1 Corinthians 10:1-5

1: For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, 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 drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.
5: Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

*** 

Paul used Israel, as the Lord had, as an example for believers. He wanted to be sure they understood what “our fathers” went through in coming out of Egypt. The Jewish fathers who founded Israel were not just the fathers of the Jewish faith, but the Christian faith as well for Christianity was birthed from the Jews. Ideally, all Jewish people would have recognized that Jesus was the Messiah and there wouldn’t have been a split between Jew and Christian like we see today. The Lord meant all along for his salvation to be made available to everyone—all nations. So, what Paul is saying applies to both Jewish and non-Jewish believers.

He said that they all—the fathers—were under the cloud, meaning the cloud which led them out of Egypt and throughout their time in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). They all passed through the sea, which was the Red Sea which parted when they were trapped by Pharaoh’s army on their way out of Egypt (Exodus 14). Paul said this cloud and sea were a type of baptism they went through to establish Moses as their leader who would give them the Law.

They all ate manna (Exodus 16:14-35) and drank from the rock at Horeb which God told Moses to strike so the people would have water (Exodus 17:6). The rock, Paul said, was a type of Christ who was struck for us so we could live. These were miracles that God did to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and keep them alive in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land where He would establish them as a nation.

Yet, God was not pleased with most of them, so the generation that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:20-38). Paul spoke of this basic Israeli history, using them as an example, as he continued his discussion on Christian behavior.

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