Lesson 13 - "Counselors and Consequences of Sin"Numbers 11:1-14:45Maggie Fitzpatrick

Have you ever known a chronic complainer - someone who just wants everything to be changed so they’re comfortable? They’re like the customer in a restaurant who asked the waiter to turn up the air conditioning because he was too hot. Then he asked it to be turned down because he was too cold. His requests for adjusting the temperature go on for about 30 minutes. The waiter patiently walked back and forth across the restaurant after each request from the complaining customer and he never got angry. Watching this, a second customer asked the waiter why he didn't lose his temper. The waiter said with a smile, “Oh, I really don't mind. We don't have an air conditioner.”

This week’s lesson might be seen as rather gloomy. Since they had left Egypt, God did remarkable things at Mt. Sinai with and for His people. But within days of moving toward the land He promised their ancestors, the people began complaining. They never seemed to remember how much God had done for them. I wonder if God thought, “I give, I give, I give, but all they do is complain.” Complaints were a recurring demonstration of the Israelite’s weak faith.

I’ve focused on three areas of this week’s Bible passages. They

are:

1. Complaints about – well, you name ita. “hardships”b. a boring menuc. the Lord Godd. people in Canaan were too big, too strong, too scary

2. Challenges to Moses’ authoritya. sibling rivalry b. people want a leader to lead them where they want to go

3. Consequences of the Lord’s judgmenta. fire b. more firec. defiling skin diseased. punishing plaguee. instant deathf. no Promised Land

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g. 40 years in the desert

COMPLAINTS BROUGHT FIRE Numbers 11 opens with the people complaining about

“hardships.” Maybe those were, “My feet hurt! Not manna again! It's too hot! Reuben pushed me!” The consequence of their complaining, perhaps even a warning of His displeasure, was that God caused fire to burn the borders of the camp. They cried to Moses. Moses prayed. God quenched the fire. However, they were a “stiff-necked” people (Exodus 33:3) and they soon complained again.

RABBLE RIFFRAFFExodus 12:38 says there was a “mixed multitude” of people and

races who accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt. In Deuteronomy 29 and Joshua 8 they were called “foreigners”, likely non-Hebrews who didn’t worship God. These foreigners contaminated the hearts of the Israelites who then joined the grumbler’s pity party.

ARE YOU INOCULATED?I’m not immune to the grumbling virus. I’ve caught it many times in

my life. Grumbling is “to murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints” (Biblehub.com). There is a two-part vaccine for the grumbling virus which can prevent and cure a grumbling spirit and fortunately, there’s no side effects:

1. First, seek God through prayer and Scriptures. “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (Psalm 105:4) Thank Him for what He’s given and done for you. Feed your mind and heart with God’s Word to inoculate yourself against complaining and arguing. (Philippians 2:14,15)

2. Second, praise Him. It’s difficult to grumble when you’re focused on the perfection of the God of the universe. “I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done.” (Psalm 52:9) Consider singing praise songs such as, “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow”, “Our God”, “Great is the Lord”, “10,000 Reasons”, “You’re Worthy of My Praise”. Perhaps read Psalm 145 aloud. It’s chock full of praises about what God has done, His greatness, majesty, compassion and love.

Grumbling (groaning expressions of what we’re experiencing, of trials we’re in, of pain and grief we experience living in this fallen 2

world) is different from “righteous” complaining. God’s Word gives us an example of “righteous” complaining, “I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles.” (Psalm 142:1, 2) There is a difference between complaining to God and grumbling about what we think God hasn’t done. So, go ahead and pour out your heart to Him. Just don’t grumble.

THE RABBLE ROUSED A RUCKUS

Back to the rabble rousers. They stirred up the people to complain about food. They had manna monotony. They were probably accustomed to savory food in Egypt and craved sautéing garlic and onions into their manna. “And where’s the meat?!”, they wailed.

NO MORE MANNA! God had given them delicious, nutritionally perfect manna, and

they didn’t have to do anything to get it except walk out of their tent and pick it up. Oh, and it made for some tasty donuts. However, the people wanted meat.

Because the grumblers had what they needed but didn’t have what they wanted, they claimed life was better in Egypt. I think their memory was a little fuzzy because Exodus says, “The Egyptians made their lives bitter.” (Exodus 1:14). If they returned to Egypt, I’m sure the Pharaoh would have loved more pyramids built. Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The good old days are a combination of a bad memory and a good imagination.”

One of the saddest parts of this account is how their complaining affected Moses. Two million people wailed, “Give us meat!” and it brought Moses to the end of his rope. In despair, Moses emptied his heart out to God and asked, “Why did you bring this on me? Your chosen people are acting like children - children I didn’t give birth to! Do I have to carry them like babies all the way to the land You promised them? Where am I going to get the meat they keep wailing about?” Before God addressed the people’s complaints about their food, Moses needed His help.

The basis of Moses' anguish was that the burden of leadership was too heavy for him, “I can’t carry all these people by myself.” (Numbers 11:14) And in an ultimate cry of misery, he asked the Lord to take his life instead of letting him live in failure. What pain he must

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have been experiencing. He wished for death so someone else could lead the ungrateful people.

The Lord didn’t answer Moses’ prayer to end his life, but He did answer the prayer of Moses’ heart. What a privilege to cry our hearts out to the One who placed trillions of stars in the sky and sent His Son from the perfection of heaven to earth just for us!

God instructed Moses to choose seventy leaders and God placed His Spirit on them, which caused them to prophesy. Here, prophesy meant to praise and worship God. The community witnessed God give the leaders authority to help Moses govern them.

As did Moses, we all experience trials, don’t we? God’s Word can

strengthen and encourage us, “We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know they help us develop endurance.” (Romans 5:3) My favorite verse these days is, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

GOD DEALS WITH THE PEOPLEAfter delivering Moses help, God dealt with those who were

unhappy with their menu. God would give them what they craved but they would also experience the consequence of ungratefulness. For a whole month the people would be given so much meat it would come out their noses and they would detest it.

Moses questioned where all the meat would come from, asking

the Lord, “There’s not enough cattle and flocks to feed these people for a whole month, yet You say You can provide it?!” God’s response: “Do you think I’m unable to do what I say I will do?”

How often does man, the created being, underestimate the power of the Creator? Whenever things are impossible to men, Scripture gives the same answer: “Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you?” (Isaiah 50:2), “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save.” (Isaiah 59:1), "I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27), “…with God all things are possible." (Matt 19:26) Such powerful Scriptures about our God!

HERE COME THE QUAIL

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God sent a strong wind with what is estimated to have been millions of quail. Numbers 11:31 says, “It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp” meaning either the birds flew about three feet above the ground to be caught easily, or the birds really were three feet deep all over the ground. Scholars say the number of quail was enormous, about 1,900 birds per man and each man could have collected enough birds to fill the bed of a pick-up truck, of course, if there were pick-ups back then! Great mental picture though.

A DEADLY TIME OUTThe narrative in Numbers 11:33 is quite vivid about the

consequence of their ungrateful complaining, “while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.” The nature of the plague isn’t described. Scholars say it could have been food poisoning if they hadn’t preserved or cooked the birds properly; or, their craving for the meat was so strong, they gluttonously consumed it, causing vomiting so severe it came out their noses. Scholars believe the plague illness either came on suddenly while they were still eating, or the gluttons could have been deathly ill the entire month. Psalm 78 provides additional insight: “They ate till they were gorged—he [God] had given them what they craved. But before they turned from what they craved, even while the food was still in their mouths, God’s anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them.” (Psalm 78:29-31)

God used the plague as judgment because they rejected Him.

Psalm 106 says, “How quickly they forgot what he [God] had done! …their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience. He gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it.” (Psalm 106:13-15)

A WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOING ON The Bible teaches that God uses pestilence and plagues to judge

and to warn - to shake individuals and nations to get their attention and draw people to Him. (Amos 9:9 and Haggai 2:7) With the plague that accompanied the quail, God was shaking the nation of Israel to wake them from rebellion so they would repent and, in faith, turn to Him. I wonder if what God told Israel will apply to this present world, that, “This will happen because you rejected the Lord.” (Numbers 11:20)

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SIBLING RIVALRYOne would think the Israelites learned their lesson about

complaints, yet the entire Chapter 12 of Numbers details another account of complaining. This time it was specifically against Moses and the complaints came from the top – his siblings.

God said in Micah 6:4 that He would use Moses and Aaron and

Miriam to lead Israel. But Miriam and Aaron weren’t content with how God used them. They gossiped about Moses’ non-Israelite wife, who was either Zipporah or a second wife after Zipporah’s death. Regardless, their complaint about the marriage was a pretext for envy aimed at Moses.

Their offense was to question their brother’s leadership, which

challenged God’s authority for Moses to be God’s favored leader. Miriam and Aaron were also prophets and wanted equality with Moses. They may have thought no one heard their grumbling, but God did, and He descended in a pillar of cloud at the entrance of the tabernacle. To Aaron and Miriam God said, “You two, step forward and listen to me.” An appearance of the glory of the Lord was often accompanied by His judgment and they were about to hear what that was.

God questioned why they weren’t afraid of bad-mouthing Moses. “When I talk to prophets I do so through visions and dreams”, God said. “But when I communicate with my servant, Moses, I talk to Him directly, face to face.” Moses and God weren’t literally face to face when they talked. The phrase means Moses had direct, intimate, conversations with the Lord. No middleman.

An analogy of their conversations could be like receiving a memo

from the president of the company you work for advising of some decision, versus, having the president call and invite you to be flown in his private jet to meet him for a private dinner and be briefed on what his plans were for the company.

God explained to Miriam and Aaron that Moses was greater than any other prophet, including them, and their complaint about Moses was actually against God Himself. God made His anger plainly known. When the cloud lifted, Miriam’s skin was leprous – God’s judgment for her sin against Him.

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Aaron pleaded for his and Miriam’s foolish sin to be forgiven, and Moses, the very one Miriam complained about, appealed to the Lord to heal her. Miriam didn’t escape discipline. She was made to suffer leprosy, even though temporarily. The Law required Miriam be isolated outside the camp for seven days, after which God did restore her. Not only did she suffer a horrible skin disease, but also public humiliation for rebelling against God. Moses’ leadership was confirmed in an unforgettable manner that day.

Why wasn’t Aaron punished? Several scholars agree that the text

supports that Miriam instigated the bad-mouthing of Moses because she is named before Aaron at the start of the account. This suggests it was she, rather than Aaron, who vocalized the grumbling, and she was judged for it. Also, the verb “talk” in Numbers 12:1 is the feminine form of the Hebrew word, so that Numbers 12:1 would actually read, “She spoke, Miriam and Aaron against Moses…”

Additionally, if Aaron had been struck with leprosy, he could not have served as the High Priest of Israel and his role to lead worship in the tabernacle was vital. Sparing Aaron, in a way, was like God sparing King David when he repented of disobeying God and then of murder (2 Samuel). God still used David to rule Israel; however, consequences of sin will prevail, often throughout one’s lifetime. Leaders may be spared immediate judgment, not because they are innocent, but because God’s plan includes placing them where they are for the His sovereign purposes. But most importantly, GOD IS GOD, and He delivers justice according to His will and timing. Justice is His alone to determine. REBELLION AT KADESH

Admit it, no story involving spies is boring. Unfortunately, the spy story in our lesson includes examples of a gigantic lack of faith, disobedience and rebellion.

The Israelites reached Kadesh on the border of the land God promised to His people - the end of their journey from slavery to freedom. They were on the verge of entering a land described as the Promised Land, with “great with splendid cities”, “a land flowing with milk and honey”, where the people would become “satisfied and prosperous” (Deuteronomy 6:10; 31:20); “a place of rest” (Joshua 1:13); “the most beautiful of all lands” (Ezekiel 20:6); “an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8); “a good and spacious land” (Exodus 3:8).

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Who wouldn’t want to enter and possess such a land with such promises? Only a nation who didn’t believe in the promises.

Deuteronomy 1 and Numbers 13-14 record what went wrong at

Kadesh. The Israelites were within sight of the land of promise, but they got cold feet. Moses said, “Go, take the land. Don’t be afraid or discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 1:21) but they lacked faith God would protect them.

They wanted to see for themselves what was in store for them, so

they asked Moses to send men into Canaan to spy on what really was there. In Exodus 3 at the burning bush, God told Moses that besides the good and spacious land His people would be given, there would be Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and probably Cellulites (just checking to see if you were paying attention). Yes, there would be strange, threatening people living there. It’s assumed that Moses and the Lord agreed to the people’s request to check out the land, perhaps to see if they would walk in faith. Moses sent one leader from each of the twelve tribes to spy out the land. EXPLORING CANAAN

For forty days, the twelve men traveled throughout Canaan. Their mission was to determine what the land was like - its produce, the strengths and weakness of its people and cities. The spies returned with a visual example of magnificent crops growing there by bringing back a cluster of grapes so large it took two men to carry it on a pole. By the way, the image of the spies with grapes is depicted on many of Israel’s official documents.

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The spies also returned with two extremely different reports. Ten spies interpreted what they saw out of fear, not faith. It was a “bad report.” (Numbers 14:36) Here, the Hebrew for “bad” meant untruth. The ten spies were untruthful about what they saw. They reported the land would devour anyone who went there to live. They said the people were huge and stronger than they were.

However, two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed God would

take them safely into the Promised Land. They were looking through eyes of faith when they reported their findings. The ten spies said, “Those people will devour us!” Joshua and Caleb said, “They will be our food.” Caleb’s confidence was in God, who said of him, “Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly.” (Numbers 14:24)

If you’ve ever walked by fear instead of faith, remember, “Our faith must not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.” (1 Corinthians 2:5). Joshua and Caleb “lived by faith, not by sight.” (Corinthians 5:7)

The ten weak-faithed spies doubted God’s power. Their report was one of fear, death and lies causing the people to wail and wish they had died in Egypt or in the desert. They accused the Lord of bringing them to the Promised Land to be killed by its inhabitants and they wanted a new leader to take them back to Egypt. The people were on the precipice of receiving God’s blessing and their refusal to enter Canaan was disastrous for the young nation.

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GOD INTERCEDEDJoshua and Caleb had encouraged the people not to be afraid to

enter Canaan, but the people wanted to stone them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared. I’m sure as the brilliant light of God shone before them, the people dropped their stones. He was about to show them whose side He was on.

The generation God delivered from Egypt was guilty of unbelief and rebellion. They were stiff-necked, faithless, chronic complainers. God said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I’ve done among them? (Numbers 14:11) God’s punishment was two-fold. He told Moses He wanted to destroy the unbelieving Israelites and make Moses the leader of a new and even greater nation.

MOSES INTERCEDEDOnce again Moses interceded for the rebellious people reasoning

that if Egypt heard God destroyed His people, they would believe God wasn’t powerful enough to do what He said He would do. I was amused that Moses was concerned about the God of the universe getting a bad rap!

And I love the way Moses argued his case. Moses pointed to the character of God telling Him this is what You told me about Yourself, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.” (Numbers 14:18) The Lord’s great love for Israel was the basis on which Moses asked God to forgive them, just as God had done time after time since the Israelites first left Egypt.

The Lord relented from immediately destroying the rebellious

people, yet they would not escape the consequences of their sin. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “God does not allow his people to sin successfully.” Sin may be forgiven but its consequences can endure, and the consequences for their unbelief and rebellion would remind Israel God does not tolerate sin.

The generation God saved from Egyptian slavery and had

witnessed His miracles would not enter the Promised Land. Instead, they would wander in the desert for thirty-eight more years, a total of forty - one year for each day the spies were in Canaan. And to that generation God would grant their wish - they would die in the 10

wilderness. Only their children, along with Caleb and Joshua, would possess the land God promised, which meant God’s covenant with Abraham remained intact.

The ten spies who incited the people to rebel were the first to die by a plague. Nasty business those plagues. Perhaps the Lord destroyed them right then and there so they could no longer infect the people with their lack of faith.

TOO LITTLE TOO LATEYou’ve heard the phrase “too little, too late?” Numbers 14 and

Deuteronomy 1 record another incredible act of defiance by the Israelites. After they learned of God’s judgment that they would die in the wilderness, they admitted their sin, likely because of the consequences. Moses told them to turn the camp around and start back toward the Red Sea, but instead of obeying, they decided to go ahead into Canaan, defeat their enemies and inhabit the land. But the time for obedience was past and Moses said the Lord would not go with them. They would face their enemies alone and be defeated. Scholar Thomas Fuller said, “You cannot repent too soon, because you do not know how soon it may be too late.”

With characteristic obstinance they entered Canaan and were met by three tribes that “chased them like a swarm of bees” and defeated them. They returned “and wept before the Lord,” but Scripture says the Lord “turned a deaf ear” to them. Proverbs 29:1 warns, “Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed--without remedy.”

The Kadesh catastrophe was another terrible failure for Israel because they refused to believe in the Lord. Warren Wiersbe tells us, “Every Christian comes to a Kadesh where we are tested to step out by faith and go forward. If we stand still, we’ll go backward and miss the blessings God wants us to have.”

God’s barring the first generation of Israel from entering the Promised Land is an illustration of those who don’t have faith in Christ, yet are determined to get into heaven their own way. They too will reap irreversible consequences. “For whoever believes in him [Jesus, God’s only Son] will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) Those who respond to Jesus in faith will earn their Promised Land – heaven itself.11

In our study of Numbers this week, we read of instances of ungratefulness, craving for another country and its food, envy, rebellion, faithless actions, defiance, and grumbling complaints which were chronic and contagious. We read about devastating effects of God’s judgments to teach Israel He would not tolerate rebellion or unbelief without consequences.

God tells us, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us.” (1 Corinthians 10:11). We’re warned not to pursue fleshly desires and become ungrateful for what we have which is walking in the flesh. The Apostle Paul told us to, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) Walking in the Spirit is living yielded to God’s plan and influence in our life.

As we face this new year, it’s not a time for looking back like the Israelites did, wishing for what we had; instead, it’s time to look ahead knowing we’re prepared and strengthened by God’s Word to face the unforeseen because He is with us and He is still in control. What He has promised He will do!

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