Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. (Numbers 11:1)
The Lord does not like His people complaining and grumbling
Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. (Numbers 11:1)
Why in the outskirts of the camp?
when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped. (Numbers 11:2)
Intercession can stop the judgment of the Lord over a person, over a family and even over a nation
Name of a Place
After that, the area was known as Taberah (which means “the place of burning”), because fire from the Lord had burned among them there. (Numbers 11:3)
There is always a story behind a name that has been given to a place. Very often a place is named after what happened there or what is currently happening there.
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? (Numbers 11:4)
Evil company corrupts good habits. This is a classic example of this.
We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” (Numbers 11:5-6)
How quickly the Israelites had forgotten what their fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic had cost them. They had to pay a very heavy price of being slaves living in inhuman conditions. They had often cried out to the Lord for deliverance because they just could not bear to pay such a price.
Once the Lord has delivered them, they conveniently forgot what the Lord did for them and cried for the so called ‘good things’ they had left behind in Egypt. Now they were tired of the manna that God was providing for them.
Interestingly, they did not have to work for the Manna, it was a blessing from the LORD. It was freely given and yet they were tired of it.
At first the Israelities must have been awed by God’s incredible provision of Manna. But after a while they grew tired of the same food day in and day out.
Get Accustomed to Our Blessings
I have felt for a long time that one of the particular temptations of the maturing Christian is the danger of getting accustomed to his blessings. Like the world traveler who has been everywhere and seen everything, the maturing Christian is in danger of taking his blessings for granted and getting so accustomed to them that they fail to excite him as they once did.
Emerson said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them. We have seen the stars so often that we don't bother to look at them anymore. We have grown accustomed to our blessings.
The Israelites in the wilderness got accustomed to their blessings, and God had to chasten the people (see Numbers 11). God had fed the nation with heavenly manna each morning, and yet the people were getting tired of it. "But now our whole being is dried up," they said, "there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!" (v. 6).
Nothing but manna! They were experiencing a miracle of God's provision every morning; yet they were no longer excited about it. Nothing but manna!
One of the evidences that we have grown accustomed to our blessings is this spirit of criticism and complaining. Instead of thanking God for what we have, we complain about it and tell him we wish we had something else. You can be sure that if God did give us what we asked for, we would eventually complain about that. The person who has gotten accustomed to his blessing can never be satisfied.
Another evidence of this malady is the idea that others have a better situation than we do. The Israelites remembered their diet in Egypt and longed to return to the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. They were saying, "The people in Egypt are so much better off than we are!"
Looking at the prosperity of the wicked we start complaining
For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:3)
Obviously, they had forgotten the slavery they had endured in Egypt and the terrible bondage from which God had delivered them. Slavery is a high price to pay for a change in diet.
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. (Numbers 11:16)
The first duty of an elder was to stand with Moses in His presence
Impartation
And I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put It upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not have to bear it yourself alone. (Numbers 11:17)
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. (Numbers 11:26)
Eldad meaning "Beloved of-El"
Medad, meaning "Beloved."
These two were part of the seventy elders chosen by Moses to assist him in governing the people following their protests about the food in the wilderness.
All the elders were instructed to gather at the tent of meeting (the tabernacle) to receive the power of God’s Spirit (Numbers 11:16). However, Eldad and Medad stayed behind in the camp. It is unclear whether Eldad and Medad were disobedient or whether they had permission to remain behind; in either case, when the Spirit of God came upon the elders, Eldad and Medad too received God’s Spirit and they prophesied in the camp.
But a whole month—until [you are satiated and vomit it up violently and] it comes out at your nostrils and is disgusting to you—because you have rejected and despised the Lord Who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we come out of Egypt? (Numbers 11:20)
When a blessing is a curse
When you want to have your way
When blessings are abused
The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot: (Numbers 11:21)
Moses reacted as we often do - trying to figure out how God would perform a particular promise. Moses couldn't figure it out; but God never asked him to. God will provide, because His arm has not been shortened, nor has He lost any strength.
The quail came all around the camp - that is, on the perimeter. When the Holy Spirit was poured out, it drew men into the center of the camp - right into the middle of the people of God. To get the quail, they had to go outside of the camp - away from the people of God and away from the tabernacle - the presence of God. God’s best for us is always toward the center of the camp, not on the outside.
Prophetic Word About Bird Flu
And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day and caught and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves round about the camp [to cure them by drying].
While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote them with a very great plague.
So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, (meaning Graves of Craving) because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.(Numbers 11:32-34)
Could the people have died because of some kind of bird flu?
Hungering After God
That place was called Kibroth-hattaavah [the graves of sensuous desire], because there they buried the people who lusted, whose physical appetite caused them to sin. (Numbers 11:34)
Physical appetite caused them to sin
1.overeating
2.eating and drinking the wrong foods that are harmful to the body
3.Eating preferred over fasting and prayer
4.Grumbling and complaining against the LORD because of mere food
Yielding to your craving can lead you to your grave.
How many have lived in spiritual death because they yielded to their cravings, and never found victory over their lusts? Adam and Eve, Esau, Samson, Judas. They buried the people who lusted.
Elders to run the congregation of the LORD
The Israelites journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth, where they remained. (Numbers 11:35)
(haser) meaning court or enclosure.
The name Hazaroth is a plural form of the noun חצר (haser), which means courts or villages:
Houses were designed around them and the tabernacle and the temple had outer courts; enclosed areas around the actual sanctuary. Ezekiel's temple and probably Solomon's temple as well, also had inner courts. It's of those courts that the Psalmist sang: better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere (Psalm 84:10).
Chapters
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 33