The Kindness and Sternness of God

Text Numbers 11 Time 03/06/12 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

 

We are looking at the Book of Numbers and we come this week to Numbers 11. In Numbers 11 two incidents are recorded, the first quite briefly and the second at some length. Firstly in verses 1-3 we read of how the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, which led to the LORD sending down fire on them. It concludes (3) So that place was called Taberah, (it burns) because fire from the LORD had burned among them. Then in the rest of the chapter (verses 4-35) we have another incident recorded at greater length where the people again started wailing and complaining. This time the response is more complicated and there is more detail but towards the end we read how this time God struck them with a severe plague and in verse 34 a conclusion similar  in pattern to that found in verse 3 occurs. Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, (graves of the craving) because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

So what we have here is first what happened in Taberah and then what happened in Kibroth Hattaavah, places on the route through the desert from Egypt to the Promised Land. In the first case the people grumble and God sends fire, in the second they grumble and God shows them a mercy mixed with judgement but then, more obviously, sends a plague.

As we have often pointed out from 1 Corinthians 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come and from Romans 15:4  Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

What I want us to do then is to consider the kindness and sternness of God as seen here and to see what it has to teach us about how to live today. So I want to say two things, the first is fairly brief and the second is quite long.

1. Consider how stern God can sometimes be but do notice his kindness

First, in verses 1-3, we see an example of God's judgement by fire but with mercy.

1. Consider the sin of grumbling

One of the things that the people were often guilty of in the desert was the sin of grumbling. We have an instance here where, in verse 1, we read Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD. Now in Numbers and Exodus you get plenty of examples of this. The first example in the desert is at the Red Sea. In Exodus 14:11 they say "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Even back in Egypt they would moan and complain. In the desert it becomes something of a theme. It is a great sin to moan and complain and one that we must avoid. If we ever fall into it we must seek forgiveness.

2. Consider how sin arouses God's anger

We read next and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Now God's anger is not the same as human anger but there is something that links the two and we are told here that the moaning and complaining that went on made God angry. When people complain or moan, it always makes God angry.

3. Consider the sternness of God's judgement as seen here

The next thing we read is that Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. God sent down fire, like lightning no doubt, and it struck some people and they died. It was a clear act of judgement as sometimes happens when God strikes out at some sin in this person or that.

4. Consider the kindness of God as is also seen here

We also read (2) that When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. The same God who sent down fire also heard the request of the people through Moses their mediator and took the fire away. Even the fire itself only hit the outskirts of the camp so there was mercy from the beginning but here it is a clear act of kindness when he takes the fire away.

So four things. Do not sin – by grumbling or in some other way. Such sins make God angry. If you do sin God may send immediate and fierce judgement. Nevertheless, even in the very sternness of judgement do not be surprised to see marks of undeserved mercy.

2. Consider how kind God can sometimes be but do notice his sternness

After Taberah comes Kibroth Hattaavah. A similar pattern is found here in some ways but with much more detail and other matter.

1. Consider the sin of grumbling

One would have thought that such a display of judgement and especially in light of the mercy mixed in with it the Israelites would have given up their grumbling. But no, what do we read in verse 4? The rabble with them began to crave other food. This is the mixed crowd that attached themselves to the Israelites when they left Egypt and again the Israelites themselves 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! How quickly the slavery and suffering of Egypt is forgotten and suddenly it is remembered as a halcyon age when they wanted for nothing. How easy to opt a rosy glow on the past. What grumbling there was again. What makes this sin worse is the fact that daily God was sending bread from heaven for them.

In verses 7-9 we are given a brief note about manna, assuming we have already read Exodus 16 – it 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. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

2. Consider how sin arouses God's anger

We read this time that The LORD became exceedingly angry. There is anger again; this time worse than before. As we have said, this is how God reacts to sin. He hates it. It angers him. He is never happy with it.

3. Consider how it troubles leaders too

In verse 10 we read that Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. We then read that not only was God angry but Moses was troubled too. This leads to Moses asking the LORD (11) 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? 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? he asks in despair. Moses is a man, he cannot nurse children! (13) Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, Give us meat to eat! 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 favour in your eyes - and do not let me face my own ruin.

Moses has clearly had enough and can't stand any more. He feels he is between a rock and a hard place, as they say. On one hand, the people are rebellious and sinful. On the other, God is angry with them. We will not say that Moses was right to be upset but it is surely understandable.

4. Consider the kindness of God to Moses

God's immediate priority is to do something to help the overworked Moses, which tells us something about God and his order of doing things. Moses is told to bring before God seventy of Israel's elders known to him as leaders and officials among the people. He was to Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. God says (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.

Moses was finding it too much and so rather than berating him, God immediately provides him, very practically, with helpers,

5. Consider the sternness of God as is also seen here

Having spoken to Moses we might think God would then set about judging the people. Would he send more fire or would he send a plague or open the earth to swallow them or what?

Moses is instructed to tell the people to consecrate themselves in preparation for the next day when, they are told, you will eat meat. It goes on 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. It sounds like their prayers have been answered. But no, there is more (19) 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?

6. Consider how hard it can be to lead God's people

Woven into the narrative here is the way God deals with Moses. Hearing what God says, Moses is again concerned. 21, 22 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? But the reply is very obvious (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.

Perhaps the biggest problem leaders have is their lack of faith in the Lord. They are constantly underestimating is power,. They should not. Moses needs to learn here then as well as the people.

7. Consider how kind God is to those who lead God's people

At this point Moses goes out of the tabernacle where he has been speaking with God and (24) tells the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. Then the LORD we read distinguished him from them and came down in the cloud and spoke with him, then 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. We do not know exactly what this prophesying was like, only that it was an initial not a lasting thing.

In verse 26 we are told 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. Some are troubled over how seventy could be at the tent and yet two were missing but it may be that we should understand verse 24 as saying Moses brought together what appeared to be seventy of their elders. Certainly they did prophesy and yet were not with the others.

We read (27-30) that A young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' aide since youth, spoke up and said, Moses, my lord, stop them! 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! Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. This shows how meek and unassuming Moses was and where his heart lay. Moses was not perfect but he did see things very clearly and there is no suggestion that he craved power for himself.

8. Consider the sternness of God in its less obvious form

Having dealt with the leadership issue God now proceeds to deal with the people. We are told how (31, 32) Now a wind (Spirit it is) 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. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers (over 2,000 litres). Then they spread them out all around the camp (perhaps to dry them, as is common).

Sometimes it is God's way to judge people by giving them what they want. In the New Testament in Romans 1 (24, 26, 28, 29) Paul speaks of God giving people over. There they begin with one sin and are allowed to go onto more. Here it is that they are given what they want to excess. I think we can see this working out in our own society in so many ways. We see it most obviously in the materialism and the desire for so called sexual freedom that we have seen over recent years. What loathsome excesses we see on both fronts.

9. Consider the sternness of God in its most obvious form

Finally we read (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. Some wonder if the plague was connected to the meat - a sort of food poisoning. Whatever the explanation we see again the wrath of God against sin. What a warning this passage is against going against God. There is a proverb “be careful what you wish for”. Perhaps it fits here.