Cravings for other food (Num 11-12 part 2)*

2.       Craving for other food(11:4-35) 

Num 11:4-35
Even after a hard day of work, if we come home and enjoy a nice, tasty dinner with all of our family members, all of the day’s hardships melt away from our minds; however, this wasn’t the case for Israel. When they complained about the hardships they’d endured for the past three days, God rebuked them and some of them were burned to death. They became so fearful of the Holy God that they did not dare to complain again. In this situation, as they sat together at the dinner table, they no longer enjoyed the taste of manna. Again, they became unhappy and sorrowful.

“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost-- also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"” (Numbers 11:4-6).

Here, the rabble were Egyptians or Gentiles who had followed the Jews as they left Egypt. In Egypt, they had rarely had any problem finding good vegetables, meat, and fish, since they were located on the banks of the Nile River delta, with plenty of agricultural products and herds of livestock. They had enjoyed a variety of food, including meat and fish every season. However, in this desert, there were no fresh vegetables, such as cucumbers, melons, and leeks. Meat was a very rare commodity, since they could not feed their herds and cattle in this desert, so the mainstay of the Israelite’s food was manna, which came down from heaven every day. They went out daily, picked up as much as they wanted, and ate it.

It would not be easy to eat the same food three times a day. Once I asked my wife, Rebecca, to cook a curry dish, for I like curry; however, she cooked so much that both of us had to eat it for more than four days. Every lunch and dinner was curry, and, on the third day, I became so tired of it. I complained and asked her to cook any food, just enough for two meals.

Likewise, the Israelites ate manna day after day; they did not have much chance to eat a variety of food. They remembered the good times they’d had in Egypt, eating so many different kinds of fresh vegetables and plenty of meat and fish. In those times, they could at least enjoy the food and be happy; they remembered that pleasure and happiness. Comparing their present situation with that time, the predicament they now faced was pathetic and sorrowful in their eyes. They greatly missed that pleasure; their life must go on, but there wasn’t any joy, not even the small joy of eating tasteful meat. Israel lamented over the fact that they did not have any choice but to endure this pathetic condition.

At its root, this was a matter of joy, happiness, pleasure, or deep-seated satisfaction in life. This is inevitably linked to our understanding of life today, specifically its meaning and purpose. At the same time, the pleasure or joy of life were to be of the flesh or something other than the flesh. If there is sustained stress over a long period of time, almost all men will be subjected to depression, particularly when one’s hope is deprived. Such feelings of dissatisfaction and displeasure are ubiquitous in all humanity; every family in Israel were wailing at the entrances to their tents. Even Solomon, with his abundance of riches, power, and pleasures, was not exempt from these feeling:

“I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. "Laughter," I said, "is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?" I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-- my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3).

What does this mean for us? While Solomon came to this conclusion after many trials while living a life of pleasure, these people experienced loss of pleasure or happiness as they followed God’s leading. In other words, they were forced into that experience, because they followed the Lord. However, their past experiences did not help them at all in finding the truth; rather, they stood as obstacles to Israel knowing the truth about life. Here, manna stood in opposition to the food that they desired. What did the manna represent, in regards to their yearning desire for happiness and pleasure? Was the manna just a mundane source of food?

“The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. 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.” (Numbers 11:7-8).

The author of the book of Numbers devoted many words to describe the manna Israel received. It was chewy like coriander seed and resin. The Israelites could make loaves out of it, as they would normally do with flour. The taste was also good, like something made with olive oil. It had a variety of uses, a good taste, and was recognized as God-given food from heaven, rather than a production from the earth! However, Israel failed to see God’s purpose in giving them manna. In the desert, the most important issue was how to survive as they were passing through such deadly terrain. Manna should have reminded them of God’s will to give them life in this hostile desert terrain and to give them hope to one day reach His eternal kingdom; it should have been a constant reminder to them of His love, power, and will for their lives.

They had a gross lack of discernment for who they were, where they were going, and what was the imminent issue in their lives. A clear sense of identity, purpose, and hope should be the focus of one’s life, in which God must be at the center and His hope and purpose must become their hope and purpose. While God was among them as their Lord, giving them life, meaning, purpose, and hope, Israel’s desire to seek pleasure apart from what He had given was a defamation of all that He had done among them. Pleasure seeking, or happiness, now played a major part in leading them to such a lack of discernment.

We need to ask ourselves how we have been seeking pleasure, joy, or happiness. I enjoy eating out and get happiness from playing tennis, although actually winning might add more joy to my heart. Watching dramas and movies are also a source of pleasures. In addition to this, we need to ask ourselves what the ultimate source of our pleasure is for life. Are they of the flesh or of the spirit? While I enjoy those things, I have more joy and happiness in teaching and serving people with God’s words. The more I teach, the more joy I have. The more I serve, the more happiness fills my heart. I enjoy going to campuses and talking with students. To me, these are not “have-to’s”, but are a source of happiness that connects me to eternity with God in Christ.

How did God see this situation?

“Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.” (Numbers 11:10).

The Lord became exceedingly angry. The Israelites did not deny God’s authority or dishonor Him. They did not say any words of complaints, but their hearts were filled with sorrow over their present unenjoyable and unhappy life. Yet God was angry with them; He could not or would not accept that their hearts, the hearts of His children, were filled with sorrow and unhappiness over the manna He had provided, and they disliked their life in the desert. God was angry, because their hearts were not filled with joy as they headed towards the land of His abundant blessing and were still looking back to their life in Egypt, even though the Promised Land would be far better than anything they had enjoyed in the past. . He was angry that their hearts were filled with sorrow over what they had now, even when He was in their midst. This is a clear expression of Israel’s unbelief in God’s purpose and hope for them, contained in the land of His blessing. God wanted them to look forward to that land filled with His blessing, but they were so caught up in their present difficulties that there was little room for hope. As Moses confronted the real issue, he was heavily burdened with Israel’s sins and God’s anger against them. Simply, he had no answer or solution within his own ability, so he complained to the Lord in three parts: this problem was not caused by him because he had not sin against God (Numbers 11:11). Second, it was not he, but God who had created the nation of Israel and this trouble had come because He had given them the hope of the Promised Land (Numbers 11:12). Third, he had no idea how to solve the needs of his people, who were so burdened by sorrow (Numbers11:13). He concluded his argument in this way:

““I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. 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."” (Numbers 11:14-15).

Moses alone could not bear the burdens of two million people. It was so burdensome for him that he preferred to die if God would not relieve him! What could be done in this situation? God proceeded to hear Moses’ request and offered to do two things; He gave the same spirt He had placed on Moses to seventy elders, and sent large numbers of quail for Israel to eat.

First, God gave His spirit to seventy elders (Numbers 11:16-17; 24-30).  

“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. 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.” (Numbers 11:16-17).

God told Moses to select seventy elders and He would pour some of the spirit He had granted Moses upon them as well, so that they too could share Israel’s burdens. As he was directed, Moses went out and brought seventy elders to stand before the tent of the meeting. Then the Lord came down and did this:

“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.” (Numbers 11:25).

However, there something unusual happened. Among the seventy leaders, two did not go out to the tent and instead remained in their camps. Yet, the spirit came to rest on them as well, and they prophesied in the camp. When Moses’ aid, Joshua, came to know this, he said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!" (v28). However, Moses responded in this way:

“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!"” (Numbers 11:29).

Joshua knew that receiving the spirit was a privileged gift from God and was granted only to those standing around the tent of meeting. However, at this time, in order for the seventy to take on some of Moses’ burdens, God gave His spirit even to those who had stayed in the camp, away from His countenance. This was unique and different, in that, even though they were away from the tent of meeting, they were given the spirit. God was willing to make that exception for the purpose of unloading Moses’ burden, as He had promised.

Seeing this, Moses wished that God would put His spirit on all of His people! If God made such an exception once, then He might make such exception again for the entire people of Israel! In this way, Moses hoped that all of Israel might receive the spirit, so that they might know the Lord and not sin as they had been doing.

What does this tell us?

It is not clearly stated what this solution’s implications are, but we can deduce the following:  

First, God did not relieve Moses from that burden entirely. Instead, He made provisions for that burden to be shared with the seventy elders. In this way, He laid a firm principle on the burdens of sin; He would never give completely relieve men from the burden of their sins, but someone must take or share the burden, like Moses, the seventy leaders, or anyone like Moses.

Second, God did not intend to give Israel His spirit, apart from what Moses already had received. Rather, He would give these leaders some of the spirit that Moses had; then, even if they received the spirit, they would never be greater than Moses. At the same time, in Moses’ life, we can find the spirit that helps bear the sins of His people. In this regard, it is good to know what was the spirit that Moses had and how that spirit helped the seventy leaders to share the burden of Israel’s sins.

Third, only Moses had the spirit that could bear the burden of sins among all of the nation of Israel. He was given this spirit through his face-to-face relationship with the Lord. The necessity for that spirit was so great that God wanted to also give that spirit to seventy elders. How could having the same spirit as Moses help them bear the burden of Israel’s sins? What is the Spirit that bears the burden of men’s sins? Even though God did not specify what the spirit that was that He gave to Moses, we can still determine this from Moses’ life. The spirit on Moses had to do with taking on the burden of Israel’s sins. We can find evidence of this in Exodus 32:

“So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin-- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."” (Exodus 32:31-32).

Moses put his life into serving his people Israel. God wanted the seventy leaders to have that same spirit, so that the burden of Israel’s sins might not come upon them as a whole nation. Moses envisioned this hope, which was fulfilled when God promised, through the prophet Joel, that a time would come when all people would receive His spirit (Joel 2:28-29). Peter recognized the Holy Spirit’s coming upon the one hundred and twenty disciples as the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:16-21). Moses had that spirit and the seventy elders had it for a short while as well. Without God’s spirit, the burden of sin could not be alleviated. In other words, only the spirit that God gave to Moses and the seventy Israelite elders could take away the burden of Israel’s sins.

Man sins. Complaints against God was obviously sin, and some were burned to death as punishment. Was wailing in unhappiness also a sin? It doesn’t appear to be a violation of any of the Ten Commandments, but it made God angry because He considered this a rejection of His provisions, promises, and authority. Israel was called to be happy, since God was in their midst. He was the source of their lives and must also be considered the source of their joy and full satisfaction as well; this was God’s demand, not in the sense of Israel was being forced against their inner demands but in that He was their God and the source of their joy. He dwelt right there among them as their Lord, who existed for Himself and by Himself in absolute perfection. God would not tolerate imperfection or unhappiness in and among His people; however, the problem is that Israel’s unhappiness is also deeply rooted in our being, because our flesh’s cravings are unmet. How can this be remedied? This is only possible by God’s gift of His spirit, a very particular spirit that was well revealed in Moses’ life. God made this problem obvious when some of the Israelites died after eating so much quail. This spirit was first imparted to Moses, and later, all the prophets shared some of this spirit; all of this pointed towards the time of the Messiah’s coming in this same spirit.

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.” (1Peter 1:10-11 NIV).

Our minds and spirits are often compelled by the needs or cravings of our flesh, resulting in a sinful and corrupted being. In our current condition in our flesh, it is impossible to be God’s people or be with Him; if we try to do so, we will surely incur His wrath. Only being renewed by His Spirit can help us. Paul spoke about this in Galatians:

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24-25 NIV).

God can abundantly meet the needs of His people (Numbers 11:18-23; 31-35).

As the entire community, both Gentiles and Israelites, were deeply distressed over the food situation; Moses’ burden was so great that God also gave His spirit to the seventy elders. As for meeting Israel’s needs, God said:

"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. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 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?"'" (Numbers 11:18-20).

God offered them so much meat that they could eat it for a whole month. However, Moses had serious doubts about this and raised this question:

“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!' 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?" (Numbers 11:21-22).

To Moses, it seemed like an impossible task, even for the Lord, to provide meat for over six hundred thousand men to eat for a whole month. The question was how God could offer them so much meat. Moses raised this question out of necessity, but God answered him in this way:

“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."” (Numbers 11:23).

Here, God raised a serious, rhetorical question to Moses,  to unearth what was in the depth of his heart, which might have otherwise been overlooked or assumed to be of no importance. The doubt in Moses’ heart was concerning God’s ability to meet their need in such abundance. God asserted that His arm is never too short and that He would prove this to Moses and to Israel. Let’s see how He demonstrated His ability.

As God had directed Israel, they consecrated themselves and went out the next day. This was what God did for them:

“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.” (Numbers 11:31).

Here, the quail came down and scattered over a day’s walk in every direction. A day’s walk was about twelve - fifteen miles; this means that more than a hundred square miles were covered by quail. The quail also covered the ground over two feet deep. Simply, this enormous amount of quail came down and was ready for the Israelites’ consumption. When they saw such an abundance of quail, this was what they did:

“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.” (Numbers 11:32).

The people went out and collected manna all through the night until the next day; they could collect as much as they wanted. Actually, each of them collected more than ten homers (fifty gallons). The sheer amount of quail that they collected tells us the intensity of their hunger and craving for meat. This desire was further noted in the passage below:

“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.” (Numbers 11:33).

What can we understand about this?

God gave this reason for what He did:

“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?”. (Numbers 11:20).

When they could not meet the cravings of their flesh, the Israelites became sad and wailed over their predicament, even though they had no problem meeting their basic needs through the manna that God had given them. Sinking deeply into fleshly desires is a rejection of God. Though this was neither an open violation of the Law of Moses nor a verbal expression of rebellion, their hearts were not right and rejected the Lord, who was in their midst  in His full authority, power, and blessing for their lives. The antithesis to this was God’s expectation that His people have joy in and with Him, and that their joy would be far superior to the that of merely meeting the cravings of the flesh. This was the reason why God was extremely angry with the Israelites.

Even though the majority of the Israelite people wailed at their tent entrances, not all of them died; however, some of them died of plagues, providing a clear warning to the rest against indulging such fleshly cravings.  

What are our cravings? The list is very long, maybe even endless. It starts with food, but also includes other things we would like to possess, such as cars, houses, sports, leisure, and hobbies. If there is something that you must have, which affects your mind and spirit, it is very close to the kind of craving which caused God’s extreme anger against Israel. Also, we must be careful that we are not consumed by our cravings. Paul spoke more clearly about this in his letter to the Ephesians.

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Ephesians 2:3 NIV).

More often than not, all of the things that entrap people as cravings are things that are necessary or even essential, such as food. We need sports, hobbies, and other kinds of leisurely activities. Nevertheless, these are all extras and must not be the main source of joy or happiness in our lives!

Rebecca and I buy groceries that we often cannot consume in time. Many food items go untouched and spoil in the refrigerator. We are not happy, unless there is plenty of food that we can consume in the proper time. The same is true for all of life’s other needs. I have also come to realize that I own a few t-shirts that have gone unworn since I bought them. I felt a need at the time I bought them, but many of those purchases were to quench the cravings of my eyes. Practically, many things that I have bought were unnecessary; they were just to meet my cravings for clothing, food, and pleasure. These are signs of my unmet needs, which cannot be quenched, except through my relationship with the Lord.

How can we nurture our soul to receive joy, happiness, and contentment? The more we seek such joy and happiness from things that we like, such as sports or  other entertainment, the more our minds and spirits become entrapped by those desires. Joy in meeting the desires of the flesh has never been enough to quench our soul’s needs. Don’t get me wrong; they do have a place in our lives and, by themselves, there is nothing wrong. Solomon confessed that all things were meaningless, even though he denied nothing that his eyes desired (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11).

What should the source of enduring joy, happiness, or pleasure be for life?

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24 NIV).

Peter said the same thing:

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8 NIV).

Man’s joy will be made complete when he fully connects with the Lord. Until this happens, nothing will satisfy him or bring him true happiness, even though he may try to find joy in many other things. Have you made this meaningful and substantial connection with the Lord of heaven and earth? At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus taught people to ask, seek, and knock, and God the Father would give them what they needed. Christ opened the door for us sinners to enter into a relationship with the Lord of all creation, and, in this relationship, we will find the utmost joy and happiness. Until someone finds this joy in the Lord, he will be forced to seek for joy in fleshly desires, which will end in futility, as Solomon said. Therefore, we must seek for joy in the Lord.

What can we understand about God from this?

As Moses raised the serious question of whether or not feeding about six hundred thousand men with meat for the whole month was possible, God made this critical statements concerning His power: Is the Lord’s arm too short? Eventually He proved that He could provide for His people, no matter how great their needs were.  This was God’s statement regarding this event. Nevertheless, at this time, He had not done so, but instead allowed Israel to experience the cravings of the flesh. We need to understand what God’s utmost will and purpose for His people was.

Day in and day out, we are bombarded by our fleshly desires, which lead us to crave various things. We need to muse over what happened to the people of Israel as they were enjoying the meat they’d been given by God:

“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.” (Numbers 11:33).

As they were leaving that place, they named it Kibroth Hattaavah ((taʾăwâ), meaning “craving”  This was another reminder and warning, just before Israel enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 9:22), that they should not forget nor repeat the same foolishness, as they sought the land of God’s promise.