NUMBERS: The Children of Israel Complain About the Bread from Heaven; "Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: 'Who will give us meat to eat?'"

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. Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched. So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. (Numbers 11:1-3) 

In the previous lesson, we studied how the Lord God finally commanded the children of Israel to leave Mount Sinai and journey towards the promised land. They hadn't gone very far and had started doing their usual complaining. 

The Lord God had warned them after their idolatry with the golden calf, “Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you." (Exodus 33:1-5)

True to His Word, He came in the midst of them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Nothing is wrong with us having sincere doubts and questions, and seeking answers from God, as we will find out shortly when Moses addresses the Lord God with his concerns. But God is Holy, and we are at all times to address Him with reverence and respect. If we are to “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12) How much more are we to honor and reverence God; “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts..." (Malachi 1:6) God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him. (Psalm 89:7)

Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” (Numbers 11:4-6)

Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. (Numbers 11:7-9) 

We must keep in mind that there were over 600,000 men, not including women and children. The average population of a city is 100,000 people, of course some have a lot more and some have a lot less. Imagine six cities worth of people moving every day through a wilderness. 

Remember, And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:1-3) 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exous 16:4-5) They had been eating manna for two years and two months, and now they were tired of it and complaining about it. 

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. 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? 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? 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.’ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 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!” (Numbers 11:10-15)

The difference between complaining vs. having sincere doubts and questions. God was angry with the people and Moses was also, but he went to God directly with his complaint and concern, not complaining and among the people in the camp. So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. (Numbers 11:16-17)

"Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’” (Numbers 11:18-20)

Yet again, nothing new under the sun! The children of Israel complained so much, to the point that the Lord God said He would give them what they asked for, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. We must be careful what we ask for. We must not allow ourselves to become distracted by the things the world is distracted by. The mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept. God has sanctified us, separated us, set us apart from the multitude through our faith in Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord.

Wanting meat is not a problem, but the craving for the things of this world is represented by the wanting of meat. We must trust God to give us every day what we need, as Christ Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." (Matthew 6:11) Also, we must learn the same lesson that Christ Jesus taught the multitude, after he had done the miraculous feeding of over 5,000 with the two fish and five loves, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33) 

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. ... All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:35-40)