Numbers 11:10-15—10 Then Moses heard
the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent;
and the anger of the LORD was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. 11 So
Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have
I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these
people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You
should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing
child,' to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat
to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, 'Give us meat,
that we may eat.' 14 I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the
burden is too heavy for me. 15 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!" So this time,
when the people complained, God was angry, and now Moses was displeased as
well. But Moses’ displeasure comes out a bit different than God’s anger. Whereas
God was angry because of their not appreciating what He had done for them,
Moses’ displeasure comes across as whining. And notice the things he says. Does
this remind you of anybody? “The woman you gave me,
she gave me of the tree and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). In both
places, you see a sort of blaming God. “The woman you
gave me”, and “You have laid the burden of
all these people on me. Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them?”
are both cases of these men saying that God gave them too big a task. “It’s
all Your fault! I couldn’t handle it!” Instead of chastising the people, he
decided that maybe God is a harsh taskmaster. After all, who was it that was
guiding the people? Who was it that was keeping these people in order? Who was
it that was feeding the people? Was it Moses? No, it was God who was
responsible for all these things.
Are we not the same? We pray for the sick, pray for the lost, pray for things for our neighbor. And when things don’t go according to the way we want them to go, don’t we feel discouraged? Don’t we feel like we didn’t do enough? Don’t we often think there might have been something more that we could have done? And why do we think these things? Because we are human. We tend to think too highly of ourselves, and think that we have all the control and all the answers to everything. When, in reality, God is the One in control. Is someone sick? God is the Great Physician who can heal. Is someone lost? It is God who gives the Holy Spirit to open their eyes to the truth. Is your neighbor out of work, or going through a divorce, or having trouble keeping their kids in line? Are these things too hard for God to work out? So many questions, but we know the One who has all the answers.
And, guess what? God does have the answers. Numbers 11:16-18—16 So the LORD said to Moses: "Gather to Me seventy 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. 17 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. 18 Then you shall say to the people, 'Consecrate 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."'" He tells Moses to gather seventy leaders and meet at the door of the Tabernacle. Then He says He will take of the Spirit that He has put on Moses and put it on these seventy men, in a sense making them equal to Moses. And they will bear the burden that Moses thought he was bearing alone. Poor Moses, always taking on too much by himself. This wasn’t the first time he had done so. Back in Exodus 18, his father-in-law had to remind him that he was only one man, and there were others whom he needed to judge smaller matters. Exodus 18:13-16—13 And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. 14 So when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, "What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the people stand before you from morning until evening?" 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 When they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws." In other words, “Poor me! I am the only one who can judge any matter between two men, no matter how big or small! Only I can do that!” And Jethro had to let him know that it was okay to let other men judge the smaller matters, and for Moses to go to God for the bigger matters. Exodus 18:17-23—17 So Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you do is not good. 18 Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. 19 Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. 20 And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace."
Aren’t we guilty of the same thing sometimes, though? We think that we and we alone have all the answers? That we are the only ones that can solve any kind of problem? And yet that is not the case. God has given wisdom to others, and if we would just let go of our iron-fisted grip on the situation, God can use those people to settle those matters. Keep in mind, when Moses was sitting there judging those matters, he was doing it for about half million people! That is a population twice the size of Buffalo, NY. And out of all those half million people, he thought he was the only one who could judge matters great or small. The same thing happened here in Numbers—he cried out to God that he and he alone could lead these people, that he and he alone could provide for these people, that he and he alone was responsible for the well-being of these people. When in reality, these were God’s people, and He could do and provide for these people, and He showed here that He could.
“Then you shall say to the people, 'Consecrate 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.” Even the Apostles, when they had Jesus with them, thought that they were responsible for feeding 5000 people at one time. There they were, out in the middle of nowhere, it was getting toward sundown, and there were all these mouths to feed. Matthew 14:15—When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." As if to say “we and we alone are responsible for feeding these people! But let us do the easy thing and send these people to their homes that they may eat!” It still hadn’t gotten through their heads that God was with them. The One who created all things, the One who made even the very planet they were standing on, as well as the sun that gave them light and the moon and stars that guided them by night. But what did Jesus say? Matthew 14:16-19—16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." 17 And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish." 18 He said, "Bring them here to Me." 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. Why do we think we have all the answers to the concerns of this life? We think we are the only ones who can judge matters; we think we are the only ones who can bear with a group of people; we think we alone are responsible for feeding a bunch of people. And we too often forget that God has the answers, and the resources, and the knowledge and wisdom to work everything out, if we will just get out of His way and let Him do it. As He did with the loaves and fishes; as He did with Jethro’s advice to Moses, and as He does here with this grumbling and murmuring people in the wilderness. Of this episode, FB Meyer said:
“It seemed impossible to suppose that God could provide a table in the wilderness of such magnitude that in it the whole host could participate. Unbelief says, Can God? Faith answers, God can! Child of God! God’s hand is not waxed short, that it cannot reach to you. Even if we believe not, He remains faithful. This equipment of the elders reminds us that we, too, need to receive the Holy Spirit, first for our sanctification in character, and then for our service and office.”
Numbers 11:19-23—19 “You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils 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?’” 21 And Moses said, "The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.' 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?" 23 And the LORD said to Moses, "Has the LORD's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not." As soon as Moses spits out his pleas, God has an answer for him. He tells Moses “Don’t worry. Just bring seventy elders to the Tabernacle, and I’ll give these people so much meat they’ll make themselves sick on it.”
Look at God’s reply to Moses. When Moses asked, “Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?” As much faith as Moses had, as many times as He talked with God, and as many miracles as God showed him, there was still a touch of doubt in his mind. He still couldn’t understand just how God could provide enough food for a half million people. Would herds of cattle be enough to feed these people? Could they gather enough sheep out of their flocks? What if they went out and caught all the fish in the sea in a net, would that quiet their murmuring and their grumbling stomachs?
In His reply, we see God uses anthropomorphic devices to describe certain characteristics of Himself. “Has the LORD's arm been shortened?” Does God, who is spirit (John 4:24), have an arm? No. But we read many times in the Old Testament about the LORD’s mighty hand and outstretched arm. For example, 6 times in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:34, Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 7:19, Deuteronomy 9:29, Deuteronomy 11:2, Deuteronomy 26:8), as well as 2nd Chronicles 6:32; Job 35:9; and Ezekiel 20:33-34. This was how God related to the people. He had no form that they could see. Even Moses only saw His hind parts (Exodus 33:23). But they knew what an arm was, they knew what a hand was. Many times we see the writers of Scripture employ this and other devices to describe the power that God had and would use to deliver His people over and over and over and over again. As He would show here to these people who had forgotten just how powerful and mighty their God was (and is). No, His arm has not been shortened. They did not like the manna which He sent down every day at sundown? Fine. They wanted meat to eat? Fine. They wanted so much that it would come out their nostrils? Fine. He could do that. The same one who rebuked the wind and the waves (Mark 4:39; Luke 8:24) could make the wind blow wherever He wanted and bring some quail to them. And He did. And we will get to that shortly.
Numbers 11:24-30—24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 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 seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. 26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." 28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, "Moses my lord, forbid them!" 29 Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!" 30 And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. As I have said so many times before, and will undoubtedly say many times more before I am through, are we any different? We think we know the only ones who are preaching truth, and up comes this new person, preaching and teaching, and we just can’t seem to wrap our heads around the fact that they are teaching truth. So we have to find a chink in their armor. We have to look for a speck in their eye, because they are not on our approved-of list. We know the modern-day greats, like John MacArthur, RC Sproul, Paul Washer. Men that we know are mighty in the Word and speak truth. But what about men like Jeff Durbin? Keith Foskey? “Who are they? I’ve never heard of them, so I’m not even going to give them a chance.” It’s another way of saying "us four no more Katie bar the door". And it not limited to little Independent churches with 10 members. The same can happen at larger churches: The lead pastor is off this Sunday, so they have a guest speaker in, and what happens to the attendance? It drops off the charts. Don’t think you’re any different. And when we do this, we are just like these Israelites who scoffed at the idea of someone they didn’t approve of prophesying in the camp. Now, don’t get me wrong. If someone is speaking falsely, and preaching a different Christ and a different gospel, we should mark and avoid them (Romans 16:17-18; Galatians 1:7-8). But if someone is preaching truth, they deserve to be heard. You never know, you may hear something you need to hear! And perhaps God has sent that person so they can speak that word and you can hear it. The Expositor’s Bible says of this:
“We can only wonder that still any order of men should try in the name of the Church to shut the mouths of those who approve themselves reverent students of the Divine Word. At the same time let it not be forgotten that the power of prophesying is no chance gift, no easy faculty. He who is to speak on God’s behalf must indeed know the mind of God. How can one claim the right to instruct others who has never opened his mind to the Divine voice, who has not reverently compared Scripture with Providence and all the phases of revelation that are unfolded in conscience and human life? Men who draw a narrow circle and keep their thoughts within it can never become prophets.”
Again, the Apostles were no different. Mark 9:38—Now John answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us." When John said this, Jesus might have had a flashback. This was almost the same thing that the people said in Numbers 11. There was someone doing the things of God, who were not part of their group. And John could not stand that these people were doing something that only they could do. But that wasn’t the case. These other people did these things because they had received power from God to do so. Just like Eldad and Medad. The Spirit of the LORD rested upon them, and they did what the people thought only Moses could do. And in Both cases, those who objected were rebuked. After Jesus says, in Mark 9:39—“Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me”, He goes into a short commentary of why He allows them to cast out the demons in His name. Is it so these people will gain a great following and get millions of dollars from the gullible people watching them on TV? No. Mark 9:40—“For he who is not against us is on our side.” And if you are on Jesus’ side, you are on the correct side. He then goes on to discuss how the righteous shall in no way lose their reward, but the unrighteous will go to a place where they are eaten by worms and are burned in conscious, everlasting torment. If someone is speaking the truth in Christ, hear them. For they are on Jesus’s side. The early Methodist minister Joseph Benson said:
“Forbid him not — Neither directly nor indirectly discourage or hinder any man, who brings sinners from the power of Satan to God, because he followeth not us, in opinions, modes of worship, or any thing else which does not affect the essence of religion. For he that is not against us, is for us — Our Lord had formerly said, He that is not with me, is against me: thereby admonishing his hearers that the war between him and Satan admitted of no neutrality, and that those who were indifferent to him now, would finally be treated as enemies. But here, in another view, he uses a very different proverb; directing his followers to judge of men’s characters in the most candid manner; and charitably to hope, that those who did not oppose his cause wished well to it.”
There may be some who say “Who is this Joseph Benson anyway? I have never heard of him! Why not quote Spurgeon or Whitefield? I will not listen to what this Benson fellow says!” And you would miss out on reading some splendid teachings about our Lord and Savior!
Part 3 next week
