1 Corinthians 10:9 - Exposition

Tempt Christ (see the note on 1 Corinthians 10:4 ). Christ is here identified with the angel which went before the Israelites, whom they were specially warned not "to provoke," because "my Name is in him" ( Exodus 23:1-33 . 20, 21). Another reading is "the Lord." "Christ" may have come in from a marginal gloss. On the other hand, since "Christ" is the more difficult reading, it was, perhaps, the more likely to be altered by copyists. The word for "tempt" means "tempt utterly," "tempt beyond endurance." As some of them ( Exodus 17:2 , Exodus 17:7 ; Numbers 14:22 ; Numbers 21:5 , Numbers 21:6 ). Of serpents; rather, perished by the serpents, viz. the "fiery serpents" of the wilderness ( Numbers 21:6 ).