<p>10:21- see on 1 Cor. 11:20.</p><p><em>You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons- </em>Paul is stating baldly that it is one or the other. If they ate idol food on the idol altar or table, then they were not really partaking of the Lord's table, in spiritual reality. Perhaps it is to this fact that he alludes when he states that &quot;When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat&quot; (11:20). Their external celebration of the Lord's supper was not that at all, because they also partook of the table and cup of the gods.</p><p>Paul speaks of us each one partaking of &ldquo;the table of the Lord&rdquo; (1 Cor. 10:21), a phrase used in the LXX for the altar (Ez. 44:16; Mal. 1:7,12)- the sacrifices whereof only the priests could eat. This would have been radical thinking to a community used to priests and men delegated to take charge of others&rsquo; religious affairs. Hebrew 3:13 gets at this idea when we read that <em>we </em>are to exhort one another not to turn away, situated as we are on the brink of the promised land, just as Moses exhorted Israel. As mentioned earlier, the Corinthians had turned the breaking of bread meeting into a religious gathering similar in style and format to the religious feasts of the surrounding cults. Vine comments that &ldquo;The Greeks and Romans placed images of the gods reclining on couches, with tables and food beside them, as if really partakers of the things offered in sacrifice. In Mal. 1:7, the altar of burnt-offering is called &ldquo;the table of the Lord&rdquo;. The &quot;altar&quot; of :18 is the Lord's table. The idol altars were likewise their table.</p><p>The &quot;table of the Lord&quot; was Old Testament language for the altar (Ez. 41:22). By eating from it we are partaking of the altar, the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 9:13; 10:18; Heb. 13:10). If we don't partake of it, we declare ourselves to have no part in Him. Yet the very fact we partake of it, is a statement that we have pledged ourselves to separation from this present world; for it is not possible to eat at the Lord's table, and also that of this world (1 Cor. 10:21). The Passover, as the prototype breaking of bread, featured bitter herbs to remind Israel of their bitter experience in Egypt (Ex. 1:14). The breaking of bread should likewise focus our attention on the fact that return to the world is a return to bondage and bitterness, not freedom.</p>