1 Corinthians 10:1 - Exposition

Moreover ; rather, for. He has just shown them, by his own example, the necessity for strenuous watchfulness and effort. In continuance of the same lesson, he teaches them historically that the possession of great privileges is no safeguard, and that the seductions, even of idolatry, must not be carelessly despised. Although the connection of the various paragraphs is not stated with logical precision, we see that they all bear on the one truth which he wants to inculcate, namely, that it is both wise and kind to limit our personal freedom out of sympathy with others. The reading "but" ( δὲ , morever) is probably a correction of the true reading ( γὰρ , for), due to the failure to understand the whole train of thought. I would not that ye should be ignorant. This is a favourite phrase of St. Paul's ( 1 Corinthians 12:1 ; 2 Corinthians 1:8 ; Romans 1:13 ; Romans 11:25 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:13 ). The ignorance to which he refers is not ignorance of the facts, but of the meaning of the facts. All our fathers. He repeats the "all" five times, because he wishes to show that, though "all" partook of spiritual blessings, most ( 1 Corinthians 10:5 ) fell in spite of them. He says, "our fathers," not only because he was himself a Jew, but also because the patriarchs and the Israelites were spiritually the fathers of the Christian Church. Were under the cloud. The compressed Greek phrase implies that they went under it, and remained under its shadow. The "cloud" is the "pillar of cloud" ( Exodus 13:21 ), of which David says, "He spread a cloud for a covering" ( Psalms 105:39 ). The Book of Wisdom ( 1 Corinthians 10:17 ) calls it "a cover unto them by day," and (19:7) "a cloud shadowing the camp." All passed through the sea ( Exodus 14:22 ).