Numbers 11:31-35
The LORD Sends Quail
31 Now a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. 32 And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.
Lust for flesh caused the people of God to despise their LORD and complain about more solid food than the heavenly manna they had been given from above, which also pointed to God’s greatest gift of the Living Bread (John 6:32-33, 48-49, 50-51) to come. The LORD taught them a lesson about contentment to answer their discontent and longing for the earthly food of Egypt in their enslavement under sin amongst false gods there and the rigor of endless work and very little of the foods they said they missed available to slaves like them. They merely were ungrateful and could not see the wonderful provision of their true and Living God supplying this tasty manna that was like honey in their mouths. Therefore, the LORD sent them an overwhelming amount of quail, an awkwardly plump bird still enjoyed today, an amount so innumerable that they covered the ground all around their camp. But as they attempted to consume the tasty birds they had coveted, it rotted in their mouths (“between their teeth”) before they could even chew it! The wrath of God against their unthankfulness was immediate and was followed with a great plague to temper their craving for more than the best they had already been given by God to sustain them. They buried their dead after that and moved on as the LORD led them to dwell on their sin to return to listening to Him. Do we also desire more than what God’s provision of providential grace gives us? Do we likewise show contempt for His care for us by complaining or seeking more that we believe we are entitled to? We know that godliness is trusting Him and living in thankfulness so that contentment in all things is the greatest gain (1 Timothy 6:6, Philippians 4:11-12, Hebrews 13:5) we can ever possess, so why desire more than our sufficient (Job 23:12, Proverbs 30:8-9) and pleasing supply of grace in life? Our choose is contentment in all we have or the consequences of snubbing God’s grace of provision for our daily bread, the fulfillment of which is Christ Himself as the bread from heaven for life everlasting.
No comments:
Post a Comment