Numbers 11

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Numbers 11:1-35

“And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. 2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. 3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. 4 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? 5 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: 6 but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. 7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. 8 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. 9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. 10 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. 11 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? 12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? 13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15 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. 16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. 18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. 19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; 20 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, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? 21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. 22 Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? 23 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. 24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. 25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. 26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. 27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them! 30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. 31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 32 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. 33 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 as verry great plague. 34 And he called the name of the place Kibroth-hataavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. 35 And the people journeyed from Kibroth-hataavah unto Hazeroth; and abode in Hazeroth.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED582]

“Numbers chapter 11, we come to the beginning of the journeying of the children of Israel, they had been encamped at mount Sinai for a good while, they’ve about 2 years out of Egypt. And now their journey will begin. Sadly, Deuteronomy chapter 1 tells us an 11 day journey from Egypt to Canaan took them 38 years from this point. And there are many things no doubt for us to learn as we look at these things. Look, in a 38 year journey we’re given a number of snapshots, and you have to realize as we go through the book of Numbers now, because at the end of Deuteronomy we’re already coming to Joshua to the edge of the land. So as we go through the book of Numbers we get short pictures of different circumstances, and out of those 38 years, these are those lessons God has gleaned and written into his Word, not for the children of Israel, they didn’t read this, it’s for you and I to read and to learn from. And I think they’re very selective and very pointed. Ah, the Lord says to us in Romans chapter 15, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” (verse 4) In 1^st Corinthians chapter 10 he says “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted…Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (verses 6, 10-11) And certainly that’s where we live this evening in regards to the history of God’s people, at the ends of the ages. These things are to admonish us, it says, we’re to learn from them. Verse 33 of chapter 10 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.” Three days journey, that’s all it’s going to take them to start griping. And as the Ark of the Covenant goes, and the tribe of Judah and the tribes go, then the sons of Merari go with the things they were carrying, then three more tribes, then the Kohathites with all the other sacred things, all of this order, this group of people that came out of Egypt, now they’re moving through these wadis, desert areas with this Pillar leading them, and this incredible order to the whole thing, God is leading them. It says “And the cloud of the LORD was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.” (verses 34-36)

“And When The People Complained”--Complaining Is Contagious

“And when the people complained,” and interesting, the Hebrew word, it has the idea “they became complainers,” it doesn’t take long, does it. I was complaining all day yesterday, shopping, and I prayed in the morning, I did, I said ‘Lord, I’m not good at this, you have to help me be patient with my wife, she just organizes the whole world,’ I’m glad she doesn’t work for Osama Bin Laden, we’d all be in trouble, but she organizes. And I need to thank her, because she does a tremendous job for the whole family. But I just, I need the Holy Spirit to help me go out there and act right and be patient. He had to leave me at a certain point, it wouldn’t have been right for him to stay with me, but [chuckles]. The people, they became complainers. “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it;” he always does, just in case you’re wondering, “and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” (verse 1) Now there’s a positive and a negative side to that. It isn’t just like the LORD’s having a bad day, somebody complained and he smoked them. As we read this, he brings them out of Egypt with a strong hand, remarkable scene, as he delivers them from the land of Egypt. He brings them to the Red Sea, and the people start there, ‘Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to kill us out here, to die out here?’ And God doesn’t just get angry with them, no, he says ‘Stand still and behold the glory of the LORD.’ It’s just incredible, they get to the other side, ‘We will sing unto the LORD, he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider thrown into the sea,’ they sing this remarkable song, and then they go another day and they get to Marah and say ‘What are we supposed to drink, this water’s bitter, what’s going to happen to us?’ and a miracle takes place and it’s sweetened, and it says they drink, and then God brings them to Elam and 70 palm trees and blesses them. And then they start to walk again, and then they said to Moses, ‘What are, when are we going to eat? there ain’t nothing to eat, you brought us out here to kill us,’ and then Manna starts to fall from heaven, making a daily provision--4,500 tons a day, it gives us the measurements there, about 9 million pounds a day has to fall from the sky to feed between 2 and 3 million people. It tells us how many homers each person gathered. Just remarkable provision, in fact it tells us even then that Manna fell in the morning, and quails fell in the evening, so God blessed them there. And then of course the next day, they’re talking about water again, ‘What are we going to drink?’ they’re in Rephidim, and Moses has to smite the rock and water comes out. So this is not the first time they complained. But this time, the LORD decides to deal with it. Now we have a question, because it tells us in verse 4, there’s a mixt multitude with them, they brought them out of Egypt with them. There were evidently some of these Egyptians that really converted to genuine faith in Jehovah that were among them. But there were others that came out, they saw the signs, they saw the wonders, they were freaked out, they thought they were better off sticking with these people, some of them might have just been slaves wanting to get out of Egypt. But they evidently are trouble. And there’s always trouble with a mixt multitude, and there’s a mixt multitude amongst God’s people today, and there always will be. But there’s griping and complaining that starts there, and you know, it’s contagious. Judas, it says, complained when Mary broke open the box of spikenard, and he said this could have been sold for 300 denarii, and right away the other disciples joined in. It’s contagious, you ever notice that? Somebody complains about something, you’re listening, and you go ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah!’ You know, it’s just contagious. It says if you have a root of bitterness, many people can be defiled by it. And griping and complaining is contagious for some reason. And then when I hear a lot of it, I start to gripe and complain, because there’s too many people griping and complaining. The relief is, once in awhile, the fire goes through the camp and burns a few people up, and then they come running to Moses and say ‘Pray for us,’ so lots of times the gripers come back and say ‘Would you pray for us?’ so that’s a good thing too. But they’re complaining, and it doesn’t tell us specifically, but it’s an affront to the LORD, he deals with it, and it says then they cry, they change their tune, “And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.” (verses 2-3) We’re going to find out that their map is laid out by mistakes, each place they come to deals with one of their failings. And as you look back in their history, there is Marah, the waters were bitter, there is Rephidim, this is Taberah, this is where they got burnt up, oh ya, we’re going to go to Kibroth-hataavah next as we go into the chapter, to the Graves of Lust. And it’s very interesting, as they look back into their history, they see their journey marked by failures. And you and I can do that too, you know it’s interesting Christians, if you ask a Christian directions, most of the time they’ll say ‘You know where the McDonald’s is, you make a right, go down there, there’s a Starbucks there, then you make a left there, then you go here, there’s an Outback,’ it’s funny, we know our way around by restaurants. But if you look at our spiritual history and we’re honest we can say ‘This is when I messed up here, then I learned this, and here this happened,’ and God is so gracious to us, to teach us and to lead us, and we see his victories in hindsight, not ours, his. Because any victory we experience, as soon as it’s over we’re just as in need of him as when we were the moment before it, for the next thing on the docket. So here, they complain, the LORD deals with them, they name the place ‘Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.’ And verse 4 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?” when was this, the next day? “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:” (verse 5) ‘It was better in Egypt, what are we doing out here, Egypt was wonderful, it was sunny, there was garlic, it was Club Med, it was wonderful.’ Isn’t if funny how we have selective memory? When we’re displeased with something in the present or we’re struggling, we say stupid things, ‘It was easier before I was a Christian,’ that’s the stupidest thing in the world, it was not, that’s why we became Christians. And my generation, we could say ‘Oh Egypt, Egypt, Egypt,’ we don’t remember the brick kilns, and we don’t remember the task master’s whip, we don’t remember when the firstborn are being slaughtered and lives are being lost, we don’t remember the bondage. We have selective memory. When we’re discontent with something in the present, we only remember good things about the past. And there may have been some good things, but that’s all we remember, ‘Oh it was wonderful,’ ‘Well what can we remember about Egypt?’ ‘Well come on, give me more than that,’ ‘ah, leeks, onions, garlic.’ ‘What about the task-master’s whip? what about the firstborn being slaughtered? what about the whip-marks on your back? what about the bitter tears, what about crying out to the LORD? What about all of those things?’ ‘garlic,’ it’s like brain damage [daim-bramage]. It’s so ridiculous. And this mixt multitude, there’s people that sometimes, they hang around in the church, they hang around, they maybe sense something right, but their appetite is still for the world. ‘Oh, we can go there, we don’t go to the bar, we can evangelize those people, and if we don’t have a drink with them once in awhile they’ll think we’re holier than thou…you can date them, don’t worry about them, it’s an evangelistic dating process [which doesn’t work, let me tell you, it backfires almost every time].’ And they try to sow all of this compromise into the way that we think. And for you and I, look, of my generation, I can remember in Egypt, I got saved out of the world. For some of you who have grown up in the church, don’t listen when some stupid person says ‘It’s great out there, it’s really cool out there,’ because it isn’t. It’s the same old stuff out there now that was out there 30 years ago when I was out there, only it’s more lethal now. Because you can have sex outside of marriage one time out there now and get A.I.D.S., that didn’t happen 30 years ago when I was out there. You can experiment with drugs one time now, it’s ice or crack cocaine, you can be gone [fentanyl will kill you even faster], it’s just more lethal out there, that’s all. But there isn’t anything in Egypt. Let me tell you the truth, there ain’t anything like waking up in the morning and thinking ‘Jesus, if you come today, it’s OK with me.’ There isn’t anything wrong with looking at your friends and family saying ‘I don’t envy a man on this planet, not Bill Gates, not Howard Hughes, not Elvis Presley, nobody [I feel sorry for Howard and Elvis, they were hurting puppies], I am the richest man in the world. Because everything I love is going with me when I cross over.’ There isn’t any thing like knowing Jesus Christ and trusting him and having that peace, because even the American illusion right now is shuddering, it’s shuddering, and it will collapse. But here, griping, complaining ‘We remember the fish, we remember the leeks, we remember the garlic, oh it was wonderful, but now our soul is dried away, there’s nothing at all besides this Manna before our eyes.’ (verse 6)

The Importance Of Manna

And then the LORD, he wants us, he gives us a description of that, so just we’re reminded, he says “And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.” (verse 7) “bdellium” like a jewel, there must have been a glistening to 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. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” (verses 8-9) One of the other places tells us that it tasted like honey. And here these people now complaining, ‘this Manna, we’re so tired of it, Manna.’ Now what they had in Egypt was basically was spice, condiments, mustard, ketchup, leeks, garlic, onions, nothing of substance, just all the spices. And there are people in the church today, ‘We just need more spice, all they do is eat Manna, Sunday morning, Manna, Sunday evening, Manna, Wednesday evening, Manna, all they do is Bible study, all they do is get Bread there, Manna, that’s all they have, Manna, and we’re tired of it, Manna in the morning, Manna in the evening, Manna at suppertime, they beat it, the bake it, they make it into cakes, they have 101 ways of making Manna, Manna-cakes, Manna-cote, b-Manna splits, we’re just tired of, we need Spice! We need spice, we need to spice it up a little, like the worldly people do, bringing in more of a mixt multitude in. We’ll get more unbelievers in the church, that’ll be wonderful, then we’ll have more complaining.’ And sadly today, I listen to Warren Wiersby, he said, “You know, we’re substituting things for the Word of God in the Church, and the sanctuary has become a theater, it used to be a sanctuary, it’s become a theater.” Preaching has been replaced with performance, worship has been replaced with entertainment. And the Church has become this big home-entertainment center where you can come in and not be bored, with pastel colours and coffee shops, you can get a triple expresso before you walk in, the lights and the sound, you know, spice, spice it’s great, we need more spice. And when you use spice to get ‘em, you gotta use spice to keep ‘em, because then you get tired of spice after awhile, then spice has to be spicier, and then you need new spice, and hot spice, cold spice and Old Spice, and Spice Girls on the worship team, spice this and spice that. People come and talk to us and say ‘You know, what’s going on here? What’s the deal here?’ ‘we know, it’s the guitars.’ ‘What are you guys doing here? Why do people come here? You have enrollment?’ ‘no,’ ‘You force your congregation to tithe?’ ‘no,’ ‘You do mailings?’ ‘no,’ ‘Fundraising?’ ‘no.’ ‘Why are you here?’ ‘Manna, Manna [loud applause].’ It’s changing out there, it’s changing out there. There’s a mixt multitude complaining, with a taste for Egypt, ‘Let’s ordain this kind of person, let’s ordain that kind of person, the Bible doesn’t mean what it says anymore, let’s set it aside, let’s be inclusive, let’s be politically correct.’ Well we are politically correct in our Kingdom, and we are inclusive according to our Lord’s rules, anybody can be saved, anybody can come, we are extremely inclusive. Repent of your sins, accept Jesus as your Saviour you’ll be in, you’ll have eternal life. But they want us to change all the rules. And there’s an interesting picture here, because the griping, the complaining, it becomes infectious. We know from Jesus, that he saves the best for last, there at the wedding they were surprised when he turned the water into wine, they said ‘This is amazing, normally at these shindigs what happens is they put the good wine out first, and when everybody’s half plastered, then they put the poison out and nobody cares, but you guys have saved the best for last, this is amazing.’ It tells us something about Jesus, and something about the world and Satan. Because they put out what’s sweet first, and when you become intoxicated with it, you discover the poison of it. Jesus has given what he’s given us so far, but he’s saved the best till last. I love to come to communion service, I love to worship, I love to see folks praying for one another, but we ain’t seen nothing yet, wait until glory. You think you’ve seen a communion service, man O man, wait till we got cherubim around and the Lord in the middle of it and the angels and the saints, wait till you stand there and give George Whitfield and elbow and say ‘Come on, let’s join in the chorus here,’ he’s saved the best for last. But there’s all kinds of appeal to our flesh, to satisfy it now, and to not be satisfied with the provision of God that falls from heaven in our lives every day. And there are many that have been buried in the graves of lust. And lust is a mockery of the provision of God. And we’ll look at that as we go on.

‘You Want Meat? I’ll Give You Meat!’

Moses, it says in verse 10, look at his, “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.” Imagine 2 million men sitting in their tent doors, crying. Imagine Moses listening to 1,750,000, 2 million tents with everybody saying ‘We’re tired of Manna,’ imagine what that sounds like, ‘We want meat, we want fish, we want garlic, we want corned beef, we want pastrami, we can’t stand this Manna anymore,’ and Moses is going off the deep end. Now Moses is complaining, “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?” I think I might have complained like that once, “Have I conceived all this people?” he puts himself in the place of a mother now, “have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 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 11-15) ‘LORD, if you really love me, do me a favour, kill me!’ that was bad complaining going on there. God had never called him to bear it, God was the one who bears us, he’s the one who bears us today, no pastor, no priest, no man, he bears us. But Moses’ heart was certainly towards the people. God was carrying the people and Moses. “if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.” you know of course Paul says him and Silas despaired of life itself in 2^nd Corinthians 7:1, Elijah lays under the juniper tree and says ‘LORD, kill me, I can’t go on, I’m the only one left, when I’m gone you’re a non-Prophet organization.’ “And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.” (verses 16-17) Notice, they had no capacity to help with God’s work without his Spirit. “And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.” (verse 18) “for it was well with us in Egypt,” that was a blasphemous lie, ‘Who will give us flesh to eat?’ imagine saying this in the face of the LORD, ‘it was well with us in Egypt.’ I would rather eat Manna in freedom than flesh in bondage, I would rather eat the diet of heaven that God gives us week in and week out. And sometimes we feel like it doesn’t have enough sustenance to it, we feel like sometimes the Word is dry, we wish it would be more alive to us, sometimes we feel there is not as much substance as earthly things. But I would rather eat the diet of heaven, emancipated, free, than the diet of Egypt in bondage. And how often I see that, and it’s a shame. He says ‘you’re going to eat it, I’m going to give you flesh,’ look at verse 19, “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, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?” (verses 19-20) You’ve raised kids, you’ve seen them do that with soda, to get quails out of your nose is a pulmonary challenge, to get meat out your nose you gotta work and cough and sneeze real hard. And that’s not what the LORD’s saying, the LORD’s saying “until you’re sick of it,” you’re gonna want it, you’re gonna get it, and you’re gonna get it until you’re sick of it. Now look, we find there are times when the LORD does this. In Ezekiel, he says to the nation when he’s ready to judge them, because they become as wicked as the godless nations around them, he said ‘Alright, I’m going to bind you up to your lovers,’ you read it in Ezekiel chapter 23, ‘this is what you want, you’re going to have it, I’ve tried to talk to you, I’ve tried to reason with you, but you have become just like the world, you want this, you want this,’ and there’s a point when the LORD finally says ‘fine, your cure is going to be, being bound to your sin. What’s going to cure you is I’m finally going to give you what you’re hassling me for.’ It says in Psalm 106:15, ‘He gave them their request, and he sent leanness of soul.’ He gave them finally what they wanted, and he sent leanness of soul. When they finally had what they complained about, as time went on they realized it was nothing like they thought they wanted. I saw this as a child. Now as a kid I wasn’t saved, so I didn’t put it in this context, but after I got saved and I read this passage, where they said ‘You’re going to have it until it comes out your nostrils,’ I remembered my uncle, I had a couple strange uncles, but my one uncle lived in New Jersey on a farm, and it was kind of a gentleman farm, wasn’t a big farm, but he raised some stuff. And he had chickens, and he had this dog that liked to eat chickens as much as he did. Now the dog’s problem was he didn’t realize my uncle had been a Marine, he’d been at Iwo Jima, he had seen the flag go up, and the dog was messing with the wrong Marine [😊]. I heard my uncle say ‘You can’t handle the truth,’ and I thought one day, but anyhow, and that dog and my uncle got to loggerheads, and that dog was eating chickens, and we’d find them chewed up. So my uncle finally caught the dog with a chicken, and he took that chicken with like duct tape and rope and he taped that chicken around his neck where he couldn’t chew it, and left it there for about a month. And the dog obviously wasn’t allowed in the house, and the dog was going like this, trying to rub the chicken off, that dog stunk, that dog wouldn’t even go in his own doghouse with himself. But when my uncle cut that chicken off, that dog never went near a chicken again. He ate the neighbour’s cows after that [loud laughter]. He was cured. And the LORD says here, and I realized when I read this, that’s what my uncle did, I’ve seen this in action. The LORD says ‘You can have it, you’re gonna have it until you’re sick of it,’ is what he’s saying, ‘and then you’re going to be done with it.’ ‘You’re gonna eat it a whole month’ he says ‘until it comes out your nostrils, and it’s loathsome unto you,’ “because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? (verse 19b) “And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.” (verse 21) older men, wives, children, so we’re between 2 or 3 million people, he says ‘LORD, there’s 600,000 footmen, and thou hast said I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month?’ Now Moses didn’t get stuck with ‘It’s gonna come out their noses,’ Moses is stuck with ‘How are you going to provide enough meat for this many people to eat for an entire month?’ “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? 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.” (verses 22-23) ‘Moses, shut up and watch.’

A Little-Known Doctrinal Secret Locked Up In These Next Verses

“And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.” now no doubt that’s not talking about foretelling the future, but it’s talking about proclaiming the goodness, the glory, the wonders of the LORD, they’re prophesying, they did not cease. Interesting, “But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written,” they were of the 70, “but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.” you know like the guys, you know, Jesus’ disciples find somebody casting out demons in his name, and they say ‘Make them stop, they’re not with us,’ and the Lord said ‘Hey, they’re either for me or against me,’ “And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them!” (verses 24-29) That would have made Moses’ job a lot easier. [Now here is a set of Scriptures most Christians don’t realize, doctrinally speaking, the powerful significance of. And that is, that this set of Scriptures, verses 17, and 24-29, are directly showing us that the entire camp of Israel, from 2 to 3 million people, did not have God’s indwelling Holy Spirit within them, that they were not believers in the same sense that true Christians are. Meaning, when they die, they are not headed into the 1^st Resurrection to immortality the apostle Paul talked of in 1^st Corinthians 15:49-54. And we know the rest of the “unsaved” world, the Gentiles around them didn’t have God’s Holy Spirit in them either. So where do these folks (and by extrapolation, all of those who have ever lived and died) go when they die? Do they go to some everburning hellfire as most Christian theologians teach, and as most Christians sincerely believe? Here is a mystery which some Orthodox Jews may be closer to the answer than we Christians have been. Check this out. Ezekiel 37:1-14 is also the only Bible promise given to the Jews in Babylon of a hope that they would be resurrected back to life at some unspecified time in the future, and verses 13-14 of Ezekiel 37 actually show God giving his Holy Spirit to those resurrected in this resurrection. Now connecting the dots with the New Testament, we find that Revelation 20:11-13 shows this is the time of the Great White Throne Judgment, the 2^nd resurrection, when all of mankind will be resurrected back to life. Again, Ezekiel 37:13-14 shows that at this time, God will give everyone resurrected in this resurrection his Holy Spirit, offering them salvation, which for most coming up in this resurrection, will be the first time that has been offered to them. See https://unityinchrist.com/ezek/Ezekiel%20pt3-2.htm and scroll to Ezekiel 37:1-14 and read that section about what those verses mean.]

How The Graves Of Lust--Kibroth-hataavah--Came About

“And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. And there went forth a wind from the LORD,” notice that, there’s a supernatural aspect of this, “and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.” (verses 30-31) So it doesn’t mean they were 6-foot deep, but that they were flying in about that height. It’s interesting Jim and Penny Caldwell were here, who had been in Saudi Arabia, one of the things they said is, as they gathered, they moved south exploring by the Gulf of Aqaba, they said one day quail came across and started just crashing on the ground so fatigued, flying across, and it’s common, coming out of North Africa, the numbers are unimaginable sometimes. But here the LORD gathered them with a wind, and brought in who knows how many, we’re going to get a little bit of an idea. And it says, notice, “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.” (verse 32) So it says the quail are coming in, all day, all night, all the next day, they’re coming in about this high, and the people are batting them down, and it says the guy that got the least got 10 homers. I didn’t make that up, it says there, he got ten homers. Now that’s 60 bushels of quail. The guy that got the least got 60 bushels of quail. Now just try to imagine the numbers that had to come in for them to do that. It says nothing about them gathering Manna here. They gathered quail, all day, all night, they were out there with candles gathering quail. They didn’t have flashlights. All the next day, so greedy. Isn’t it interesting, how that we glut ourselves with carnal things. When we finally get what we’re complaining for, we glut ourselves with it. No mentioning of gathering Manna here. The person that gathered the least gathered 60 bushels of quail. “and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.” (32b) So then they’re drying them in the sun, they’re making turkey-jerky out of all of these millions and millions of quail. 60 bushels, how many of that is for the person who gathered least, they’re talking about 100s of millions of quails that they gathered, and they’re drying them in the sun. Now one of the things that happens with jerky, just for your information, and if you’re out hunting and you take it with you, is when you eat it, it swells up in your stomach, once it gets water again it kind of reabsorbs and swells up again. So imagine them, they’re dying all of this out in the sun, and they spread it around 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 as very great plague. And he called the name of the place Kibroth-hataavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.” (verses 33-34) It made enough of an impression upon the children of Israel, that even when the Psalms were written, long after this, Psalm 78, it says “Because they believed not in God and trusted not in his salvation, though he had commanded the clouds from above to open the doors of heaven, and had rained down Manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the grain of heaven, man did eat angel’s food. And he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven, and by his power brought in the south wind, and he rained flesh also upon them as dust, and the feathered fowls like the sand of the sea, and he let it fall in the midst of their camp round about their habitations, so they did eat and they were filled,” glutted, “for he gave them their own desire. They were not estranged from their lust, but while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.” It tells us again in Psalm 106, ‘He rebuked the Red Sea, he dried it up, he led them through the depths, through the wilderness, he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, redeemed them from the hand of their enemy, the waters covered their enemies, there was not one of them left. Then believed they his words, they sang his praise, but they soon forgot his works. They waited not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and temped God in the desert, and he gave them their request, but he sent leanness into their soul. They did not wait for the counsel of God.’ You know, in Exodus 16, as the Manna is introduced, it said ‘Then the LORD said to Moses, Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you.’ Not fire, they were complaining, God didn’t say ‘I’m gonna rain fire on these complainers,’ no, he said, ‘I’m gonna rain bread from heaven for you, ‘and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not.’ There was something with the Manna, and there was something sweeter than the Manna than the taste of the Manna, the message of it was sweeter than its taste, it spoke of God’s provision, it spoke of God’s care, it was angel’s food, it fell out of the sky every day, it was sweet, like honey, they could bake it, they could do different things with it, and it came every day, 9 million pounds a day. And every sixth day they gathered twice as much, if they gathered too much on any given day it would rot, would breed worms, but on the 6^th day, because gathering on the 7^th day was forbidden, every 6^th day 18 million pounds fell, twice as much, and they were allowed to gather twice as much, and it lasted through the Sabbath day, it was a miracle every week. And the message of the Manna was sweeter than its taste. God was saying something to them of his concern and of his love and of his care, that should have bred confidence and faith and trust in him. He was doing something so remarkable on their behalf that it should have won their hearts. And it says “but they soon forgot.” And look, we can soon forget, we can hear the voice of somebody whose compromised or a mixt multitude complaining, and how easily then we begin to lust after things that we shouldn’t have when God has provided. And it is an affront to him. Let me tell you something, in 25 years of ministry here, at Calvary Chapel Philadelphia, I’ve seen too many buried at Kibroth-hataavah, in the Graves of Lust. I heard my pastor Chuck Smith teach on this chapter years ago, and it was a year when one of my assistants had fallen. And the destruction around it was unimaginable, and the ramifications of that are still visible in my life today. His daughter, the remnants of that broken family. And we’ve seen men and women of God, buried at Kibroth-hataavah. And lusting is not just sexual. Look, pornography is a problem in the Church today. But it is all a mockery of the provision of God, for a married man to be involved in pornography, that has a decent relationship with his wife, is mocking the provision that God has given to him, and made for him. For any married man to look into his wife’s eyes, if they have a decent marriage, and say ‘I wish I hadn’t married you,’ is blasphemous. That is God’s wisdom for your life, it’s God’s provision for your life. And how many are lusting after finances, and we loose them, as we loose that heat, that passion we have for Christ and for his Word, and they turn away, and they get bogged down, and they get buried at Kibroth-hataavah. Some for position, more material things, envy, to be lusting after things that God has not provided. Look, the wonderful thing for you and I is this. We not under the Old Covenant, we’re under the New Covenant.

In closing

If you’re here this evening, or maybe listening to this teaching at some point, and you’ve made a mistake, and maybe you’re sitting here thinking ‘Is God done with me?’ If he was done with you, you wouldn’t be sitting here thinking ‘Is he done with me?’ He’s not done with you. And if you’ve trusted Christ, he bore all of your failure, on the cross 2,000 years ago. And Kibroth-hataavah is a place of learning for us, it is not a life-sentence for us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess, homologao, say the same thing. It’s not I’m sorry, it’s forgive me. It’s not ‘Boy, I shouldn’t be doing this,’ it’s ‘This is sin, you’ve forbidden it in your Word because you’re wise, and I have thought myself wiser than you. And I have entered in upon something that you have forbidden, and I have discovered now it’s rotting in my teeth, I’m sick of it, Lord forgive me.’ And he is gracious and he restores, and he puts our feet back on solid a solid rock because he loves us. And if we are genuine, he will say to us, you know the one I forgive the most is the one that ends up loving me the most. I’m not saying go out and do something stupid so you can love him more, that’s not what the Scripture teaches. But I am saying, we’re not under the Law of Moses, they sinned, they were buried at Kibroth-hataavah, you and I have trusted the sin-bearer, that all of those lambs and oxen looked forward to, and it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin [no, they just covered the sin in a ceremonial way], isn’t impossible for the blood of Jesus Christ, that’s the very purpose that he came. If you’re driving your car, and you see a sign that says Kibroth-hataavah next left, please don’t turn left there. Kibroth-hataavah 2 miles straight ahead, make a U-Turn, head back in the other direction. You don’t want to go there, you don’t want to visit there. Egypt appeals to our flesh, it says [in Hebrews 11] Moses chose the reproach of Christ rather than enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. The Bible is not naïve about sin, sin is pleasurable, that’s why we’re warned about it. There isn’t anywhere in the Bible that tells you ‘Please do not eat carpet tacks, don’t stick 16-inch nails in your eyeballs, don’t smash your thump with a sledge hammer, please don’t do it, please I implore you.’ He doesn’t have to do that. Who would do that? I know the world we live in, but generally. But it warns us about sin, because sin is pleasurable, for a season, and then it rots. It never delivers what it promises, Jesus delivers every single thing he promises, in fact, exceedingly, abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever ask or think, he’s the one, he’s the one. And he records this history of Kibroth-hataavah not for them, but for us, to be an admonition unto us, as an example for us to look at. Because in our journey, and we are journeyers, we are pilgrims, we are on a pilgrimage, the Bible tells us that, this is not our home, we are passing through. And the older you get, the more apparent that becomes. When you can see back further than you can see ahead, you realize boy I am a pilgrim. Now I remember being a little kid in elementary school, and summer lasted forever, the space between first grade and second grade was about 19-years long [yup]. Summer now, Shhweet! I sit down in the chair with a cup of coffee and the cold weather’s back again, time just you know. But I’m passing through, I’m passing through, and he’s made provision for me, all things that are necessary for life and godliness, he’s provided those things for me. Because the greatest hunger is a hunger of our soul, and Satan would deceive us into thinking there’s some physical thing for me that can satisfy that, no it’s the deepest thing, and David, David, he would commit adultery, he would sin, but he would finally say ‘As the deer panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O LORD. One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after, that I might dwell all the days of my life in the house of the LORD, may I enquire of his Temple, and behold his beauty. I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness, O LORD. Thou hast made known unto me the paths of life.’ If you are pre-Kibroth-hataavah, great lesson for us, don’t go there. If you are at Kibroth-hataavah, scream to the Lord, and just get out of there. If you are post-Kibroth-hataavah, the God you serve is merciful and longsuffering, when the repentance of your heart is genuine, he will meet you like the father ran to the prodigal son, that’s who he is. And that’s how Jesus displayed him, and no man, Jesus said, knows the Father but the Son, who came down from above. But if you want to play there, if you want spice, Old Spice, Spice Girls, whatever kind of spice, have at it, we’ll be here. And when you come back looking like something the cat drug in, our arms will be open, his arms will be open, but that’s the long way around the barn, because there ain’t anything out there better than Jesus. Don McClure told me when his oldest son started selling cocaine and was trouble in the home, and Don thought about stepping out of the ministry, and he threw his son out, he put him out, how hard that was. But he said the day he put him out he said he grabbed him on the way out and said ‘You owe me one thing.’ he said ‘What!?’ he said “I changed your diapers, I fed you, I put you in school, you owe me one thing.’ ‘What!?’ he said ‘If you find anything better than Jesus out there, you come back and tell me.’ And about 9 months later Don was a work and Jean told me there was a knock on the door and she opened it up, and her son was standing there all beat up, skinny, miserable looking, he said ‘Mom,’ she said ‘Ya,’ he said ‘Would you tell dad there’s nothing better than Jesus out here.’ And there isn’t, there isn’t. I’m going to ask the musicians to come, we’ll sing a last song together, read ahead. These chapters, each one has a lesson, there are some remarkable things. Let’s stand, let’s worship together. But I really encourage you to do this in your heart, just be honest with him and say ‘Lord, I am hankering after this, I am lusting after this, there’s something out there, and I have made it more important than you, and not only is that lust but that’s idolatry, and I am not trusting you Lord tonight, I’m doing this my own way, and the way I’m living right now, I’m involved in, I know it’s sin, will you forgive me tonight Lord? Will you put my feet on the right path? And you already opened up the grave once and took me out, Lord, brought me from death to life, would you take me out of Kibroth-hataavah tonight Lord? Whatever it is, I can’t say it, but you know what it is Lord, take me out of there, and give me a fresh start?’ and he will. He’s specializes in redemption, reconciliation, restoration, it’s what he is, it’s not just what he does…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Numbers 11:1-35, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]