This second example is of special relevance to the Corinthians, since they themselves are prone to sexual immorality (see 1 Corinthians 5:1 – 6:20). This example comes from Numbers 25:1–18.
Just before entering the Promised Land, the Israelites camped at Shittim, where they joined the Moabites in worshipping Baal of Peor. Their worship to Baal was accompanied by sexual acts with Moabite women.
Numbers 25:1–18 states that twenty-four thousand Israelites died as a result of this sin. Paul’s statement that twenty-three thousand fell in a single day
probably comes from an oral tradition.
8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.