John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 10:8

"Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand." — 1 Corinthians 10:8 (ASV)

Neither let us commit fornication. Now he speaks of fornication, concerning which, as appears from historical accounts, great licentiousness prevailed among the Corinthians. We may readily infer from the preceding context that those who had professed to be Christ’s were not yet entirely free from this vice.

The punishment of this vice, also, should alarm us and lead us to keep in mind how loathsome impure lusts are to God. For in one day, twenty-three thousand perished, or as Moses says, twenty-four thousand. Though they differ in number, it is easy to reconcile them. It is not unusual, when not intending to count each individual exactly and minutely, to state an approximate number. For example, among the Romans, there were those who received the name of Centumviri (The Hundred), while in reality, there were one hundred and two.

Therefore, since there were about twenty-four thousand who were overthrown by the Lord’s hand—that is, more than twenty-three thousand, Moses has stated the number above the exact count, and Paul, the number below it. In this way, there is in reality no difference. This history is recorded in Numbers 25:9.

There remains, however, one difficulty here: why Paul attributes this punishment to fornication, while Moses relates that God’s anger was aroused against the people because they had initiated themselves into the sacred rites of Baalpeor.

But since the defection began with fornication, and the children of Israel fell into that impiety not so much from being influenced by religious considerations as from being allured by the enticements of harlots, everything evil that followed from it should be attributed to fornication. For Balaam had given this counsel: that the Midianites should prostitute their daughters to the Israelites, with the aim of estranging them from the true worship of God.

Furthermore, their excessive blindness in allowing themselves to be drawn into impiety by the enticements of harlots was the punishment of lust. Let us learn, therefore, that fornication is no light offense, which God punished on that occasion so severely and indeed in a variety of ways.