The people complained. Numbers 11:1-3 Against murmuring I. A DISSATISFIED SPIRIT CAUSES DISPLEASURE TO THE LORD. 1. This we might infer from our own feelings, when dependents, children, servants, or receivers of alms are always grumbling. We grow weary of them, and angry with them. 2. In the case of men towards God it is much worse for them to murmur, since they deserve no good at His hands, but the reverse ( Lamentations 3:29 ; Psalm 103:10 ). 3. In that case also it is a reflection upon the Lord's goodness, wisdom, truth, and power. 4. The evil lusting which attends the complaining proves its injurious character. We are ready for anything when we quarrel with God ( 1 Corinthians 10:5-12 ). 5. God thinks so ill of it that His wrath burns, and chastisement is not long withheld. To set an imaginary value upon that which we have not — (1) Is foolish, childish, pettish. (2) Is injurious to ourselves, for it prevents our enjoying what we already have. (3) Is slanderous towards God, and ungrateful to Him. (4) Leads to rebellion, falsehood, envy, and all manner of sins. II. A DISSATISFIED SPIRIT FINDS NO PLEASURE FOR ITSELF EVEN WHEN ITS WISH IS FULFILLED. The Israelites had flesh in superabundance in answer to their foolish prayers, but — 1. It was attended with leanness of soul ( Psalm 106:15 ). 2. It brought satiety (ver. 20). 3. It caused death ( Psalm 78:31 ). 4. It thus led to mourning on all sides. III. A DISSATISFIED SPIRIT SNOWS THAT THE MIND NEEDS REGULATING. Grace would put our desires in order, and keep our thoughts and affections in their proper places, thus — 1. Content with such things as we have ( Hebrews 13:5 ). 2. Towards other things moderate in desire ( Proverbs 30:8 ). 3. Concerning earthly things which may be lacking, fully resigned ( Matthew 26:39 ). 4. First, and most eagerly, desiring God ( Psalm 42:2 ). 5. Next coveting earnestly the best gifts ( 1 Corinthians 12:31 ) 6. Following ever in love the more excellent way ( 1 Corinthians 12:31 ). ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Murmurings W. M. Taylor, D. D. 1. Those who are merely hangers-on to a Church are usually the beginners of mischief among its members. So in the community, the men who have no stake in its welfare are always the most dangerous element of the population. They have nothing to lose in any event, and it is just possible that, in the confusion, they may gain a little. Thus they are always ready for either riot or emeute. The "mixed multitude" in our cities represents what others call the dangerous classes; and in proportion as their existence is ignored by the respectable portion of the people, and nothing is done for their education or elevation, the danger is aggravated. 2. Murmuring is invariably one-sided. These discontented Egyptians and Israelites did nothing but look back on Egypt; and even when they did that, they saw only the lights, and not the shadows. Again, in their depreciation of their present lot, they were equally one-sided. They could see in it nothing but the one fact that they had no flesh to eat. They took no notice of the manna, save to despise it; they said nothing of the water which God had provided for them; they never spoke of the daily miracle that their clothes waxed not old; they made no reference to the constance guidance and presence of Jehovah with them. Now this was flagrantly unjust; and yet in condemning that it is to be feared that we are passing judgment upon ourselves, for if we were fully to reckon up both sides of the account would there ever be any murmuring among us at all? 3. God is always considerate of His faithful servants. See how tender He was to Moses here. He saw that he needed human sympathy and support, as well as Divine, and therefore He hastened to provide him with a cordon of kindred spirits, who might act as a breakwater, and keep the waves of trouble and discontent that rose in the camp from dashing upon him. One cannot read of this without being impressed by the tenderness of God; and it is a suggestive fact that on almost every occasion on which we are told of His judgment falling upon sinners, we have in the near vicinity some manifestation of gentleness to His friends. 4. The truly great man is never envious of others. Here is a lesson for all, and especially for ministers of the gospel. How hard it is to rejoice in the excellence of another, especially if he be in the same line with ourselves l And yet the disparagement of the gifts of another is really an indication of our consciousness of the weakness of our own. The highest and the hardest cliff to climb on the mountain of holiness is humility. 5. We can set no limits to the resources of God (ver. 23). 6. It is not good for us to get everything we desire ( Psalm 105:15 ). Prayers horn out of murmuring are always dangerous. ( W. M. Taylor, D. D. ) Sin and prayer Homilist. I. A SADLY COMMON SIN. Murmuring. Discontent is the spirit of this wicked world. II. A TERRIBLY SOLEMN FACT. God recognises and retributes sin. III. A GENERAL SOCIAL TENDENCY. The wicked ever seek the good in their terror and distress. IV. A STRIKING RESULT OF PRAYER. The breath of Moses' prayer extinguished the flame. ( Homilist. ) Complaining of providence punished J. Parker, D. D. The people complained — and the Lord set fire to them! That seems rough judgment, for what is man's speech as set against the Divine fire? Who can defend the procedure? Who can so subordinate his reason and his sense of right as to commend the justice of this tremendous punishment? So they might say who begin their Bible reading at the eleventh chapter of Numbers. Read the Book of Exodus, notably the fourteenth and following chapters up to the time of the giving of the law, and you will find complaint following complaint; and what was the Divine answer in that succession of reproaches? Was there fire? Did the Lord shake down the clouds upon the people and utterly overwhelm them with tokens of indignation? No. The Lord is full of tenderness and compassion — yea, infinite in piteousness and love is He; but there is a point when His Spirit can no longer strive with us, and when He must displace the persuasions of love by the anger and the judgment of fire. But this is not the whole case. The people were not complaining only. The word complaint may he so construed as to have everything taken out of it except the feeblest protest and the feeblest utterance of some personal desire. But this is not the historical meaning of the word complaint as it is found here. What happened between the instances we have quoted and the instance which is immediately before us? Until that question is answered the whole case is not before the mind for opinion or criticism. What, then, had taken place? The most momentous of all incidents. God had said through Moses to the people of Israel — Will you obey the law? And they stood to their feet, as it were, and answered in one unanimous voice — We will. So the people were wedded to their Lord at that great mountain altar: words of fealty and kinship and Godhood had been exchanged, and now these people that had oft complained and had then promised obedience, and had then sworn that they would have none other gods beside Jehovah, complained — went back to their evil ways; and the Lord, who takes out His sword last and only calls upon His fire in extremity, smote them — burned them. And this will He do to us if we trifle with our oaths, if we practise bad faith towards the altar, if we are guilty of malfeasance in the very sanctuary of God. Were the people content with complaining? They passed from complaining to lusting, saying, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt," &c. There is a philosophy here. You cannot stop short with complaining. Wickedness never plays a negative game. The man who first complains will next erect his appetite as a hostile force against the will of God. A marvellous thing is this, to recollect our lives through the medium of our appetites, to have old relishes return to the mouth, to have the palate stimulated by remembered sensations. The devil has many ways into the soul. The recollection of evil may prompt a desire for its repetition. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Israel's sin C. Ness. 1. Israel had many impediments in their march to the Land of Promise, not only from without (Pharaoh pursuing, Amalek intercepting, &c.), but also from within, among themselves by their manifold murmurings ( 1 Peter 4:18 ). 2. God writes our sin upon our punishment. These murmurers here sinned against the "fiery law" ( Deuteronomy 33:2 ); therefore were they punished by fire out of the pillar of fire from whence the fiery law was given and published. Their perdition is our caution ( 1 Corinthians 10:5, 11 ). 3. Evil company is infectious and catching as the plague ( 1 Corinthians 15:33 ). 4. Wherever there is sinning again on man's part, there will be punishing again on God's part ( John 5:14 ). Here Israel sinned again with a double sin —(1) In desiring flesh which they wanted;(2) In disdaining manna which they enjoyed. The vehemence of their concupiscence was the more inflamed by remembering their former Egyptian diet, yet forgetting withal their Egyptian drudgery. 5. The people's profane deploring their penury (when they had little cause to do so, while fed with the food of angels) doth not only make God angry with them (ver. 10), but also putteth meek Moses into a pang of passion and impatience (vers. 11-15). 6. The Divine remedy to all this human malady; both as to Moses' impatience, and as to Israel's intemperance.(1) Moses must not bear the burden alone, but shall be assisted with the Sanhedrin, or great council of the Jews, consisting of seventy seniors (answerable to the seventy souls that descended with Jacob into Egypt) whereof Moses sat president, all endowed with the gifts of the spirit of Moses, who was as a candle that lighteth others, yet hath not less either heat or light than it had before (vers. 16, 17, 24, 25, 30).(2) As to the people's intemperance, as God promised and performed plenty of flesh to those fleshly-minded multitude, so He punished their impiety with a horrible plague at the close thereof (vers. 18, 19, 20, 31, 32, 33, 34). ( C. Ness. ) The sin of complaining G. Wagner. Observe that it does not say that the people "murmured," but "complained," or, as it is in the margin, "were as it were complainers"; by which it is evidently meant that there was a feeling in their minds of scarcely expressed dissatisfaction. There was no sudden outbreak of murmuring, but the whispers and looks of discontent. There is no special mention of any particular reason for it. It does not say that their manna failed, or that any hostile army was arrayed against them. Doubtless the journeying was always wearisome, and on its fatigues they suffered their minds to dwell, forgetful of all the mercies vouchsafed them, and "complained." Now, we must all feel that right-down murmuring is very sinful, and in its worst forms most Christians overcome it; but not so complaining, for this seems to many to be scarcely wrong, and it often grows on them so gradually that they are seldom conscious of it. The causes of complaint are manifold. Little difficulties in our circumstances — little acts of selfishness in our neighbours; but complaining is most of all a danger with persons who have weak health — for weakness of body often produces depression of spirits — and this is the soil in which a complaining spirit takes deepest root. Then, too, it often grows into a habit; a tinge of discontent settles on the countenance, and the voice assumes a tone of complaint. And though this, like most habits soon becomes unconscious, yet it is not the less mischievous on that account. It is mischievous to our own souls, for it damps the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts, and enfeebles the spiritual life. It is mischievous in its effects upon others; for when Christians complain it gives the world altogether wrong impressions of the strength and consolation which the love of Christ affords, and it frequently generates the same spirit; one complains, and another, having the same or other causes of complaint, sees no reason why he should not complain too. And this was probably its history in Israel. It is scarcely likely that all began to complain at the same moment. Doubtless there were some who set the sad example, and then the hearts of all being predisposed, it spread like an epidemic. We should settle it well in our hearts that complaining, no less than murmuring, is a fruit of the flesh. David complained in Psalm 77:3 , "I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed"; but he soon felt that the root of the evil was in himself. "This," he adds (ver. 10), "is my infirmity." But no part of Scripture proves more strikingly than the events at Taberah, how displeasing to God, and how dangerous in its results, a complaining spirit is. The punishment which followed, and which gave the name to the place, proves the first point. Patient and long-suffering as God ever was with Israel, we are told ( Numbers 11:1 ) that "His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp." The severity of the punishment shows that this was no little sin, encompassed as they were with mercy, and guided by Jehovah Himself through the wilderness. It was no less dangerous in its result, for the subsequent history shows how "complaining" ripened into "murmuring," and murmuring was at last the cause of Israel's final fall. Let us endeavour, then, to watch against a "complaining spirit." In heavy and stunning afflictions we glorify God, when, like Aaron, we are enabled to "hold our peace." Like David, we can say, "I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it"; or, as in Psalm 131:2 . Still more if we can, through grace, rise to the elevation of the afflicted Job, and say, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"; or, if anything, to the still higher elevation of the Apostle Paul ( Philippians 4:11-13 ). In the lesser and more ordinary trials of daily life, its difficulties and its duties, we glorify Him by Christian Cheerfulness; and how can we maintain this spirit but by tracing the hand of a Father in them all, carrying them all to God in prayer, and, most of all, by looking above present things to the "everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure"? For the things which are seen, our difficulties and our trials, are temporal; but the things which are not seen, our strength and our crown, are eternal. ( G. Wagner. ) Ungrateful discontent J. Spencer. We would think that beggar intolerably impudent, that coming to our doors to ask an alms, and when we have bestowed on him some bracken bread and meat, yet (like those impudent persons the Psalmist speaks of, that grudge and grumble if they be not satisfied, if they have not their own will, and their own fill) he should not hold himself contented, unless he might have one of our best dishes from the table. But this is the case of very many amongst us. We come all as so many beggars to God's mercy-seat, and God gives us abundance of many good things, as life, liberty, health of body, &c., yet we cannot be quiet, nor think ourselves well, unless we be clothed in purple, and fare deliciously every day as such and such do, not considering in the meantime many that are below us, and above us too, wanting those things which we comfortably enjoy. ( J. Spencer. ) Criticising favours H. W. Beecher. There are many persons who receive favours and criticise them. They make it a ground and reason of fault-finding; as in the case of the man who found a Spanish coin worth eighteen and three-quarter cents, and turned it over in his hand and said, "Well, that is just my luck. If it had been anybody else that found it, it would have been a twenty-five cent piece." He had no thanks for what it was, but grumbled because it was not more. So it is with many men in the world. They are perpetually analysing and criticising the kindnesses that are done to them. They are not right in measure, or kind, or method; they are not right somehow; and they shut off the sense of obligation and refuse to be grateful. ( H. W. Beecher. ) Murmuring against God Murmuring is a quarrelling with God, and inveighing against Him ( Numbers 21:5 ). The murmurer saith interpretatively that God hath not dealt well with him, and that he hath deserved better from Him. The murmurer chargeth God with folly. This is the language, or rather blasphemy, of a murmuring spirit: God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text "murmurers" and "rebels" ( Numbers 17:10 ); and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? ( 1 Samuel 15:23 ). Thou that art a murmurer art in the account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that deals with the devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude. Murmuring often ends in cursing: Micah's mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away ( Judges 17:2 ). So doth the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away. Our murmuring is the devil's music; this is that sin which God cannot bear (chap. Numbers 14:27). It is a sin which whets the sword against a people; it is a land-destroying sin ( 1 Corinthians 10:10 ). ( T. Watson . ) Finding fault with God Bp. Hall. God hath much ado with us. Either we lack health, or quietness, or children, or wealth, or company, or ourselves in all these. It is a wonder the Israelites found not fault with the want of sauce to their quails, or with their old clothes, or their solitary way. Nature is moderate in her desires; but conceit is insatiable. ( Bp. Hall. ) Losing temper with God F. W. Faber. Losing our temper with God is a more common thing in the spiritual life than many suppose. ( F. W. Faber. ) Murmuring hurts not God, but wounds us I have read of Caesar, that, having prepared a great feast for his nobles and friends, it fell out that the day appointed was so extremely foul that nothing could be done to the honour of their meeting; whereupon he was so displeased and enraged that he commanded all them that had bows to shoot up their arrows at Jupiter, their chief god, as in defiance of him for that rainy weather; which, when they did, their arrows fell short of heaven, and fell upon their own heads, so that many of them were very sorely wounded. So all our mutterings and murmurings, which are so many arrows shot at God Himself, will return upon our own pates, or hearts; they reach not Him, but they will hit us; they hurt not Him, but they will wound us; therefore it is better to be mute than to murmur; it is dangerous to contend with one who is a consuming fire ( Hebrews 12:29 ). ( Thomas Brooks. . ) The fire of The worst fire W. Seaton. Nothing but mercies had come upon the back of their complainings before. They had had water, and they had had bread; but now the Lord would send them fire. It should be the fire of the Lord, holy fire; yet not as that, which, descending from heaven upon the altar, burnt continually before the Lord in His temple, acceptable in sacrifice; but a consuming fire; the burning of His wrath. It is bad to "be saved so as by fire," to have all consumed, but ourselves, to be burnt out of house and home; yet far worse is it to be burnt out of the world. Still this might be the way to heaven for some, carried thither as in a chariot of fire. We know it was the way, the common way that martyrs went. The fire was kindled by their enemies; but it was not as the burning of Taberah; there was no ingredient of the wrath of the Almighty in the flame: but "one like unto the Son of Man" was there, to make it as the purest vestment of the soul, the involving element of love. Oh, there is a fire worse than all others, the burning of the Lord, a fire that descends to the bottomless pit, and the smoke of which has been seen. Behold it kindling in the camp of Israel. It had indignation in it; it was a consuming fire, lighted up in the righteous displeasure of heaven, its fuel the bodies of transgressors themselves. "Tile people complained." What then? "It displeased the Lord; and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them in the uttermost parts of the camp." There was no flying from it, it was a city in flames from its utmost extremities. Who can run from the presence of the Lord? How affecting this? It may be conceived, kindled by lightning from the cloud that had guided them, darting in angry form, and with the voice of the Almighty, in thunders impatient to be gone. Who can stand before the indignation of the Lord? who can abide His anger when the gathering storm of His displeasure breaks forth? His favour, what man that regards his life would not entreat? His wrath, what man that fears His power would not deprecate? He is to us, as what we are to Him — sinners or saints. This judgment had in it everything awful — cut off from all share in the promises, slain by the power that had kept them alive, and left heaps of wrath in the very way to life. ( W. Seaton. ) The mixt multitude. Numbers 11:4 The mixed multitude G. Wagner. If Israel, according to its calling, be regarded as a type of the new man, then this "mixed multitude," a remnant of Egypt, and influenced still by its spirit, will be a type of the old man in the believer But we may take another view of Israel, and say that it is typical of those who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit — the true members of Christ's body, the living branches of the true vine; and then, corresponding with this, the " mixed multitude" will be a type of those who accompany the true Israel now, without being partakers of the Divine nature, and walking in the Spirit — the dead branches in the vine. History shows that the Church on earth has ever been made up of these two elements; and prophetic parables show that such will be its constitution until Jesus comes. The Word of God everywhere encourages the living members of Christ's body, by patience, and gentleness, and unwearied zeal, to win those who have only a name to live. But it forbids them to take into their own hands the awful work of separation between the wheat and the tares, a work which the Searcher of hearts reserves to Himself alone. So that it need cause us no surprise, as it did the Donatists of old, and still does to some, that there is, and always will be, a "mixed multitude" associated with the true Israel. But though we are absolutely forbidden to cast out the element from the Church, this passage of Scripture may well impress us with the danger arising from it, and show how watchful we ought to be. Even if the Church were made up of true Christians only, there would be much evil in it, for the simple reason that there is so much sin in every heart. Many temptations may come to you even from those who are really Christ's, and who are engaged, through grace, in crucifying the affections and lusts of the flesh; but others will come to you, as they did to Israel of old, from the "mixed multitude"; and what dangers in particular? Party spirit, we cannot fail to see, is one; but, oh, there is a greater and more subtle danger still — worldliness, conformity to the course of this world; and with it, forgetfulness of the high and holy calling wherewith we are called, and the adoption of a low standard of holiness. Our only safety is to set the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ before us; to ask ourselves again and again throughout the day, "How would Christ act if He were in my place?" to crucify through the Spirit the root of worldliness within, and to watch all the avenues by which it can enter the heart from without. Only in this way can our own standard be elevated; only in this way avoid Israel's sin, that of being carried away by the worldly spirit which originated in the "mixed multitude" which sojourned with them. ( G. Wagner. ) Who shall give us flesh to eat? Wanton longings Bp. Babington. See the wantonness and delicacy of sinful flesh, it must have this, it must have that to pamper and feed it in pleasure. What may be had is loathed, and what cannot be had, that is longed for, and nothing more than that. But very wisely doth the heathen Aristotle advise all men to look upon pleasures when they go, not when they come; for when they come with their faces towards us, they deceive us with a fair flattering show, but when they go and turn their backs, then cometh repentance, woe, and grief, not a little, many times. Just as the Spirit of God saith by the mouth of Solomon, "Even in laughing the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness"; that is, the allurement unto sin seemeth sweet, but the end thereof is destruction. Wanton pleasure is like the fire or flame of the candle, which shining bright delighteth a child, but when he hath put his finger into it, then it burneth, and the child crieth. By little and little groweth grief, but in the end it killeth, so stealingly pleasure creepeth upon us, but in the end overthroweth all love of virtue. Wilt thou live in a right fashion? Who would not? Then if virtue only can grant this to thee, stout and strong, tend this and omit pleasures. For they that will well defend a city, do not only watch what foes be without, but as warily they observe that there be no traitors within. So men and women that love virtue, they look to the gates, which are the outward senses, and they look within, to the inward affections, lest by the one, as by wickets, evil enter, lest by the other, as by torches lighted, fires and flames do follow. The epicure said to himself, "Eat, drink, play, for there is no pleasure after death." But well doth the poet before mentioned in an epistle tax him, saying, "Thou hast played enough, thou hast eaten enough and drank, it is time for thee now to go hence." As if he had said, "Part thou must in time with all thy pleasures and be gone, therefore think of it ere it be too late." Sardanapalus is said to have caused to be written on his grave to this effect: "What I did eat that I had, and what I left, that I lost." Which Cicero justly reprehendeth, saying, "What else should a man hath written upon an ex his grave? Pleasure infecteth and poisoneth all our senses, being a trim but a deceiving harlot; deceiving us by her voice, by her look, and by her attire, that is, every way." How many hath gluttony and the belly, how many hath filthy lust destroyed ! ( Bp. Babington. ) There is nothing at all, beside this manna. Numbers 11:5, 6 The manna despised J. Allan. I. The complaining of the Israelites in this case was very REPREHENSIBLE, as it manifested a state of aggravated neglect of the peculiar circumstances in which the despised manna was provided for them. Their soul had been dying away for want of it, were we to believe their complaint, and now their soul was dying away when it was possessed. The manna seemed everything when they first beheld it strewn all around the camp, and now it was as nothing at all in their eyes. Nevertheless, it was of such value in the eyes of God, that a pot of it was kept in the ark of the covenant as a memorial of His kindness in providing it for the rebels. The children He feeds may forget the token of His goodness, but He does not forget the emanations of His bounty, or reckon anything small in the blessings He confers. II. The complaining of the Israelites in this care was all the more SINFUL, INASMUCH AS THE MANNA SO DESPISED WAS BOTH SUFFICIENT AND AGREEABLE FOOD — WAS all that they stood in need of in their journey, and more than they deserved. III. The complaining of the Israelites was all the more sinful, inasmuch as THE MANNA THEY SO DESPISED WAS PROVIDED FOR THEM WITHOUT COST OR LABOUR. And it is for a like reason that all despising of the bread of life will be accounted the greater transgression, for it is freely offered — without money and without price. No one is required to pay anything for it in silver or in gold — in bodily labour or mental suffering, or in any gift of worldly substance. No equivalent is looked for it in any sacrifice whatever that man can make. IV. The complaining of the Israelites was the more aggravated, as IT INVOLVED A VERY SINFUL DISREGARD OF THE MIRACULOUS MANNER IN WHICH THE MANNA WAS DAILY SUPPLIED FOR THEIR USE. Alas! multitudes are as blind to the wonderful character of the spiritual or "hidden manna," as were the Jeers in the instance here recorded, as to the manna provided for them. All the more that the miraculous character of the wonderful provision God has made for the salvation of the soul is overlooked or despised, all the more of blind infatuation and sin are involved. It cannot be safe to speak slightingly of an interposition, in providing for the life of immortal souls, into which, it is said, "the angels desire to look." ( J. Allan. ) Speaking against God These verses represent things sadly unhinged and out of order in Israel. Both the people and the prince uneasy. I. HERE IS THE PEOPLE FRETTING AND SPEAKING AGAINST GOD HIMSELF (as it is interpreted, Psalm 78:19 ), notwithstanding His glorious appearances both to them and for them. 1. Observe who were the criminals.(1) The mixed multitude began, "They felt a lusting" (ver. 4). These were the scabbed sheep that infected the flock, the leaven that leavened the whole lump. Note, a few factious, discontented, ill-natured people, may do a great deal of mischief in the best societies if great care be not taken to discountenance them. Such as these are an untoward generation, from which it is our wisdom to save ourselves ( Acts 2:40 ).(2) Even the children of Israel took the infection, so it follows (ver. 4). The holy seed joined themselves to the people of these abominations. This mixed multitude was not numbered with the children of Israel, but were set aside as people God made no account of. And yet the children of Israel, forgetting their own character and distinction, herded themselves with them, and learned their way; as if the scum and outcast of the camp were to be the privy councillors of it. The children of Israel, a people near to God, and highly privileged, yet drawn into a rebellion against Him! Oh, how little honour hath God in the world, when even that people which He formed for Himself to show forth His praise were so much a dishonour to Him! Therefore let none think that their external professions and privileges will be their security either against Satan's temptations to sin, or against God's judgments for sin ( 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2, 12 ). 2. What was the crime? They lusted and murmured. Though they were newly corrected for this sin, and many of them overthrown for it, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the smell of the fire was still in their nostrils, yet they returned to it ( Proverbs 27:22 ). We should not indulge ourselves in any desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot, when we ask meat for our lust ( Psalm 78:18 ). For this sin the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly against them; which is written for our admonition, that we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted ( 1 Corinthians 10:10 ). Flesh is good food, and may lawfully be eaten; yet they are said to lust after evil things. What is lawful in itself becomes evil to us when it is what God doth not allot to us, and yet we eagerly desire it. II. MOSES HIMSELF, THOUGH SO MEEK AND GOOD A MAN, IS UNEASY UPON THIS OCCASION. Moses also was displeased. Now — 1. It must be confessed that the provocation was very great. 2. Yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him upon this provocation, and came short of his duty both to God and Israel in these expostulations.(1) He undervalues the honour God had put upon him in making him the illustrious minister of His power and grace in the deliverance and conduct of that peculiar people, which might have been sufficient to balance the burden.(2) He complains too much of a sensible grievance, and lays too near his heart a little noise and fatigue. If he could not bear the toil of government, which was but running with the footmen, how would he bear the terrors of war, which was contending with horses? He might easily have furnished himself with considerations enough to enable him to slight their clamours and make nothing of them.(3) He magnifies his own performances, that all the burdens of the people lay upon him, whereas God Himself did, in effect, ease him of all the burden.(4) He is not so sensible as he ought to be of the obligation he lay under from the Divine commission and command, to do

Benson Commentary Numbers 11:1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it ; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Numbers 11:1 . The people complained — Hebrew, as it were, complained; that is, they began to mutter some complaints, and for a while, it seems, kept their discontent from coming to Moses’s ear. The chief cause of their murmuring is represented ( Numbers 11:5 ) to be their growing weary of the manna, upon which they had now lived for a year. But, besides this, it is probable that their last three days’ journey in that vast howling wilderness, the remembrance of their long abode in it, and the fear of many more tedious journeys, and much delay before they should arrive at the land of milk and honey, which they longed for, had greatly contributed to their dissatisfaction. It displeased the Lord — Though their discontent did not at first break forth into open murmurings against Moses, yet God saw the mutinous and rebellious disposition of their minds, and testified his displeasure on account of it. The fire of the Lord — A fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner, perhaps from the pillar of cloud and fire, or lightning from heaven, which is called the fire of God, 2 Kings 1:12 ; Job 1:16 . Le Clerc thinks it might be one of those fiery blasting winds which are incident to those countries, See Ezekiel 17:10 ; Ezekiel 19:12 . It was, however, sent in a supernatural and miraculous way. The uttermost part of the camp — Either because the sin began there among the mixed multitude, or in mercy to the people, whom he would rather awaken to repentance than destroy; and therefore he sent it into the skirts, and not the midst of the camp. Numbers 11:2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. Numbers 11:2 . The people cried unto Moses — This calamity threw them into such consternation, that they immediately applied to Moses to deprecate the divine displeasure. Numbers 11:3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. Numbers 11:3 . He called the place Taberah — That is, burning, because of this fire; and it was called Kibroth-hattaavah on another account. It is no unusual thing in Scripture for persons and places to have two or more names. Both these names were imposed as monuments of the people’s sin, and of God’s just displeasure. This passage is well improved by St. Paul, ( 1 Corinthians 10:10-12 ,) to caution us against discontent and murmuring. Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? Numbers 11:4 . The children of Israel also wept again — That is, they again complained and murmured, that God had so lately visited them with such awful marks of his displeasure; though their special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from any such carriage. Bishop Kidder justly observes, that “their sin was much aggravated on the following accounts: 1st, They declared their distrust of God’s power and providence, of which they had had so great experience. 2d, They despised God and his former mercies. 3d, They covetously desired flesh, when they had much cattle of their own, Exodus 12:32 ; Exodus 12:38 , and Numbers 32:4 .” Numbers 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: Numbers 11:5-6 . The fish which we did eat freely — Either without price, for fish was very plentiful, and fishing there free, or at a very small price. Our soul — Either our life, as the term signifies, Genesis 9:5 , or our body, which is often intended by the word soul. Dried-away — Is withered, and pines away, which possibly might be true, through their envy, discontent, and inordinate appetite. The expression seems to be of the same purport with that of the psalmist, <19A204> Psalm 102:4 , My heart is withered like grass. Numbers 11:6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Numbers 11:7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. Numbers 11:7-8 . As coriander-seed — Not for colour, for that is black, but for shape and figure. Bdellium — Is either the gum of a tree, of a white and bright colour, or rather a gem or precious stone, as the Hebrew doctors take it; and particularly a pearl, wherewith the manna manifestly agrees both in its colour, which is white, ( Exodus 16:14 ,) and in its figure, which is round. Fresh oil — Or, of the most excellent oil; or, of cakes made with the best oil, the word cakes being easily supplied out of the foregoing member of the verse; or, which is not much different, like wafers made with honey, as it is said, Exodus 16:31 . The nature and use of manna are here thus particularly described, to show the greatness of their sin in despising such excellent food. Numbers 11:8 And the people went about, and gathered it , and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. Numbers 11:9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Numbers 11:10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. Numbers 11:10-14 . Every man in the door of his tent — To denote they were not ashamed of their sin. Have I not found favour — Why didst thou not hear my prayer when I desired thou wouldst excuse me, and commit the care of this unruly people to some other person? Have I begotten them? — Are they my children, that I should be obliged to provide food and all things for their necessity and desire? To bear — The burden of providing for and satisfying them. Alone — Others were only assistant to him in smaller matters; but the harder and greater affairs, such as this unquestionably was, were brought to Moses and determined by him alone. Numbers 11:11 And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? Numbers 11:12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Numbers 11:13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. Numbers 11:14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. Numbers 11:15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness. Numbers 11:15 . If thou deal thus with me, kill me — He begs that God would be pleased either to ease him of the burdensome charge, or take him out of the world, and rid him of a life so troublesome and insupportable. See my wretchedness — Hebrew, my evil, my torment, arising from the difficulty of my office, and work of ruling this people, and from the dread of their utter extirpation, and the dishonour which will thence accrue to thee and religion; as if not only I, but thou also wast a deceiver. He speaks like an affectionate father of a people who makes their sufferings his own. And, indeed, what could make a ruler of such paternal tenderness more distressed than to see the people he was appointed to govern so untoward, not only toward himself, but God? and to see them, by their perverseness, drawing down upon themselves such dire calamities, and the enemies of God rejoicing in their ruin? Numbers 11:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. Numbers 11:16 . To be elders — Whom thou by experience discernest to be elders, not only in years and name, but also in wisdom and authority with the people. And according to this constitution, the sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews, which in after ages sat at Jerusalem, and was the highest court of judgment among them, consisted of seventy men. Numbers 11:17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. Numbers 11:17 . I will come down — By my powerful presence and operation. I will put it on them — That is, I will give the same spirit to them which I have given to thee. The spirit is here put for the gifts of the Spirit, and particularly for the spirit of prophecy, whereby they were enabled, as Moses had been and still was, to discern hidden and future things, and resolve doubtful and difficult cases, which made them fit for government. It is observable that God would not, and therefore men should not, call any persons to any office for which they were not sufficiently qualified. Numbers 11:18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Numbers 11:18 . Sanctify yourselves — Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel, in the way of his judgments. Prepare yourselves by true repentance, that you may either obtain some mitigation of the plague, or, while your bodies are destroyed by the flesh you desire and eat, your souls may be saved from the wrath of God. Sanctifying is often used for preparing, as Jeremiah 6:4 ; Jeremiah 12:3 . In the ears of the Lord — Not secretly in your closets, but openly and impudently in the doors of your tents, calling heaven and earth to witness. Numbers 11:19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; Numbers 11:20 But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? Numbers 11:20 . Until it come out at your nostrils — That is, till your impatient appetites be glutted; and by another instance of divine power, you be convinced to your shame how irreligiously, distrustfully, and ungratefully you have acted toward God amidst all his merciful providences toward you. The expression presents a very strong, though disagreeable idea of satiety and surfeit, when the overloaded stomach disburdens itself at the mouth and nostrils. Ye have despised the Lord — You have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings; you have slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large experience of it. The Lord who is among you — Who is present and resident with you, to observe all your carriage, and to punish your offences. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin in the presence of the judge. Why came we forth out of Egypt? — Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly obey him in coming forth? Numbers 11:21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am , are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Numbers 11:21 . Six hundred thousand footmen — Fit for war, besides women and children. That Moses speaks this as distrusting God’s word, is evident; and that Moses was not remarkably punished for this as he was afterward for the same sin, (Numbers 20.,) may be imputed to the different circumstances of this and that sin; this was the first offence of the kind, and therefore more easily passed by; that was after warning, and against more light and experience. This seems to have been spoken secretly; that openly, before the people; and therefore it was fit to be openly and severely punished, to prevent the contagion of that example. Numbers 11:22 Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? Numbers 11:23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. Numbers 11:23 . Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? — Is the divine power diminished? Isaiah 50:2 ; Isaiah 59:1 . What has not God done to convince mankind that his power is always unlimited? And yet man is still ready to fall into the weakness of thinking that there are circumstances in which the power of God cannot afford relief or deliverance, but must, as it were, remain inactive. Numbers 11:24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. Numbers 11:24 . Moses went out — Either from the sanctuary, into which he had entered to receive God’s answers from the mercy-seat, or he went out from his tent to the people. And gathered the seventy men — They are called seventy from the stated number, though two of them were lacking, as the apostles are called the twelve, ( Matthew 26:20 ,) when one of that number was absent. Round the tabernacle — Partly that the awe of God might be imprinted upon their hearts, that they might more seriously undertake, and more faithfully manage their high employment; but principally, because that was the place where God manifested himself, and therefore there he would bestow his Spirit upon them. Numbers 11:25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that , when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. Numbers 11:25 . Rested on them — Not only moved them for a time, but took up his settled abode with them, because the use and end of this gift were perpetual. They prophesied — Discoursed of the word and works of God in a marvellous manner, as the prophets did. So this word is used, 1 Samuel 10:5-6 ; Joel 2:28 ; 1 Corinthians 14:3 . Yet were they not hereby constituted teachers, but civil magistrates, who, together with the spirit of government, received also the spirit of prophecy, as a sign and seal, both to themselves and to the people, that God had called them to that employment. They did not cease — Either for that day, continuing in that exercise all that day, and, it may be, all the night too, as it is said of Saul, 1 Samuel 19:24 ; or, afterward also. For this was a continued gift, conferred upon them to enable them the better to discharge their magistracy; which was more expedient for them than for the rulers of other people, because the Jews were under a theocracy, or the government of God, and even their civil controversies were decided out of that word of God which the prophets expounded. Numbers 11:26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. Numbers 11:26 . In the camp — Not going to the tabernacle, as the rest did, either not having seasonable notice to repair thither, or, being detained in the camp by sickness, or some urgent occasion, not without God’s special providence, that so the miracle might be more evident. They were of them that were written — In a book or paper by Moses, who, by God’s direction, nominated the fittest persons. Numbers 11:27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. Numbers 11:27-28 . There ran a young man and told Moses — Fearing lest his authority should be diminished by their prophesying, and thereby taking power to themselves without his consent. Joshua, the servant of Moses — Who ministered to him as his constant attendant. One of his young men — Hebrew, ?????? , mibechuraiv, one of his chosen ones; which may be emphatically added to signify that even great and good men may mistake about the works of God. My lord Moses, forbid them — It would seem that he thought their prophesying or teaching in the camp tended to make those gifts common, and to disparage Moses in the eyes of the people; or, perhaps, he thought it tended to breed a schism, by calling the people away from the tabernacle, the appointed place of public worship, where the rest of the seventy elders were regularly assembled. Thus the disciples forbade one who cast out devils in Christ’s name, because he followed not with them, Luke 9:49-50 . Numbers 11:28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. Numbers 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! Numbers 11:29 . Enviest thou for my sake? — Art thou grieved because the gifts and graces of God’s Spirit are imparted to others besides me? Or rather, Art thou jealous for my sake? Art thou afraid that their exercising these prophetic gifts will be a diminution of my honour? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets — That they were all so inspired by his Spirit as to be enabled to speak to his praise, and to the edification of others! He saith prophets, not rulers, for that, he knew, could not be. Thus we see, though Joshua was Moses’s particular friend and confidant, and though he said this out of respect for Moses, whose honour he was very unwilling to see lessened by the call of those elders, yet Moses reproves him, as Christ did the disciples on the occasion just mentioned, and, in him, all who are of such a spirit. “We must take care,” says Henry, “that we do not secretly grieve at the gifts, graces, or usefulness of others, and that we be not forward to condemn and silence those that differ from us, as if they did not follow Christ, because they do not follow him with us. Shall we reject those whom Christ has owned? or restrain any from doing good because they are not in every thing of our mind? Moses was of another spirit; so far from silencing these two, and quenching the spirit in them, he wishes that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that he would put his Spirit upon them. Not that he would have had any to set up for prophets who were not duly qualified; or that he expected the spirit of prophecy to be made thus common; but he thus expresseth the love and esteem he had for all the Lord’s people, the complacency he took in the gifts of others, and how far he was from being displeased at Eldad and Medad’s prophesying from under his eye. Such an excellent spirit as this blessed Paul was of; rejoicing that Christ was preached, though it were by those who therein intended to add affliction to his bonds, Php 1:16 . We ought to be pleased that God is served and glorified, and good done, though to the lessening of our credit and the credit of our way.” Numbers 11:30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. Numbers 11:30 . Moses gat him into the camp — Among the people; he and the elders of Israel — To exercise the gifts and authority they had now received. Numbers 11:31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. Numbers 11:31 . There went forth a wind from the Lord — An extraordinary and miraculous wind, both for its vehemency and for its effects. And brought quails — So the Hebrew word, ?????? , salvim, is interpreted by Josephus, and all the ancient versions; nor does there appear to be any sufficient authority for translating it locusts; notwithstanding what Ludolphus, in his History of Ethiopia, 50:1, c. 13; and after him Bishop Patrick, and the late bishop of Clogher, have said on the subject. This is the second time that God gave them these quails. He sent them the former year, and much about the same season, Exodus 16:13 ; but neither in the same quantity nor with the same design as now. From the sea — Principally from the Arabian gulf, or Red sea, and both sides of it, where, according to ancient heathen writers, they were then in great numbers, and no doubt were wonderfully increased by God’s special providence for this very occasion. This sea lies south of that part of Arabia where the Israelites were now encamped. It was therefore a south wind that brought these quails, and is said to have come forth from the Lord, because it was ordered and directed by his special power and providence. Two cubits high — Not as if the quails did cover all the ground two cubits high for a day’s journey on each side of the camp, for then there had been no place left where they could spread them all abroad round about the camp; but the meaning is, that the quails came and fell down round about the camp for a whole day’s journey on each side of it, and that in all that space they lay here and there in great heaps, which were often two cubits high. Numbers 11:32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. Numbers 11:32 . All that night and all next day — Some at the one time, and some at the other, and some, through greediness or diffidence, at both times. Ten homers — That is, ten ass-loads: which, if it seem incredible, consider, 1st, That the gatherers here were not all the people, which could not be without great inconvenience, but some on the behalf of all, while the rest were exercised about other necessary things. Therefore, the meaning is not, that every Israelite had so much for his share, but that every collector gathered so much for the family or others by whom he was appointed. 2d, That the people did not gather for their present use only, but for a good while to come; and being distrustful of God’s goodness, it is not strange if they gathered much more than they needed. 3d, That the word rendered homers, may signify heaps, as it doth Exodus 8:14 ; Jdg 15:16 ; Habakkuk 3:15 ; and ten is often put for many, and so the sense is, that every one gathered several heaps. If yet the number seem incredible, it must be further known, 4th, That heathen and other authors affirm, in those eastern and southern countries, quails are innumerable, so that in one part of Italy, within the compass of five miles, there were taken about a hundred thousand of them every day for a month together. And Athenæus relates, that in Egypt, a country prodigiously populous, they were in such plenty, that all those vast numbers of people could not consume them, but were forced to salt and keep them for future use. They spread them — That so they might dry, salt, and preserve them for future use, according to what they had seen in Egypt. Numbers 11:33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. Numbers 11:33 . The Lord smote the people with a very great plague — With a pestilence, say some, with a consumption, say others. But it seems more probable that it was by some untimely death, which was the effect of their own gluttony and intemperance. This seems to agree best with the threatening, Numbers 11:20 . God was pleased, in a great measure, to overlook their first murmuring, about a year before, when he sent them the manna, because they were then under great necessity, being really pinched with hunger; whereas now that they were fed with bread from heaven, they cried for meat, not from need, but mere wantonness, and that after much experience of God’s care and kindness, after he had pardoned their former sins, and after he had made known his laws to them in a most solemn and terrible manner. Besides, the longer God exercises forbearance, the more is the offender’s guilt aggravated, if he remain impenitent. Reader, remember, “the goodness of God leads thee to repentance,” and take heed that thou do not, “after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath!” Numbers 11:34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. Numbers 11:35 And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Numbers 11:1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it ; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. THE STRAIN OF THE DESERT JOURNEY Numbers 11:1-35 THE narrative has accompanied the march of Israel but a short way from the mount of God to some spot marked for an encampment by the ark of the covenant, and already complaining has to be told of, and the swift judgment of those who complained. The Israelites have made a reservation in their covenant with God, that though obedience and trust are solemnly promised, yet leave shall be taken to murmur against His providence. They will have God for their Protector, they will worship Him; but let Him make their life smooth. Much has had to be borne which they did not anticipate; and they grumble and speak evil. Generally men do not realise that their murmuring is against God. They have no intention to accuse His providence. It is of other men they complain, who come in their way; of accidents, so called, for which no one-seems to be responsible; of regulations, well enough meant, which at some point prove vexatious; the obtuseness and carelessness of those who undertake but do not perform. And there does seem to be a great difference between displeasure with human agents whose follies and failures provoke us, and discontent with our own lot and its trials. At the same time, this has to be kept in view, that while we carefully refrain from criticising Providence, there may be, underlying our complaints, a tacit opinion that the world is not well made nor well ordered. To a certain extent the persons who irritate us are responsible for their mistakes; but just among those who are prone to err our discipline has been appointed. To gird at them is as much a revolt against the Creator as to complain of the heat of summer or the winter cold. With our knowledge of what the world is, of what our fellow-creatures are, should go the perception that God rules everywhere and stands against us when we resent what, in His world, we have to do or to suffer. He is against those who fail in duty also. Yet it is not for us to be angry. Our due will not be withheld. Even when we suffer most it is still offered, still given. While we endeavour to remedy the evils we feel, it must be without a thought that the order appointed by the Great King fails us at any point. The punishment of those who complained is spoken of as swift and terrible. "The fire of the Lord burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp." This judgment falls under a principle assumed throughout the whole book, that disaster must overtake transgressors, and conversely that death by pestilence, earthquake, or lightning is invariably a result of sin. For the Israelites this was one of the convictions that maintained a sense of moral duty and of the danger of offending God. Again and again in the wilderness, where thunderstorms were common and plagues spread rapidly, the impression was strongly confirmed that the Most High observed everything that was done against His will. The journey to Canaan brought in this way a new experience of God to those who had been accustomed to the equable conditions of climate and the comparative health enjoyed in Egypt. The moral education of the people advanced by the quickening of conscience in regard to all that befell Israel. From the disaster at Taberah the narrative passes to another phase of complaint in which the whole camp was involved. The dissatisfaction began amongst the "mixed multitude"-that somewhat lawless crowd of low-caste Egyptians and people of the Delta and the wilderness who attached themselves to the host. Among them first, because they had absolutely no interest in Israel’s hope, a disposition to quarrel with their circumstances would naturally arise. But the spirit of dissatisfaction grew apace, and the burden of the new complaint was: "We have nought but this manna to look to." The part of the desert into which the travellers had now penetrated was even more sterile than Midian. Hitherto the food had been varied somewhat by occasional fruits and the abundant milk of kine and goats. But pasturage for the cattle was scanty in the wilderness of Paran, and there were no trees of any kind. Appetite found nothing that was refreshing. Their soul was dried away. It was a common belief in our Lord’s time that the manna, falling from heaven, very food of the angels, had been so satisfying, so delicious, that no people could have been more favoured than those who ate of it. When Christ spoke of the meat which endureth unto eternal life, the thought of His hearers immediately turned to the manna as the special gift of God to their fathers, and they conceived an expectation that Jesus would give them that bread of heaven, and so prove Himself worthy of their faith. But He replied, "Moses gave you not that bread out of heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven. I am the Bread of Life." In the course of time the manna had been, so to speak, glorified. It appeared to the later generations one of the most wonderful and impressive things recorded in the whole history of their nation, this provision made for the wandering host. There was the water from the rock, and there was the manna. What a benignant Providence had watched over the tribes! How bountiful God had been to the people in the old days! They longed for a sign of the same kind. To enjoy it would restore their faith and put them again in the high position which had been denied for ages. But these notions are not borne out by the history as we have it in the passage under notice. Nothing is said about angels’ food-that is a poetical expression which a psalmist used in his fervour. Here we read, as to the coming of the manna, that when the dew fell upon the camp at night the manna fell upon it, or with it. And so far from the people being satisfied, they complained that instead of the fish and onions, cucumbers and melons of Egypt, they had nothing but manna to eat. The taste of it is described as like that of fresh oil. In Exodus it is said to have resembled wafers mixed with honey. It was not the privilege of the Israelites in the wilderness but their necessity to live on this somewhat cloying food. In no sense can it be called ideal. Nevertheless, complaining about it, they were in serious fault, betraying the foolish expectation that on the way to liberty they should have no privations. And their discontent with the manna soon became alarming to Moses. A sort of hysteria spread through the camp. Not the women only, but the men at the doors of their tents bewailed their hard lot. There was a tempest of tears and cries. God, through His providence, determining for men, carrying out His own designs for their good, does not allow them to keep in the region of the usual and of mere comfort. Something is brought into their life which stirs the soul. In new hope they begin an enterprise the course and end of which they cannot foresee. The conventional, the pleasant, the peace and abundance of Egypt, can be no longer enjoyed if the soul is to have its own. By Moses Jehovah summoned the Israelites from the land of plenty to fulfil a high mission and when they responded, it was so far a proof that there was in them spirit enough for an uncommon destiny. But for the accomplishment of it they had to be nerved and braced by trial. Their ordeal was that mortifying of the flesh and of sensuous desire which must be undergone if the hopes through which the mind becomes conscious of the will of God are to be fulfilled. In our personal history God, reaching us by His word, enlightening us with regard to the true ends of our being, calls us to begin a journey which has no earthly terminus and promises no earthly reward. We may be quite sure that we have not yet responded to His call if there is nothing of the wilderness in our life, no hardship, no adventure, no giving up of what is good in a temporal sense for what is good in a spiritual sense. The very essence of the design of God concerning a man is that he leave the lower and seek the higher, that he deny himself that which according to the popular view is his life, in order to seek a remote and lofty goal. There will be duty that calls for faith, that needs hope and courage. In doing it he will have recurring trials of his spirit, necessities of self-discipline, stern difficulties of choice and action. Every one of these he must face. What is wrong with many lives is that they have no strain in them as of a desert journey towards a heavenly Canaan, the realisation of spiritual life. Adventure, when it is undertaken, is often for the sake of getting fish and melons and cucumbers by-and-by in greater abundance and of better kinds. Many live hardly just now, not because they are on the way to spiritual freedom and the high destiny of life in God, but because they believe themselves to be on the way to better social position, to wealth or honour. But take the life that has begun its high enterprise at the urgency of a Divine vocation, and that life will find hardness, deprivations, perils, of its own. It is not given to us to be absolutely certain in decision and endeavour. Out in the wilderness, even when manna is provided, and the pillar of cloud seems to show the way, the people of God are in danger of doubting whether they have done wisely, whether they have not taken too much upon themselves or laid too much upon the Lord. The Israelites might have said, We have obeyed God: why, then, should the sun smite us with burning heat, and the dust-storms sweep down upon our march, and the night fall with so bitter a chill? Interminable toil, in travelling, in attending to cattle and domestic duties, in pitching tents and striking them, gathering fuel, searching far and wide through the camp for food, helping the children, carrying the sick and aged, toil that did not cease till far into the night and had to be resumed with early morning-such, no doubt, were the things that made life in the wilderness irksome. And although many now have a lighter burden, yet our social life, adding new difficulties with every improvement, our domestic affairs, the continual struggle necessary in labour and business, furnish not a few causes of irritation and of bitterness. God does not remove annoyances out of the way even of His devoted servants. We remember how Paul was vexed and burdened while carrying the world’s thought on into a new day. We remember what a weight the infirmities and treacheries of men laid upon the heart of Christ. Let us thank God if we feel sometimes across the wilderness a breeze from the hills of the heavenly Canaan, and now and then catch glimpses of them far away. But the manna may seem flat and tasteless, nevertheless; the road may seem long; the sun may scorch. Tempted to despond, we need afresh to assure ourselves that God is faithful who has given us His promise. And although we seem to be led not towards the heavenly frontier, but often aside through close defiles into some region more barren and dismal than we have yet crossed, doubt is not for us. He knoweth the way that we take; when He has tried us, we shall come forth where He appoints. From the people we turn to Moses and the strain he had to bear as leader. Partly it was due to his sense of the wrath of God against Israel. To a certain extent he was responsible for those he led, for nothing he had done was apart from his own will. The enterprise was laid on him as a duty certainly; yet he undertook it freely. Such as the Israelites were, with that mixed multitude among them, a dangerous element enough, Moses had personally accepted the leadership of them. And now the murmuring, the lusting, the childish weeping, fall upon him. He feels that he must stand between the people and Jehovah. The behaviour of the multitude vexes him to the soul; yet he must take their part, and avert, if possible, their condemnation. The position is one in which a leader of men often finds himself. Things are done which affront him personally, yet he cannot turn against the wayward and unbelieving, for, if he did, the cause would be lost. The Divine judgment of the transgressors falls on him all the more because they themselves are unaware of it. The burden such a one has to sustain points directly to the sin-bearing of Christ. Wounded to the soul by the wrongdoing of men, He had to interpose between them and the stroke of the law, the judgment of God. And may not Moses be said to be a type of Christ? The parallel may well be drawn; yet the imperfect mediation of Moses fell far short of the perfect mediation of our Lord. The narrative here reflects that partial knowledge of the Divine character which made the mediation of Moses human and erring for all its greatness. For one thing Moses exaggerated his own responsibility. He asked of God: "Why hast Thou evil entreated Thy servant? Why dost Thou lay the burden of all this people upon me? Am I their father? Am I to carry the whole multitude as a father carries his young child in his bosom?" These are ignorant words, foolish words. Moses is responsible, but not to that extent. It is fit that he should be grieved when the Israelites do wrong, but not proper that he should charge God with laying on him the duty of keeping and carrying them like children. He speaks unadvisedly with his lips. Responsibility of those who endeavour to lead others has its limits; and the range of duty is bounded in two ways-on the one hand by the responsibility of men for themselves, on the other hand by God’s responsibility for them, God’s care of them. Moses should see that no law or ordinance makes him chargeable with the childish lamentations of those who know they should not complain, who ought to be manly and endure with stout hearts. If persons who can go on their own feet want to be carried, no one is responsible for carrying them. It is their own fault when they are left behind. If those who can think and discover duty for themselves, desire constantly to have it pointed out to them, crave daily encouragement in doing their duty, and complain because they are not sufficiently considered, the leader, like Moses, is not responsible. Every man must bear his own burden-that is, must bear the burden of duty, of thought, of effort, so far as his ability goes. Then, on the other side, the power of God is beneath all, His care extends over all. Moses ought not for a moment to doubt Jehovah’s mindfulness of His people. Men who hold office in society or the Church are never to think that their effort is commensurate with God’s. Proud indeed he would be who said: "The care of all these souls lies on me: if they are to be saved, I must save them; if they perish, I shall be chargeable with their blood." Speaking ignorantly and in haste, Moses went almost that length; but his error is not to be repeated. The charge of the Church and of the world is God’s; and He never fails to do for all and for each what is right. The teacher of men, the leader of affairs, with full sympathy and indefatigable love, is to do all he can, yet never trench on the responsibility of men for their own life, or assume to himself the part of Providence. Moses made one mistake and went on to another. He was on the whole a man of rare patience and meekness; yet on this occasion he spoke to Jehovah in terms of daring resentment. His cry was to get rid of the whole enterprise: "If Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, and let me not see my wretchedness." He seemed to himself to have this work to do and no other, apparently imagining that if he was not competent for this, he could be of no use in the world. But even if he had failed as a leader, highest in office, he might have been fit enough for a secondary place, under Joshua or some other whom God might inspire: this he failed to see. And although he was bound up in Israel’s well-being, so that if the expedition did not prosper he had no wish to live, and was so far sincerely patriotic, yet what good end could his death serve? The desire to die shows wounded pride. Better live on and turn shepherd again. No man is to despise his life, whatever it is, however it may seem to come short of the high ambition he has cherished as a servant of God and men. Discovering that in one line of endeavour he cannot do all he would, let him make trial of others, not pray for death. The narrative represents God as dealing graciously with his erring servant. Help was provided for him by the appointment of seventy elders, who were to share the task of guiding and controlling the tribes. These seventy were to have a portion of the leader’s spirit-zeal and enthusiasm like his own. Their influence in the camp would prevent the faithlessness and dejection which threatened to wreck the Hebrew enterprise. Further, the murmuring of the people was to be effectually silenced. Flesh was to be given them till they loathed it. They should learn that the satisfaction of ignorant desire meant punishment rather than pleasure. The promise of flesh was speedily fulfilled by an extraordinary flight of quails, brought up, according to the seventy-eighth Psalm, by a wind which blew from the south and east-that is, from the Elanitic Gulf. These quails cannot sustain themselves long on the wing, and after crossing the desert some thirty or forty miles they would scarcely be able to fly. The enormous numbers of them which fluttered around the camp are not beyond ordinary possibility. Fowls of this kind migrate at certain seasons in such enormous multitudes that in the small island of Capri, near Naples, one hundred and sixty thousand have been netted in one season. When exhausted, they would easily be taken as they flew at a height of about two cubits above the ground. The whole camp was engaged in capturing quails from one morning to the evening of the following day; and the quantity was so great that he who gathered least had ten homers, probably a heap estimated to be of that measure. To keep them for further use the birds were prepared and spread on the ground to dry in the sun. When the epidemic of weeping broke out through the camp, the doubt occurred to Moses whether there was any spiritual quality in the people, any fitness for duty or destiny of a religious kind. They seemed to be all unbelievers on whom the goodness of God and the sacred instruction had been wasted. They were earthly and sensual. How could they ever trust God enough to reach Canaan?-or if they reached it, how would their occupation of it be justified? They would but form another heathen nation, all the worse that they had once known the true God and had abandoned Him. But a different view of things was presented to Moses when the chosen elders, men of worth, were gathered at the tent of meeting, and on a sudden impulse of the Spirit began to prophesy. As these men in loud and ecstatic language proclaimed their faith, Moses found his confidence in Jehovah’s power and in the destiny of Israel re-established. His mind was relieved at once of the burden of responsibility and the dread of an extinction of the heavenly light he had been the means of kindling among the tribes. If there were seventy men capable of receiving the Spirit of God, there might be hundreds, even thousands. A spring of new enthusiasm is opened, and Israel’s future is again possible. Now there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were of the seventy, but had not come to the tent of meeting, where the prophetic spirit fell upon the rest. They had not heard the summons, we may suppose. Unaware of what was taking place at the tabernacle, yet realising the honour conferred upon them, they were perhaps engaged in ordinary duties, or, having found some need for their interference, they may have been rebuking murmurers and endeavouring to restore order among the unruly. And suddenly they also, under the same influence as the other sixty-eight, began to prophesy. The spirit of earnestness caught them. With the same ecstasy they declared their faith and praised the God of Israel. There was in one sense a limitation of the spirit of prophecy, whatever it was. Of all the host only the seventy received it. Other good men and true in Israel that day might have seemed as capable of the heavenly endowment as those who prophesied. It was, however, in harmony with a known principle that the men designated to special office alone received the gift. The sense of a choice felt to be that of God does unquestionably exalt the mind and spirit of those chosen. They realise that they stand higher and must do more for God and men than others, that they are inspired to say what otherwise they could not dare to say. The limitation of the Spirit in this sense is not invariable, is not strict. At no time in the world’s history has the call to office been indispensable to prophetic fervour and courage. Yet the sequence is sufficiently common to be called a law. But while in a sense there is restriction of the spiritual influence, in another sense there is no restraint. The Divine afflatus is not confined to those who have gathered at the tabernacle. It is not place or occasion that makes the prophets; it is the Spirit, the power from on high entering into life; and out in the camp the two have their portion of the new energy and zeal. Spiritual influence, then, is not confined to any particular place. Neither was the neighbourhood of the tabernacle so holy that there alone the elders could receive their gift; nor is any place of meeting, any church, capable of such consecration and singular identification with the service of God that there alone the power of the Divine Spirit can be manifested or received. Let there be a man chosen of God, ready, for the duties of a holy calling, and on that man the Spirit will come, wherever he is, in whatever he is engaged. He may be employed in common work, but in doing it he will be moved to earnest service and testimony. He may be labouring, under great difficulties, to restore the justice that has been impaired by social errors and political chicanery-and his words will be prophetic; he will be a witness for God to those who are without faith, without holy fear. While Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, a young man who heard them ran officiously to inform Moses. To this young man as to others-for no doubt there were many who loved and revered the usual-the two elders were presumptuous fools. The camp was, as we say, secular: was it not? People in the camp looked after ordinary affairs, tended their cattle, chaffered and bargained, quarrelled about trifles, murmured against Moses and against God. Was it right to prophesy there, carrying religious words and ideas into the midst of common life? If Eldad and Medad could prophesy, let them go to the tabernacle. And besides, what right had they to speak for Jehovah, in Jehovah’s name? Was not Moses the prophet, the only prophet? Israel was accustomed to think him so, would keep to that opinion. It would be confusing if at any one’s tent door a prophet might begin to speak without warning. So the young man thought it his duty to run and tell Moses what was taking place. And Joshua, when he heard, was alarmed, and desired Moses to put an end to the irregular ministry. "My lord Moses, forbid them," he said. He was jealous not for himself and the other elders, but for Moses’ sake. So far the leader alone held communication with Jehovah and spoke in His name; and there was perhaps some reason for the alarm of Joshua, more than was apparent at the time. To have one central authority was better and safer than to have many persons using the right to speak in any sense for God. Who could be sure that these new voices would agree with Moses in every respect? Even if they did, might there not be divisions in the camp, new priesthoods as well as new oracles? Prophets might not be always wise, always truly inspired. And there might be false prophets by-and-by, even if Eldad and Medad were not false. In like manner it might be argued now that there is danger when one here and another there assume authority as revealers of the truth of things. Some, full of their own wisdom, take high ground as critics and teachers of religion. Others imagine that with the right to wear a certain dress there has come to them the full equipment of the prophet. And others still, remembering how Elijah and John the Baptist arrayed themselves in coarse cloth and leathern girdle, assume that garb, or what corresponds to it, and claim to have the prophetic gift because they express the voice of the people. So in our days there is a question whether Eldad or Medad, prophesying in the camp, ought to be trusted or even allowed to speak. But who is to decide? Who is to take upon him to silence the voices? The old way was rough and ready. All who were in office in a certain Church were commissioned to interpret Divine mysteries; the rest were ordered to be silent on pain of imprisonment. Those who did not teach as the Church taught, under her direction, were made offenders against the public wellbeing. That way, however, has been found wanting, and "liberty of prophesying" is fully allowed. With the freedom there have come difficulties and dangers enough. Yet to "try the spirits whether they are of God" is our discipline on the way to life. The reply of Moses to Joshua’s request anticipates, in no small degree, the doctrine of liberty. "Art thou jealous for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them." His answer is that of a broad and magnanimous toleration. Moses cannot indeed have believed that great religious truths were in the reach of every man, and that any earnest soul might receive and communicate those truths. But his conception of a people of God is like that in the prophecy of Joel, where he speaks of all flesh being endued with the Spirit, the old men and young men, the sons and daughters, alike made able to testify of what they have seen and heard. The truly great man entertains no jealousy of others. He delights to see in other eyes the flash of heavenly intelligence, to find other souls made channels of Divine revelation. He would have no monopoly in knowledge and sacred prophecy. Moses had instituted an exclusive priesthood; but here he sets the gate of the prophetical office wide open. All whom God endows are declared free in Israel to use that office. We can only wonder that still any order of men should try in the name of the Church to shut the mouths of those who approve themselves reverent students of the Divine Word. At the same time let it not be forgotten that the power of prophesying is no chance gift, no easy faculty. He who is to speak on God’s behalf must indeed know the mind of God. How can one claim the right to instruct others who has never opened his mind to the Divine voice, who has not reverently compared Scripture with Providence and all the phases of revelation that are unfolded in conscience and human life? Men who draw a narrow circle and keep their thoughts within it can never become prophets. The closing verses of the chapter tell of the plague that fell on the lustful, and the burial of those who died of it, in a place thence called Kibrothhattaavah. The people had their desire, and it brought judgment upon them. Here in Israel’s history a needful warning is written; but how many read without understanding! And so, every day the same plague is claiming its victims, and "graves of lust" are dug. The preacher still finds in this portion of Scripture a subject that never ceases to claim treatment, let social conditions be what they may. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.