1 Cor 10:1-13 acts as a history lesson to us, reminding us of the importance of learning from the past. Many people fail to see the importance or relevance of history: Stephen Fry says ‘The biggest challenge facing the great teachers and communicators of history is not to teach history itself, nor even the lessons of history, but why history matters.’ If we don’t see that history matters or why history matters, we will live very much in the present and will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past; as Edmund Burke commented, ‘Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.’
A failure to appreciate history leaves us remaining as a child (Cicero), leaves us ignorant of the fact that the leaf is actually part of a tree (Michael Crichton). There is a direct correlation between the past, the present and the future: Sir Winston Churchill said ‘The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see’ or, as Toni Morrison puts it, ‘I’m interested in the way in which the past affects the present and I think that if we understand a good deal more about history, we automatically understand a great deal more about contemporary life.’ Certainly, Paul writes to the Corinthians about events in the Old Testament to give us ‘examples’ and ‘warnings’ which will help us to live properly. Chief amongst these examples is how not to live, for he cites examples of Israel’s lack of faith, grumbling, complaining and tendency to test God while they were in the wilderness (quoting from Exodus 14-16, Exodus 32 and Numbers 16, 21, 25).
The Corinthians apparently had a tendency towards arrogance and over-confidence, and Paul’s salutary warning to them needs to be lodged in our hearts: ‘So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!’ (1 Cor 10:12) Thanks to the children’s songwriter Ishmael, this was one of the very first Scriptures I ever learned off by heart, and it’s a valuable lesson to us all. The Israelites were all led out of Egypt, were all guided by the cloud of God, were all fed by manna and given water to drink from the rock. Nonetheless, God was not pleased with the majority of them because of their lack of faith and disobedience and only Caleb and Joshua from that original group entered the Promised Land. We who have received the promises of God need to learn lessons from the past and continue towards that end goal, running with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus (Heb 12:1-3).