"For I want you to know, brothers, 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 drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."
In a section warning us not to engage in idolatry, our attention is first taken to the Israelites, who were in a position of great privilege but who none-the-less suffered because of their idolatry. They were physically led day-by-day by the Lord under a cloud. They passed through the Red Sea, walking on dry land. They were lead by Moses, a man whom the nation of Israel still venerates. They were fed manna and drank water from stone. Even more, they had a relationship with God, looking (through the sacrifices) to what Christ would do on the cross.
But in spite of their great privilege, they were spiritually unfaithful, and their unfaithfulness brought consequences. As Christians, we too enjoy great spiritual privileges. Our privileges should always spur us on towards greater faithfulness for we too will experience consequences for spiritual infidelity.
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