Provision • Numbers 11:4-17
By Rick Henson
Last week, we saw that the Lord told Israel to watch the pillar of cloud above the Tabernacle. Eleven months after they arrived at Sinai, the Lord moved the cloud and the Children of Israel began to move towards Canaan. They followed the leadership of the Lord, though some were rebellious in their hearts.
They were like Jonah, who eventually obeyed the Lord and preached the word at Ninevah, but did not wish to see the Lord redeem the enemies of Israel. He obeyed the word of the Lord but did not desire to see the will of the Lord done.
So, it was with some of the Israelites. God provided food daily in the form of manna. Manna comes from two Hebrew words that mean, “What’s this?” MA-NAH. The people called it WHAT’S THIS, or manna in Hebrew. They had never seen anything like it. Every week for six days they collected a fixed amount of manna. On Friday, they collected enough for two days. The Lord gave them what they needed and when they needed it. Yet some were not happy.
Imagine eating the same food daily. I like cheeseburgers, pizza, and fried chicken, which represent the three main food groups to me. Yet, I would not want pizza every day. After a month or so, I think I might desire something else. Some of the Israelites began to complain and demand some type of meat. They were tired of this vegetarian lifestyle.
Not only did they want meat, they longed for the food they ate in Egypt, the place of their captivity. The Hebrews prepared the manna different ways, according to Numbers 11:8. I imagine some from the southern tribes deep fried it, and the northern tribes baked it. The western tribes used some Tex-Mex flavoring, and the Cajun Hebrews doused it in Tabasco sauce. It still was manna.
Moses was not happy, neither was the Lord. Moses spoke with the Lord and complained that he was unable to handle the people. God answered him by having Moses bring to the Lord seventy men of the elders of Israel. Maybe these were the seventy chosen in Exodus 18, when Moses’ father-in-law advised him to share the work of judging and ruling the people. The Lord led him to select seventy elders.
The Lord then put some of His spirit on them, the same as was on Moses. God did not deplete the filling from Moses, for the Spirit of God is not a limited quantity. The Lord led them to share the burden of leadership with Moses. This was always God’s plan concerning his children. Jeremiah 31:33-34 reads, But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (KJV).
God told Moses He would give the complainers so much meat it would come out of their nostrils. The Lord sent a wind with a huge quantity of quail that surrounded the camp. The birds flew about three feet off the ground and the people were able to capture them. For two days and one night the Hebrews collected quail, the least about sixty bushels worth.
However, the ones that complained did not get to enjoy it. The Lord sent a plague and many died — the ones who were greedy and lusted after the meat. The place was named in the Hebrew, “the graves of cravings.” God warned the New Testament Christians in Hebrews 13:5-6, Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me (KJV).
From this text, we learn to be content with God’s gifts, and to share the workload for His ministry. Next week, we read about spies.
Henson is pastor of Hopewell Church, Lake.
