The Wilderness Journey

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Homer Baker
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1 The Wilderness Journey Which Way to the Complaint Department? Numbers 11:1-35 Things had been going wonderfully. God had freed the people from Egypt. He promised to move them into the land of Canaan. He had been providing for their physical needs. Every morning manna covered the face of the ground. Israel never wanted for something to eat. They could grind the manna in mills or beat it in mortars; they could boil it or make cakes of it; and though it tasted good enough, like cakes baked in oil, it always tasted the same. One evening, then, when Elisheba set manna before Carmi, he jumped up and began to fling his arms around. I ve been talking with Nahshon and Zuar, he shouted. Do you want to hear what they say? Elisheba didn t answer, butg neither did her husband wait for an answer. They say their strength is being dried up, that s what they say, he shouted. Achan sat chewing and watching his father with big eyes. And they are not alone, Carmi shouted. Eliab and his father Helon say the same thing. And Elizur I talked to him. And Shelumiel. We need meat to eat! Meat! Savory meat! We remember the fish of Egypt, cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlic. Oh, the garlic! Just a little garlic! But there s nothing to look at here but manna! Little Achan also looked down at his little bits of manna. He pushed it away. Immediately he felt a burning like a bee-sting at the tip of his ear. But this was no bee. It was a clip from his mother s fingernail. He took back the manna and ate it. 1 God had also provided for their spiritual needs. God established the sacrificial system. He sent plans for a priesthood and for the Tabernacle. It would seem the people had plenty of opportunities to praise the Lord for all of His gifts. But, as is often the case God s people don t appreciate the gifts of God because they require responsibility. I Who Turned Up The Heat? Numbers 11:1-3 II Where s the Beef? Numbers 11:4-34 I Who Turned Up The Heat?: So the people begin to grumble. Now we all grumble at times, but the problem here isn t just that they are dissatisfied with their circumstances. The real issue is a serious disrespect of the Lord. Allen notes: Instead of Now the people complained, the Masoretic text could also be translated, Now the people became truly murmurous, an offense to Yahweh s ears. 2 1 Wangerin, Jr., Walter, The Book of God, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1996, p Allen, Ronald B., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Numbers, Zondervan I nteractive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990, Electronic text hypertexted and prepared by OakTree Software, Inc.

2 But as we will see God is more gracious and loving that we deserve. Allen introduces the following chapters in this way. We now begin an entirely new and unexpected account in the experience of the people of the first generation. They had been prepared by Moses, at the instruction of the Lord, to be a holy people on a march of triumph bound for the Promised Land. But by the third day of the march, the people faltered; the holy people became sullied with contempt for the Lord. Chapters present a dismal record of their acts of ingratitude and of God s consequent judgments on his ungrateful people. Within these chapters are innumerable instances of his continuing grace. The reader of these texts goes astray if he or she focuses solely on God s wrath or on the constant provocations to his anger by his meandering people. The more impressive feature in this text is God s continuing mercy against continuing, obdurate rebellion. 3 The first point I want to make here is how little time has passed. They have only been marching three days since leaving Sinai. This wasn t new. It was three days out from Egypt when they previously did the same thing. This may be one of the factors in understanding God s quick and fierce anger. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What are we to drink? (Exodus 12:22-24). The other problem is, if the people are being rebellious and disobedient when there is no real struggle, what will happen when the time comes to go into battle against the enemy? And so, God immediately reacts by raining fire down on the fringe of the camp. Moses goes to Him in prayer and the judgment immediately ends. The location is then named Taberah which comes from the Hebrew burned. II Where s the Beef? What I have a problem understanding is, after the rapid and fierce judgment of the Lord, it would seem the people would be too fearful to even let a small complaint pass their mouths, but now they re complaining of their diet. Well, actually, note who starts the complaining, it s the rabble, not the Hebrews themselves. This account appropriately begins with the rabble, an apt term for the non-israelite mixed group of people who followed the people of Israel from Egypt. This term points to a recurring source of complaints and trouble in the camp. Those who did not know the Lord and his mercies too easily incited those who did know him to rebel against him. But however the murmuring began, it soon spread throughout the camp of Israel. 4 While we don t know how much time has passed here, the absence of any information would lend some support to the sense of the immediacy of the event. So, they are getting tired of manna. They remember all the great food they had in Egypt. But this is a bit ironic, for though they remember the food they seem to have forgotten the circumstances under which they ate it, slavery and death. Perspective certainly can effect reality, can t it? Can you think of any examples of how perspective has influenced your view of reality? 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 44

3 Verses 7-9: Moses gives a quick reminder of the nature of manna. Here the people are being blessed by God, but they are complaining. They are defining their needs differently than God is defining them. Doesn t that sound a bit familiar? Do we ever act that way? Verses 10-15: As some wag once noted about the pastorate, It s a great job, except for the people. Moses is getting fed up with the whole situation. We can see the foreshadowing of his coming problem. He asks the Lord Why did you put me in this situation? God s angry and Moses is blaming Him for the struggle of putting up all this nonsense. What is the problem with Moses thinking? He is acting as if the responsibility for the people was his. Additionally, he falls into the trap of thinking that because the people demand something, they should get it. Allen notes these verses are in a poetic form. And as is the case with any poetic form, this allows room for hyperbole. While this may be the case, the poetic form is used here, that doesn t minimize the fact Moses is using it with God. And while God doesn t criticize him for this, which supports Allen s contention that we shouldn t read it too harshly, it may have been this kind of thinking over time which led to his final frustration and lose of the right to enter the land. It is for this reason we always need to allow truth to out way our emotions. Verses 16-17: Well God has something in mind. First, He lets Moses know he wouldn t have to carry the entire burden on his on. God calls for the seventy elders of the nation. These men are to become responsible along with Moses before God in leading the people. Also it should be noted that while we have stated in the past the people weren t indwelt by the Holy Spirit, as we are, the Holy Spirit was involved. These verses tell us the Holy Spirit was on Moses, directing him. Now the Holy Spirit would also be on the leaders of the people. And so Moses is blessed. This would say that his struggle, reflected by his emotions was legitimate. But understand, when we are ill, stressed or depressed, which seems to be the case with Moses at this point, our areas of weakness/sin are more likely to manifest themselves. Verses 18-25: Well, nobody can say God doesn t have a sense of humor. He says, Okay the people want meat, they ll get meat. They ll get so much meat, it will make them sick. The real problem is they are sick, sick in sin. They are questioning God s essential goodness, and later when facing their fears of going into the land it is this problem that is behind their deaths in the wilderness. So God says, He ll feed the people. Moses hears, You ve got to come up with the food. Moses says, What are you nuts? Well, that s what he would have said if he d been talking to anyone else. As Spurgeon says: GOD had made a positive promise to Moses that for the space of a whole month he would feed the vast host in the wilderness with flesh. Moses, being overtaken by a fit of unbelief, looks to the outward means, calculates his commissariat, and is at a loss to know how the promise can be fulfilled. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain? How, then, should they have cattle wherewith to stock the land upon which they hoped soon to enter? And if they should slaughter all their beasts, there would not be food enough for ravenous people for a month. Shall all the fish of the sea leave their watery element and come to the tables of these glamorous hungry men? Even then, Moses thought there would be 45

4 scarcely food enough to feed so vast a host for a month. You will see, my brethren, right readily the mistake which Moses made. He looked to the creature instead of the Creator. 5 Isn t this the same problem we have? We limit God by our own imaginations. If we can t think of a solution to a problem, we act as if God can t. If we see the way we think something should be done, then we re closed to God doing it differently. This was certainly the case here with Moses. Have you ever been amazed when God came up with His own ways of doing something? So the elders, along with Moses come to the Tabernacle. The Holy Spirit comes upon these men and the all begin to prophecy. This is a sign to the nation that God has put His stamp on these men, that they are serving Him. And He is the one who decides how His work is to be carried out, as Joshua is about to find Verses 26-30: Meet Eldad and Medad. These are two of the elders and they didn t come to the Tabernacle. We don t know why. What we do know is the Holy Spirit was on them. They were prophesying. Joshua, who had been serving Moses for years was jealous for him and therefore complained about these two. Clearly, even though God had commanded the two to come to the Tabernacle, He was the one who empowered them to prophesy. The Holy Spirit, for whatever reason, maybe for Joshua s sake, caused them to remain in the camp, being a witness for Him. Does this remind you of something? Teacher, said John, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us. Do not stop him, Jesus said. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward (Mark 9:38-41). Verses 31-35: So God supplied so much that, well let s go back to Allen: The scene must have been similar to a riot: people screaming, birds flapping their wings, everywhere the pell-mell movement of a meat-hungry people in a sea of birds. Dare we picture people ripping at the birds, eating flesh before cooking it, bestial in behavior? They must have been like a sugar-crazed boy in a child s daydream, afloat on a chocolate sandwich cookie raft in a sea of chocolate syrup, nibbling at the cookie before drowning in the dark, sweet sea. 6 But getting one s own way, has a price. Sometimes God will give us what we demand if we are unwilling to let go. He knows what is best for us, but if we are unwilling to trust Him for our needs, then He may be willing to let us have what we want and letting us experience the consequences of not trusting Him. 5 Spurgeon, Charles Haddon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, The Charles H. Spurgeon Library, AGES Software, Albany, OR, No. # Allen 46

5 Here it isn t just having too much meat. As we noted at the beginning of this lesson, God is concerned about their obedience when the go into the land and the cost of disobedience. Like the 2 year old in danger of running into the street, you have to do what ever it takes. Here, apparently, it took a plague and the place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, which means Graves of Craving. The chapter ends on this note. We don t know how long the plague lasted, how many died or anything else. Moses simply ends the account. The focus is on the cost of rebellion and lack of trust. Again, if one truly trusts the Lord, then one will also obey Him. We will be satisfied with what the God desires to provide. Let us not be too hard on these people for at one time or another most of us have struggled with acceptance of the Lord s wisdom instead of depending on our own. Instead let us remember their plight and acknowledge that God knows what is best for us. Even if we have been eating manna for months or even years, that which God provides is always better than what we would settle for. So, let us thank the Lord, let us trust the Lord, Let us depend upon the Lord. I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him 47

6 The Wilderness Journey Which Way to the Complaint Department? Numbers 11:1-35 I Who Turned Up The Heat?: (Exodus 12:22-24) II Where s the Beef?: (Exodus 15:3) 1. Grumbling at the Cuisine 2. Manna 3. Grumbling at the Job

7 4. New Staff 5. Spirit Aid (Mark 9:38-41) 6. A New Meal (Psalm 34) Personal Application: Where have I been grumbling without out intent of being rebellious? Is there any place where my grumbling is knowingly rebellious? What are some practical steps to getting the grumbling out of my life? Prayer for the Week: LORD, help me to, instead of grumbling, look to all Your blessings so that my heart and my mouth will be filled with Your praises instead of my complaints. In Christ s name, amen.

THE MIXED MULTITUDE IN NUMBERS 11

THE MIXED MULTITUDE IN NUMBERS 11 By Titus Chu Numbers 11:1-9 Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and