SCRIPTURE: NUMBERS 11
IMPORTANT VERSES:
“Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.” (Numbers 11:1)
“Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” (Numbers 11:23)
FIRE FROM THE LORD (vs. 1-3)
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.
QUAIL FROM THE LORD (vs. 4-35)
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.
Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. He asked the Lord, :”Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth”? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?: Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, “Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now – if I have found favor in your eyes – and do not let me face my own ruin.”
The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting , that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take off the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.
“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month – until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it – because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took off the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, The prophesied, but they did not do so again.:
However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aid since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Then Moses and the elder of Israel returned to the camp.
Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
Both the Israelites and Moses complained but God responded positively to Moses and negatively to the people. Why? The people complained to one another and nothing was accomplished. Moses took his complaint to God, who could solve any problem. Many of us are good at complaining to each other. We need to learn to take our problems to the One who can do something about them.
The people of Israel did not notice what God was doing for them – setting them free , making them a nation, giving them a new land – because they were so wrapped up in what God was not doing for them. They only think of the delicious Egyptian food they had left behind. They forgot the brutal whip of Egyptian slavery was the cost of eating that food. Let us think about what occupies our attention most of the time. Are we grateful for what God has given us or are we always thinking about what we would like to have? We should not allow our unfulfilled desires to cause us to forget God’s gifts of life, food, health, work and friends.
While the Israelites received manna – food from heaven everyday, they felt it was not enough. They demanded meat and forgot what they already had. By complaining, God gave them what they asked for but they paid dearly for its consequences. A plague struck the camp and they died. When you ask God for something, he may grant your request. But if you approach him with a sinful attitude, getting what you want may prove costly.
Craving or lusting is an unnatural or greedy desire for anything (sports, knowledge, possessions, influence over others). God punished the Israelites for craving good food! Their desire has turned into greed. They felt it was their right to have fine food. When you become preoccupied with something until it affects your perspective on everything else, you have moved from desire to lust.