The people complain.
April 14, 2021
Commentary
The human heart is so sinful that it soon forgets God’s blessings, ignores God’s promises, and finds fault with God’s provisions. Just three days after the great praise service by the Red Sea, the people complained against Moses and God because they didn’t have water to drink (Ex. 15:22-27). Now, three days after leaving Sinai they complain again about hardships (v. 1), and about the lack of meat (v. 4). It says that “the mixed multitude” complained. This “mixed multitude” refers to a mixed crowd of Egyptians and others who followed Israel out of Egypt.
The Jews had experienced a miracle six mornings a week when “the bread of heaven” (Psa. 78:24) fell in their camp and provided all the food they needed for the day. However, perhaps influenced by the “mixed multitude,” many of the Jews got tired of their diet and tried to improve on God’s recipe (v. 8). Instead of being satisfied with what God had provided, they wanted the food they had enjoyed in Egypt. They had forgotten the bondage of Egypt and remembered only the things that pleased the flesh. They didn’t ask God to fill their need; instead they demanded meat and they stopped trusting God to care for them.
How tragic it is when professed believers in churches crave substitutes that the world has to offer instead of desiring the heavenly manna of the Word of God (John 6:60-69). In trying to attract and please the “mixed multitude,” churches have turned their sanctuaries into places of entertainment and their ministries into mere performances. Moses had been singing triumphantly about the Lord (10:35-36), but after hearing the people complain, it was not long before he was lamenting about what the Lord had called him to do. The people complained to one another and nothing was accomplished. Moses took his complaint to God who could solve any problem. Many of us are good at complaining to each other instead of taking our problem to the One who can do something about it.
Application
It is so easy to take my eyes off the Lord and focus on myself. Lord help me to keep focused on You.
Numbers 11:1– 15 (NET)
1 When the people complained, it displeased the Lord. When the Lord heard it, his anger burned, and so the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outer parts of the camp. 2 When the people cried to Moses, he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died out. 3 So he called the name of that place Taberah because there the fire of the Lord burned among them.
4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them craved more desirable foods, and so the Israelites wept again and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we used to eat freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now we are dried up, and there is nothing at all before us except this manna!” 7 (Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. 9 And when the dew came down on the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.)
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me? 12 Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to their fathers? 13 From where shall I get meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’ 14 I am not able to bear this entire people alone, because it is too heavy for me! 15 But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”