Notes
Verse 4 is a good example of Paul reading the Hebrew Bible as midrash. He sees the rock as an allegory for Christ. Of course, the authors of Exodus and Numbers had no intention of this. But Paul is "twisting Scripture" for his own rhetorical purposes. This is worth noticing, because it tells us something about how the earliest Christians understood the relationship between the Hebrew Bible and their experience of Jesus—not as strict historical correspondence, but as a living text that could be read in new ways.
Verse 6: "These things occurred as examples for us." The word is typos, where we get the word "typology." Paul is pointing out that the narratives of the Hebrew Bible are not merely (or possibly not even primarily) historical narratives. They are typological narratives for us to learn from.
Verse 9: "Put Christ to the test." Paul is reading Christ back into the Hebrew Bible. The Israelites in the wilderness weren't testing Christ in any historical sense, but Paul sees Christ as present throughout the whole story. Again, this is midrash, not historical exegesis.
Verse 10 makes reference to "the destroyer." This figure shows up in later Hebrew literature as a way of placing distance between God and evil or negative forces. In some earlier narratives, God is the one who destroys. Then, later on, God sends the destroyer. Then, even later in theological development, the destroyer becomes an independent agent. You can trace a whole theological evolution just through this one figure.
Verse 11: "The ends of the ages have come." Are we living in the end times? Yes, of course we are—and we have been since 29/33 AD. Jesus' resurrection was the big bang of the new creation, the new age. The "end times" is not some future event we're waiting for. It's the reality we've been living in for two thousand years.
Verse 13: "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone." This is in reference to whatever specific situation the Corinthians are facing. Don't forget that this is all in the context of conscience around food, people claiming Paul is in the wrong for something to do with his compensation. Whatever is being discussed about testing, this verse should never be used to say that every person in every situation is facing "common situations." That's a misapplication that has been used to dismiss people's real suffering—to tell someone going through something devastating that it's no big deal because everyone goes through it. That's not what Paul is saying here.
Questions for reflection
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Paul reads Christ back into the Exodus story—not as historical fact but as typology. How does that change the way you think about what it means to read the Bible "literally"?
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"The ends of the ages have come." If the new creation has already begun, what does that mean for how we live now—not someday, but today?
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Verse 13 is one of the most frequently quoted (and misquoted) verses in the Bible. Have you ever had it used against you in a way that dismissed what you were actually going through?