Hit with overwhelming circumstances

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)