Numbers 11

The people of Israel camped at Mount Sinai about eleven months. They arrived there in the third month after their deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 19:1), and it was now the second month of the second year. During that time, God’s law had been announced and the tabernacle had been constructed and dedicated. Moses had consecrated the priests and Levites, counted the soldiers, and organized the tribes. Israel was now a nation ready for action.

However, Israel’s history for the next thirty-eight years (Num. 10:11—22:1) is for the most part a record of unbelief and failure. They were years during which the people opposed Moses and rebelled against God’s will. Because of their disobedience at Kadesh-Barnea, Israel wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years, leaving behind a trail of graves as the older generation died off. Of that generation, only Joshua and Caleb survived to enter Canaan.

In contrast, the first ten chapters of Numbers have recorded the activities of a nation obeying the Lord. “And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they” (1:54) is a theme often repeated in these chapters (2:34; 3:16, 51; 4:49; 5:4; 8:3, 20, 22; 9:5, 23). In obeying God, Israel had everything to gain and nothing to lose, yet they refused to trust Him and follow His commandments. It’s not until Numbers 26 that the picture changes, when Moses takes a census of the new generation and prepares them to enter the land, conquer the enemy, and claim their inheritance.

Let’s consider three scenes in the life of Israel as the nation began its journey, and let’s learn what it means to know God’s will and do it.

So sinful is the human heart that it’s prone to forget God’s blessings, ignore God’s promises, and find fault with God’s providence. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps. 107:8, 15, 21, 31)

The Jews complain (vv. 1–3). History repeats itself. Three days after the great praise service by the Red Sea, the Jews complained against Moses and God because they didn’t have water to drink (Ex. 15:22–27). Now, three days after leaving Sinai (Num. 10:33), the Jews complained again. It takes faith to be able to accept God’s providential leading (Rom. 8:28), and Israel’s faith wasn’t very strong.

Since the people had been camped in one location for nearly a year, perhaps the demands of the journey discouraged them, along with the monotony of the terrain. The NIV translates Numbers 11:1, “Now the people complained about their hardships.” Whatever the cause, God heard their sinful words, became angry, and killed the ungrateful people. “The fire of the Lord” could describe lightning (Ex. 9:23–24), and the fact that the judgment fell on people dwelling in the outskirts of the camp indicates that perhaps the “mixed multitude” was the cause of the complaining (Num. 11:4).

How often in my own pastoral ministry I’ve seen verse 2 demonstrated: The people who complain the most about God and their spiritual leaders end up coming to those leaders for help! How gracious Moses was to intercede on their behalf, and how like our Lord Jesus Christ! “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). More than once when Israel sinned, it was the intercession of Moses that stayed God’s hand of judgment. On one occasion, Moses even offered to die so that Israel might be spared (Ex. 32:30–35).

The mixed multitude complains (11:4–9). This is the only place in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word asapsup is used, and it describes a “rabble,” the “riffraff” that accompanied the Jews when they left Egypt (Ex. 12:38). Why they left Egypt isn’t explained. Some of them may have been afraid that more judgments were coming and the safest course was to go with the Jews (9:20). Some servants and slaves may have seen in Israel’s departure an opportunity to get out of Egypt while people were busy burying their dead. Others may have had good intentions, but because they had no faith in the Lord, their hearts were never changed (Heb. 4:1–2).

Whatever their origin, the “mixed multitude” caused Moses and the people of Israel a great deal of trouble, and a similar group is creating problems for God’s servants and people today. In the Parable of the Tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43), Jesus taught that wherever the Lord “plants” His true children, the devil comes along and plants counterfeits. Satan is an imitator and an infiltrator (Jude 4; 2 Peter 2:1–2), which explains why Paul warned the church about “false brethren” (Gal. 2:4; 2 Cor. 11:26), false ministers (v. 13ff.), and a false gospel (Gal. 1:6–9).

Over these many years of ministry, I’ve learned that it isn’t enemies outside the local church who do the damage but counterfeiters who get inside the church fellowship (Acts 20:28–30; 3 John 9—11). These intruders might march with the church crowd and act like they are God’s people, but they don’t have an appetite for spiritual things, and eventually their true allegiance is revealed (1 John 2:18–19).

The Jews experienced a miracle six mornings a week when the “bread of heaven” (Ps. 78:24; 105:40) fell in the camp and provided all the nourishment they needed for the day. Perhaps influenced by the mixed multitude, many of the Jews got tired of their diet and tried to improve on God’s recipe (Num. 11:8). They wanted instead the food they had enjoyed in Egypt. They forgot the bondage of Egypt and remembered only the things that pleased the flesh!

How tragic it is when professed believers in churches crave substitutes from the world instead of desiring the heavenly manna of the Word of God (John 6:66–69; Matt. 4:4). In trying to attract and please the “mixed multitude,” churches have turned their sanctuaries into theaters and their ministries into performances, and worship has become entertainment. Paul had to deal with this crowd in his day (Phil. 3:17–21), so it’s nothing new.

However, it’s a serious thing to complain against the Lord, attack His servants, and ask for “religious substitutes” that satisfy our fleshly desires. These murmurers in Israel were eventually judged by God and used by Paul as a warning to the churches today (1 Cor. 10:10). “Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Phil. 2:14). An unthankful heart makes it easier for people to commit all kinds of sins (Rom. 1:21ff.).

Moses laments his calling (vv. 10–15). Moses had been singing triumphantly about the Lord (10:35–36), but now he is lamenting bitterly the work God called him to do. Few things discourage God’s servants more than people criticizing them unjustly and complaining about the blessings the Lord has given. This is the first of two occasions when the attitude of the people caused Moses to sin (see 20:1–13). Knowing as we do how ungrateful and hardhearted the people of Israel were, we wonder that Moses wasn’t discouraged more often!

It’s sad to see a great man of God ask God to take his life because he feels that his divine calling is a heavy burden by which God has afflicted him and made him wretched. Moses lost his perspective and got his eyes off the Lord and on himself, something that’s easy to do in the difficult experiences of life. His “I am not able” (11:14) reminds us of when God called Moses and assured him of His help (Ex. 3:11–12). But at least Moses took his burden to the Lord and accepted God’s counsel (1 Peter 5:7).

Moses receives God’s help (vv. 16–35). The Lord helped Moses solve two difficult problems: how to pastor so many people and how to provide meat for all the people. Both problems stemmed from Israel’s sojourn in Egypt where they developed appetites for the diet of their masters. The Jews forgot the slavery and remembered only the “free” food.

As for the first problem (vv. 16–17, 24–30), God commanded Moses to select seventy godly elders to assist him in the spiritual oversight of the camp. Moses already had leaders to help the people settle their personal disputes (Ex. 18), but these new leaders would have more of a spiritual ministry to the people. After all, the heart of every problem is the problem in the heart, and unless people’s hearts are changed by the Lord, their character and conduct will never change.

Sixty-eight of the seventy men gathered at the tabernacle, and God gave them the power of the Spirit so they could assist Moses in his work. Their worship of God was evidence that they truly had received the Spirit (see Acts 2:11; 10:44–46; 19:1–7; Eph. 5:18–20). Why Eldad and Medad were not in the meeting isn’t explained, but since they weren’t disciplined by God, we assume their absence wasn’t a serious matter. At least they didn’t miss out on any of the blessing. Joshua was upset about their receiving the Spirit but Moses was grateful. He seems to have regained his usual composure and attitude of generosity when he said, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

Moses wasn’t the only servant of God to face this problem of “spiritual exclusiveness.” John the Baptist faced it (John 3:26–30), and so did Jesus (Luke 9:46–50) and Paul (Phil. 1:15–18). However, Joshua felt that Moses and God were losing something by allowing these two men to receive the Spirit. The first time we meet Joshua in Scripture, he is leading the army of Israel in victory over the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8–16). Then we see him on Mount Sinai with Moses (24:13; 32:17), and now we learn that he is Moses’ servant (Num. 11:28). Later, he will become Moses’ successor.

The second problem had to do with finding enough meat to feed the nation (vv. 18–23, 31–35; see Ex. 16:1–13). The Jews certainly weren’t going to slaughter their flocks and herds because that would have left them destitute. By sending a wind, God brought quail right to the camp, three feet above the ground, and the Jews spent two days and a night capturing and killing the birds. Ten homers (Num. 11:32) would be about sixty bushels of meat! But God told them they would have enough meat to eat for a month (vv. 19–20).

When God really wants to judge people, He lets them have their own way (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). “So He gave them what they asked for, but He sent a plague along with it” (Ps. 106: nlt). The Jews began to devour the meat, happy that their craving was being satisfied, but then God’s judgment struck and many of them died (Num. 11:33; Ps. 78:23–31; 1 Cor. 10:10). Moses called the place “the graves of lust,” and those graves were a monument to the danger of praying, “Not Thy will but my will be done.”

The Lord had warned Israel that the way they treated the daily manna would be a test of their obedience to His word (Ex. 16:4; Deut. 8:3). In rejecting the manna, Israel really rejected the Lord (Num. 11: niv), and it was this rebellious attitude that invited the judgment of God. This reminds us that the way we treat God’s Word is the way we treat the Lord Himself. To ignore the Word, treat it carelessly, or willfully disobey it is to ask for the discipline of God (Heb. 12:5–11). Instead of feeding on the things of the world that bring death, let’s cultivate an appetite for the holy Word of God (Job 23:12; Ps. 1:1; Jer. 15:16; Matt. 4:4; Luke 10:38–42; 1 Peter 2:1–3).