And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
The whole congregation murmured in the wilderness after deliverance from Egypt and the dividing of the Red Sea, when food was nearly exhausted and heat, thirst, fatigue and barren travel pressed them, craving the meat and full bread of Egypt and charging Moses and Aaron with bringing them out to kill them with hunger. Their complaint against Moses and Aaron was complaint against God Himself, for God was leading and caring for them and Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and fire was their leader and teacher. The murmuring revealed an evil heart of unbelief, distrust, ingratitude and forgetfulness of past deliverance, miracles and promises, treating every hardship as an impossibility and failing the test of trust. At root the rebellion came from indulged perverted appetite and lust for Egypt, putting physical wants before obedience, and God used the trial to prove their fidelity, teach dependence, purify them and reform their habits of eating. God stooped to end the complaining by giving bread from heaven, angels' food and unmistakable evidence of divine leading and protection, and the record stands as a warning lest His people today likewise fail in small tests of faith, worry over future provision and resist restraint of appetite.
Setting and Complaint
The whole congregation murmured in the wilderness after deliverance from Egypt and the dividing of the Red Sea. After traveling, water was scarce and bad and they suffered thirst, while the food supply was nearly exhausted with no way seen to obtain more. Heat, dust, rough and barren terrain, thirst, and fatigue from traveling on foot through the desert pressed on them and help explain why the journey drew complaints. Many facing those hardships on foot through barren country would have complained even more.
Though they still had food for the present, they feared they and their children would go hungry and anticipated future want. They craved meat and full supplies of bread as in Egypt, clamoring for flesh-meats when appetite was restricted and their faith was tested over bread and water. Their murmuring blamed Moses for their trials and resented the hardship and the way they were being tested.
They wished they had died in Egypt when they sat by the fleshpots with abundant meat and ate bread to the full, even wishing they had remained there. They charged Moses and Aaron with bringing them into the wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger and to destroy them. When appetite was restricted and close, demanding requirements were brought to bear, they accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power and rule, of wishing to rule and be altogether a prince over them, though he was only God's instrument to bring them into submission and obedience to God's voice.
Complaining against Moses and Aaron was complaining against God, who was leading and caring for them despite the miracles by which He had delivered and protected them. Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their leader and teacher, leading them through the wilderness to make them a separate people, and His preserving power went with them. The whole congregation continually complained against Moses and against God.
Unbelief and God's Response
The murmuring revealed an evil heart of unbelief, distrust, ingratitude and forgetfulness of past deliverance, miracles, care, assurances and promises. Though they still had food for the present, with the supply nearly exhausted and no way seen to obtain more they anticipated future hunger and want for themselves and their children, blamed Moses for their trials, and wished they had remained in Egypt. They were unwilling to endure hardship in the wilderness, treated every difficulty in the way as an impossibility, let confidence in God fail, saw nothing before them but death, and failed the test of trusting Him when faith was tried. Their complaints against Moses and Aaron were complaints against God, who was leading and caring for them, for Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their leader. He was using the trial to teach them dependence on His care.
At root the rebellion came from looking back into Egypt and lusting for the good things enjoyed there, from hankering after the fleshpots while the diet was restricted and clamoring for flesh-meats. It was indulgence of perverted appetite and passion, putting physical wants before God's requirements and refusing obedience to God's words and to God's choice of proper food for them. They accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power, though he was only God's instrument in leading them toward submission and obedience to God. That indulgence led them into numerous and grievous sins and caused them to fall in the wilderness instead of being established in Canaan as a holy and happy people with not a feeble one among them. While this was happening God was guiding them through the wilderness for forty years to make them a separate people and to reform their habits of eating, with Christ as their leader and teacher by the pillar of cloud and of fire and the preserving power of God going with them.
God chose to withhold those indulgences to prove them and test their fidelity to Him, to test and purify them. The question put to them was whether they valued His service and the freedom He had so miraculously given them more highly than the indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt while in servitude to a tyrannical and idolatrous people. Their fear of future hunger made them resent the hardship and the way God was testing and purifying them, illustrating how people today may likewise fail small tests of faith, worry about future provision, and resist self-denial and restraint of appetite.
God stooped to answer the complaint and to end the complaining by working for them so they could see He was acting in their behalf, in one of the repeated cases where He so worked. Though they craved meat and full supplies of bread as in Egypt, He gave bread from heaven. That bread was angels' food, the best food that could possibly be given, given in a miracle and as unmistakable evidence that they were being led and protected by divine power.
The declaration given through Moses to be repeated to them on that occasion, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, teaches that hunger for temporal food is not the greatest calamity. Christ by quoting it and by His own example of enduring hunger showed perfect faith and trust in the Heavenly Father.
Warning for Today
The recorded history of this rebellion and ingratitude is preserved as a warning so that God's people may avoid unbelief and escape the consequences of disobedience. The congregation's murmuring against its leaders reflected distrust of God despite His past care, and their fear of future hunger led them to resent hardship and the way God was testing and purifying them. People today may likewise fail small tests of faith, worry about future provision, and resist self-denial and restraint of appetite.
God's servants must not murmur when trials arise, but must remember God's care and accept that His work involves a rugged, self-denying path. Obedience in leaving one place at God's command, when it suits personal inclination and human ideas, does not by itself make a good and obedient servant. His servants walk with Him trustingly without questioning and do not obstruct the way. The murmuring illustrates how people in adverse circumstances complain against the one carrying the most responsible burdens and difficult responsibility in God's work.
As ancient Israel murmured against Moses when appetite was restricted or a demanding requirement was placed on them, so the same murmuring is repeated among modern Sabbathkeeping Israel. Then they accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power and rule and wishing to be altogether a prince over them, though he was only God's instrument to bring them into submission and obedience to God's voice. Now jealous and suspicious ones turn faithful leadership and appeals for submission, obedience, self-denial, generosity, liberality, donations, and rebukes of love of the world and selfishness into false charges of arbitrary power, selfish ambition, scheming, and avarice to be personally benefited and enriched from the brethren. This is done even when the leader God selected and qualified to lead out His people in the advance work pleads for the cause, encourages liberality, pleads for donations, and leads by liberal donations himself, and the false interpretation gives enemies of the faith occasion to distrust his honesty and stands in the way of many embracing the truth.
The same murmuring is repeated when Sabbath-keepers look to the world and desire to follow its fashions and share its pleasures, just as Israel looked back into Egypt and lusted for the good things enjoyed there in servitude to a tyrannical and idolatrous people. God withheld those indulgences to prove them and test their fidelity, to see whether they valued His service and the freedom He had miraculously given more highly than those indulgences. The same complaining meets the work of health reform, so the standard of health reform in diet is to be maintained because regulating the diet of the sick accomplishes more than all the baths that can be given. The heat, dust, rough travel, thirst, and fatigue of journeying on foot through barren country help explain why the journey drew complaints, and many facing those hardships would have complained even more.
The whole congregation murmured in the wilderness after deliverance from Egypt and the dividing of the Red Sea, when food was nearly exhausted and heat, thirst, fatigue and barren travel pressed them, craving the meat and full bread of Egypt and charging Moses and Aaron with bringing them out to kill them with hunger. Their complaint against Moses and Aaron was complaint against God Himself, for God was leading and caring for them and Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and fire was their leader and teacher. The murmuring revealed an evil heart of unbelief, distrust, ingratitude and forgetfulness of past deliverance, miracles and promises, treating every hardship as an impossibility and failing the test of trust. At root the rebellion came from indulged perverted appetite and lust for Egypt, putting physical wants before obedience, and God used the trial to prove their fidelity, teach dependence, purify them and reform their habits of eating. God stooped to end the complaining by giving bread from heaven, angels' food and unmistakable evidence of divine leading and protection, and the record stands as a warning lest His people today likewise fail in small tests of faith, worry over future provision and resist restraint of appetite.
Setting and Complaint
The whole congregation murmured in the wilderness after deliverance from Egypt and the dividing of the Red Sea. After traveling, water was scarce and bad and they suffered thirst, while the food supply was nearly exhausted with no way seen to obtain more. Heat, dust, rough and barren terrain, thirst, and fatigue from traveling on foot through the desert pressed on them and help explain why the journey drew complaints. Many facing those hardships on foot through barren country would have complained even more.
Though they still had food for the present, they feared they and their children would go hungry and anticipated future want. They craved meat and full supplies of bread as in Egypt, clamoring for flesh-meats when appetite was restricted and their faith was tested over bread and water. Their murmuring blamed Moses for their trials and resented the hardship and the way they were being tested.
They wished they had died in Egypt when they sat by the fleshpots with abundant meat and ate bread to the full, even wishing they had remained there. They charged Moses and Aaron with bringing them into the wilderness to kill the whole assembly with hunger and to destroy them. When appetite was restricted and close, demanding requirements were brought to bear, they accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power and rule, of wishing to rule and be altogether a prince over them, though he was only God's instrument to bring them into submission and obedience to God's voice.
Complaining against Moses and Aaron was complaining against God, who was leading and caring for them despite the miracles by which He had delivered and protected them. Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their leader and teacher, leading them through the wilderness to make them a separate people, and His preserving power went with them. The whole congregation continually complained against Moses and against God.
Unbelief and God's Response
The murmuring revealed an evil heart of unbelief, distrust, ingratitude and forgetfulness of past deliverance, miracles, care, assurances and promises. Though they still had food for the present, with the supply nearly exhausted and no way seen to obtain more they anticipated future hunger and want for themselves and their children, blamed Moses for their trials, and wished they had remained in Egypt. They were unwilling to endure hardship in the wilderness, treated every difficulty in the way as an impossibility, let confidence in God fail, saw nothing before them but death, and failed the test of trusting Him when faith was tried. Their complaints against Moses and Aaron were complaints against God, who was leading and caring for them, for Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their leader. He was using the trial to teach them dependence on His care.
At root the rebellion came from looking back into Egypt and lusting for the good things enjoyed there, from hankering after the fleshpots while the diet was restricted and clamoring for flesh-meats. It was indulgence of perverted appetite and passion, putting physical wants before God's requirements and refusing obedience to God's words and to God's choice of proper food for them. They accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power, though he was only God's instrument in leading them toward submission and obedience to God. That indulgence led them into numerous and grievous sins and caused them to fall in the wilderness instead of being established in Canaan as a holy and happy people with not a feeble one among them. While this was happening God was guiding them through the wilderness for forty years to make them a separate people and to reform their habits of eating, with Christ as their leader and teacher by the pillar of cloud and of fire and the preserving power of God going with them.
God chose to withhold those indulgences to prove them and test their fidelity to Him, to test and purify them. The question put to them was whether they valued His service and the freedom He had so miraculously given them more highly than the indulgences they had enjoyed in Egypt while in servitude to a tyrannical and idolatrous people. Their fear of future hunger made them resent the hardship and the way God was testing and purifying them, illustrating how people today may likewise fail small tests of faith, worry about future provision, and resist self-denial and restraint of appetite.
God stooped to answer the complaint and to end the complaining by working for them so they could see He was acting in their behalf, in one of the repeated cases where He so worked. Though they craved meat and full supplies of bread as in Egypt, He gave bread from heaven. That bread was angels' food, the best food that could possibly be given, given in a miracle and as unmistakable evidence that they were being led and protected by divine power.
The declaration given through Moses to be repeated to them on that occasion, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, teaches that hunger for temporal food is not the greatest calamity. Christ by quoting it and by His own example of enduring hunger showed perfect faith and trust in the Heavenly Father.
Warning for Today
The recorded history of this rebellion and ingratitude is preserved as a warning so that God's people may avoid unbelief and escape the consequences of disobedience. The congregation's murmuring against its leaders reflected distrust of God despite His past care, and their fear of future hunger led them to resent hardship and the way God was testing and purifying them. People today may likewise fail small tests of faith, worry about future provision, and resist self-denial and restraint of appetite.
God's servants must not murmur when trials arise, but must remember God's care and accept that His work involves a rugged, self-denying path. Obedience in leaving one place at God's command, when it suits personal inclination and human ideas, does not by itself make a good and obedient servant. His servants walk with Him trustingly without questioning and do not obstruct the way. The murmuring illustrates how people in adverse circumstances complain against the one carrying the most responsible burdens and difficult responsibility in God's work.
As ancient Israel murmured against Moses when appetite was restricted or a demanding requirement was placed on them, so the same murmuring is repeated among modern Sabbathkeeping Israel. Then they accused Moses of acting arbitrarily and seeking power and rule and wishing to be altogether a prince over them, though he was only God's instrument to bring them into submission and obedience to God's voice. Now jealous and suspicious ones turn faithful leadership and appeals for submission, obedience, self-denial, generosity, liberality, donations, and rebukes of love of the world and selfishness into false charges of arbitrary power, selfish ambition, scheming, and avarice to be personally benefited and enriched from the brethren. This is done even when the leader God selected and qualified to lead out His people in the advance work pleads for the cause, encourages liberality, pleads for donations, and leads by liberal donations himself, and the false interpretation gives enemies of the faith occasion to distrust his honesty and stands in the way of many embracing the truth.
The same murmuring is repeated when Sabbath-keepers look to the world and desire to follow its fashions and share its pleasures, just as Israel looked back into Egypt and lusted for the good things enjoyed there in servitude to a tyrannical and idolatrous people. God withheld those indulgences to prove them and test their fidelity, to see whether they valued His service and the freedom He had miraculously given more highly than those indulgences. The same complaining meets the work of health reform, so the standard of health reform in diet is to be maintained because regulating the diet of the sick accomplishes more than all the baths that can be given. The heat, dust, rough travel, thirst, and fatigue of journeying on foot through barren country help explain why the journey drew complaints, and many facing those hardships would have complained even more.