QUAILS FOR THIRTY DAYS AND MANNA FOR FORTY YEARS
Part 24
Num. 10:33; 11:4-11, 15, 19, 20
Morning Meditation 11/25/16
Numbers 10:33 says, “And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days' journey, to search out a resting place for them.”
Numbers 11:4-11 says, “And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased. And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?”
Verse 15 says, “And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.”
Verses 19-20 say, “Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?”
Israel has received the law and the tabernacle at Mount Sinai. They are now ready for travel. Their journey will be in the direction of the promised land. They have God as their leader. Our text says, “. . .the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three day’s journey, to search out a resting place for them.” There will be a lot of pauses between Egypt and Canaan but no real resting place. God didn’t bring Israel out of Egypt to wander in the wilderness for forty years. I believe this would have been an amazing sight, if one could have seen this nation from the air, and witnessed the way they moved from place to place. The ark of the covenant would have been in front and an orderly array of people following behind.
The LORD continued to feed the people with manna every day. Verse 8 of Numbers 11 tells us how they prepared it: “And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.” There is no doubt that there has never been a more healthy diet than the manna. Psalm 105:37 says, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” This is an amazing statement. I know families with five or six children and there is one sick all the time. I feel so sorry for the poor mother in situations like that. Israel did not need a doctor nor even a nursing station. The LORD was their Physician. And the only time the people of Israel were sick in this forty year period was when God punished them for sin. God takes care of His people.
Israel complained because of the manna. They wanted meat! Well, when they complained about the manna, they were complaining about God’s provision for their salvation in the wilderness. They are going to survive on this manna. We know that the manna is a type of Christ. The type was important to the LORD. For instance, the rock from which they drank was a type of Christ. When it was smitten it was a type of the crucifixion and the water that flowed from it a type of eternal life that flows from the crucified Christ. Later when they needed water from the rock, Moses in anger smote it instead of speaking to it and it cost him the privilege of leading Israel into the promised land. Christ is only crucified once. To crucify Him again would suggest that the first time was not enough.
This truth is brought out in Hebrews 10:26, 29: “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins . . . Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” The “we” in verse 26 is saved Jews who were going back to the temple and offering sacrifices after they had at least professed that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. To “sin wilfully after they received the knowledge of the truth” was to offer blood sacrifices after they knew that the sacrifices offered at the temple were only temporary until Jesus came as God’s Lamb to fulfil all the Old Testament types. They did this to reduce the offense of the cross and escape the rejection of their families and friends (Heb. 12:4). But Hebrews 10:29 says the effect of this was to trample under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.
Jesus is not only the Passover Lamb to get us out of bondage to Egypt (our salvation) but He is enough to sustain us and bring us into a life of victory here on earth. Col. 2:9-10, “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” The word “fulness” in verse nine translates “pleroma” and means, “complete, filled full so that there is no room left.” To add anything to it would pervert it. The word “complete” in verse ten translates “pleroo,” the verb of which “pleroma” is the noun. It is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means completed action in the past, that completed action having present results. The passive voice is where the subject “ye” (plural, i.e., all the Colossian Church) is the receiver of the action. This fulness HAPPENED TO THEM when they were saved. It was “in him” that they were complete. 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” If you are saved, you are in Christ, and if you are in Christ, you are complete.
God will not stand for His people complaining over the manna. What about the quails? The quails were given in judgment upon Israel because of their murmurings. The quails would last thirty days. Chastening is never permanent. God’s people will not be chastened throughout eternity. No purgatories! Prov. 11:31 says, “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth . . .”
When the LORD told Moses that He would give Israel flesh to eat for a whole month, it was too much for him (Numbers 11:21, 22). Statements like this are where the humanity of Moses leaks through. You want to ask, “Moses, have you forgotten the Red Sea and all the rest of the miracles that God has wrought?” Now I’m not sitting in judgment on Moses. I am not worthy to unlatch his sandals. But to let us know that this is really what was happening we have verse 23 that says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’s hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” We learn here not to question anything that the Lord says He can do. He is big enough!
The LORD rained quails on the earth for Israel.. The quails were two cubits high. If a cubit is 18 inches that means that the LORD put quails three feet deep all around the camp. The commentaries try to find another explanation and help God out a little here. It is just too much for them to believe. I think we’ll just believe the Bible and not turn them into locust or something else! Remember the manna did not come in judgment. The quails did. Verses 32-34 says, “And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.” Then verse 35b says, “. . . there they buried the people that lusted.”
It was quails for thirty days and manna for forty years. There is no limit to God’s goodness and no escape from His judgment once He has had enough of the murmuring.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
