Numbers 11
In Numbers 11 the children of
Numbers 11:1 Now when
the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and
His anger was aroused. So the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some
in the outskirts of the camp. 2
Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire
was quenched. 3 So he called
the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among
them.
Obviously God does not
like it when people complain about the blessing they have received through him.
What a scary and confusing site this must have been as God consumed some these complainers with
fire. Based on these verse its seems that this fire continued burning people
and the children of Israel did the only thing they could think of to try and
escape God consuming fire they cried out
to Moses. Then Moses prayed to Lord and
he stopped the consuming fire. Now you would think that would be that defining
moment when the children of
Numbers 11: 4
Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the
children of
Here we have the children
of
Hebrews 13: 5
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you
have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake
you." 6 So we may boldly
say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
Here
we are commanded to be content to be satisfied with what we have. Paul
understood this concept as he gave up fame and fortune to be a proclaimer of
Gods Word.
1 Timothy 6:6 Now
godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain
we can carry nothing out. 8
And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.
When you get right
down to all a person really needs is
food and clothing. We don’t have to have all the luxury items that we have that
we take for granted everyday. We have to be very careful in the world we live
in because we can easily have the same attitude as the children and begin to
complain about our lives because we don’t have this possession or that
possession. We need to remind ourselves everyday that our treasure is in heaven not on
this earth and that all the wonderful
gadgets that we could own will only bring temporary pleasure but a life of
service and contentment to God brings about an eternal reward of living in heaven
forever. Paul sums it up best in,
Philippians
Now
lets continue on back Numbers 11
Numbers 11:10 Then
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door
of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was greatly aroused; Moses also was
displeased. 11 So Moses said
to the LORD, "Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not
found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on
me? 12 "Did I conceive
all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in
your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,' to the land which You swore
to their fathers? 13
"Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all
over me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' 14 "I am not able to bear all
these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 "If You treat me like
this, please kill me here and now -- if I have found favor in Your sight -- and
do not let me see my wretchedness!"
Moses was getting to the
end of his rope. All he could see and hear was the Children of Israel weeping
and complaining about their situation and he couldn’t handle it any longer.
Moses starts pouring out his frustration to God and asking him several
questions of why he has put this burden on him. Now maybe I shouldn’t find this
humorous but I thought verse 12 was kind of funny because Moses is basically
saying Lord I didn’t conceive these people they are not my children so why
should I have put with all their belly aching. Then Moses makes it clear I can
handle all these people alone and I have to go on like this please just kill me
now. What can we learn from this? I believe it teaches us that when complain
and belly ach about things that we shouldn’t be that it can a will make others
miserable.
Just imagine if you will
that you a part of congregation that all
they did was complain about one thing or
another. Now put yourself in the shoes of a elder. Think about how miserable
and stressful it would make you if you kept on hearing complaint after
compliant from the people. You might start feeling like Moses to saying take me
now Lord. So let us never forget that
continual complaining not only effects you in negative way but also effects
those around in negative way.
Now God listens to Moses
request and provides a solution.
Numbers
When I thought about this
section of scripture I immediately thought about what Paul wrote to Corinthians
in.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No
temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful,
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Moses
had reached his limit and God provided away for Moses not be tempted beyond
what he could handle. He was going to take the spirit of God that was on Moses
and give it to 70 other elders as well so they could help bear the burden for
Moses. This same concept is true when it
comes to the church today. No one person should be responsible for everything that
gets done in the church. No, instead everyone should do their part to help out
and bear the burden of the work that needs to be done. If you keep putting
everything on just a few workers before long they will become burned out and
they will stop will stop working themselves.
Numbers
Even though the Children
of Israel complained and complained God was going to provide them enough meat
for a month. But now notice Moses response.
Numbers
I think you can see from
Moses response that he was not thinking straight. Obviously his frustration
with the complaining people had affected his judgment because if anyone knew
that God was in control and could provide it
was Moses. In this Moses is questions how in the world such a great feat
could be accomplished in feeding so many people meat.
Numbers 11:23 And the
LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see
whether what I say will happen to you or not."
I think a lot of people
through out time have thought that the Lords arm had been shortened. Some have
prayed and prayed for something to happen and when it doesn’t happen the way
they think it should happen they begin to doubt God or some will see a great
disaster and see young children get killed and again they might say where were
you God. This what Moses was doing he was doubting in God ability and God ask him
has my arm been shortened? God tells Moses you just wait and see if what I have
said will come true. You know God does not have to prove anything to anybody
but Moses is about to find out that with God anything is possible.
With this thought in mind
let’s look at what Jesus told his disciples in
Matthew
So
not only was possible for God to provide meat for the children of Israel God
has made it possible for us to have salvation. In both of the instances mankind
could not accomplish these things on there own. It was only made possible
through God.
Numbers 11:24 So
Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the
seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the
tabernacle. 25 Then the LORD
came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon
him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when
the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so
again. 26 But two men had
remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the
other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those
listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the
camp. 27 And a young man ran
and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the
camp." 28 So Joshua the
son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said,
"Moses my lord, forbid them!" 29
Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the
LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon
them!" 30 And Moses
returned to the camp, both he and the elders of
We just read phase one of
God promise being fulfilled. God put the spirit that was on Moses on these 70
elders and the prophesied. One interesting point is here is that only 68 of
them gathered around the tabernacle but 2 remained in the camp and as the
spirit came upon them even the 2 in camp received the spirit and prophesied.
This concerned one young man so much so that he ran to Moses to tell him about
these 2 men prophesying. Joshua wants Moses to tell them to stop. But, why was
Joshua so concerned? Well, I can tell what I think the deal was. I think that
Joshua fully realized that God was going to give Moses 70 men to help him out. So
when he heard about these men speaking things of God perhaps he thought they
were doing something that they should not do so that is why he wanted Moses to make them stop. Moses just
tells Joshua oh I wish everyone was a prophet. I feel that I were I were
Joshua’s shoes that I would have said the same thing he had done. He simply did not
want something to be done that would stir up the anger of the Lord against
them.
Joshua set a great
example for us in the church today. If you see something being done the church
that you don’t understand and your not for sure if it is biblical or not you 2
different ways of finding out. The best way is to simply roll up you sleeves
and open up your Bible a study it out to see if you can find you answer in the
Word of God. You second choice is to ask the preacher, the elders or someone
you trust with Biblical knowledge and have them show from the scriptures why
this particular things is ok to do or not to do.
Numbers 11: 31
Now a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quail from the sea and left them
fluttering near the camp, about a day's journey on this side and about a
day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits
above the surface of the ground. 32
And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and
gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread
them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still
between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused
against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great
plague. 34 So he called the
name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who
had yielded to craving. 35
From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.
Now see God fulfill the
second part of his promise. What an amazing site that must have been to see so
many quail spread as far as the eye could see. The children of
We learn a lot from this
chapter that we could apply to Christianity. We learned that we should complain
about everything under the sun instead we should be content with what we have.
We also learned that God will not allow us to be tempted more than we can bear.
We also learned the importance of bearing the load of responsibility of the
church and we always need to remember that through God all things are possible.
Finally we learned those who do not respect God and complain against him will
be judged by him.