Numbers 10 - 12

Numbers — Steve Gregg

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Numbers 10 - 12

NumbersSteve Gregg

In this insightful discussion by Steve Gregg, Numbers 10-12 are explored with a focus on the significance of the trumpets, the guidance they provided to the people of Israel, and the role of spiritual leadership. The discussion delves into the practical implications of the cloud guiding the camp's movement and the importance of following God's leading. Gregg also highlights the challenges faced by the Israelites in their journey, including their complaints and desires for different provisions. The discussion concludes with an examination of the incident involving Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, emphasizing the need to respect and not speak against God's anointed leaders.

Transcript

Okay, so we're at Numbers chapter 10. And in this chapter we are going to find the beginning of the journeyings of the children of Israel from Mount Sinai. But there's one other order of business that perhaps we would have expected to be given a different chapter than the movement of the children of Israel.

And that is in the first 10 verses of chapter 10. There's these instructions about making two silver trumpets. It says, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, make two silver trumpets for yourself.

You shall make them of hammered work. You shall use them for calling the assembly and for directing the movement of the camps. Now, trumpets have been mentioned before.

At Mount Sinai there were trumpets and there's the Feast of Trumpets and so forth mentioned. But the other references to trumpets have been to the shofar, which is a ram's horn. Most of the time the trumpets that are mentioned in the Pentateuch are the shofar, as they call it.

And that's just a ram's horn that's transformed into a signal instrument for, you know, calling the assemblies and so forth. But now we've got actual trumpets, a little bit like more what we think of as trumpets made of metal. And in particular, these two are made of silver.

And it says they're going to be for the calling of the assembly and for directing the movement of the camps. When they blow both of them, all the assembly should gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel should gather to you.

So these give these have a sort of a signal to trumpets blowing means everybody show up one trumpet, just the leaders show up when you sound the advance, which must be a special trill of some kind. The camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey. When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side should begin their journey.

They shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys. And when the congregation is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance. The sons of Aaron, the priests shall blow the trumpets and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.

When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets and you shall be remembered before the Lord, your God, and you will be saved. From your enemies. Also, in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts and at the beginning of your month, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings and they shall be for a memorial to you for you before your God.

I am the Lord, your God. Now, this was perhaps we could say another way in which God's guidance was given to people, and that is the trumpet sounds. There would be those who had found Moses would sound the trumpets, probably Moses and the priests when they had some information to convey to the camp.

Namely, there's time to move time to go to battle time to gather before the tabernacle time for the leaders to gather. These were special times. Of course, the cloud moving would be the main signal that that everyone's going to move on, but they wouldn't all move on at once.

They found the trumpet and then the first camp on the east would move. Then they found the trumpet again when it was the proper time. The next camp on the south of those.

It's true that the moving of the cloud was something that was sovereign, that anyone could see without the trumpet sounding. But still, they waited the trumpet sound to know when each camp was supposed to pick up and follow. And so in a sense, the trumpets are another means of divine guidance, another way of giving instructions to the camp about what they're supposed to do.

And I think of first Corinthians 14 and Paul talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how they. Are intended, as it were, to provide guidance to, but how that it's important that they be audible and clear to the people. In first Corinthians 14, six through eight, Paul said, but now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying or by teaching? Even things without life, whether the flute or the harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or what is played? And you can only recognize a song because the notes are different from each other and the instruments have to play the right notes.

So you won't recognize the song. For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? Now, the idea here is that when God speaks to the church through the gifts, the Holy Spirit is trying to give information to the church. He might be trying to muster them for battle, as when these trumpets were sounded in Israel.

If the trumpets don't give a sound that is intelligible, if it's something that it's not a recognizable signal, then no one's going to prepare for battle. There was a particular trumpet blast that was supposed to let them know to prepare for battle. If the people were supposed to prepare for battle, whoever is blowing the trumpet better blow that blast and not a different one.

Had to make sure that people would understand it. And Paul says that's how it is with the gifts of the spirit, if they aren't intelligible. If you speak with tongues and there's no interpretation, for example, then whatever it is God's trying to say isn't going to get through.

Paul said better to speak by revelation or by prophecy or by teaching or something that is intelligible so that the Holy Spirit's message can get through. The trumpets, of course, were blasted by human leaders. Moses and Aaron and so forth.

The silver trumpets probably, when it comes to their function as a means of guidance to the people of Israel, probably represent God's guidance through human instruments, as with the gifts of the spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't. It's not just God's voice booming from heaven, but he speaks through a human prophet or a human exhortation person or teacher or someone who has a word from the Lord.

Human instrumentation. They give directions to the church, but it's God doing it. It's but he's using human instruments.

So these trumpets were like they involve the instrumentality of humans sounding the trumpet. But it was, of course, to give the camp as a whole an awareness of what God was trying to get them to do. So, you know, there's the movement of the cloud that directs the church.

There's the instruments, the trumpets. Which are sounded by, in this case, the prophets like Moses that actually give direction to the camp as well. Now, verse 11, we begin to see some movement.

Now it came to pass on the 20th day of the second month, which is, of course, 19 days after the book opened. The book opened on the first day of the second month. This is now 19 days later on the 20th day of the second month.

In the second year that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the testimony and the children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai on their journeys. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. So they started out for the first time, according to the command of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

And then it's going to go through all the tribes and basically confirm what we've already been told. That those three tribes that encamped on the east side were the first to move forward. Then those who were encamped on the south side move afterwards.

And of course, we're just told earlier in chapter 10 that the trumpet blast would signal when it's time for each group to pick up and move. No sense everybody picking up when there's that many millions of people. It's going to take a long time for the one last one to actually get in motion.

And so they know Moses would pay attention. OK, now when these eastern encampment tribes have moved, it's time to get the next group in there. So they found the trumpet, get them going.

After the first two camps had gone, then the tabernacle itself was torn down and moved and it traveled in the middle of the camp. And then you'd have the western and the northern groups respectively moving out. That's what we read here.

It says in verse 14, the standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first and we're told again their leaders name was Nashon. He's been mentioned a number of times. All these leaders have been.

And with, of course, Judah was the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Zebulun mentioned in verses 15 and 16. And their leaders are mentioned again by name. And so the tabernacle was taken down and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Mareri set out carrying the tabernacle and the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies over their army was Eliezer, the son of Shedur over the army of the tribe of Simeon and Gad are the next to mention they were with them.

And then it says in verse 21, then the Kohathites set out carrying the holy things. The tabernacle be prepared for their arrival. So the tabernacle building itself moved behind the first group and then the second group, the ones from the South, went and then the articles of the tabernacle set out.

Now, it's not clear. It would seem that the ark was among those and it would therefore seem like the ark, along with the golden altar and the candle lampstand and all the other stuff that they would be in the middle of the camp while marching. However, we're later going to see in verse 33 that the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them.

So it's a bit ambiguous. It appears that perhaps the ark alone was carried ahead of the entire procession, but the tabernacle building on its carts and so forth was pulled behind the first group so that it could get to wherever they're going to camp next ahead of the furniture so that the tabernacle could be set up by the time the furniture gets there. So they send the tabernacle ahead of the articles that have been put in it.

And so we've got the first camp from the east moves. Then you've got the building taken down and moved. Then you've got the camp from the South moved.

And then you've got the furniture of the ark moving. It would be just as much apparently as much time as necessary between the arrival of the tabernacle at the new place and the arrival of the furniture that they could get it set up and put the stuff in. That's what it says in verse 21.

They it says the tabernacle would be prepared for their arrival. Verse 22, the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim. That was the encampment on the West Side, which also had the people of Manasseh and Benjamin with them.

And then verse 25, the standard of the camp of the children of Dan, the ones from the north of the tabernacle position. And they had the children of Asher and Naphtali with them. And it says in verse 25 that they formed the rear guard.

So this was like a military deployment, even though they weren't necessarily going to a particular battle. They were just moving forward. But they traveled as a military people ready for battle.

And so they had a rear guard in these tribes that were with Dan. Then it says in verse 29. Or verse 28, actually, this was the order of March of the children of Israel, according to their armies when they began their journey.

Now, Moses said to Hobab, the son of rule, the Midianites, Moses father in law. So this man was Moses brother in law. We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you.

Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel. Now, Hobab was a Midianite, obviously the son of Jethro, the son of rule, rule and Jethro are different names for the same man, Moses father in law. This was Moses wife's brother, though Moses wife was not with him as near as we can tell.

Moses, we find marrying another woman in chapter 12, an Ethiopian woman. But it would appear that Zipporah had either been divorced or at least separated from him and was gone back with her father back to Midian. Although now they were in Midian.

Mount Sinai was apparently in Midian if the alternate location of Sinai that we've discussed in the past is correct. And so he was in the same region. As his father in law.

And that might be why Hobab was there, too. As Moses began to move, they were in Midian. Hobab was a Midianite.

He was a relative by marriage to Moses. And he apparently was someone that Moses thought would be useful as a scout or a guide. Now, why would they need him as a scout or guide when they had the cloud? The cloud was going to tell him where to go.

But obviously, an experienced sheik of the desert, some would be more than others experienced in knowing where to recognize, you know, sources of water. Perhaps I mean, what Moses says to him, you can be our eyes. In verse 31, it may be that this man was good at scouting around for, you know, edibles and water sources and and maybe even looking out for enemies.

It's hard to know. He might be, you know, like an Indian guide to some pale faces trying to get through Indian land where the Indians know the land much better. True, the general direction and the specific encampment would be determined by the cloud that there'd be a lot of practical issues that a local guide might be able to help out with.

So Moses is asking Hobab, his brother-in-law, to go with him in that capacity. And verse 30, Hobab turns him down. Initially, I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my kinsmen.

So Moses said, please do not leave. And as much as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness and you can be our eyes and it shall be if you go with us, indeed, it shall be that whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same he will do to you. And apparently Hobab agreed.

We don't read that he did, but it's I think the impression is given that he did go along with them. And his saying, no, I'm going to go back to my kinsmen in verse 30 might have been just a polite thing to do in that culture. Actually, Moses was inviting him to go along and be part of this adventure and benefit with them.

And, you know, of course, if he did, God would be providing for him with manna and all the things, too. He wouldn't have to be insecure about his living in the desert. God would be providing for him and all that.

I mean, there'd be benefits in it. And in turning Moses down initially, he didn't give any reasons for anything like that. And he didn't seem to put up a real resistance when Moses came back to, no, please come.

So it may have been one of those deals where in some cultures you're supposed to turn down an invitation first or an offer first just to be polite. And then if they prevail upon you, then you accept. Verse 33, so they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days.

Apparently, that's how far they went just in their first year. It was just for three days and then they camped again. And the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days journey to search out a resting place for them.

And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp. So it was whenever the Ark set out that Moses said, rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you. Now, that is whenever the cloud lifted, apparently on their journeys and they sounded the trumpets to alert the camp that they're going to have to move.

Moses would just cry out this prayer to God, rise up, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered. Let those who hate you flee before you. In Psalm 68, it begins with words almost identical to these.

Psalm 68 is believed to have been written by David on the occasion of his bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. It's thought that he composed this psalm and that it was sung for that particular event. And it begins similarly.

It says, let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Let those also who hate him flee before him. This is what Moses said.

Now, David wrote these words, but he was, of course, familiar with what Moses said historically. And then he goes on and describes further how the enemies of the Lord are to be dispersed like smoke is driven away. So drive them away as wax melts before the fire.

So let the wicked perish at the presence of the Lord of God. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God.

Yes, let them exceedingly rejoice. And there's more. But the point is that this is a declaration that went that signaled the movement of the Ark of the Covenant.

God was arising when the Ark was moving and therefore his enemies would be expected to be defeated and scattered in front of the Ark. But verse 36 tells us, Numbers 10, 36, but when it rested, he said, return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel. That is, settle among us and live here while we're camped.

Don't abandon us now. Chapter 11. Now, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, for the Lord heard it and his anger was aroused.

So the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts, some in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses. And when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

So he called the name of the place Tibera, which means burning because the fire of the Lord had burned among them. Now, this little incident is given in very little detail. We don't know what it was they complained about.

We just read they complained. Now, people complain all the time, but we know that the Israelites in the wilderness were chronic complainers, even though God did amazing things for them, they still were never quite satisfied with the way God did things. The food he gave them and the leaders he gave them and things like that.

They were always grumbling. And what this particular complaint was about, we don't know. Maybe they didn't like this particular location that they'd moved to and they were complaining about that.

But you have to remember that. And Moses pointed this out to them from time to time that when they complained, they were complaining against God. A lot of times when we complain, we don't think that we're complaining against God.

But the things in our lives. If we believe that God is this is the day the Lord has made. God has made this day.

God has put this day together for us. We woke up to a day that the components of it were constructed by God's sovereign workings. In our lives and around us, and so the circumstances we have are things that we will rejoice and be glad in or not or will complain in.

But if we complain, we're really complaining about the day that God has made. If these people complained about their surroundings, it was the place that God had brought them. If they're complaining about the food, it's the food that God sent them.

If they complain with the leaders, it was the leaders God raised up. They were complaining against God. They, in many cases, probably just saw themselves as complaining about their circumstances as we do.

We just think we're complaining about circumstances, but we're really complaining about God's sovereign disposition in our lives. He's disposed things a certain way for us. That's how we should rejoice in it.

That's why Paul said in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. First Thessalonians 518. And so God took it as a personal affront whenever they complained about his provision, as he rightly should.

Got angry at them again. And in this case, we read that the fire of the Lord burned among them. Now, how this looked, I don't know.

We know that the fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed Nadab and Abihu. We know that fire came out from the presence of the Lord and ignited the altar in Leviticus chapter nine. And yet we don't know what this looked like.

I mean, it could be that just fires broke out on the outskirts of the camp from some means. And that Moses is saying this is the judgment of God on you people in case you complain. I don't know that we're to understand that fire from heaven came down like lightning, although it could have.

It could have been that some of the tents on the outskirts of the camp were struck by lightning. And that was recognized as God sending his fire down upon them. In any case, the fire did some serious damage to people enough that it was burning out of control.

They couldn't put it out. And therefore, they had to ask Moses to intercede for them. And he did.

And when he did, the fire was quenched. Now, it doesn't tell us that the fire was supernaturally quenched. Or or if they finally were able to put it out, I don't know.

I wouldn't I certainly wouldn't want to detract from anything miraculous. I certainly know the Bible, including these stories are full of miraculous things. But sometimes God does things through things that aren't so miraculous.

I mean, a fire breaking out at a time that is when people have been complaining against God could easily be seen correctly, seen as something God has allowed to happen to them. It doesn't have to be that, you know, fire from the tabernacle came out and consumed them. And it probably wasn't from the tabernacle since it was on the outskirts of the camp and the tabernacle was in the middle.

It could have been lightning. It could have been a fire from any source. It might have been a fire from some unknown source.

But the fact is, a lot of people were apparently burned up, killed. It said it burned. It consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.

And we know that the fire was out of control because it wasn't quenched until they came and asked Moses to pray for them. The fire had gotten beyond their control to put it out. And it was apparently in danger of consuming the whole camp.

You know, fires can spread from the outskirts inward. And so Moses prayed and the fire was quenched and that ended that ordeal for them. So they just named the place burning Taberra.

And then there's more. Verse four. Now, the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense cravings.

Now, the mixed multitude would be the non-Jewish element among them, because when they left Egypt in chapter 12, I think, or 13, it says that a mixed multitude went out with them. I'm talking about chapters, not numbers, but of Exodus. A mixed multitude went out of Egypt with them.

And that means that when the Hebrews left, there were others who wanted to get away to perhaps Egyptians, perhaps other slaves of other nationalities that were in Egypt that thought, well, this is a great big slave revolt. We're going to go out with them and get our freedom, too. But these were people who didn't have any ancestral connection to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And, you know, God had not really made any particular covenant with these people previously, though, when those people came with Israel to Mount Sinai, God made the covenant with everyone there. Everyone who was circumcised, presumably these people were circumcised or maybe not. But I don't think they would have been allowed to be a part of the community if they weren't circumcised.

So they were probably what we call proselytes. But they were not they didn't have Jewish ancestors, Jewish parents or Jewish religion in their upbringing, and therefore they would have had more paganism in them, in their attitudes and so forth. And we find that they yielded to intense craving.

For what? And we usually it's for food, really. It's basically they're missing the gourmet foods that they that they used to be able to have. Now, this mixed multitude remembers the fish and the melons and the leeks and the cucumbers and the onions and the garlic.

When you get to verse five, we think, well, certainly the Israelite slaves were not eating gourmet foods in Egypt. But these were not the Israelite slaves. These are the mixed multitude.

Although they did get the slaves complaining, too. So I think people were starting to remember Egypt a little more romantically than it had really been for them. They've been groaning under the labors they had in Egypt before they left.

And now they're just remembering the variety of food as contrasted from the manna, which is their staple diet every day now, which wasn't bad tasting. It just was bland, apparently, and they they wanted more variety. So that's the intense craving that they yielded to.

In verse four, it says, So the children of Israel also wept again. A lot of references on weeping here. In verse 13, Moses complains, They're weeping all over me.

And so they're whiners is what they are. They're big time whiny people. Now, I'm not going to say I wouldn't be whiny.

I mean, they're in a they're in a desert, right? I love their diet is rather undiversified. You know, but they still have they should have the memory. Just a few months earlier, they were slaves.

And it should be that they would be delighted. That they I mean, not a few months earlier, a year and a few months earlier, they were slaves. They should be delighted to be free, but they're still whining about every little thing that comes up.

And so it says, All Israel wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We're not getting enough meat. We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks and the onions, the garlic. But now our whole being is dried up.

There's nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. Now, manna apparently was nutritionally complete food. If they if God had them surviving on that for 40 years, it must have been, you know, like this food they send up with the astronauts in the tubes.

You know, it's got it's got all the nutrients they need to stay alive. But it was not garlic, you know. It wasn't meat.

And so they're getting tired of it. And they say our whole being is dried up. Reminds me of my youngest son when he was about three years old and one of his sisters had, you know, not given him something he wanted or something.

And he came whining to his mother and and she kind of said, That's not that big a deal. And he said, It's the end of the world. We just thought that was so funny because, I mean, we would usually say it's not the end of the world.

But we didn't even say that in that situation. He just said, It's the end of the world. There's some little thing.

Our whole being is dried up. We're dying out here. Why? We only get to eat manna.

We don't get to eat leeks and onions and garlic like we like. Now, the manna was like coriander seed and its color like the color of beryllium, whatever color that is. The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it into mortar in the mortar, cooked it in pans and made cakes of it.

And its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. That's not so bad. And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

And they found all kinds of ways of preparing manna. You know, they beat it, they cooked it in pans, they made cakes of it. They tried to make a lot of variety of dishes with all the same stuff.

It all tastes the same. Now, Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent. Everyone was standing at the door of his tent weeping.

Oh, we want better food than this. And it says the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused, but Moses also was displeased. Actually, it's Moses who reacts more angrily here.

And he comes and complains to God about it. Moses said to the Lord, why have you afflicted your servant and why have I not found faith in your sight that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them? That you should say to me, carry them in your bosom like a guardian carrying a nursing child to the land which you swore to their fathers? And these are a bunch of babies and I didn't even I'm not even their dad. Why do I have to be their babysitter of these millions of babies? What did you have against me that you put me in this position? Where am I to get meat to give all these people? They weep all over me saying, give us meat that we may eat.

I'm not able to bear all these people alone because the burden is too heavy for me. If you treat me like this, please kill me here and now if I have found favor in your sight and do not let me see my wretchedness. You know, if you love me, just kill me now.

Put me out of my misery. Sometimes, you know, the way that God dispenses his responsibilities and blessings and providences to us. You know, we sometimes wish we could just die.

It'd be easier, be easier to die if you're ready to meet God. Just it's a lot more desirable to die. Paul, when he was in prison, said for me to live as Christ, but to die would be better, far better to depart and be with Christ.

And it's true sometimes in the will of God, you'll be in situations where death would seem sweeter than continuing. But you don't have that choice. Moses didn't get to die right here.

And I'm sure that he was sincere. Just kill me now. Put me out of my misery here with these babies.

So the Lord said to Moses, gather me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. Bring them to the tabernacle of meeting that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there.

I will take of the spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you that you may not bear it yourself alone. Now, notice this.

The burden of the Lord is associated with the spirit of the Lord being put upon a person. Therefore, it's a burden of responsibility that God gives them. The burden of leadership in the people of God is associated with God putting his spirit on a leader.

If a person doesn't have the Holy Spirit, he's not a leader in the spiritual community. But if he does have the spirit of God and does have an anointing in leadership, if that's his calling, if that's his gift to be the leader, well, that's a burden. That's a responsibility.

It's interesting that the prophets in the Old Testament often were said to have the burden of the Lord, and they often meant the Oracle. The word that God gave them to give was the burden of the Lord. It was burdensome to bear that responsibility to speak to people an unwelcome word.

A lot of these prophets got themselves killed and beat up and otherwise thrown in jail and so forth because of the words they spoke. It was a burden to bear the spirit of God. Now, it's a delight in a sense.

It's a great privilege to have the spirit of God, but it's also a burden of responsibility. And so Moses alone, apparently up to this point, had the spirit of God upon him in all of Israel. And this was to be now shared, this leadership gifting, this leadership anointing was to be distributed among 70 others.

And the burden of leadership then would be shared, taken much of it off of Moses shoulders. God said, then you shall say to the people, sanctify yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying, who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.

Therefore, the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat not one day, not two days, nor five days, nor 10 days, nor 20 days, but for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils. Now, when it comes out of your nostril, that means you're vomiting it up.

And becomes loathsome to you because you have despised the Lord who is among you. And have wept before him saying, why did we ever come up out of Egypt? And Moses said to God about this promise, well, the people whom I am among are 600,000 men on foot. Yet you have said, I will give them meat and that they may eat for a whole month.

Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to provide enough for them, or shall all the fishes of the sea be gathered together for them to provide enough for them? So Moses is showing some skepticism here as to whether God really can provide that much food for millions of people in the middle of the desert where there's not much animal life. Well, they do have their herds and their flocks. They said, what, you expect us to slaughter the herds and the flocks? Now, that might not seem like a strange suggestion if they're not getting enough meat in their diet or they want more meat and they've got these herds and flocks.

Why don't they just kill some animals? Well, once you start doing that, you'd run out of animals real quick. And those animals are needed for sacrifice and they're needed for breeding stock. You know, they're planning to go into a new land and start farms and stuff there.

They don't want to just slaughter all their animals and come in there without any anything to start their herds with. The herds and the flocks they had may have been considerable, but they weren't enough to feed, you know, the people for all the time of their wandering. Moses seemed to calculate that to feed them all for a month might take slaughtering all their flocks and their herds.

But that wouldn't be a very wise thing to do. Maybe they had enough herds to feed everybody for a month, but not after that. And then what do they do? So slaughtering all their animals was not something that they were open to.

Now, it may be that they did eat some of the animals once in a while, because in the sacrifices, especially the peace offerings, the people ate some of that. They'd bring an animal and the priest would eat meat on a regular basis, even when the other people just eat manna. But the worshipper who brought a peace offering to God would eat some of the meat.

So it's not like they never had any meat at all. It's just that Moses saying, if you're going to eat meat, all of us for a whole month, we're going to kill all the animals at once. There won't be anything left.

And verse 23, the Lord said to Moses, has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will befall you or not. Has the Lord's arm been shortened? It's an interesting image. It's like what you think I can't reach that far.

You think I can't intervene in that situation? That same imagery is used in Isaiah. To make a different point. But God says, and I'm trying to remember exactly where it was, it's Isaiah 50 something.

Where it says the Lord's arm is not shortened and his ear is not heavy that he cannot hear. But your sins, it's chapter 59, Isaiah 59, 1. It says, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot say, nor is his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you.

So, in other words, in Isaiah's time, God was not saving them. But it wasn't because he couldn't hear their cries. It wasn't because his hand was too short to reach them.

But rather, of course, because he had something against them, their sins had alienated them from him. So this idea of God's arm being shortened is the idea is God unable to actually do the thing that he said he'll do? He says even Moses has his doubts. He says, now you'll see whether my word will befall you or not.

Verse 24, so Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the 70 men and the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took of the spirit that was upon him and placed the same upon the 70 elders. And it happened when the spirit rested upon them that they prophesied, although they never did so again.

Now, that last line, although they never did so again, it's kind of I'm not sure what to make of it, because the Hebrew Targum say and they did not cease, which seems to say the opposite. But all translations, except for the King James. Say they never did so again.

In other words, they the spirit came upon them and they prophesied, which proved that the spirit came upon them, but they didn't become prophets. They prophesied this one time only. And then they didn't prophesy anymore.

The spirit apparently remained on them in the sense of them bearing the burden of leadership with Moses. But they only prophesied initially when the spirit came upon them, just like on the day of Pentecost. The people spoke in tongues that were recognizable to the people around them.

But that didn't happen every day for them. The spirit remained on the church, but they didn't all go out every day and speak to foreigners. In tongues that was a sign on that occasion.

And of course, speaking in tongues was something that happened on other occasions, too. But it didn't happen all the time simply because the spirit was upon them. It was a it was a manifestation that the spirit had come upon them.

And here these people prophesying this one time is the proof that the Holy Spirit had come. Now, what prophesying looked like in this case? I don't know. Now, prophesying means speaking words from God.

But exactly if all these guys were in one place and they're all prophesying, who are they prophesying to? Each other. You know, 70 guys prophesying at the same time. That sounds as chaotic as if everyone was speaking in tongues at the same time.

But it may be that the people of Israel were gathered around them. And these people were speaking the words of God to the congregation. But there were people who were not gathered around them.

Including a couple of the guys that among the 70 who are supposed to be there. It says in verse 26, the two men, but two men had remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad.

The name of the other is Medad. And the spirit rested upon them. Now, they were among those listed, the 70, but who had not gone out into the tabernacle.

Yet they prophesied in the camp. Now, why had they not gone to the tabernacle when they were called? Were they rebelling? Moses is the one who selected these 70. Maybe he made a bad choice in a couple of cases.

Maybe they were guys who didn't want to participate. Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe they were good guys.

Maybe they would have been there, but something hindered them. You know, their wife was giving them a shopping list as they're leaving the tent and they just didn't get there in time. They just had something delay them.

I mean, honestly, it could be anything. We could have been going to the bathroom or something. There could be anything that comes up when you've got 70 people who are all supposed to get someplace at the right time.

I mean, we can't even get 16 people here at all at the right time. So, I mean, there's always something. It's not that anyone's being evil or rebellious, I'm sure.

Or willful or anything like that, but it's you know, they're all good hearted people, but there's distractions and other things that keep people away. So, you know, these guys were probably intending to be there, but whatever. You know, they got a flat tire or something on the way there.

So they were still out in the camp. And yet when the spirit came upon the 68 guys that were there at the tabernacle, the spirit came upon these two guys out in the camp, too. And they were prophesying as well.

Their absence from the tabernacle apparently had not been noticed until this. And somebody from the camp came running to Moses and said, these guys are out in the camp prophesying. They're not here at the tabernacle prophesying.

It says in verse 27, a young man ran and told Moses and said, Alad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men answered and said to Moses, my Lord, Moses, forbid them. Now, why would that be necessary? Why would it be important to forbid them from prophesying in the camp? Well, it's very possible that this would seem to be a bit threatening to Moses' leadership.

All these guys that the spirit came upon who would share leadership and share the spirit that Moses had were there under his oversight at the tabernacle. They were clearly subordinate to him. He was the big boy prophet and they were the little boy prophets and and he was like they were like his subordinates, they were his underlings, his lieutenants.

But someone out in the camp prophesying independently might possibly exploit that situation to gather people around him as a leader, as a spiritual leader or whatever, when Moses isn't there to supervise. Now, not that these guys were likely to do that. It's just that you never know, you know, if somebody is not under the oversight of the of the leader, you never know if they're going to start their own movement on their own.

And it's possible that Joshua saw two guys like loose cannons out in the camp prophesying. They would get attention to themselves because the people say, oh, the spirits on these guys, these guys are speaking the words of the Lord now and might say, well, we can follow them instead of Moses. After all, in the next chapter.

Two people who had a complaint against Moses, his brother and his sister said, well, God doesn't just speak through Moses, does he? Does he speak through us, too? And so as long as Moses was the only prophet, he was the undisputed leader that God had raised up. But if there's other guys prophesying and they're not under Moses oversight, then if they were of a mind to do so, they might exploit that situation, say, see, God speaks by us to follow us, you know, and they could lead a rebellion against Moses. Again, there's no suggestion that these guys were in any sense inclined to do so, but Joshua immediately saw this as a situation that might be might be dangerous for that kind of thing.

And so he said, Moses, go forbid them to do that. And Moses said to him, are you jealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. I'm tired of being the lone leader of these people anyway.

I wish they could all just lead themselves. I wish these people all knew how to follow God. I wish just like God's put his spirit on me, put his spirit on everybody and they wouldn't need me.

That's what he's saying. Would to God that they were all filled with the spirit and they were all prophets. So Moses was not, first of all, jealous over his leadership, as we know, he would have liked God to kill him.

You know, he wasn't exactly, you know, clinging to his position of leadership. He would have liked to have been dismissed, as a matter of fact. So he wasn't jealous of others who might be even able to provide some spiritual leadership.

Especially since it was clearly the spirit of God that had come upon them. He had to assume the spirit of God didn't make a mistake, did he? I mean, I'm not really the leader here. The spirit of God is.

Moses, I'm just the man, Moses. I'm following the spirit, but it's the spirit who's the boss. And if he wants to speak to those guys, let him speak.

Let him speak to everybody. Would to God that everybody was a prophet and everybody could be filled with the spirit. Now, by the way, that never did happen.

Not in Moses lifetime, nor even in Old Testament times in general. God never did put his spirit on all of his people. There were always some leaders, some prophets that or judges that God put his spirit upon.

And as a result, they were the spiritual leadership of the people of Israel. However, the prophet Joel, as you probably know, predicted a day when God would do that radical, crazy thing. And that is to put his spirit on everybody in his movement.

That didn't happen in the Old Testament, but in Joel chapter two. And verse 28 says it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions and also on my men servants and maidservants, I will pour out my spirit in those days.

Now, that was, of course, quoted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost as having a fulfillment there, but notice what is predicted by Joel is something unheard of in Joel's day or in the Old Testament at all. It was an amazing radical suggestion. Moses had made the suggestion more in the form of a wish, just wishful thinking.

I wish God would just put his spirit on everybody and they'd all prophesy. Hundreds of years after Moses, the prophet Joel says God actually intends to do just that very amazing thing, and that is to put his spirit on everybody. All flesh so they can prophesy, which means, of course, that they would not be dependent in the same sense that Israel was on a few men who are spiritual leaders.

There is, of course, there are spiritual gifts in the church. But and some of them are gifts of leadership, but they are not they are not the kind of leadership that we read of in the Old Testament where everybody had to follow that leader or else be rebellious against God and that no one really knew God's will unless it came through that leader. Remember what it says over in 1st John, chapter two about this very thing in 1st John, chapter two.

It says in verse twenty six. These things I've written to you concerning those who try to deceive you in verse twenty seven, but the anointing which you have received from him, he means the Holy Spirit, abides in you and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie.

And just as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. So, in other words, the Holy Spirit teaches you and abides in you. And as you follow that leading, you abide in Christ.

You don't need another man to teach you. You say, well, then why do we have this school here? Well, there is a gift of teaching. As well as other gifts, there are many gifts.

One of them is a gift of teaching. When John says the Holy Spirit teaches us, it doesn't mean he always teaches us without human instrumentality. If there is a if the gift of teaching is operating through a teacher, then the Holy Spirit is teaching that way.

But you don't need a teacher in the same sense that people in the Old Testament needed Moses. He was the only one who knew what the Holy Spirit was saying. But every Christian has the Holy Spirit now.

And so that's what Moses actually thought would be a good idea, though I don't know that he seriously thought that it would ever happen, but he wished it to happen. And so again, in Numbers chapter 11. Verse 30, Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

Now, we start to see the meat show up. And it says now a wind went out from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea. Of course, quail don't live in the sea, but it is from that region, from the area of the sea.

There apparently were gazillions of quail for some reason at that particular time. I don't think we are to understand that God just manufactured them out of the dust so that there'd suddenly be quail that didn't exist before. God did that for six days of creation.

But we don't have reason to believe that he manufactured more animals supernaturally after that. Like I said, the plague of frogs, the plague of locusts in Egypt, those things were probably just frogs that were already there. It's just that all the frogs got driven out of the river and all the locusts came to Egypt from some other region.

Here also, these quail got in, apparently gathered them from somewhere in the region of the Red Sea. And caused a wind to blow them all that direction. Now, quail are heavy bodied birds, and although they fly, they don't fly long distances without getting very tired.

And they do migrate across that very region of the Middle East seasonally. But if they've been traveling a long distance, they're tired and they can't fly high. In this case, they were flying quite near the ground and it would be easy for people to just grab them out of the air, knock them out of the air with sticks or whatever.

It says it brought quails from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on that side. That is how far they covered the whole camp and surrounded the camp. If you went a day's journey on either side, you'd still be among these thick clouds of quail all around the camp and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.

That's just a yard. Two cubits is three feet. They were flying about three feet off the ground, real easy for even children could grab them.

And so people stayed up all that day and all that night and all the next day and gathered the quail. And he who gathered least gathered 10 homers. That's about 60 bushels.

And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. Apparently they realized they can't eat all these now, so they started to dry the meat out like jerky. You know, they thought, well, we better we better have some dried quail to take with us on the journey because we can't eat it all right now.

But I'm sure that in addition to trying to dry out some of the meat, spreading it out in the sun, they gorge themselves on as much of it as they could eat, knowing that they're not going to be able to take it all with them. But while the meat was still between their teeth before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of the place Kibros Heteava, which means graves of lust, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

So God is angry at them. You might say, well, why do you get angry at them? What they do on that occasion? It was the whole attitude that they had, the fact that they were complaining and unhappy with God's provision before. I mean, he gave them their request.

But what? With it, leanness of soul. That's Psalm 105, I believe Psalm 105, verse 15 or so. 106 is it? Thanks.

And is it verse 15 or what? Yeah. And this is talking about this very event in the psalm. Psalm 106, verse 13 through 15, says they soon forgot his works.

They did not wait for his counsel. They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tested the God, tested God in the desert. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.

And so this is actually a psalm that reminds Israel of all their grumpy complaining and murmuring and stuff in the wilderness. It goes on in verse 16, talk about how they envied Moses in the camp and so forth. And it's talking about, of course, Korah's rebellion.

But God gave them what they wanted, but he was angry at them. Sometimes God gives you what you demand of him, not because he has to, but because giving you what you want will not actually be good for you, be a good punishment for you, for your selfishness. Verse 35, then from Kibra Hetevah, the people moved to Hazaroth and camped at Hazaroth.

Now, real quickly, chapter 12 is very short. Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman that he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. Now, whether he divorced Zipporah or just took a second wife, as many of the patriarchs had more than one wife, we don't know.

The fact that he had taken another wife is probably not the problem that got him criticized. Probably the fact she was Ethiopian. She's not Jewish, for one thing.

She was black. She was, you know, I think Miriam was a racist and Miriam is the one who was the criticizer here. Aaron just went along with her.

She was the older sister of both of them. So, you know, Aaron may have, you know how Aaron was. People could persuade him to make a golden calf just because they had to just suggest it.

And he's a very suggestible guy. Miriam is the one who got judged most severely for this. So I think she's the problem.

She didn't like the Ethiopian woman. They may have had a few run-ins with each other. You know, have two women in the same house.

They may have just not gotten along well. Or she may have not liked the racial mixture between her brother and this Ethiopian. Who knows? But they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has not he spoken through us also? In other words, we don't have to really respect everything about Moses, including his marriage choices.

He's not the only guy that God ever speaks through. We have prophetic gifts, too. Miriam had led the singers after all.

That's a big help. And I mean, compared to what Moses does. And Aaron was Aaron wasn't a prophet, but he was the one who spoke to a lot of people as the priest.

So, you know, God speaks through us as well. Moses isn't so special. It says, and the Lord heard it.

Yeah, like there's anything he doesn't hear. But I think it's rather interesting that God overheard them saying this. Now, the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth.

Probably a bit of a hyperbole, this business more than all the men on the face of the earth. But it's indicated that he was exceptionally humble. Not one to speak up for himself, as he did not.

So God spoke up for him. If you're humble, doesn't mean that you'll get walked all over. It just means if you are humble and yield your case to God, that he'll defend you rather than you defend yourself.

And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, come out, you three to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. Now, this must have been like an audible voice that came out from the tabernacles calling these three by name.

Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. And they went forward, both of them. Then he said, hear now my words, if there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, make myself known to him in a vision and I speak to him in a dream.

Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark things.

And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Now, there is such a thing as fearing to speak against God's anointed. It is played up a lot by ministers more than I think is legitimate, because generally speaking, every man who's a pastor tends to think of himself as the Lord's anointed, whether whether it's good reason to believe that or not.

And in many cases, pastors try to prevent criticism against themselves by saying, touch not the Lord's anointed. You know, don't criticize God's anointed. And they try to put themselves above criticism by claiming that they're the Lord's anointed.

Well, I don't know that any man I've ever known has as much claim to that title, the Lord's anointed as, say, Moses did. I mean, Moses was so clearly chosen by God, attested by supernatural miracles, by God speaking to him in the tabernacle, by God confirming him and his leadership. I mean, there's no question that when you looked at Moses, you were looking at God's man who was doing God's things, following God's instructions.

And, you know, Miriam Aarons should have been fearful to criticize him. It's not always the case that when you look at a pastor or a spiritual leader today that you you've got obvious proof from God that this man is doing God's will or that he is hearing from God or that he's even the man that God raised up. Any organization can call itself a church and raise up a leader.

That doesn't mean God has anointed him. Do you think the popes are anointed by God? I have my doubts. And yet they are raised up in the church.

You know, obviously not every pastor is anointed by God and every pastor or even if they are, they're not so obviously so that they're beyond criticism. Moses was a very unusual case. And that's what God says.

He says, Moses isn't even like other prophets. Now, there's not many prophets in Israel at this time, but there's some. But if I raise up a prophet, I'll speak to him in a dream or vision.

He's not going to see my form like Moses gets to Moses and me. We're tight. Moses, we were like this.

You should be afraid to speak against my servant. He's faithful in all my house. And so the anger of the Lord was aroused against them and he departed.

By the way, I would say this, too. There are Christians I know. Who speak against some of the things Moses said, some of the laws, some of the instructions, they say Moses was mistaken about that.

Moses may have thought it was the Lord, but Moses was mistaken when he said to do it this way, to do that way, especially, you know, the business about commanding to wipe out the Canaanites or some other things that are unsavory to us. There are things in the law that are definitely unsavory to us, and I've known Christians who've said, well, you know, God gave Moses instructions, but sometimes Moses got it wrong. Sometimes Moses had stuff he thought was the will of God and he put it down just for Moses.

And they're actually critical of Moses legislation. They should be afraid to speak evil of Moses. I mean, sure, people can get things wrong like I can, and so can the critic.

But even a prophet. He's more clearly than I do, because he has a dream or a vision, but Moses is more clearly than a prophet. He's not just a prophet.

He's more than a prophet. God speaks to him mouth to mouth. I mean, you should be afraid to disagree with Moses.

Does God speak to you face to face? Well, then, if you have a disagreement with Moses, probably you're wrong and he's right. And anyone who's would criticize Moses is not taking into consideration this huge endorsement that God gave to him. So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them and he departed.

And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam and there she was a leper. So Aaron said to Moses, oh, my Lord, please do not lay this sin on us in which we have done foolishly, in which we have sinned.

Please do not let her be as one dead whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb. Now, that must be how leprous she was. She looked like someone who had been born with their flesh half consumed.

Must have been a pretty ugly sight. And Miriam was struck instantly with the stroke of leprosy. And so Aaron pleads for her.

Now, why wasn't Aaron struck? A couple of reasons, probably. One was that he probably was not the instigator of the criticism. He probably just went along with his older sister.

Secondly, he was the high priest. For him to be made unclean for seven days would have interrupted the entire tabernacle service. And Aaron had gotten away with more than this even before, you know, the golden calf.

He seems to get it past a lot of times. I'm not sure why. That's the grace of God.

I think it's because he's weak willed, but that doesn't excuse bad behavior. But he didn't seem to be treated as harshly as Miriam in the situation. So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, please heal her, O Lord God, I pray.

Just like that, then the Lord said to Moses, if her father had spit in her face, would she not be shamed for seven days? And he's saying what I've done to her is worse than a father spitting in her face. I'm showing absolute disgust for her. So let her be shut out of the camp seven days and after that she should be received again.

So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days. And the people did not journey until Miriam was brought in again. So the whole camp had to wait for her.

Which must have been very humiliating for her. And afterward, the people moved from Hazaroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran, from which they sent spies into the land of Canaan. So they were actually quite close to the land of Canaan at this time.

We're told elsewhere that the length of time it would normally take for people on foot to journey from Egypt to Canaan was 14 days. But they wandered for 40 years because they just couldn't get it right. Not because they were lost, but because God judged them for their rebellion.

Anyway, we'll take a break there and we'll talk about their rebellion when we come back.