Week 8

2/2/2025

Winter 2025

• Central Passage: Numbers 11-14 (Israel's complaining and rebellion)

• Click here to see the Middle School Sunday school handout for Numbers

• Check out the Middle School Sunday School Resources page for other books of the Bible resources.

As parents, you can read Numbers with sympathetic frustration. Israel’s persistent grumbling is progressively scandalous to us. Excluding the complaints in Exodus, the Israelites grumbled or rebelled against Yahweh in Num 11:1-2, 4-15; 12; 13-14; 16-17; 20; 21; 25. But we must also remember to read stories of sin and rebellion with a true-to-life spirit of humility and conviction. How often are we guilty of the same grumbling we see in Israel? Still, God uses the most faithless vessels to build His kingdom.

Numbers 11 opens with a nondescript complaint about their “misfortunes.” The NASB seems to translate the Hebrew better than the ESV: “Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the ears of the LORD.” The Hebrew seems to be more dismissive of their actual misfortune. They complained like people with great adversity, not that they had actual adversity. The remainder of chapter 11 illustrates this.

In Exodus 16:3, Israel complained about the lack of food, but in Numbers 11, they complained about the kind of food God abundantly gave to them. Famous Baptist commentator John Gill said, “they were before pressed with famine, now they had plenty of manna every day; and also were better instructed, having received the law.” Israel’s rebellious hard-heartedness had begun to resemble a spoiled child. So, God provided quail in accordance with their craving for meat. This isn’t the first time God provided quail for them to eat. In Exodus 16:12-13 God provided quail for them. Psalm 105:40, reflecting positively on Exodus 16, confirms that God provided abundantly, and they were satisfied. But Numbers 11 exposes their unhealthy craving for excess (or gluttony) instead of God’s gracious provision. God’s response gave them the excess that they craved, but their cravings led them to judgment by a plague. This chastening lesson reminds me of Jesus’ response to Satan: “Man shall not live by [quail] alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4; cf. Deut 8:3). Thus, they called the place Kibroth-Hattaavah, meaning graves of lust/craving.

After setting out from Kibroth-Hattaavah, Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses concerning his Cushite wife. Our American historical backdrop with racism and slavery might lead us to think that Miriam and Aaron spoke disparagingly toward Moses’ Cushite wife for having darker skin. However, not only did the ancients not see things through the overgeneralized lens of race,[1] but the text seems to indicate that they were not disparaging his wife—they were disparaging Moses. The ancients respected Cushites for being some of the most famed, respectable soldiers at the time. They were likely making the case that Moses married above himself and had grown arrogant. Their resentment toward Moses’ perceived arrogance led them to say things such as, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” (12:2). I assume 12:3 was Joshua adding a parenthetical comment for our clarification that Moses was actually meek (or humble/lowly), unlike their accusations would suggest. The cycle of grumbling/rebellion and punishment had even reached Moses’ family, but it had not yet climaxed.

Numbers 13-14 record the rebellion at Kadesh-Barnea: the irreversible mistake that prohibited the first generation of Israel from entering the Promised Land. Twelve men left to spy out the land God had given to them through His covenant with Abraham. While Joshua and Caleb gave a faithful report, the remaining ten fearfully reported that they could not take the land—after all, there were giants in the land![2] Moses interceded again, but this time God declared that they would not enter the Promised Land. Though the people complained that God had brought them to the land to kill their women and children (14:3), God said that He will bring their children into the land instead. After the ten unfaithful spies died, the people mourned and continued in their rebellious unbelief by going to the Hill Country to battle the Amalekites and Canaanites. They denied God’s punishment that excluded them from the land by attempting to take it without God’s leadership. Israel continued to not take God and His word through Moses seriously.

As the story continues, Israel persisted in their rebellion. We can read these stories as true to life for our own waywardness. Indeed, we often find ourselves stubbornly relying on anything but God’s gracious lordship. But, much more so, notice how this story fits into the larger story of salvation. From Abraham, we see God sovereignly chose to show him blessing and favor. As Israel’s story continues, and their wilderness wanderings consist of scandalous faithlessness from God’s covenantal people who vainly bear his name, God’s gracious choice takes center stage while Israel’s merit is nowhere to be found. Israel’s story confirms their meritless behavior and stubborn hearts. Despite their rebellion, God still wanted to bless the world through Abraham by preserving His people in the wilderness. Immersing ourselves in these intricacies of God’s gracious story of salvation can teach the hearts of the most stubborn among us how beautiful grace can be.