One and a half months after leaving Egypt, the Israelites hit what they considered to be another “overwhelming circumstance.” And their reaction was much the same. 

The first time it was the sight of the Egyptian army chasing them in Exodus 14:10 that “terrified” them, and it was Moses who got it in the ear: “Did you get us stuck out here in the desert to die, because there weren’t any graves in Egypt?” they yelled at him. “Better for us that we’d stayed in Egypt than die out here” (11-12). 

And only two chapters later they’re at it again, up on their high horse accusing Moses: “If only we’d died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you, Moses, have brought us out into the desert to starve this entire assembly to death,” Exodus 16:1-3. 

In both cases, Yahweh fixed it for them, despite their arrogant demands and accusations. But two years later in Numbers 11, the Israelites are back at it again, the ‘overwhelming circumstance’ this time being stuck with nothing but manna, and no meat, fish, melons and other goodies they’d had in Egypt, to the point, they said, that “we’ve lost our appetite” (4-6), which was just another way of saying the same thing, that because of Moses they were starving to death.

Hit with overwhelming circumstances their immediate reaction was to blame. How could Moses treat them like this? But it wasn’t Moses’ fault. Yahweh had allowed these circumstances to happen, and in such a way that there was no clear solution. But why would he do that? There’s a clue in Genesis 22 when Yahweh told Abraham to sacrifice his son. What could be more overwhelming than that? Abraham reacted differently though. He humbly accepted and off he went, and became the first man to discover the solution, which he simply put in verse 14, as “The Lord will provide.” 

And hadn’t Yahweh done that for the Israelites in every overwhelming circumstance he’d put them in? He’d always provided, and also in such a way that clearly only he could have done it, so that they too, when sorely tested, would react like Abraham. So that instead of getting themselves in a lather, they’d come to realize that with Yahweh there was “Always a reason, always a way”….(next blog)

Exodus 15 sets the scene for “The test” – when for “three days the Israelites travelled in the desert without finding water” (22), but at the first oasis they come to, desperately thirsty, “they couldn’t drink the water because it was bitter” (23).

And Yahweh did that. He took them that route on purpose, knowing that they and their children, the elderly, the exhausted, and all their massive flocks and herds, would end up in a life threatening situation. But after boatloads of evidence that he had the power to rescue them from sure death, not only from thousands of bloodthirsty Egyptian soldiers, but also from a watery grave, what was the problem? And what about the song the Israelites had just sung earlier in the chapter too, with the words, “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling” (13).

But hit with this latest crisis, “the people grumbled against Moses” (24). So Yahweh gave Moses some needed credibility in their eyes by “showing him a piece of wood,” which Moses threw into the bitter water and it became wonderfully and drinkably sweet, all of which put the final props in place for “The test” (25).

It had all been beautifully choreographed by Yahweh – both the scary problem and the memorable solution – to get across the point in verse 26, that “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.”

That wasn’t difficult for the Israelites to grasp too, because they’d seen what Yahweh had done to the Egyptians, and they’d just sung why he’d done it too, that “you threw down those who opposed you” (7). The Egyptians were given the chance to humbly accept the obviously superior power of Yahweh over their own gods, but they were too arrogant for that, and they paid the price. So Yahweh was now offering the Israelites the same chance, and he’d show what humbly accepting his directions and power would do for them instead. 

Arrogance or humility, that was the test. And how brilliantly useful knowing that is when, like the Israelites, we too are being “Hit with overwhelming circumstances”….(next blog)

In Numbers 11:18-20, Yahweh’s response to the Israelites complaining about no meat to eat, and wailing “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” – was to swamp them with so much meat it would “come out of their nostrils” to the point they’d “loathe it.” Why? Because that was the consequence he inflicted on them for “rejecting” him (20).

It wasn’t the first time this happened too. Rejecting Yahweh had become a habit, and so were the consequences, starting back in Exodus 32 when the Israelites turned away from the real power that had saved them to bowing down to their own crafted idol instead (8). It was a direct slam against Yahweh himself, and he responded by “striking the people with a plague” (35).

From the very start of their relationship with Yahweh, then, they knew that “rejecting him has consequences.” But they also knew why Yahweh had set it up this way back in Exodus 20:20, when Moses, in response to Yahweh’s terrifying scene at Mount Sinai (18), told the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

Fear of consequences, then, wasn’t meant to be negative. True, it was a scary thing knowing consequences would happen, but only as a helpful reminder and incentive to “listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your good and do what is right in his eyes,” Exodus 15:26, because (same verse), that way nothing harmful would happen to them and instead they’d have Yahweh “healing” them. 

But whenever things were not to the liking of the Israelites their first reaction was to turn against Moses and Yahweh, resulting in more severe consequences. It was a rotten way to live, but for some reason the Israelites never got the point of it.

In contrast to that, when Moses complained bitterly for how Yahweh was treating him in Numbers 11:10-15, the consequence he got was “healing,” not only in his attitude but the situation too. Why the difference? Because Moses wasn’t rejecting Yahweh; he only wanted to know if he’d “displeased” him in some way (11).

The difference, then, was in their reaction to suffering. For Israel it was reason to arrogantly reject Yahweh; for Moses, the humble desire to understand him. In every situation they came up against, then, which would it be? Because that was “The test”….(next blog)  

The words, “Just you wait and see,”were belted out in 1942 by Vera Lynn in the chorus of her song, “The white Cliffs of Dover,” during England’s “darkest hour” of humiliating defeats in battle, cities being bombed to bits, severe rationing of food, morale at its lowest, and Churchill’s leadership being seriously questioned. The situation was dire, and no relief in sight. But up pops Vera promising, “There’ll be love and laughter, and peace ever after, tomorrow when the world is free.” 

But if someone had dared say in 1942, “Nice sentiment, Vera, but you’re promising love and laughter when we’re being brutally hit from all sides by a formidable enemy intent on destroying us, and with very convincing signs he’s winning. Do you really think in our present state, then – even if we transformed every factory we’ve got into weapons production – it would be enough to set the whole world free?”

It sounds a bit grumpy, but that was also Moses’ approach to Yahweh after his promise to provide meat for a month to “600,000 men on foot” in the middle of a desert, Numbers 11:18-21. To which Moses replies in verse 22, “But if we slaughtered our entire flocks and herds, and hooked every fish in the sea, do you really think that would be enough meat to get all these people fed?” Like Vera, wasn’t it just wishful thinking on Yahweh’s part, rather than facing reality? 

But ironically, Yahweh’s answer was exactly the same as Vera’s. To the whole idea of a world being set free, Vera would have said, “Well, just you wait and see.” But that’s what Yahweh said to Moses in verse 23, first of all asking Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?” In other words, “Do you really think I’m incapable or doing this?” And then Yahweh’s second volley, “You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.” In other words, “Just you wait and see. I’ll show you what’s what, Moses; watch and learn.” 

So Yahweh ‘did a Vera’ in answer to Moses’ darkest hour – but, unlike Vera, Yahweh had the power to back it up, and in dramatic fashion too. He blew quail by the boatload into the camp to a depth of three feet “as far as a day’s walk in any direction” (31). It took two days and a night for the Israelites to gather up all the quail (32). 

So Yahweh was true to his word, but why, before the instigators of the complaint got to even taste the quail, did he kill them off with a plague (33-34)? There’s a clue in verse 20, to get the point across that “Rejecting him has consequences”….(next blog) 

Yahweh gave Moses two reasons for not throwing in the towel, the first being that he totally understood what Moses was going through. The Israelites’ loud wailing, “Give us meat to eat” in Numbers 11:13, and their constant moaning about how much better the food was in Egypt (5), not only made Moses angry, it made Yahweh angry too (10).

So when Moses in total exasperation yelled out to Yahweh in verse 13, “Where on earth am I going to find meat for all these people?” – and then in verses 14 and 15, “This is all too much for me, I want out now” – Yahweh didn’t stomp on him. Instead, he got Moses to choose seventy leaders from among Israel’s elders, on whom he “put the same Spirit Moses had,” so they could help carry the burden of the people, and Moses would not “have to carry it alone” (16-17). 

It didn’t mean the burden would go away, but there was no reason in the enormity of it for Moses to throw in the towel, because Yahweh not only understood Moses’ frustration, he stepped in with the help Moses needed. 

Yahweh then expressed his own exasperation in response to the Israelites wailing, “If only we had meat to eat, we were better off in Egypt” (18), by having Moses tell the people, “I’ll give you meat all right, and so much meat for the next month it’ll come pouring out through your nostrils until you loathe it” (18-20). 

But even Yahweh sharing his own frustration wasn’t enough yet to settle Moses down, because Moses fired right back at him in verses 21 and 22, “So you say, ‘I’ll give them meat to eat for a whole month,’ but where’s it coming from, eh? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, and if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?” All Moses could see was how impossible his situation was, to the point it didn’t matter what Yahweh said anymore. 

To slice through the impenetrable fog of Moses’ despair, then, Yahweh hit Moses in verse 23 with a blunt question: “Are you actually saying, Moses, that I can’t take care of this situation, that my arm is too short?” And that’s when he gave Moses a second reason for not throwing in the towel, by saying, “Well, I’ll show you whether or not what I say will come true for you.”  

And what more could Moses say after that? Proof was on its way. So rather than throw in the towel, “Just you wait and see”….(next blog)

In Numbers 11:15, Moses was at the end of his rope. He was exhausted by the endless complaints and demands of the Israelites to the point of asking Yahweh to “put me to death right now so I don’t have to face my own ruin.” Like a terminally ill patient seeking a medically assisted death, Moses in his mental agony was seeking a Yahweh assisted death.

But didn’t he have the right to ask Yahweh for such a thing, when it was Yahweh who’d landed him in this mess? And why should Yahweh expect him to keep putting up with it too, when life in this wretched desert had become an endlessly repeating cycle of the Israelites making Yahweh so angry by their grumbling that he hit them with plagues and fire, and on two occasions had even threatened to kill them off? Meanwhile, Moses was stuck in the middle of all this, with no end to it, no escaping it and no relief. Worse still, there was no obvious purpose to it too. 

So what stopped him from storming off in a huff yelling “I’ve had it with you Israelites, and frankly, Yahweh, I’ve had it with you too”? There’s a clue back in verse 15, because right in the middle of him asking Yahweh to put an end to him, he adds “if I have found favour in your eyes.” 

In other words, “I’m only asking this of you with what you think of me in mind too.” Which was a jolly useful reminder, and a lifesaver for Moses too, because he already knew what Yahweh thought of him – Yahweh himself having told him at some time in the past, “I know you Moses by name and you have found favour with me,” Exodus 33:12. When Moses had a highly personal request for Yahweh, therefore, he included that too, as a reminder to both himself and to Yahweh. 

Which Yahweh deeply appreciated, verse 17, because in response to Moses he told him, “I will do the very thing you’ve asked because I’m pleased with you.” And why was Yahweh so pleased with Moses? Because in everything Moses thought, said, did, and asked for, it was always with Yahweh in mind and pleasing him. He was close to forgetting it at times, especially when the pressure on him was as intense and agonizing as it was in Numbers 11, but at the last minute when he was truly ready to throw in the towel, back to mind it came: “I’d like to die,” he told Yahweh, “but only if that meets with your favour too.”

And Yahweh honoured Moses’ humility, but he also reminded Moses that he had “No reason to throw in the towel” too….(next blog)

Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was “the humblest man alive,” but in the previous chapter he’d openly challenged Yahweh, and in what sounds like the most cheeky, disrespectful way too. So why did Yahweh put up with it if humility was so important to him?

Or put another way, because he did put up with it, does that mean he doesn’t mind us challenging him? But what is it about us – and about him – that allows that to happen?  

Well, in Exodus 33:13 Moses had asked Yahweh to “teach me your ways so I may know you,” which Yahweh clearly appreciated (17), so he did just that, he made known his ways. In what he taught Moses, then, we are given wonderful and detailed insight into the workings of the minds of both Yahweh and Moses, Numbers 11 being a real eye-opener. 

In verse 1, Yahweh is super ticked off by the Israelites “complaining about their hardships,” and wailing about wanting “meat to eat” rather than this boring, unappetizing manna every day (4-6). The wailing coming from every Israelite tent was so loud and persistent that it made Yahweh “exceedingly angry” (10). So Moses was now on the receiving end of the anger of both the Israelites and Yahweh.

“Troubled” by it (10), Moses gets personal with Yahweh: “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? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth?” In other words, why lump me with all these problems, when it wasn’t my idea to “nurse these people all the way to the land you promised”? (11-12). 

So here was the humblest man on earth openly and fearlessly challenging Yahweh, even bluntly asking him, “How on earth am I going to find meat for all these people? I can’t deal with all this by myself, it’s way too much for me. So if this is how you’re going to treat me, then put me to death right now” (13-15). 

This was a dark time for Moses. He was exhausted, frustrated and angry at the circumstances Yahweh had landed him in. But why didn’t his wailing “arouse Yahweh’s anger” like the wailing of the rest of the Israelites (1)? Because, verse 15, even in the depths of his despair Moses could still say to Yahweh, “If I have found favour in your eyes”….(next blog) 

It was an impossible situation for Moses. The two people – Aaron and Miriam – he’d depended on and needed the most in leading the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, had both turned on him. They even felt justified in turning on him too, because in their eyes Moses hadn’t come up to their expectations and standards of proper behaviour.

Their accusations, however, sounded more like trumped up charges against Moses to justify toppling him from leadership and the two of them taking over. Which must’ve really rocked Moses back on his heels, not only because of his brother’s and sister’s blatant arrogance, but also in the shattering of their trust in him. 

And when it’s family – emotions can overheat easily and quickly. But there’s no record of that happening to Moses in Numbers 12. Instead, verse 3 speaks only of him being “the most humble person on the earth,”  and in verse 4 of Yahweh immediately (and angrily, verse 9) getting involved and coming to Moses’ defence. 

So this becomes personal to Yahweh, and in no uncertain terms he explains to Aaron and Miriam why it’s personal: it’s because “my servant Moses is faithful in all my house” (7). He’s done everything I’ve asked him to do, and “with him I speak face to face,” so he knows me just like I know him. I trust him and he trusts me, so why on earth did you dare to speak against him (8)? 

Yahweh was so angry at how they were treating Moses – who hadn’t fired a shot in return too – that on Miriam, who seems to have been the main instigator, Yahweh inflicted the dreaded leprosy (10). But that’s what broke through Aaron’s arrogance, because he turned to Moses and begged him in verse 11, “Please don’t hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.” How fortunate it was, then, that Moses was a humble man, because his first reaction was to “cry out to the Lord, ‘O God, please heal her’” (13), not tell Aaron that Miriam deserved leprosy for her stinking attitude, so don’t come crying to him for help.

And again it was Moses’ humble spirit that Yahweh honoured, because after isolating Miriam from the camp for seven days he allowed her back (14-15), healed and repentant. Thanks to Moses’ humility, then, the blatant arrogance of his brother and sister had been turned into humility too. Such was the importance of humility to Yahweh, so in other situations, “Why did God allow Moses to challenge him?”….(next blog)

Numbers 12:3 says that “Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” But why the sudden mention of it at this point?

There’s a clue in the context, which is about “Miriam and Aaron talking against Moses because of his Cushite wife” (1). To them it was sufficient reason for criticizing Moses, and even questioning his right to be their sole leader (2). But why now? They’d never had a problem with Moses marrying Zipporah his Midianite wife, but now all of a sudden their younger brother marrying a foreigner was an issue for them.

And how brutal it must’ve been for Moses too, having his older brother and sister turn against him like this, and especially his sister Miriam who’d saved his life as a baby, and faithfully stuck by him as the three of them led Israel out of Egypt (Micah 6:4). Miriam was a “prophetess” too, and a highly inspirational leader (Exodus 15:20-21). But now this sudden change in her, so what happened?

Had her lofty position in Israel led to a spark of arrogance in her mind? – hinted at in the previous chapter too, when Moses “brought together seventy elders” (11:24), and Yahweh then “took of the Spirit he’d put on Moses and put it on the elders” so that they “prophesied” (25). But hadn’t Yahweh selected only Miriam as the one doing the prophesying? So what did Moses think he was doing wanting seventy others prophesying too?

And what right did Moses have to make such a decision in the first place when, in Miriam’s mind, he’d made such a bad decision marrying a foreigner (12:1)? Miriam was building a case against Moses, even suggesting in verse 2 that he wasn’t the only one Yahweh had chosen to speak through, because “Hadn’t he also spoken through us (Aaron and Miriam) too?” Was this a coup driven by arrogance in the making, then? 

It looks like it, because Yahweh jumps in “at once” (4), has all three – Moses, Aaron and Miriam – “come out to the Tent of Meeting,” where he has a few choice words to say to Aaron and Miriam (5-6). And it’s in this context that Moses being “the humblest man on the planet” is mentioned, because even when betrayed and belittled by his own flesh and blood he did not retaliate. And what that did was bring Yahweh himself to Moses’ defence, and he then began the process of “Turning arrogance into humility”….(next blog)

Moses understood that it’s also part of Yahweh’s strength and glory to punish – because of his reason for punishing, a clue to which Yahweh himself gave in Numbers 14:33.

In response to the outright rebellion and contempt by the adult Israelites (11), Yahweh told them in verse 33, that “Your children will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.” His reason for punishing, therefore, was clear, that the adult Israelites’ unfaithfulness to him would have a devastating effect on their children. 

Which sounds cruel, but in context it was a merciful punishment, because the Israelites had treated Yahweh so miserably he was at the point of wiping them all out (12), including their children. So life could have ended for all the adults and their children there and then. But instead, Yahweh punished them in such a way it would give them a chance to repent. He gave them another forty years, time enough for three to four more generations of children to be born, and time enough for the adults to see their kids, grandkids, and great grandkids miss out on forty years of living in the “exceedingly good” land of Canaan (7), and be reduced instead to wandering the desert looking after sheep (33).

But didn’t it also mean that their children would get the chance to learn why they and the rest of Israel had been punished this way? There was such a simple answer too, in verse 24, when Yahweh said: “because Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land (of Canaan), and his descendants will inherit it.” So for Caleb’s faithfulness to God, both he and three or four generations in his family would enjoy the Promised Land together.

Hopefully, then, forty years of suffering in the desert would get that point across to the generations of children alive during that time, so that Yahweh could “bring them in to enjoy the land that (you adults) rejected” (31). Such is the loving power of punishment, just like the loving power of sending a child with a rotten attitude to his room, and he stays there for however long it takes too (three or four hours if necessary, like three or four generations for the Israelites), to pierce through his attitude and humble him a bit, especially when he too realizes what he’s missing out on. 

No wonder, then, that Moses saw Yahweh’s punishing as a strength, because the way Yahweh did it could turn an attitude dial from presumptuous to humble, like Moses himself who became “The humblest man on the planet”….(next blog)