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"Who ever goes to war at his own expense?"

Text: 1 Corinthians 9:7

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS

Paul must have nursed a deep sense of hurt that the church he founded would have members who turned against him so cruelly! But this was more than just a personal issue. Truth was at stake!

“Who ever goes to war at his own expense?
Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?
Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk
of the flock? Do I say these things as a mere man?
Or does not the law say the same also?
For it is written in the law of Moses, ‘You shall not
muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.’
Is it oxen God is concerned about?”
1 Corinthians 9:7-9

1. Three pertinent analogies

a) Who goes to war at his own expense?

b) Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit?

c) Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk of the flock?

Rhetorical questions do not need an answer! The answers are too obvious to state!

2. “Do I say these things as a mere man?”

a) Paul understood how his detractors would reason.

b) That these were questions from the standpoint of man.

c) That perhaps there was no spiritual or Biblical merit to raising such questions!

3. “Or does not the law say the same also?”

a) Paul was a trained Rabbinic scholar.

b) He knew the law of Moses better than most.

c) He cited the law of Moses as his authority (Deuteronomy 25:4).

4. “The law of Moses”

a) It was written to govern even how animals were to be treated.

b) Oxen were used to tread out the grain.

i) They would walk round and round a mill to do this tedious work.

ii) The oxen were allowed to pause from time to time.

iii) They were allowed to eat the grain they tread out.

c) Was this law only given to protect animal rights?

d) Was there an application to all, who like oxen, are serving the Lord?