received their meat from sin offering as stated in Leviticus 6:25–26:
25 “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the LORD in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. 26 The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.
Additional meat was obtained through the fellowship offerings of the Israelites as instructed in Leviticus 7:28–34:
28 The LORD said to Moses, 29 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the LORD is to bring part of it as his sacrifice to the LORD. 30 With his own hands he is to bring the offering made to the LORD by fire; he is to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the LORD as a wave offering. 31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32 You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. 33 The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. 34 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share from the Israelites.’” 35 This is the portion of the offerings made to the LORD by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.
Altars in the OT Scripture besides being used for sacrifices had other usages. Altar was used as memorial or a monument to help the two and half tribes of Israel that did not cross over the Jordan, to convey to the future descendants of Israel they belong to the same God of Israel as the other nine and half tribes that crossed over the Jordan to settle, as we read in Joshua 22:27–29:
27 On the contrary, it is to be a witness between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the LORD at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD.’ 28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the LORD’s altar, which our fathers built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’ 29 “Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle.”
Altar was considered a table for God. This fact is referenced by Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 41:22:
There was a wooden altar three cubits high and two cubits square; its corners, its base and its sides were of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
The table here in Ezekiel is probably a reference to the table of the bread of presence mentioned in Exodus 25:30:
Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.
That aside, that an altar was considered a table for God is also conveyed in the denunciation of Israel by Prophet Malachi in Malachi 1:7:
“You place defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible.
The word “table” used here is probably used as a reference to an altar in a general sense that may include the Table of Bread of Presence and altar of burnt offering. Anyway, the point is that an altar is used as a table for God.
Our consideration of the words used in the rhetorical question of 1 Corinthians 10:18 Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? enable us to understand what the apostle was concerned. He probably was concerned to show that priests and by implication the people of Israel by sharing in the sacrifices offered in the altar have shared in God’s table. The implication is that they have identified themselves with God and have united with each other in the worship of God. Thus, the apostle’s point would be that the nature of the sacrifices of Israel was such that they created unity between them and God and each other. Thus, for anyone that has been identified with God to become involved in idolatry is not acceptable since that would be an affront to God. Hence, a reminder of the message of this passage that we are considering which is that Believers should avoid idolatry since everything associated with it is incompatible with the Christian faith, exposes one to demons, and so harms one’s fellowship with the Lord.
08/13//21