Exodus 16 in 2 Corinthians 8

It's another of those 'Not sure I'd have used the OT in quite that way, Paul' passages. And with an interesting twist. A number of things are possibly worthy of comment:

i. He does not give the Exodus text a Christological focus. While all the OT speaks of Jesus, it doesn't (or so it seems) only speak of him. It can be framed to teach NT believers quite directly.

ii. In Paul's use of Exodus 16:17,18 in 2 Corinthians 8:13-15, he aligns the experience of Israel in the wilderness with the church at Corinth. He isn't so much using fulfilment language as equating the two experiences. There is a proper continuity between the two communities.

iii. But there is a twist. In Exodus 16, the implication seems to be that people didn't pick too much or too little, even though it might have seemed that they had. Somehow - and the text could almost be taken to imply God's direct intervention - they all found that they had just the amount they needed. How will such need be met in Corinth and elsewhere? Through the generosity of God's people - those with more than enough will give to those who have too little, and in that way there will be parity.

Is Paul implying that this is what actually happened in Exodus 16, that he is seeing beneath the text to an implication that may not be clear at first sight? Or is he aligning the two experiences in such a way as to suggest that, whilst God may have directly intervened in the past and could still choose to do so today, the real emphasis lies on his people sharing the generous nature of God and taking steps to ensure their brothers and sisters are provided for? Perhaps his use of 'as it is written' is designed to show that there always was intended to be progression from an Exodus 16 type of situation, to the sort of action he is advocating. In which case, it raises the possibility of similar use of the OT in other places.

Maybe.