1 Corinthians 10:9

9. Tempt Christ Some manuscripts read the Lord, instead of Christ. The meaning would then be the same, but the analogy of 1 Corinthians 10:4 and of Hebrews 11:26 is convincing proof that Christ is the true reading. To tempt the Divine Being is to provoke and dare his wrath by a persistence in presumptuous sin. The allusion is to Numbers 21:4-6, where Israel is described as provoking God by reproaches for bringing them into the desert and feeding them upon manna. So the Corinthian Christians might rebel at their separation from the pagan social world, and their restriction under the severe morality of Christ. In this way myriads of professing Christians have tempted Christ, have apostatized from his religion, and died of the fiery bite of the old serpent or his “infernal brood.”