Theological Commentary: Click Here
This is an
incredibly rich theological chapter. We’ll
start with the fact that the people grumble.
They are unhappy, and unhappiness breeds more unhappiness. They aren’t content eating what the Lord
gives them for free. They want something
other than the provision of the Lord.
Furthermore,
do you hear their complaints? They paint
Egypt as if it was a garden of plenty where they were happy. How quickly they have forgotten that Moses
was sent by God because of their complaining about their own oppression. Human beings have a tendency to see the
present with worry and the past with happiness because the present is unknown
and the past is already behind us and known.
Second, we
see Moses’ power divided up among seventy-two people. At first, this seems like a bad thing. Moses loses power as he gives it up to others. Moses’ power is diminished. Moses power is diminished because of the
people’s grumbling, even! However, I am
not so sure that this is as bad of a thing as it first appears. One man should not think they could lead a
whole nation alone. Everyone needs
help. Everyone needs people to assist in
governing. What appears as a punishment
is actually a blessing to Moses in the long run.
Third, we
see the plague of quail. The people get
what they want. They get all the meat
they can possibly stand. However, the
meat rots as they are eating it. While
this is a very vivid description, it has a deep spiritual teaching as
well. The fruit of our sin often poisons
us at the moment that we get what we desire.
In other words, when we start off in sin, we so often only discover the
negative results after they are attained.
What seems like such a good and pleasing thought so often turns out to
be a bad idea in reality.
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