Numbers. Day 36, Jealousy And Racial Prejudice From Miriam And Aaron, Part One

I am sorry that I wasn't able to make a blog post yesterday. Every few years I go through a period of time when I suffer from cluster headaches and I've been having a spell of them for nine days now, but yesterday's was so bad I couldn't even turn my head and my eyes hurt too much to look at a computer screen. I thank you for your patience. The headache is much better today than it was yesterday; hopefully this will go away soon like it usually does.

In Chapter 12 we find Miriam and Aaron---the sister and brother of Moses---showing prejudice toward Moses' wife due to her cultural background and skin color. They suggest his choice of wife makes him unfit to serve as Israel's leader. We are going to find the Lord being very unhappy with their attitude, and with Miriam's attitude in particular because she appears to be the primary person making discriminatory remarks against Moses' wife. Miriam appears to be the main one suggesting Moses' marriage to a non-Israelite should disqualify him to be in charge of Israel.

"Miriam and Aaron began to talk about Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite." (Numbers 12:1) It is not common in the Bible for a woman's name to appear before a man's in a sentence and this is why many Bible scholars believe Miriam, more than Aaron, is guilty of racial prejudice and of wanting Moses deposed as leader. The wording of verse 1 indicates that Miriam was the first to begin talking against Moses' wife and that she is the main person trying to stir up rebellion against the authority of Moses. Aaron may have agreed with her opinions but, since we won't find the Lord disciplining him the way He will discipline Miriam, I doubt Aaron wants to see his brother overthrown. We'll see that jealousy is at the heart of Miriam's and Aaron's complaints. They are jealous of the fame and glory attached to Moses due to Moses being the spokesperson of the Lord. (As we've already seen, Moses has endured a great deal of opposition due to his job as the Lord's spokesperson. He will continue to endure a great deal of opposition. If Miriam and Aaron had taken that into account, perhaps they wouldn't have envied his position quite so much.) But my personal opinion is that Aaron probably only wanted to share in Moses' glory whereas Miriam probably wanted more glory. Either way, both of them are in the wrong because the Lord has chosen the man He wants to lead Israel at this particular time, and to rebel against God's choice of leader is to rebel against God.

Earlier in the Bible we were told Moses' wife was Zipporah, a Midianite woman. We have seen no mention of Zipporah for some time now and this has led a number of scholars to believe she died and that Moses remarried. When and where did he have an opportunity to meet and marry a Cushite woman in the wilderness? I believe she may have been from among the "mixed multitude" who left Egypt with the Israelites in the exodus. Should Moses have married an Israelite woman and not a woman from another culture? We don't see any evidence that the Lord had a problem with it, although we'll find Him forbidding the Israelites to take wives from among the heathen tribes of the promised land in order to prevent the Israelites from falling into idolatry. I think it's very possible that this Cushite woman had already converted to the God of Israel before Moses married her. Also we have to take into account that Moses' first wife was not an Israelite either but she appears to have believed in the Lord. If both Moses' wives served the Lord, then these women were part of the family of God, and that explains why neither Moses nor the Lord appears to have had a problem with these unions. I find it hard to believe Moses would take for his wife a woman who was not the Lord's will for him, especially not during the years Moses led Israel in the wilderness, for Moses seems to be seeking the Lord's will in everything he does.

This Cushite woman was almost certainly black but her skin color isn't as much of an issue for Miriam and Aaron as her cultural background. But even that isn't the true heart of the matter. The true heart of the matter is their jealousy of Moses; they are simply using his marriage as a way to cast doubt on his qualifications to lead the people. The real problem is that they want glory and authority and would like to obtain it by pointing to his wife and saying to the people, "Why did our leader marry outside of our culture? Was he in the Lord's will when he did this? And if he wasn't following the Lord's will when he chose his wife, how can we be sure he's being truthful when he tells us what the Lord has supposedly said to him? If Moses took a Cushite wife and not an Israelite wife, can we be confident of his loyalty to us and to our God?"

Here's where we find out that their real problem was not with Moses' choice of wife; their real problem was jealousy of Moses. "'Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?' they asked. 'Hasn't He also spoken through us?' And the Lord heard this." (Numbers 12:2) In the book of Exodus we found occasions where the Lord spoke to the people through Aaron and Miriam. Miriam was called a prophetess in Exodus 15:21 where we find her composing a song to the Lord and leading the women in worship. Aaron spoke through the authority of the Lord in Exodus 4 and Exodus 15. As high priest of Israel, Aaron would have communed with the Lord in prayer on a regular basis and the Lord would have spoken to his heart. Miriam and Aaron are telling the truth when they say the Lord has spoken through them, but this doesn't give them the right to usurp Moses' authority or share in the authority the Lord has given solely to Moses. If the Lord had wanted these three siblings to lead Israel together---as equals---He would have said so. Aaron can't be a good high priest and the political leader of Israel at the same time; his duties at the tabernacle take up the majority of his time. His life is meant to revolve around his priestly duties. Miriam can't be an effective worship song composer, women's worship leader, and prophetess if she also has to instruct the nation in political and religious matters. The Lord has assigned to each of these people the job He wants them to have. To crave a position of authority other than the one the Lord gave them is rebellion against God. 

We are told "the Lord heard" their complaints. Of course we know the Lord hears everything, so I think what this means is that He took special note of their complaints and was extremely displeased with them. When the Bible tells us the Lord hears something, it usually means action is about to follow. 

Tomorrow we'll find the Lord speaking to all three siblings at once, which shows us just how much authority the three of them have been given by Him and why neither Miriam nor Aaron should have tried to grasp some of what the Lord gave Moses for themselves. We'll find the Lord disciplining Miriam by allowing an unclean illness to fall upon her. Aaron's distress (and no doubt guilt, as well) at the appearance of this illness will be very great, which is the Lord's discipline upon him. The discipline is a blessing, for the Lord will use this incident to heal the family feud. Aaron will repent in his heart when he sees the condition of his sister and he will apologize to Moses and beg for his help. Miriam's repentance will be brought about by the Lord's chastisement and by the fact that in order to be healed, Moses---the very person she wronged---must pray for her. How humbling that must have been! The Lord knows it would be very easy for Moses to harbor hurt and bitterness in his heart toward his brother and sister after the incident in Numbers 12, so He softens Moses' heart by having him pray for Miriam. It's difficult to maintain bitterness toward a person for whom we are praying.

Great is the wisdom of God! Join us tomorrow as He masterfully and perfectly resolves this family conflict.

Numbers. Day 35, The Quail And The Plague, Part Two

The promised quail are going to arrive as we conclude Chapter 11, but judgment will arrive with them.

"Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day's walk in any direction." (Numbers 11:31) There is an annual migration of quail in that general region and across Egypt during the time of year we are studying in this chapter. These quail are quite plentiful under normal circumstances, but in our text we have reason to believe the Lord sent far more quail than are usually contained in the regular migration. In spots they were three feet deep, according to the NIV translation. Some scholars argue that the original text should be understood to stay the quail were flying low enough to catch or strike with a club or a bow and arrow---that they were flying no higher than three feet from the ground. So we can't say for certain how thick the quail were upon the ground but it seems clear that no matter which direction a person walked a day's journey from the camp, quail were to be found.

"All that day and night and all the next day the people went and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp." (Numbers 11:32) The exact measure of a homer varies according to which article you find on Google but I did find an online calculator that converts the Biblical homer into ounces and gallons, and if this calculator is correct, ten homers would equal about 499.45 dry gallons. This seems an enormous amount but we have to keep in mind that the Lord promised to send enough meat to supply every person for thirty days. (Numbers 11:19-20) It would take a lot of quail to feed a congregation that numbered 2,000,000 or more. How were the people to preserve these quail for thirty days? I feel the text suggests that they dried it into jerky strips in the sun or over fires since verse 20 says the people spread the quail "all around the camp". 

Since the Lord said the people would eat quail for thirty days---so much quail that they'd come to loathe it---we have to assume what happens in this next verse happened at the end of the thirty day period. "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." (Numbers 11:33) Most of the commentaries I consulted by mainstream Bible scholars state that verse 33 should be understood to be saying, "Before the people ran out of meat to consume, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and He struck them with a severe plague." This would make more sense than thinking the Lord sent a plague on the day He sent the quail because that would contradict what the Lord said earlier in Numbers 11 about them eating it for a whole month "until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it"; in other words, they would eat so much quail for so many days that they can't stand the sight or smell of it and would hate it so much they might never want to see another quail. 

What kind of plague strikes the people? Some Bible scholars and medical experts believe they contracted an illness from the quail itself. It could be that the quail were harboring disease or some type of worms. It may be that the food was not fully preserved from decay by the drying methods and that, near the end of the thirty days, the food that still remained caused food poisoning in a lot of the population. Or it's possible that the plague didn't originate from the food itself but was sent solely by the hand of God. Whatever the nature of the plague, it was deadly for an unknown number of persons. "Therefore the place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food. From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there." (Numbers 11:34-35) "Kibroth Hattaavah" means "graves of craving".

Why did the Lord send a plague upon the people? They complained for meat and He gave them meat, which on the surface appears like an answer to their prayers, but has the Lord ever allowed you to have something that wasn't good for you simply because you wouldn't stop craving it and asking for it and seeking it? There have been times in my life when I wanted something other than what the Lord had already given me. He was giving me what was best for me in that period of my life but I wanted something entirely different and wouldn't stop thinking about it and trying to obtain it. In some of these situations He's allowed me to obtain the thing I thought I wanted just so I would see that it wouldn't make me happy. The Lord has been providing the nutritiously complete manna that was perfectly designed to sustain every function of the human body but the people complained about it to the point of remembering their slavery in Egypt fondly. They recalled the variety of food (some of which was possibly non-kosher, considering what the diet of the ancient pagan Egyptians was like) provided to them by their oppressors and said, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" This was a rejection not so much of the manna itself, but of the God who sent the manna. The Lord has done awesome things for the Israelites already by Numbers 11 and has many more glorious things in store for them, but for the sake of satisfying the flesh they'd rather go backwards instead of forwards. 

I can relate to their way of thinking. I've craved some of the things from my former lifestyle---the lifestyle I lived before coming to know the Lord. Sometimes that old life seems easier than this new life because in my old life I just gave in to whatever notion occurred to me. I wasn't troubled by my conscience in those days, or at least not most of the time. I didn't have to build any spiritual muscle in those days because I wasn't resisting temptation. Satan wasn't trying to place any obstacles in my path because he had me where he wanted me. (To quote well-known Christian pastor and author Dr. Charles Stanley, "If the devil isn't bothering you, you aren't bothering him.) Unbelievers weren't criticizing me for my faith or disliking me because of my faith; I didn't have any faith. Even after having been a Christian for almost twenty-nine years, there are still times when I recall life as being easier in some ways when I was an unbeliever because back then I was just going with the flow and not trying to swim against the stream of the culture. When I wasn't living for the Lord, I didn't have to deal with persecution in any form. When faced with decisions or temptations, I didn't have to seek the Lord's will and labor in prayer or read the Scriptures or ask myself, "What would Jesus do?" I just went with whatever the flesh told me. Life was easier then in many ways but it was slavery to sin, just like life in Egypt was slavery for the Israelites. In saying, "We'd rather have the meats of Egypt than this manna," the people weren't just complaining about what they considered a dull and repetitive menu. They were complaining about God's plans for them. They were saying, "Lord, if it's all the same to You, we'd rather just go back to what we're used to."

Earlier in Numbers 11 it appeared that complaints about the manna were coming from the doorway of every tent as Moses walked through the camp. I think at that time every person in the camp actually did crave food other than manna, but in verse 34 we're told that the plague killed "the people who had craved other food". Since we know the plague didn't kill the entire nation of Israel, I think most of the people must have repented of their complaints before all the meat had been eaten. The Lord had said they would loathe the quail before they were done with it and I believe that for a large percentage of the people this loathing led to repenting. I think the ones who perished in the plague were those who remained in opposition to the Lord during the whole thirty days there was quail to eat. Asaph, the author of Psalm 78, gives us a clue as to the identity of those who lost their lives in the plague, saying that the Lord "put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel". (Psalm 78:31) It sounds as if those who persisted in rebelling against the Lord and who kept wanting to go back to Egypt were some of the youngest, most physically fit men. If that's the case, then we also have a clue here as to why this particular group sinned the most against the Lord in Chapter 11. 

You'll recall that earlier in Numbers a count was taken of all the able-bodied men of military age. This count was taken for the purpose of forming an army with which to assault and take over and keep hold of the promised land. If those who persisted in speaking out against the Lord in Chapter 11 were from among the youngest and sturdiest of men, then these were the men meant to fight in the army. That may explain why they wanted to turn back and it may explain why the Lord was so angry with them. The Lord has said time and time again, all the way back to Abraham's day, that He intended to make a great nation of Israel and to give her the promised land. But He's not going to just hand Israel the promised land on a platter; she will have to take it. He's promised Israel victory because He intends to fight on her side, but there's no doubt in the mind of any young and able-bodied Israelite male that he will have to engage in battle with the Canaanite tribes. The young and sturdy men Asaph speaks of don't want to engage in battle and I think this is due to a lack of faith in the Lord. Perhaps they would rather go back to slavery than fight for freedom as a people and for the freedom to practice their religion. Or perhaps they lack the faith to believe the Lord will give them victory. Maybe they think, "Why should we die for a land we've never seen and don't care about? We knew exactly what to expect in Egypt. We had roofs over our heads and food in our bellies. Yes, sometimes we also had whips across our backs, but what do we really know about this promised land? How can we be sure it's everything the Lord says it is? If we don't die in battle trying to take the land, we may die trying to scratch out a living there, or we may die defending the land against enemies. How do we really know life will be better there than in Egypt? Why risk it? We need to turn around and go back to Egypt and submit ourselves to Pharaoh instead of submitting to a God we can't see who says He's leading us to a land we've never laid eyes on. We don't know what awaits us in Canaan."

Though we don't have answers to all our questions about what has taken place in our text today, we can clearly see that we ought to want for ourselves what God wants for us. He knows what's best. If we insist on having something that isn't good for us, He may finally let us have it, but that doesn't mean we'll be happy with it. If the Lord is withholding something from us it's because it isn't good for us. We need to seek His will and His plan for our lives, not go along with whatever the carnal side of our nature tells us we should have. Is living in the slavery of sin easier sometimes than seeking the Lord's will and obeying Him? Yes, in a fallen world and in these mortal bodies, it can be easier to give in to sin than to say no to it. But we won't ever come out the better for it. It won't ever make us happy. It won't ever satisfy souls that were created for a relationship with God. Let's not rebel against God's glorious plans for our future. Let's say with the author of this well-known little hymn: "I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back." 

Numbers. Day 34, The Quail And The Plague, Part One

The people have murmured against the Lord. They are angry toward Him and toward Moses right now. They miss the foods they had in Egypt, so much so that they wailed, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" In their second year free of slavery, it's easy to look back on the past with rose-colored glasses. We all have a tendency to do this. When living a godly life gets tough, it's easy to think back on the days when we lived in the slavery of sin and remember those times as being better than they were. When we lived according to the flesh we didn't struggle against temptation. We didn't have to deal with people making fun of our faith. We satisfied our every craving whenever we could. While the Israelites and the mixed multitude with them lived in Egypt, they were supplied with plenty of food every day in great variety. They ate it under the yoke of slavery, but right now with their mouths craving something other than manna, the unlimited menu of Egypt makes their mouths water so much that they wonder why they ever thought life in Egypt was so bad. Time and distance have a way of editing human memories, especially when we mistakenly begin to believe that our old lives were easier than our new lives in the Lord.

The Lord told Moses in yesterday's text that He was going to send a thirty day supply of meat. Moses questioned how such a thing could be accomplished for so many people in the wilderness---for over six thousand able-bodied men of military age along with women and children and elderly people. "The Lord answered Moses, 'Is the Lord's arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.'" (Numbers 11:23) The Lord answers a question with a question by saying, "Is anything too hard for Me?" Then He follows up that question by saying, "Just watch Me!"

We were told earlier in Numbers that Moses receives his instructions from the Lord by going into the tabernacle and inquiring of Him and by having the Lord's voice answer him from between the cherubim on top of the ark of the covenant. Moses now emerges from the tabernacle to give the people the news. "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 some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied---but did not do so again." (Numbers 11:24-25) The Lord keeps His promise to anoint seventy men to help Moses carry the burden of leading such a large group to the promised land. When the Holy Spirit falls on them, all seventy of them prophesy on this one occasion. We don't know what these men said but their sudden ability to prophesy serves as proof to them, to Moses, and to the entire community that the Lord has chosen and equipped them to work alongside Moses. Their ability to prophesy serves as their credentials. 

The power of the Holy Spirit is so strong on these men that the power spills over on a couple of other Israelite elders. "However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied to the camp." (Numbers 11:26) When we live in close relationship to the Lord and allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, the love and joy and wisdom and power of the Lord flow out from us onto those around us. People can't help noticing there's something different about us. Some of them can't help wanting this type of victorious living for themselves and they are drawn to the Lord after observing how much He has changed our lives and our attitudes.

One young man in the camp takes offense to the prophesying of Eldad and Medad. Just as there are people who will be drawn to the Lord by observing the effect He has on us, there are people who will be offended by the effect He has on us. "A young man ran and told Moses, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'" (Numbers 11:27) This unnamed young man is tattling on the two elders (who may have been twin brothers, judging by the similarity of their rhyming names), believing they don't have the authority to be speaking out since they weren't among the men at the tent. Upon hearing this, Joshua, the man who will be Moses' successor, also feels these two men have presumptuously taken too much upon themselves and he indignantly urges Moses to tell the men to cease and desist. "Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' aide since youth, spoke up and said, 'Moses, my lord, stop them!'" (Numbers 11:28) I can't help hearing Joshua's words in the same tone that Peter often used with the Lord Jesus. The outspoken Peter liked to take on a bossy, almost fatherly tone with Jesus. Sometimes Peter appeared to be trying to give the Lord orders, but although it was inappropriate for him to speak to the Lord in this manner, he believed he was being protective of the Lord. Joshua is trying to be protective of Moses, as we'll see below. 

"But Moses replied, 'Are you jealous for my sake?'" (Numbers 11:29a) Joshua feels Eldad and Medad are trying to infringe upon the authority of Moses. These two men were not at the tent when the Holy Spirit fell on the seventy elders the Lord appointed to assist Moses in the work; therefore Joshua thinks they are trying to draw attention to themselves and trying to draw followers to themselves by putting on a show of being under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Joshua is indignant for Moses' sake when he orders Moses to put a stop to this situation. Moses feels differently and his attitude is commendable. He says, "I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!" (Numbers 11:29b) Moses says, "Don't be jealous for my sake, Joshua. I'm not jealous. I wish every person here was filled and overflowing with the Holy Spirit!" Imagine how much easier Moses' job would be if every person submitted themselves to the Lord's authority and allowed themselves to be led by the Spirit! Imagine how much rejoicing would be in the camp continually! No one would be thinking fondly of the past; everyone would be shouting the praises of God as they looked forward to the beautiful land and the beautiful future He has in store for them. 

I imagine every good church pastor feels the same way as Moses and would join him in saying, "Jealous? I'm not jealous of anyone in my congregation who is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. I wish everyone here was filled with the Holy Spirit! This flock would be so easy to lead if every member were being led by the Holy Spirit continually."

Moses doesn't interfere with the prophesying of Eldad and Medad. "Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp." (Numbers 11:30) He and the seventy elders return to their tents to prepare themselves for what's going to happen tomorrow. Tomorrow the Lord is going to rain down quail on the camp---so many quail that they will lie about three feet deep on the ground. Things will then take a very somber turn as we conclude Chapter 11.

Numbers. Day 33, Complaints On The Journey, Part Five

The entire assembly (the Israelites and the mixed multitude of people who departed Egypt with them) has been complaining about the lack of meat and grumbling that life was better in Egypt because there was a variety of food there and plenty of it. They are longing for what's behind them instead of looking toward freedom in the wonderful land the Lord promised to give them. Moses went to the Lord for help in yesterday's passage and the Lord said He is going to send meat---so much meat that people won't be able to stand the sight of it. The meat is going to seem like a curse rather than a blessing because the Lord says at the heart of their complaints is a rejection of Him. (Numbers 11:20)

The Lord told Moses that He plans to provide meat every day for a month. Moses is a man of faith but even he stumbles at the idea of this much meat becoming available to them, as we'll see momentarily. For obvious reasons the people haven't been eating the animals of their flocks and herds; they will need these animals to begin their farming pursuits in the new land. Some of their animals are used along the way for offerings at the tabernacle, but from what we can tell from the Scriptures, the only times they ate meat in the wilderness was when they ate the portions they were allowed to keep from the types of offerings where the bringer is allowed to keep any of it. 

Some commentators raise the question of why they didn't spend any time hunting game whenever they were encamped at one place or another. I don't know the answer to this except to speculate that it may be because the animals the Israelites consumed were supposed to be slaughtered in a very specific way. Slaughter had to be accomplished swiftly across the jugular with a special knife. No undue distress or pain was to be inflicted upon the animal, and a slash across the jugular pretty much caused instantaneous death. Hunting with a bow and arrow, unless it is done by an exceptionally skilled hunter, cannot always guarantee a quick and painless death. The hunter runs the risk of not making a kill shot on the first try and having to track down his game to deliver the fatal wound. In addition, the Israelites were forbidden to eat or even handle an animal that was found dead, so if the hunter doesn't catch up with his wounded game before it perishes on its own, I think this might render it unfit for consumption which makes the animal's death and the hunter's efforts a complete waste. There are some verses here and there in the Bible regarding hunting, so we can't say that the Bible specifically forbids hunting, but we can't say that the Bible especially endorses it either. The only hunter I can think of in the Bible is Isaac's son Esau. Since Esau wasn't a godly man, we can't say whether or not his method of acquiring and preparing food was acceptable to the Lord.

When Moses hears that meat is going to be supplied for every person in the community for a whole month, he is astonished and doubtful. "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?'" (Numbers 11:21-22) 

I am reminded of the way the disciples in the New Testament were astonished and doubtful when Jesus announced His intention to provide bread for thousands of people in the wilderness. Although Moses has already seen the Lord perform many miracles, he doubts the Lord can provide a thirty day supply of meat in the wilderness. Although the disciples had already seen Jesus perform many miracles, they doubted He could provide bread for so many. But it would be hypocritical of us to criticize any of these men for their doubt, considering how many times the Lord has come through for us in the past and considering how many times we fall into doubt the next time we encounter a problem. It is a human weakness to have trouble believing that we can't "use up" the Lord's mercies. We seem to think He keeps a running tally of how many times He rescues us and that one day He's going to say, "Sorry, you've used up all the mercies allotted to you." This is not Biblical thinking and it's a type of thinking we need to actively work against by reminding ourselves what the Bible actually says about the Lord's love and compassion and mercy toward us: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23) 

It is only because of the Lord's great love for us that we are not consumed (in the original language: "to make an end of, to have done with, to finish off") because to our sins. We are not worthy of the Lord's compassion but He loves us and preserves us and sustains us anyway. Due to His unending love and faithfulness, His mercies are new every morning. This means He has an inexhaustible supply of mercy. This is why we shouldn't view a fresh trouble with this attitude: "Well, the Lord is probably tired of rescuing me. He's answered so many prayers already that I shouldn't ask Him for anything more. I feel like I'm bothering Him when I ask Him to come through for me yet again. By now I've bound to have used up all the mercy that any human being should ever hope to receive." When trouble comes, an appropriate Biblical response would be to say to the Lord: "I know I haven't used up all Your mercy because Your mercies are new every morning! I know You still love me and want to show compassion toward me. You've come through for me in many mighty ways in the past and I'm asking You to do it again because I know You can do it again. Great is Your faithfulness! You are still the same God today as You were when You rescued me the last time. You are still just as powerful, just as merciful, just as loving. Come to my rescue, Lord, just as You've done so many times before." 

It helps to remind ourselves, in our thoughts and in our prayers, of everything the Lord has already done for us. It also helps to remind ourselves of all the miracles the Lord has performed in the Scriptures. This is how the prophet Habakkuk encouraged himself regarding the Lord's mercies, saying in prayer, "Lord, I have heard of Your fame; I stand in awe of Your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." (Habakkuk 3:2) We can pray just like Habakkuk, saying, "Lord, I have heard of Your fame. I know You parted the Red Sea and led the children of Israel across on the dry ground. I know You provided water and manna in the wilderness. I know You healed the sick, caused the blind to sea, made the lame to walk, and brought the dead back to life. You are still the same God who performed these miracles of the past and I know You can perform great miracles and mighty wonders today. In our time---here in 2021---make them known. You are God and You do not change. What You've done in the past, do again, oh Lord."

Tomorrow the remainder of Chapter 11 begins with the Lord asking Moses whether he thinks anything is too hard for Him. We can conclude today by asking ourselves, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?", and by assuring ourselves that no, nothing is too hard for the Lord. So take to Him whatever need you have. His mercies are brand new today. His mercies will be brand new tomorrow. You can't use up what can never be used up.

Numbers. Day 32, Complaints On The Journey, Part Four

Yesterday we found Moses going to the Lord and pouring out all his feelings to Him. Moses is weary and burdened down with the huge responsibility of managing such a large group of people. He's frustrated by their complaints. He's alarmed at the anger they feel toward him, which in turn makes him feel angry toward the Lord for calling him to perform this monumental task. He basically said to the Lord yesterday, "If this is how it's going to be, kill me now. The people are about to turn on me and either reject me as Your chosen leader or even take my life. Rather than have either of those things happen, I'd prefer You just take me on out of this life now."

I mentioned in yesterday's study that a lot of Bible scholars have criticized Moses (unfairly, in my opinion) for confessing to the Lord that he feels angry with Him. In response to Moses' confession, we don't find the Lord criticizing him at all. The Lord understands that Moses' exhaustion and worry are manifesting themselves as anger. I think Moses did the best thing he could do with his negative feelings: he brought them to the Lord. The Lord responds in our text today by issuing helpful instructions. I can't help wondering if the Lord might have issued these instructions earlier if only Moses had confessed his feelings to Him earlier, but we can't know for sure that Moses held these feelings inside for a while. Still, I think there's no better way to handle negative emotions than confessing them to the Lord as soon as possible. He knows about them anyway. We might as well get them into the open where they can be dealt with.

"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 some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.'" (Numbers 11:16-17) Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking we have to perform every aspect of a job ourselves because we believe that only we can do it right. We often place a larger burden on ourselves than the Lord intended us to carry. Earlier in the Old Testament we found Moses' father-in-law instructing him not to judge all the legal cases himself. Moses was on the verge of collapse from hearing cases all day long every day, so his father-in-law told him to select men capable of good judgment and allow those men to judge all but the most serious and difficult cases. Now we find the Lord giving similar advice regarding managing the enormous crowd of people and their complaints. 

I can't help imagining Moses' huge sigh of relief when the Lord says He will anoint seventy other men to help him carry this heavy load. Why did Moses have to be told by his father-in-law and later by the Lord that it's okay to delegate some of the work? Why did Moses seem to never think of this himself? I can only draw upon my own experience but I tend to be the type of person who takes things completely over. When given a large task, it hardly ever occurs to me to delegate parts of it or to ask others for help. I just try to take it and run with it, which sometimes ends up with me feeling stressed out and overwhelmed. That didn't have to happen and it wouldn't have happened if I'd asked several other people to join with me in the work. I think Moses has what is called a "Type A Personality" and he just naturally tries to perform all the work himself. The Lord has given him this job. Moses takes the job seriously and wants to do his best, but he's made the mistake of thinking that doing his best means doing it all. I'm sure you've heard the expression that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. That's actually not true. If it were true then pretty much all businesses would fail because it's impossible to run a business (or a government or a society or an army or anything else that requires more than one person to be involved) if multiple people cannot be trusted to faithfully perform their duties.

The Lord has given Moses the help he needs. Next He will give the people what they've asked for. They're wailing about the lack of meat and He's going to give them meat, but in so doing He's going to show them that when human beings reject the good things God has given them and crave something that's wrong for them, happiness does not ensue. 

He says to Moses, "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?'" (Numbers 11:18-20) There will be so much meat that the people won't be able to stand the sight of it. Why? Because we see in verse 20 that in rejecting the nutritionally complete manna sent by the Lord, they've rejected Him. 

What's really going on here, at heart, is that they want to live on their own terms and they want to live in ease and comfort. I am sure they wanted to be rescued from slavery and I am sure they want to possess the promised land. But they want it to be easy. Lest we feel judgmental toward them, let's remind ourselves that reaching a place of promised blessing isn't always easy and that we don't always enjoy the journey. We want the Lord to take us from Point A, which may not be such a great place, to a better location at Point B, but we don't want to feel uncomfortable on the way there. We don't want it to be difficult. We don't want it to require us to build and flex some spiritual muscle. We don't want to take leaps of faith and trust the Lord for the path ahead when we can't see very far ahead. It's possible to feel so uncomfortable with the things required of us on the journey that we'd almost rather turn back. That's why we find the Israelites longing for Egypt. Was slavery a fun lifestyle? No, but they had grown comfortable with it. They were familiar with it. They knew exactly what to expect day after day after day. It didn't require them to step up their faith game. It didn't require them to face anything new and unexpected. The Lord says they've rejected Him because in complaining about the manna and thinking fondly of Egypt they're really saying, "Never mind, Lord. We'll just skip the promised land. We know You have plans for us there and have had these plans for a long time, at least as far back as Abraham's lifetime. But this is too much to ask. We're okay with going back to Egypt and staying there. We knew what to expect in Egypt. We were used to our lives there. It's hard to imagine what the promised land might look like and it sounds like a lot of work to take it over from the heathen tribes currently occupying it. We know You've said You'll help us take it, but if it's all the same to You we'd rather not."

Don't misunderstand me and think I'm criticizing the Israelites. I've done the same thing they're doing in Chapter 11. There have been times when the journey to a great blessing has seemed so difficult to me that I'd have rather turned back. I have actually said, though perhaps not in these exact words, "Never mind, Lord. I liked it better where I was. I know it wasn't all that great where I was but at least I was used to it. I didn't have this constantly changing situation day after day. I didn't have to rely on faith every day. I knew exactly what to expect. If it's all the same to You, I'd rather not keep going forward." 

I'm reminded of a meme that's been derived from the "Footprints" poem. You know the poem where the guy looks back over his life and sees only one set of footprints in the sand during his most difficult times and asks where the Lord was during those times? The Lord replies, "That's when I carried you." Well, in the meme I'm thinking of the guy asks about a long groove in the sand that appeared during his most difficult times and the Lord answers, "That's when I dragged you kicking and screaming." I confess that sometimes the Lord has had to drag me kicking and screaming toward a great blessing He had in store for me. I'm ashamed to confess it but maybe you can relate because you've had to be dragged kicking and screaming too. The Lord is going to take Israel to the promised land. She may not always enjoy the journey. He may have to drag her kicking and screaming. But He'd never have to drag any of us if we'd only trust Him. What He has in store for Israel is a thousand times better than what lies behind her in Egypt. What He's had in store for me has been better for me, spiritually speaking and in a lot of other ways too, than what lies behind me in places where I was perhaps comfortable but certainly not growing in the faith. We need to look toward the future with eyes of faith, believing that the Lord loves us and wants the best for us, instead of looking back over our shoulders at the past. To quote a modern platitude, "Don't look back. You're not going that way."

Numbers. Day 31, Complaints on The Journey, Part Three

Moses is very troubled. Yesterday we were told he heard the people of "every family" wailing about having to eat the daily manna sent by the Lord. We were also told that this wailing made the Lord "exceedingly angry" so we know that Moses is troubled not only by the growing unrest among the people but also by the Lord's anger toward their ingratitude. We'll see in our text today that Moses feels angry too. He feels angry toward God for calling him to perform the difficult task of leading the people to the promised land. He knows the Lord knew how hard this job would be---harder than Moses himself ever imagined---and now he is beginning to consider this job a curse rather than a blessing. Moses takes his troubles to the Lord and pours out all his feelings and frustrations.

"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 ancestors? 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, please go ahead and kill me---if I have found favor in your eyes---and do not let me face my own ruin.'" (Numbers 11:11-15) Some Bible scholars suggest that it was an organized demonstration when every single family wailed to Moses from the doorways of their tents. I believe that's quite possible since it struck me as odd that every single person in a group numbering 2,000,000 or more would all be complaining loudly at the same time with no exceptions. They made not have made any verbal threats to Moses but I think he feels threatened. At the very least he knows they may reject him as leader and choose for themselves a leader who will say what they want to hear and do what they want to do (this very situation will come up later in Numbers when the people propose choosing a man to take them back to Egypt). But Moses can't disregard the possibility that his life may be in danger. If the people's anger burns hotly enough against the Lord, they may attack and kill Moses for being the Lord's spokesperson. I think that's why Moses begs the Lord just to go ahead Himself and take him out of this life so that he doesn't have to "face my own ruin" at the hands of man.

I was surprised to find a few Bible commentators criticizing Moses for pouring out his heart to the Lord in this manner. Was Moses wrong to be angry with the Lord? In the sense that the Lord is always right, yes I suppose so, technically speaking. But if Moses is wrong then so is every human being who has ever lived, for who hasn't been angry with God at some point for allowing hard times to come? Even if we didn't face and acknowledge our anger or admit it to the Lord, it was there. And if Moses is wrong for being angry with God, then so were many other men of the Bible who gave vent to their frustrations in prayer and who asked God the age old question of "Why?" when facing difficult circumstances. King David poured out all his feelings in the psalms, whether those feelings were good or bad or ugly, sometimes appearing to accuse the Lord of having abandoned him and/or Israel. Job, in his sorrows, expressed his anger with God and even cursed the day of his own birth, crying out that it would have been better if he'd died in the womb than to have to live with the circumstances the Lord allowed to befall him. Several of the prophets were angry and overwhelmed to the point of wishing God would just take their lives---men such as Elijah and Jonah and possibly Jeremiah whose heart was so broken for his people that he has been nicknamed "the weeping prophet". King Solomon went through a period of time in which he found no joy in living, causing him to complain angrily that everything was purposeless and empty, causing him to make the bleak statement that "the day of death is better than the day of birth". I do not feel any criticism whatsoever toward Moses for telling the Lord he's angry and overwhelmed to the point of not wanting to go on. Who better to tell than the Lord? Who but the Lord can help him? 

I've had to go to the Lord before and say, "I'm angry. I'm angry You've let this happen to me. You knew all along this thing was coming and You didn't do anything to stop it. You directed me to go down this path knowing what lay ahead. I know I was in your will when I went this way, and You knew hard times were coming, but You told me to go this way anyway." There was a situation that went on in my life for approximately four years that almost completely broke me. I had prayerfully chosen a path that I believed---and still believe without a doubt---that the Lord told me to take. And yet disastrous things happened. I complained and wept and begged and poured out my anger before the Lord because I couldn't understand why something bad happened to me when I was smack dab in the will of God. I had been obedient to the Lord and yet an awful thing happened anyway. I can relate to Moses because Moses was in the Lord's will when he accepted the call to lead Israel out of Egypt and to the promised land. Moses was following the Lord's guidance to the best of his human ability as he managed the large group of people in the wilderness. Moses is living in the Lord's will but bad things are happening anyway. 

We tend to have the expectation (the mistaken expectation) that everything will go smoothly as long as we obey the Lord. But the Lord doesn't promise us that. There are plenty of examples in the Bible that prove to us it doesn't always work that way. The men and women of the Bible who faced the most opposition were usually the very ones who were the most zealous for the Lord. The unbelieving world has no respect for the people of God; they will oppose us for living for God. Satan has no respect for the people of God; he will stir up negative feelings toward us and will cause people to place obstacles in our path in an attempt to persuade us to give up on godly living. The Bible warns us that persecution is to be expected when we live for the Lord: "Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:12) This doesn't mean we'll be martyred for our faith but it means there are people who will not like us simply because we serve the Lord. It means we'll be excluded sometimes because of our faith. It means we'll be laughed at for our faith. It means we may be passed over for opportunities and promotions because of our faith; it's not legal to discriminate against us for our religion but when we don't join in with sinful pursuits we won't be considered "team players" and we won't form some of the social/political connections in the organization that will get us noticed by those in charge of moving people up the company ladder. If we are going to stand up for the Lord and do anything for the Lord in this life, we are not going to be liked by everybody and that's okay. Moses isn't liked by everybody---possibly not by anybody here in Numbers 11. King David wasn't liked by everybody. The prophets weren't liked by everybody. The apostles weren't liked by everybody. The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't and still isn't liked by everybody. We can hardly expect life to go smoothly when we are going against the grain of this world by standing for godly principles.

So what can we expect from living godly lives? We can expect the help of the Lord, which is just what He's going to give Moses. The Lord is going to help Moses bear the great burden he is under, both by providing His own support and by appointing others to share the load with Moses. During the terrible time of trouble I spoke of earlier, the Lord was my support even when no one else was around. But He also provided human help. He brought people into my life who loved and encouraged me and strengthened me in the faith. On top of that, a day came when something finally clicked for me while I poured out all my anger and hurt in the presence of the Lord. I was saying to Him, "Lord, You love me and You knew this was going to happen and yet You led me down this path anyway. Why?" This was what I'd been saying over and over to Him for years but all of a sudden I heard my own voice as it must have sounded to the Lord and in an instant everything changed. Everything changed in my heart and in my mind. I repeated my question to the Lord but in an entirely different tone and attitude, saying, "Okay, Lord, You do love me. I know You do. You also knew this was coming when You told me to take this path. So since You love me, and since You told me to go this direction, that means You intended all along for me to go through these circumstances. That means You have a purpose for these circumstances." All of a sudden I saw my circumstances as coming from the hand of a loving God who wants the best for me. This revelation was not my own doing; it was the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm not trying to make myself sound like an ultra spiritual person who knows the mind of God. That is not the case at all. But all this time I'd been fighting against my circumstances and obsessing continually about how to make them go away or how to escape them, when what I should have been doing was asking the Lord, "What is it You want to teach me through this?" 

There are times when we bring troubles on ourselves through sin. We can see the justice of reaping what we sow. It's hard to be angry with God when we know we caused our own problems by living in opposition to Him. But there are times when we're living in God's will and troubles still find us. That's when we tend to feel angry toward God. We say to Him, "I was doing everything right. Why did You let everything go wrong?" Hard as it may be for us to do, the question we should be asking is, "Lord, what is it You want to teach me through this? What is it You want to accomplish through this?" A lot of times our troubles would go away far sooner if we'd just get with the program far sooner. The quicker we draw close to God and submit ourselves to Him, the quicker our circumstances often clear up. Like a good teacher, He'll keep us in the classroom until we learn the material. It wasn't until I stopped trying to escape the classroom and started asking the Lord what He was trying to teach me that my problems began clearing up. 

The Lord is going to help Moses with the problems he's having in Numbers 11. This won't be the end of Moses' struggles. The people will continue to oppose him at regular intervals. But if everything always went smoothly I don't think Moses would have spent much time in the presence of the Lord and I don't think the Lord would have been able to increase Moses' faith time and time again as he comes to Him for guidance and comfort. And I'll tell you something else: I wouldn't be here studying the Bible with you right now if I hadn't gone through those four years I didn't think I'd survive. I don't know where I'd be this morning or what I'd be doing, but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't love the word of God the way I do---or love the Lord the way I do---if He hadn't allowed me to encounter something I never could have seen coming. If you'd told me this particular thing would happen, I would have laughed in disbelief. But He brought me to it and He brought me through it and, as much as I'd rather be dead than go through it again, I am forever grateful for the hard times I endured because the Lord Jesus Christ is precious to me in a way He never was before. There were days when I felt like He was all I had but I found He was all I needed. His promises have been tested and found to be true. His grace was sufficient in my time of need. When I was down to nothing, and when there seemed to be no reason to rejoice, His presence with me was so strong that I felt like shouting with joy from the rooftops. If the Lord had made Moses' job easy, Moses wouldn't have loved the Lord the way he did. Moses wouldn't have learned that the promises of God are true. He wouldn't have known that God's grace is sufficient. He wouldn't have trusted and depended on God the way he did. God loves Moses too much to let him have a mediocre relationship with his Creator. God loves Israel too much to allow her leader to have weak faith. He is going to allow Moses and the nation to go through troubles because spiritual muscle is not built in times of comfort and ease.

Numbers. Day 30, Complaints On The Journey, Part Two

Yesterday's passage began with some unspecified complaints which then led to specific complaints regarding the lack of variety of food in the wilderness. The other people who left Egypt with the Israelites were the first to mourn the lack of the fish, melons, and spices that they once enjoyed in Egypt. Their wailing influenced the Israelites to speak out against the manna from God, saying, "We never see anything but this manna!"

Though manna was a nutritionally complete food, a lack of variety in the diet is something that humans find boring and monotonous. But this diet was intended to be fairly temporary. We can endure some pretty difficult things in life when we know we only have to endure them for a limited time. It was not the Lord's desire for Israel and those with her to subsist on the same food for many years. But just two chapters from now we'll find the people afraid to enter the promised land. We'll find the people rebelling against the Lord and against Moses; they will suggest replacing Moses with a leader who will take them back to Egypt. Because of their lack of faith in the Lord's ability to help them take over the land He promised to them, and because they prefer the slavery of Egypt to the freedom and blessings of the Lord, He will declare that this generation will never set foot in the promised land. As a result, Israel will spend forty years in the wilderness. This means the people will subsist on manna not for a few months or for a few years, but for four decades. 

As we said yesterday, let's not fool ourselves into thinking we might have done better. Human nature being what it is, I think any group of people would have complained and doubted and sinned. I am not sure who my ancestors were in the days when Israel was on her way to the promised land, but I am sure they would have made the same mistakes or equally grievous mistakes. It's easy for us to sit on our couches and wonder how Israel could have doubted the Lord who parted the Red Sea and who provided food in a wilderness where there was no food, but if we'll make an honest assessment of our lives we'll see that we have the same tendencies to fall into complaints and doubts whenever a new trouble comes along. No matter how many times the Lord has come through for us in the past, we still find ourselves beset with doubts and fears each time we encounter a fresh difficulty. 

Manna could be prepared for consumption by more than one method, but still the people are already weary of it. As Moses walks through the camp he notices that complaints about the manna are coming from every household. The Lord hears the complaints too, and He is not pleased. "The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. 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 at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled." (Numbers 11:7-10)

Moses is troubled and in tomorrow's passage he'll do the right thing with his troubles; he'll take them to the Lord. His prayer won't be pretty but a lot of our prayers aren't pretty, are they? Many of my prayers have been an outpouring of all the worries and ugly feelings inside of me. I've had to tell the Lord I'm scared or angry or disappointed. I've had to admit to Him---like Moses will admit to Him tomorrow---that I don't feel like I can go on unless He does something about the way I feel or unless He does something about my circumstances. Moses, like David in the psalms, holds nothing back from the Lord. David was in the habit of telling the Lord everything he was feeling, whether his feelings were noble or not, and Moses is the same way. We can learn from their example. Who, other than the Lord, can help us with these feelings? Who else can heal us of our anger and hurt and doubt? Who else can comfort us when we're depressed or in despair? The Lord is the best person to share our feelings with because He alone has the power to help us with them.

Tomorrow we'll study the interaction between Moses and the Lord, but for now we'll close by talking about how Israel's inability to get on board with the Lord caused her to have to endure for far longer the very circumstances against which she is complaining. I don't know about you, but my first instinct when faced with a problem is to complain about it and try to find a way to escape it. I have not always reacted to unpleasant circumstances in a godly way. I want them to go away as quickly as possible. But what we have to keep in mind is that the Lord always has a reason for anything He allows to come into our lives. Rebelling against our circumstances rarely improves our situation. It usually extends the amount of time we find ourselves in the situation. The longer we resist allowing the Lord to teach us whatever it is He wants to teach us, the longer He has to leave us where we are. Some of the unpleasant times in my life didn't begin coming to an end until I submitted myself to the Lord and said, "What is it You want me to learn from this? What is it You want to accomplish in my life through this?" 

The Lord sends manna to Israel every day so she will learn to depend on Him and trust Him. By the time she reaches the border of the promised land, she should have developed the faith to move ahead in the confidence that the Lord is with her. But because she complains and rebels against her circumstances, the Lord must leave her in the wilderness longer. This should be a lesson to us all that the sooner we lean into God and trust Him in our circumstances, the sooner we will catch on to whatever He's trying to teach us, and the sooner things may improve. But as long as we complain and rebel, we can expect to remain right where we are.