“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

On a roll, Paul continues to warn the Corinthians about missing the mark, getting it all wrong. He shifts from speaking of himself to using the ancient Jews as an example. The Corinthians (and we also) have much in common with the ancient Israelites, who had a privileged position but blew it big time—this is an example from which to warn the Corinthians.

Note a few details before we go on. Paul seems to indicate that his readers may have been unfamiliar with the Jewish Scriptures (what we call OT), or at least not well steeped in them. Yet he refers to “our fathers,” a typical phrase used when speaking to Jews about their forebears. There was a mix of Jew and Gentile Christians at Corinth (see Acts 17), but Paul includes all believers under the common heritage of God’s OT people.

What does Paul mean by “our fathers were all under the cloud”? The clear reference in this context is the Exodus story of leaving Egypt with a cloud of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. Although the cloud did not literally float over the Israelites, it did represent God’s presence (Ex. 13:21–22, 16:10, 19:9, 33:9). The presence of God certainly protected His people as they traveled in the wilderness—and in that sense He covered them. God led them through the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, an experience Paul likens to being baptized as the Corinthians were. Spiritual food was the manna miraculously provided, emblematic of the spiritual food and drink, as it were, of communion (see 1 Cor. 10:16–17, 11:17–34). And the “spiritual rock which followed them”— what do we make of that? Twice the Scripture speaks of a rock that Moses struck which brought forth water (Ex. 17:1–7; Num. 20:2–13). However, God must have given them water more than twice in their forty-year wilderness experience. Paul, speaking as inspired, fills us in that there was also a “rock which followed,” and he likens that to Christ.

Now the point Paul makes is this: despite all the Corinthians had in Christ (see 1 Cor. 1:4–9), they should be warned of God’s displeasure over their behavior. If He didn’t spare “our fathers” for their unbelief, He will not spare Christians who act in unbelief, in ways displeasing to God.

O Lord, let me not take freedom in Christ as an excuse for spiritual callousness.