4Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt, and the people of Israel also began to complain. "Oh, for some meat!" they exclaimed. 5"We remember all the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic that we wanted. 6But now our appetites are gone, and day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!"
7The manna looked like small coriander seeds, pale yellow in color. 8The people gathered it from the ground and made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like they had been cooked in olive oil. 9The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.
10Moses heard all the families standing in front of their tents weeping, and the LORD became extremely angry. Moses was also very aggravated. 11And Moses said to the LORD, "Why are you treating me, your servant, so miserably? What did I do to deserve the burden of a people like this? 12Are they my children? Am I their father? Is that why you have told me to carry them in my arms--like a nurse carries a baby--to the land you swore to give their ancestors? 13Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep complaining and saying, `Give us meat!' 14I can't carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! 15I'd rather you killed me than treat me like this. Please spare me this misery!"
16Then the LORD said to Moses, "Summon before me seventy of the leaders of Israel. Bring them to the Tabernacle to stand there with you. 17I will come down and talk to you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you, and I will put the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
18"And tell the people to purify themselves, for tomorrow they will have meat to eat. Tell them, `The LORD has heard your whining and complaints: "If only we had meat to eat! Surely we were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. 19And it won't be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. 20You 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 complained to him, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" ' "
21But Moses said, "There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you promise them meat for a whole month! 22Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?"
23Then the LORD said to Moses, "Is there any limit to my power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!"
31Now the LORD sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall into the camp and all around it! For many miles in every direction from the camp there were quail flying about three feet above the ground. 32So the people went out and caught quail all that day and throughout the night and all the next day, too. No one gathered less than fifty bushels! They spread the quail out all over the camp. 33But while they were still eating the meat, the anger of the LORD blazed against the people, and he caused a severe plague to break out among them. 34So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah--"the graves of craving"--because they buried the people there who had craved meat from Egypt.
Points of Interest:
· ‘the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites’—as we noticed previously, many non-Israelites joined them when they left Egypt. These foreigners were invited to become fully-participating members of the community, and many non-Israelite families were adopted into one or another of the twelve tribes. Apparently, some of the foreigners decided not to join the Israelites or take part in the covenant, but they nonetheless continued to travel with the Israelites. ‘Rabble’ might not be the kindest way to describe this group, but I think what the story is trying to get across here is that they’re kind of like the proverbial fifth wheel: they don’t really belong, but they’re there. Their decision to follow the Israelites but not to join them seems a bit odd. On the one hand, given their alien status, it seems reasonable that they might be more prone to notice the discomfort of the journey; on the other hand, it seems that they could easily part ways with the Israelites whenever they wanted. It makes me wonder what motivated them to stick around.
In any case, the main point here is that the people of God quickly jump on the complaint bandwagon with these foreign hangers-on. The honeymoon after the completion of God’s Tent doesn’t last long.
· ‘day after day we have nothing to eat but this manna!’—if you remember, manna—or, in English, what-is-it—is the miraculous bread with which God has fed the Israelites since about a month after they left Egypt. This wonderful miracle of God has eventually become a mundane part of life, or even somewhat despicable. Since it’s been several months (perhaps as much as two years), it’s understandable that they’ve gotten tired of a heavily manna-based diet. Nonetheless, it’s sad to see how disdainful they’ve become of God’s miraculous provision. It’s easy to see why God would be insulted by their ingratitude. It also seems highly possible that if they had asked rather than complaining, God might have been glad to meet their desires. Last time the subject came up, God fed them quails—even this time he does the same, though not entirely happily.
· ‘Moses was also very aggravated’—everyone seems to be in a bit of a bad mood: the people are upset with Moses and God; the LORD is angry with the people; and Moses is aggravated at God. Moses portrays himself as a parent who’s been left alone with the kids all day by his spouse—he even goes so far as to say that they’re not his kids at all. Moses is feeling overwhelmed, too small for the job, and alone. It honestly is far too big a job for one person to be the parent of hundreds of thousands. Moses essentially asks to be relieved of his position. God doesn’t grant his request, but he does provide him with help. Notably, when the Israelites complain about God, he gets angry; when Moses complains to God, the LORD answers his concern.
· ‘until you gag and are sick of it’—God wants to make sure that they are never again able to complain that he hasn’t given them enough meat.
· ‘all our flocks and herds’—the fact that they have flocks and herds speaks to the possibility that their diet is not so completely dismal as they have led us to believe.
· ‘Is there any limit to my power?’—in this whole passage, Moses has been worried that he doesn’t have what’s needed to lead and care for the people. God reminds him here that it’s never been about what Moses can muster up himself. It’s about what God is able to give him.
· ‘the anger of the LORD blazed against the people’—perhaps God is angry because the people are so busy shoving quail into their mouths that they don’t stop to say, ‘Thank you,’ or to admit that perhaps their complaints against God were unjust.
Taking it home:
· For you: As I read about the Israelites complaining about the manna, I’m tempted to think, ‘What’s the big deal?’ or even to think that it’s natural and even justified—perhaps it could even be considered emotionally healthy ‘venting’—for them to express their feelings about their boring diet. But God seems to consider it a pretty big insult to him. Perhaps God is upset because their complaints get in the way of two other things: gratitude and asking. Complaints make God look bad, and only make the Israelites feel worse. But expressing thankfulness and asking God for what they need could very well lead toward better circumstances, both emotionally and materially. The rest of the day, try to keep track of the times when you complain or are tempted to complain. Do a little one-day experiment: whenever possible, replace that potential complaint with some expression of gratitude or with a prayer to God to provide for your need. At the end of the day, reflect on how it went.
· For your six: It’s easy to assume that what we’ve already gotten from God is all he is willing or able to give, but this passage shows that the expectations of both Moses and the Israelites were far below what God would actually give. Pray for your six that they would have the boldness to ask (or continue to ask) God for what they want from him, and ask God to answer their prayers as generously as he did the prayer of Moses.
· For our church: Spend a moment praising God for the fact that it is his abilities, not our own, that are the key to our success in pursuing the purposes to which he has called us.
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