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About this book

1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 10

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea,⁠ 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.⁠ 5 But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were cut down in the wilderness. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”⁠ 8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and 23,000 died in a single day.⁠ 9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes.⁠ 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.⁠ 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So let the one who thinks he is standing be careful that he does not fall. 13 No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. 14 So then, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I am speaking to thoughtful people. Consider what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ?⁠ Is not the bread that we break a sharing in the body of Christ?⁠ 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread. 18 Look at the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners in the altar?⁠ 19 Am I saying that idols or food sacrificed to them amount to anything? 20 No, I mean that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons.⁠ 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot take part in the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we really stronger than he is? 23 “Everything is lawful,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is lawful,” but not everything builds others up. 24 Do not seek your own good, but the good of the other person.⁠ 25 Eat anything that is sold in the marketplace without questions of conscience, 26 for the earth and its abundance are the Lord’s. 27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner and you want to go, eat whatever is served without asking questions of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This is from a sacrifice,” do not eat, because of the one who told you and because of conscience— 29 I do not mean yours but the other person’s. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I blamed for the food that I give thanks for? 31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

Texts in conversation

Did 24,000 or 23,000 Die in the Plague at Baal Peor?

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Numbers records that 24,000 died in the plague after Israel's incident at Baal Peor, but in 1 Corinthians, Paul says 23,000 died. The difference of 1000 has puzzled interpreters, with some suggesting Paul relies on a different tradition or source.

Passages

Numbers 25:9

Hebrew Bible
7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand, 8 and went after the Israelite man into the tent and thrust through the Israelite man and into the woman’s abdomen. So the plague was stopped from the Israelites. 9 Those that died in the plague were 24,000. 10 The Lord spoke to Moses: 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites, when he manifested such zeal for my sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

1 Corinthians 10:8

New Testament
6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we will not crave evil things as they did. 7 So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 And let us not be immoral, as some of them were, and 23,000 died in a single day. 9 And let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

References

"... In 1 Corinthians 10:8, Paul says that 23,000 died in the incident of Baal Peor. However, Numbers 25:9 states that 24,000 died. ‘The case of the missing thousand’ has long preoccupied the minds of interpreters down the centuries. Most conservative interpreters have attempted to harmonize Paul and Numbers arguing either that Paul rounded down the number or that Numbers rounded it up. The problem here is that both are round numbers, and in any case poses the question as to how Numbers/Paul knew that the number ought to be rounded up/down. Other commentators have assumed that Paul made a mistake and recorded 23,000 from Numbers 26:62, where the 23,000 was the number of the Levites in the census. This creates the additional difficulty as to whether Paul’s memory really was so poor, and if so whether he or his secretary did not check and correct the draft. Thus, Gordon Fee concludes that the infamous ‘case of the missing thousand’ has no ‘entirely satisfactory solution’ ... I shall argue that Paul was not referring to a plague, that is, a disease sent by God but rather to a slaughter by the sword carried out by men, with Paul linking the Golden Calf and Baal Peor incidents together. This reading comes from a deduction implicit in Numbers 25:4-5 where Moses instructed the judges to slay the Israelites involved in idolatry, and linguistic and thematic links with Exodus 32. In this reading, Paul stood within interpretative traditions that existed in early Judaism ..."
Rohintan Mody, “The Case of the Missing Thousand: Paul's Use of the Old Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:8—A New Proposal,” Churchman (2017): 61–79.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 25:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:8

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