Num 11.1-35 gives us a lesson about not complaining and murmuring under our breath about how Yehovah leads us (1 Cor 10.10. They were by nature complainers and they had only gone a few miles (Num 10.33) so they weren’t tired, they were looking for an occasion to go back to Egypt; they contrived and meditated on how to do it.
v 1…Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord (possibly lightning as in Job 1.16, or a burst of flame like in Lev 10.2, or something ordinary) burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp (possibly with the tribe of Dan).
v 2…The people therefore cried to Moses , and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out.
v 3…So the name of that placed was called Taberah (burning) because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
v 4…And the rabble (the mixed multitude in Exo 2.38 of aliens who had joined Israel to get out of Egypt) who were among them had greedy desires (a craving for flesh food), and also the sons of Israel wept again (for flesh, too) and said, “Who will give us meat to eat (turn complaints into questions when someone complains to you. Ask, “What do you want?” And they will tell you and you can resolve something. What did the people want? They wanted meat. All they had was manna, right? Wrong! They had their flocks and herds and fish-11.22)?
v 5…We remember the fish which we used to eat for free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic;
v 6…but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna (the flocks and herds was “their stuff” and they figured that they were in the wilderness on this journey and they should have three square meals a day provided).
v 7…Now the manna was like coriander seed and its appearance like that of bdellium (shiny, glossy; at first they admired it in Exo 16.15, but discontented minds will find fault even when there is none).
v 8…The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar and boil it, and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil (like deep-fried).
v 9…And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.
v 10…Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families (complaining spreads), each man at the doorway of his tent, and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased.
v 11…So Moses said to the Lord, “Why hast thou been so hard on they servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou has laid this burden of all this people on me (so now even Moses complains and he needs help)?
v 12…Was it I who conceived all this people (in a civil or political sense)? Was it it I who brought them forth, that thou shouldest say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which thou didst swear to their fathers (nobody can lead a bunch of complainers, and life is how one looks at it; some see what is right in a situation, some see the wrong. Everything God did had good in it. When you see the good and don’t complain life can be good)’?
v 13…Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!”
v 14…I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me.
v 15…So if thou art going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if i have found favor in thy sight and do not let me see my wretchedness (Yehovah will Moses’ first complaint in v 11-15 in v 16-18; if Moses would have asked a question for help instead of complaining, it would have been done. You just can’t complain about help, ask for it; even the best of believers will have weaknesses).”
v 16…The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy (a number of completion) men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you (without upbraiding him for his preceding words).
v 17…Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit (power) who is upon you (not diminishing the Spirit that is upon Moses, like a light that kindles other lights is not diminished), and will put it upon them (their portion of the power upon Moses will influence others in the camp and silence the murmurings ); and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you shall not bear it all alone (putting an end to the problem).
v 18…And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow (be ready for what is coming; a punishment), and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt (they forgot about their slavery).” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat (to show his power.
v 19…You shall eat meat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days (an idiom for “no lack”),
v 20…but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because you have rejected the Lord (and distrusted his provision) who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt (as if it would have been better for them there)?’ “
v 21…But Moses said, “The people among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot, yet thou hast said,’I will give them meat in order that they may eat for a whole month (even Moses thought this would be impossible; that’s about 54 million meals).’
v 22…Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them (alluding to the fact that if they slaughtered everything it would not be enough for a whole month)? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them (even Moses fails to consider the power of God for a moment because he was human)?”
v 23…And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you (even you, Moses) shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
v 24…So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people (by name), and stationed them around the tent (but two did not come-11.26).
v 25…Then the Lord came down in the cloud (the symbol of his everlasting presence; the Shekinah) and spoke to him; and he took of the Spirit (power) which was upon him and placed it upon the seventy elders. And it came about that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied (explaining and relating God’s word; teaching plainly-1 Cor 12.10; 14.20-40). But they did not do it again (this is a very interesting verse, and very prophetic. The Targum Onkelos is a commentary covering the Torah written in Aramaic, except v 25, which is written in Greek. Greek was another “tongue” and illustrated the Jewish expectation that when the Spirit came there would be other tongues going forth, and that is exactly what happened-Acts 28.10; Joel 2.28; Acts 2.1-21; 1 Cor 12.10).
v 26…But two men had remained in the camp (did not come when Moses called them; possibly thought of themselves as unfit and tried to hide like Saul did); the name of one was Eldad (God has loved) and the name of the other Medad (loving). And the Spirit rested upon them, now they were among those who had been registered but had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp (God moved “outside the tent” like in Acts 10 with Cornelius; God moved “outside the tent” of Israel to the non-Jews-Eph 2.11-22).
v 27…So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp (they were shocked that God did not stay in their little box).”
v 28…Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses (like a prime minister) from his youth (less than two years, and Joshua was about 50 or 60 years old now), answered and said, “Moses my lord, restrain them (he had limited understanding about what God was trying to do).”
v 29…But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake (that you think my authority is diminished)? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them (and have as great or greater gifts than me that would qualify them for service; Moses was not envious; this was going to have a future fulfillment, not only in Acts 2, but in the Olam Haba)!”
v 30…Then Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel (Now with the Ruach Ha Kodesh resting on the seventy, alluding to a complete number, they will help Moses in the administration; seventy alludes to a complete empowered congregation just like the Eschatological Kahal will be after the Yeshua).
v 31…Now there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea (southeast wind from the Gulf of Aqaba-Psa 78.26-33), and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey of the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground (the first time in Exo 16.13 the quail was given for hunger and they were just out of Egypt, and God forgave their complaining; this time it will be in judgment because their sins were greater).
v 32…And the people spent all day and 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).
v 33…While the meat was still between their teeth (just into their mouths ready to bite), before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague.
v 34…So the name of that place was called KIbroth-hattaavah (graves of the greedy); because there they buried the people who had been greedy (they preferred the food from the world in 11.4-6 over the food from heaven-Exo 16.1-36; Deut 8.3).
v 35…From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth (about eight miles), and they remained at Hazeroth (meaning “villages, courts or stone enclosures” for seven days-Num 12.15-16; Spiritually when people reject the bread of life in Yeshua the plague of sin will kill. This story is not unlike ours as individuals. We are delivered and we get into the camp and start our walk in the wilderness to the promised land. Then we get discouraged and we don’t like “Moses” and we miss “Egypt.” We miss this and we miss that and we want something that was left behind. Then we start to associate with the “rabble” and start complaining, and we want more. Then a whole group starts to act like an individual. The lesson is this: there is nothing wrong with having an appetite but when we get out of control and ahead of God we are going to get into trouble. Notice these lessons are set around the manna, the bread from heaven. But Moses will sum it all up in Deut 8.3, “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” It is to test us (Deut 8.2).
Leave a Reply