Paul ends his warning about idol feasts with two sharp questions. Barnes explains the first: would we, by joining in idol worship, provoke or irritate God and excite Him to anger? The second points out how foolish that would be. Barnes says, "We cannot contend successfully with Him." Gill calls such provoking "madness." Paul includes himself with "we," but the questions are aimed at any Corinthian who thought he could sit at both tables.

The answers are obvious: such behavior does provoke the Lord, and no one is stronger than He. Paul does not spell them out. Instead he turns to the practical questions of eating, beginning, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient" (1 Corinthians 10:23), and closes the section, "do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

"Provoke to jealousy" translates parazeloo, to stir up to jealousy or rivalry. Barnes ties the phrase to Deuteronomy 32:21, where God says of Israel, "They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God," and to texts such as Exodus 20:5, "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God." In Scripture, God's jealousy is His rightful claim on His people's worship, not petty envy. Gill writes that "he is a God jealous of his own honour."

God's jealousy guards His claim on His people's worship. He will not share them with false gods. Matthew Henry writes, "God cannot endure a rival in matter of worship." Israel learned this in the wilderness, as Paul reminded the Corinthians earlier in the chapter (1 Corinthians 10:5-11).

The second question puts human pride in its place. To provoke God on purpose is to act as if we were stronger than He. Barnes concludes it is "madness and folly to contend with God." The question is a mercy: it warns before it judges.