seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. 9 When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.
10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.
18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but did not do so again.
26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.
Here's the link to the commentary I read this morning. Please go back and read the chapters about the rules of the feasts and the contributions of all the clans to the Tent of Meeting.
Now the mixed multitude who were among them: Exodus 12:38 says that a mixed multitude went out of Egypt. This means that not everyone in the great crowd that came out of Egypt with Moses were ethnically Israelites. There were many Egyptians (and perhaps other non-Israelites) who went with them. This may be because they were also slaves in Egypt, and perhaps because the God of Israel showed Himself more powerful than the gods of the Egyptians.
Who will give us meat to eat? This was a strange question to ask, considering they had a God in heaven that met their every need. It seems that some in Israel looked for another provider because they were not satisfied with what came to them from the hand of God. They were so distraught over this they wept.
Until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you: God promised to give them so much meat they would become sickened by it. This was because they denied and doubted the goodness of God’s deliverance. It isn’t good for the people of God to deny the goodness of God’s deliverance in their lives.
Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail: Miraculously, God directed a huge number of quail to the camp of Israel, where they were killed and could be eaten. Quail migrate over the Sinai wilderness every year; it has been recorded that Arabs living near this region could catch between one and two million quails during their autumn migration, using nets.
While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people: The people, with great effort and excitement, gathered the quail and prepared it for eating. But when they ate — while the meat was still between their teeth, the Lord sent a plague among them and many died.
It seems the Israelites were ok with just Manna.... but the others, the rabble, like the Egyptian slaves among them... were not so happy with the menu and they started to complain. Moses complained to God about the people complaining to him. God got miffed with Moses and the people. God granted their request for meat to go with the Manna. They had so much, it would last 600,000 foot soldiers along with all the people of all the families and the slaves of those 600,000 foot soldiers for a month.
Even Moses doubted it for a minute... but God did it.
God even went a little further and put the Spirit in all the elders for a minute. Those Elders were quick to blame Moses for everything, so God gave them a hint of what was plaguing Moses. The Elders could see why Moses was so cantankerous first hand. The Elders felt just how annoying those humans were to deal with.
God gave them so much meat, verse 20 says it would come out their nostrils!
Verse 33 tells us a lot of the people who ate the meat got sick and died.
Was the plague a result of eating the meat raw? Or was the plague the first "bird flu"?
Raw bird or bird flu?
