Chapter 11
At the end of 10, the cloud had lifted from over the tabernacle, and the people pack up and move for the first time in over a year. And now, after He has fed them for a year, given them water, kept them safe from enemies, He says it is time to move on with the plan to travel to Canaan, enter that land, possess that land, and begin their national life as a people sacred to God. He wants them to move to better things than what they have where they are. And this is their response:
1 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. [Num 11:1 ESV]
Good FB post about getting comfortable with routine and letting it keep you from better things when it is time to move on.
The Israelites complain. The Lord's fire consumes some on the outskirts of the camp. Moses intercedes. MSB note for 11:1-25:18 says in these chapters Israel changes from the obedient nation they were in the first 10 chapters, to a complaining, grumbling, whining nation. It says that even Moses and Aaron ultimately rebel against God. We will see God's response to this in the form of plagues and diseases like those of the Egyptians.
2021 - So if I am reading this right, they were obedient and faithful while they were sitting still at the mountain. Perhaps they were faithful as they practiced moving around a little to get them prepped for the long journey. In 9:23 it says they moved when they were supposed to move, they camped when they were supposed to camp. Nothing about complaints here. But then the trumpets are incorporated, and the purpose of the trumpets seems to signal a "bigger" move than what they were used to. Maybe they previously moved to keep from over-polluting any one place. Maybe they moved now and then to get further away from the latrines and such, to keep things sanitary and hygienic. Maybe this was no big deal to them, because they didn't have to pack real tightly, they were only moving a little ways, and they probably understood the reasons for it and were just fine with moving away from the smell. But then at 10:11 it says they leave Sinai all together. This is the first time they have move say 10 miles or more in a day. And they do this three times. And it is a lot of trouble, and they've perhaps had to abandon some things they were using because they just couldn't carry them. And they are tired at the end of the day, and the next door neighbors are different than at the last camp, and all the conveniences are kept in storage since they might be moving again tomorrow....They were fine serving God "in place", but when he has them set out and deal with some hardship, what's the first thing they do? They complain. When they complain, God sends some fire and "consumes" some outlying parts of the camp. Why outlying? Perhaps what is meant is that some got tired of the trip and just camped where they were instead of moving on into the assigned location, as instructed by God. Perhaps they were introducing disorder and randomness to the camp. Perhaps they were just too lazy to do it right. I picture a whole collection of tents sort of scattered over the last half mile before the actual camp, and the fire starting at the tail end of that and consuming them - vaporizing them - as it moved toward the main camp. As the main camp saw what was happening, we get 11:2. This fire gets them sort of back into line, but only until vs 4. Seems this rabble that they had with them - whomever that was - lived by their bellies. They were more interested in looking after themselves and seeing to their physical needs than they were to trusting God to help them get beyond the physical and grow spiritually. And as these got louder and louder, they began to influence all the people, and the dissatisfaction with the menu spread. The preoccupation with physical things infected the majority. The manna that sustained them got routine, and they wanted some variety. The manna tasted the same no matter how they prepared it apparently. So they wanted variety.
Then the people whine about not having anything to eat but manna. Plenty of that, but nothing else.
God gets angry. Moses gets angry and asks God to just kill him now because he can't put up with these people. This is the verse:
11 Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? [Num 11:11 ESV]
2021 - Not sure this is the first time Moses has expressed this sentiment, but I think it is. Moses is kind of like "what have I done that you are punishing me?". And God doesn't seem to get upset with Moses. The lesson may be that if someone's behavior is inexplicable, ungrateful, and aggravating to you, imagine how aggravating it is to God!
2024 - Here is an interesting question:
Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' (Num 11:13 ESV)
Where did all the bulls, rams, goats, sheep, turtle doves, and pigeons that they sacrificed come from? How can they say we have no meant and still sacrifice as required? Didn't they leave Egypt with their herds? I guess they have been camped in the desert for over a year and likely the herds are not reproducing as quickly as they were...and a lot of them are going to sacrifices...but this still seems like an interesting complaint. How did the "the first born of men and animals is mine" come into it also? There is no requirement that only the firstborn be sacrificed, it just had to be without blemish...
Or is the lesson here that meat is for special occasions and celebrations, and we would be healthier to eat vegetarian most of the time? Hmm....that is interesting. God had not provided enough meat for them to eat every day. And when he does provide, he sends it to them in such abundance that they get sick of meat. Much to think on here...
2021 -This verse then:
15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness." [Num 11:15 ESV]. Moses is truly at wits end with these people. I can see him trying to tell them to be patient, Canaan is ahead and they will have whatever they crave there. But they don't listen. They just whine. No personal discipline at all. Just whining, on and on and on. Moses just wants to be dead, considering that desirable to trying to appease these awful people.
Instead of being angry with Moses, God takes a part of what Moses has and spreads it among 70 others. The original Sanhedrin perhaps. See below....Here's the thing. If you don't shoulder the responsibility that Got gives you to shoulder, if it is too much for you, God will lighten your load, but at the expense of your relationship with Him. Some of God's spirit was removed from Moses and given to these 70.
God has Moses bring 70 of the elders of Israel, and says he will put some of Moses' burden on them. In fact, God says He will take some of the Spirit that is on Moses and put it on the elders. So as a result of his own prayer, Moses' earthly burden will get some relief, but it will cost him some of his relationship with God. Is this correct? It might cost him closeness, a certain level of comfort with God. As when an old friend does something that hurts your feelings unexpectedly. You are still friends, but something just isn't exactly the same anymore. A little something will always be missing after this. Is this what happened? MSB says almost nothing about it. Also, God says he will give them meat to eat for a whole month. So much that it comes out their nostrils and becomes loathsome to them. They have rejected God and said they were better off in Egypt. What were they thinking? Even Moses doubts that enough meat can be found to feed so many people for a month. He expresses his doubt to God, and this is the answer:
23 And the LORD said to Moses, "Is the LORD's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not." [Num 11:23 ESV]
2021 - Moses is in a bad place. Even he doubts that God can provide enough meat to last these people a month. And it is implied that they won't just get "enough", they will gorge on the mean for a whole month. Gluttonous, riotous consumption is what God says is coming. And Moses says "How can that be?". So I think we see that the infection of dissatisfaction has even infected Moses at this point. Perhaps this is the real reason that some of the Spirit on him is going to be spread among others. This loss on Moses' part is permanent I believe. He will never be where he was previously with God, and yet we know what all is still ahead of him, what all he still must do.
25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. [Num 11:25 ESV]
Surely this does say that the Spirit of God with Moses was lessened by the amount given to the 70. They immediately prophesied, a visible outward sign of the Spirit of God. But this didn't continue with them. AS IT DOES NOT CONTINUE in the book of Acts! Here is the type for the intensity of spiritual gifts declining with time. Here is scriptural example that the amount of the Holy Spirit visited on any given person is not exactly the same as that given to others. And here it is shown that the Spirit present with any one person can be changed - by prayer? by the will of God, and so on. Many concepts and ideas that have never occurred to me before, in this one chapter in the middle of Numbers.
2024 - Remember too the "glory" that shined from Moses after he spoke with God, that also declined over time. Surely all this is a type for the gifts and maybe this chapter gives us a type for that. Now, it is true that this is OT Prophecy and that the Spirit was on them, not in them...but does that disqualify it as a relevant passage? I don't think so.
It is reported that two of the elders of Israel who were so callous they didn't even bother to show up with the other 68 (I think this is what it means?) have nevertheless received a portion of the Spirit and are prophesying in the camp. Joshua urges Moses to stop them, but Moses says this:
29 But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" [Num 11:29 ESV]
Moses did not perceive that the diminished Spirit that he had was harmful to him. He didn't feel like he'd really lost anything. Instead, he was grateful that others now had it, that he was no longer alone in being the only contact between God and the people, but was happy - and wished even more had that level of communion with God. So many things to look at here in this chapter.
!!!2021 - Well Moses' reply to Joshua doesn't really follow from the things I said above about a permanently "lesser" relationship with God. Moses doesn't seem to think that's the case. Moses doesn't think the Spirit is lessened by division.
2023 - So perhaps the wording means that 70 others received a lesser portion of the Spirit than Moses...yet it specifically says that God took some that was ON Moses, and gave it to others. So...maybe it means that Moses recognized that he had enough to do as was supposed to do, though that was somewhat less than before. Or maybe we can't really see what it means.
Moses seems grateful that others have gained in Spirit rather than upset that he has lost. Perhaps he didn't lose anything at all!!! That's what it is. He still had all he ever head, but now others had some also and could sense God's will also, and could share in the responsibility. When it says God took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on others, it means the Spirit qualitatively, NOT quantitatively! Joshua saw it the way I was seeing it. If others have more, Moses must have less. But the Spirit does not work that way!!! Elisha asked for twice the Spirit Elijah had, and got it. This is all qualitative! It wasn't that Moses didn't want to do the work, it was that these people were more than ANY one man, even with God's help, even a man as completely and utterly faithful as Moses was at this time, could handle. Moses knew he was over his head, made that case to God, and God agreed with Moses that it would take more than one man to deal with these stiff-necked people. So 70 more were recruited.
The quail are blown in by the wind and fall on two sides of the camp. They are two cubits deep. The people gather them up and there are lots. They gather very greedily. Though they should have learned from the manna that God provides enough, day by day, they gathered far more than a day's worth. I think it is their greed that angers God so much because it demonstrates their complete lack of faith for one thing, and their focus on earthly things in the second place. They are being guided by their bellies, not by God's commands. So God sends a plague that kills the ones who have "the craving", and they are buried in the desert. Then the people move on, from the base of Mt. Sinai to Hazeroth, presumably carrying more quail with them.
2021 - They even name the place "Kibroth-hataavah" which means "graves of lust". This was no ordinary craving like "I am hungry for a cheeseburger tonight" thing. This was an overwhelming, consuming, OCD kind of obsession that reduced the whole world to a desire for meat. They got their meat, but death came with it. If we are obsessive in seeking what God does not intend for us, He may let us satisfy our physical craving, but that may be the end of everything for us. Most of us wouldn't choose a cheeseburger over life itself, but that is what these people did. Their whole lives were reduced to one craving, one obsession, one goal. And when they got that, life was over. We anticipate opening our Christmas gifts. Or our vacation. And once we open the gifts, or get home from vacation, we can feel the "let down". Well the craving these people had was so intense that when they got to the other side of it, they died. But this is not right....God sent a plague. They didn't die from obsession they died for letting obsession displace God.