Exodus 16 – 18
Did you ever see such a bunch of grumblers as those Israelites? They’ve only been gone from Egypt for a month and had already complained about the waters of Marah. Now they complain that Moses and Aaron brought them into the wilderness to starve them. They missed the meat and bread that had been plentiful in Egypt. I think their favorite phrase must have been “If only…”
Do you grumble? Over little things or big things?
Paul, James and Jude all spoke about grumbling. In I Cor. 10:10, Paul says ”And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.” James 5:9 says, “Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look-the judge is standing at the door.” Jude 1:6 says, “These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires…”
The Israelites were not happy campers and they made sure everyone knew it.
Why is it so wrong to grumble? We’re told, “In everything, give thanks.” Now, everything is pretty comprehensive. It’s easy to be thankful when everything is going our way, but when it isn’t, it takes faith to be thankful and not grumble.
And Moses makes it clear that their complaints are against the Lord, not against him and Aaron.
The Lord provided the Israelites with manna in the morning and quail in the evening – more miracles to show them His power and love. It’s interesting that, even before Moses handed down the Ten Commandments, God was already introducing them to Sabbath practices, having them gather enough on the sixth day to last through the seventh. Of course, some of the people went out to try to gather food on the Sabbath anyway.
We get a little hint about the Ark of the Covenant and the stone tables in the story here too.
Chapter 17 has another example of the Israelites’ grumbling, in this case because they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water. They nag at poor Moses, who cries out to the Lord. He has Moses strike the rock and water gushes out.
Why was complaining about the lack of water wrong? Think about it. God had shown them His mighty power so many times and it still was not enough. What should they have done or said?
Hebrews says, “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” How could they have shown their faith in God? Certainly, not by grumbling.
We get some insight into this in Exodus 17:7 – “…the people of Israel argued with Moses and tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” They not only did not have faith that God would provide water, but also that He was even there with them.
In this chapter, we first meet Joshua, whom Moses chooses to lead the men and fight the Amalekites, who had come to attack them. I love the picture of Moses on the hill with arms so tired, he couldn’t hold them up. Aaron and Hur sit him on a stone and stand by his side, holding up his hands, because when he held up his staff, the Israelites prevailed in battle.
We also see another name of God – Yahweh-nissi – the Lord is my banner. In my head, I’m singing “and His banner over me is love.”
Word was getting around about how God had rescued the Israelites from Egypt. In fact, even Moses’s father-in-law hears about it. He brings Moses’ wife Zipporah and their two sons to visit and praises the Lord for what He had done for the Israelites.
While there, Jethro, recognizing the pressure Moses was under, gives him some much-needed advice:
- Continue to be the people’s representative before God, bringing their disputes to him
- Teach them God’s decrees
- Give them God’s instructions
- Show them how to conduct their lives
- Select capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes
- Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten, who will always be available to solve the people’s common disputes
This took a lot of pressure off Moses. Jethro then leaves for home.
Tomorrow, it’s Exodus 19 – 21.
Simple Economic Truth
Is this man truly a genius? Checked out and this is true...it DID happen!
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
It could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)
Remember, there IS a test coming up. The 2012 elections.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I.
Until next time…
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