Numbers 11 – 13
In Numbers 11, we see that whining and complaining was the order of the day. First, the Israelites complained so much, the Lord sent a fire to “rage among them.” After screaming to Moses for help, he prayed to the Lord and the fire stopped.
Secondly, the foreigners traveling with them must have started talking about the good old days in Egypt and how much they missed the meat and free fish and cucumbers, and melons, and leeks and onions and garlic. They didn’t like a steady diet of manna, which was there for free – they only had to pick it up.
Lastly, Moses complains to the Lord about all of the families standing in the doorways of their tents whining. Moses wanted to know why the Lord was treating him so harshly. He complains that he can’t carry them all by himself and then continues on to say “just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery.” Kind of dramatic, don’t you think?
Ephesians 5:20 urges us to “give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If you think about it, grumbling or whining or complaining shows a definite lack of faith in God. In Hebrews 11:6 we are told without faith, it is impossible to please God. We find it easy to be thankful when everything is going along pleasantly, but let us face a problem or let something happen that we cannot understand and we are tempted to grumble or whine or complain.
Apparently, Moses had somewhat of a valid point since God has him appoint seventy elders/leaders upon whom God will put the Spirit and they would bear the burden of the people along with Moses so he would not have to carry it alone. The Lord also told the people to purify themselves and get ready to eat meat. In fact, he tells them “You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
Moses shows some more lack of faith in God’s ability to provide this meat and God assures him he will see what God can do.
So, what happened with the meat? God sends a wind that brought quail into the camp. “For miles in every direction there were quail flying about three feet above the ground.” No one collected less than fifty bushels. God must have been really unhappy because he also sent a “severe” plague on those who had craved meat from Eqypt.
Families are a lot of fun: they love to tell you how to live your life, who you should hang around with, who you should marry, and any number of things that are probably not their business regardless of whether they do this because they care about you. Sometimes there is also sibling rivalry and jealousy. Moses’ sister Miriam and brother Aaron were obviously jealous—Their words show it: Numbers 12:2 – ““...Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?” But the Lord heard them.” And He was not happy with what He heard.
Why do you suppose Miriam was struck with leprosy, but not Aaron? Perhaps it was because he was the high priest, or perhaps he was quick enought to cry out to Moses when he saw what happened to Miriam. What do you bet Miriam was much more careful in her thoughts and words after seven days of being outside the camp.
Since we still have tomorrow to discuss these chapters, we’ll leave chapter 13 until then.
So, tomorrow, it’s Numbers 11 – 13 again.
Finally, Empty
Today, I went to Stonr’N’More and emptied my storage area…finally.Of coiurse, the back of my pickup and the back seat are full, not empty. Now, I have to empty those spaces, but at least, I won’t charge myself $52 per month to leave it there.
ALso, I think I finally got my camper leveled. It was really off and made it dangerous to walk around inside.
Until next time…
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