And yet, at the very time Moses was up on the mountain receiving the law, recorded in Exodus 32, the people were down in the valley breaking that very commandment. They were making the golden calf, and falling down and worshiping it. At this point, even though they were identified with Moses in the exodus and were numbered visibly among the people of God, they committed adultery and were judged for their sin. The sin of the golden calf led to the sin of sexual immorality because the worship of false gods always leads to a false or debased morality.
When Paul refers to the Israelites’ testing of the Lord, we know the incident of which he is thinking because of the example he gives of the punishment. He says we should not test the Lord as some of them did and were killed by snakes. This is the story of the bronze serpent, recorded in Numbers 21. Here the Israelites were complaining to Moses about ever leading them out of Egypt in the first place. They were not only rebelling against Moses, but against God who had accomplished their deliverance out of Egypt through Moses’ leadership.
They said to Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food [the manna]!” (v. 5). In response to this God pronounced a judgment on them. Isn’t that interesting? They had been led out of Egypt into one of the most inhospitable environments on earth, where God had done absolutely everything to protect them and guide them. He had given them that great cloud which spread out over the camp to give them shade from the heat of the sun in the daytime. Then the Lord sent a pillar of fire at night, which both guided them, illuminated the camp, and provided warmth. He also provided water from the rock, which is described in Numbers 20. He sent down manna from the sky for them to eat. But now they are complaining because God was not doing everything quite the way they wanted, and they were growing impatient.
We read of Israel’s behavior and say, “Oh, how bad they were.” But then we step back and realize that we do the same thing. God provides for us in many wonderful ways; still we say, “Oh, God, why have you done that? Why have you brought me into this mess where I’m not happy?” But that is just what Israel did. It is what Paul calls testing the Lord in 1 Corinthians 10. This is very close to what is also described next in verse 10, where Paul tells the Corinthians not to grumble. The Israelites were judged for this too.
As we said before, it was not enough for them to be in the company of the people of God. It was not enough for them to have been given their identification with Moses through the exodus. It was not enough for them to participate in what Paul alludes to here as spiritual food and spiritual drink. What was necessary is that they stand against temptation, which many of them did not do and fell as a result.
This is the first part of the story, which we said is the bad news. We are told that these examples are given to us as a warning not to think that only others are able to fall but not us. Anybody who thinks that they are strong in the Lord, and because they have been a Christian for a long time a particular temptation will never touch them is a fool and, furthermore, is standing contrary to Scripture. Wisdom in this matter begins with recognizing that in ourselves, you and I can do absolutely anything at all. We see how others fall from temptation, and think that if it had been us, we would have done better. However, it is quite possible that you and I would have fallen far sooner than they did.
