He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
God brought Israel out of Egypt enriched with silver and gold, with not one weak or feeble person among their tribes. That freedom from sickness was preserved through the hardships of the wilderness by continual care, and by manna rained from heaven that was fitted to build physical, mental, and moral strength. Health was the promised reward of submitting to His voice and keeping His statutes and commandments, so that He would take away disease and establish them in Canaan as a pure, holy, and powerful people. The strength was to come through the simple diet He appointed in place of Egypt's rich food, withholding flesh as harmful and making abstinence a matter of divine law, while indulgence of appetite for meat weakened them and caused loss in the wilderness. The same conditions for preserving health still hold now, and Israel's wilderness experience stands as a warning for the last days to be studied carefully and met with thanksgiving.
Exodus Deliverance Described
The verse records that God brought Israel out of Egypt with silver and gold, and that there was not one feeble person among their tribes. It shows His care for Israel in the Exodus, and its account belongs to the historical experience that serves as a warning and lesson for His people. Their freedom from feebleness is connected to obedience in eating and living, for had they restrained appetite and followed His wise restrictions and voice there would have been no feeble ones among them. It also describes the blessing they would have enjoyed had they obeyed fully in the wilderness, that none would have fallen there but they would have entered Canaan as a healthy, happy people.
The absence of feebleness did not end at the Exodus but continued in the wilderness, where despite the hardships of the journey God preserved them from sickness and bodily weakness. The wisdom of His choice of food was proved by that health, for He cared for everything concerning their well-being and made even their food a matter of divine law for their highest good. Their health came through the manna He provided, bread rained from heaven and prepared by angels, exactly the food He wished them to have. It was healthful and exactly suited to parents and children, fitted to build up physical, mental, and moral strength despite the hardships of wilderness life.
In His wisdom He largely withheld meat in great measure from their depraved appetites that craved greater variety, especially flesh meats. Many rebelled against the restricted diet and longed for the meat and full bread of Egypt, and their weariness with manna and craving for meat, first stirred among the mixed multitude, came from depraved appetite. Through such appetite Satan, the author of disease and misery, seeks his greatest success against His people.
Their preservation through all their wilderness journeys with no sickness or weakness among them was a continual miracle and a token of His care and love. He prepared the way before them and preserved them from many great evils, including the poisonous serpents infesting the wilderness. With that care He gave them angels' food and purest water out of the flinty rock, kept their feet from swelling, and kept their clothes from wearing out. When they murmured needlessly about hardships, He permitted the serpents to bite them to show them what true hardship would be, sending judgment for ingratitude so they would realize the past merciful care they had forgotten.
Health Conditioned on Obedience
Health is the reward of obedience to God's natural and spiritual laws, and as Israel's guide and teacher Christ gave definite instruction about habits of life with assurance that God would take away sickness, a promise proved true when Israel fulfilled the conditions. Freedom from sickness followed obedience to those instructions about how to live.
The verse states a conditional promise that if Israel submitted to God's will and hearkened to His voice and kept His statutes and commandments, He would take away all sickness and disease so that none would be weak, and would carry them into Canaan and establish them there as a pure, holy, happy, powerful people. God intended Israel to become a healthy, strong people with no feeble person among them. The promise of health was tied to keeping His statutes and commandments.
That strength was to come through replacing rich, luxurious Egyptian food with the simple diet God provided where flesh could not be obtained — manna with fruits, vegetables, and grains — which He made a matter of divine law for their highest good. The long wilderness journey was to educate, discipline, and train them in correct habits. In wisdom He withheld meat in great measure because it was not essential to health and He as Creator and Redeemer knew its harmful influence on the human system. The manna He gave, bread rained from heaven and prepared by angels, was exactly the food He wished them and their children to have and was fitted to build physical, mental, and moral strength. God cared for everything concerning their well-being, and their physical strength and appearance after the long journey were to bear witness to Him as Creator and Redeemer and bear the divine credentials. In the wilderness He would replace their rich food with simple, healthful food and bring them into Canaan as a powerful people.
Had Israel restrained appetite, denied physical wants, practiced self-restraint under God's wise restrictions, and put His requirements first, none would have fallen in the wilderness and they and their descendants would have entered Canaan as a holy, healthy, happy people with physical and mental strength, clear judgment, and sound discernment. Instead indulgence of appetite and passion led them into sin and caused weakness, decline, and loss. Craving the flesh-pots of Egypt with mourning, weeping, murmuring, and complaining weakened the fulfillment of the plain promise. That craving was stirred first among the mixed multitude from depraved appetite for greater variety, especially flesh meats. Many rebelled against the restricted diet and longed for the meat and full bread of Egypt.
Because Israel was so determined to have the flesh of dead animals despite the plain promise, God in wrath gave them the very flesh diet He had withheld. Disregarding the conditions by following their own ways dishonors God and brings sickness, disease, and plagues. Faith in Christ as healer does not remove the need to restrict animal appetites.
Warning and Application Today
The verse belongs to the record of Israel's experience in the wilderness described by Paul, and that history stands as a warning and lesson for God's people to study carefully, especially those living in the last days. Together with Psalm 106, Psalms 105 and 106 contain those lessons of warning, and they should be read at least once every week.
The verse reveals the goodness and enduring mercy and love and care of God in His dealings with His people, which all who claim to be His children and the redeemed of the Lord need to read carefully and appreciate and declare with thanksgiving. Its words are to be taken into individual experience and believed as God's word, so that faith increases and does not diminish, and thanking the Lord for His word becomes a stronghold against discouragement and perplexity.
The same conditions for preserving health then given to Israel still hold for all now. Faith in Christ as healer does not remove the need to restrict animal appetites, for strength was tied to the simple diet of fruits, vegetables, grains and bread from heaven by which God educated and disciplined Israel when flesh was withheld, and the same return to a simple fleshless diet is intended for His people now. To disregard those conditions and follow their own ways dishonors God and brings sickness, disease, and plagues.
God brought Israel out of Egypt enriched with silver and gold, with not one weak or feeble person among their tribes. That freedom from sickness was preserved through the hardships of the wilderness by continual care, and by manna rained from heaven that was fitted to build physical, mental, and moral strength. Health was the promised reward of submitting to His voice and keeping His statutes and commandments, so that He would take away disease and establish them in Canaan as a pure, holy, and powerful people. The strength was to come through the simple diet He appointed in place of Egypt's rich food, withholding flesh as harmful and making abstinence a matter of divine law, while indulgence of appetite for meat weakened them and caused loss in the wilderness. The same conditions for preserving health still hold now, and Israel's wilderness experience stands as a warning for the last days to be studied carefully and met with thanksgiving.
Exodus Deliverance Described
The verse records that God brought Israel out of Egypt with silver and gold, and that there was not one feeble person among their tribes. It shows His care for Israel in the Exodus, and its account belongs to the historical experience that serves as a warning and lesson for His people. Their freedom from feebleness is connected to obedience in eating and living, for had they restrained appetite and followed His wise restrictions and voice there would have been no feeble ones among them. It also describes the blessing they would have enjoyed had they obeyed fully in the wilderness, that none would have fallen there but they would have entered Canaan as a healthy, happy people.
The absence of feebleness did not end at the Exodus but continued in the wilderness, where despite the hardships of the journey God preserved them from sickness and bodily weakness. The wisdom of His choice of food was proved by that health, for He cared for everything concerning their well-being and made even their food a matter of divine law for their highest good. Their health came through the manna He provided, bread rained from heaven and prepared by angels, exactly the food He wished them to have. It was healthful and exactly suited to parents and children, fitted to build up physical, mental, and moral strength despite the hardships of wilderness life.
In His wisdom He largely withheld meat in great measure from their depraved appetites that craved greater variety, especially flesh meats. Many rebelled against the restricted diet and longed for the meat and full bread of Egypt, and their weariness with manna and craving for meat, first stirred among the mixed multitude, came from depraved appetite. Through such appetite Satan, the author of disease and misery, seeks his greatest success against His people.
Their preservation through all their wilderness journeys with no sickness or weakness among them was a continual miracle and a token of His care and love. He prepared the way before them and preserved them from many great evils, including the poisonous serpents infesting the wilderness. With that care He gave them angels' food and purest water out of the flinty rock, kept their feet from swelling, and kept their clothes from wearing out. When they murmured needlessly about hardships, He permitted the serpents to bite them to show them what true hardship would be, sending judgment for ingratitude so they would realize the past merciful care they had forgotten.
Health Conditioned on Obedience
Health is the reward of obedience to God's natural and spiritual laws, and as Israel's guide and teacher Christ gave definite instruction about habits of life with assurance that God would take away sickness, a promise proved true when Israel fulfilled the conditions. Freedom from sickness followed obedience to those instructions about how to live.
The verse states a conditional promise that if Israel submitted to God's will and hearkened to His voice and kept His statutes and commandments, He would take away all sickness and disease so that none would be weak, and would carry them into Canaan and establish them there as a pure, holy, happy, powerful people. God intended Israel to become a healthy, strong people with no feeble person among them. The promise of health was tied to keeping His statutes and commandments.
That strength was to come through replacing rich, luxurious Egyptian food with the simple diet God provided where flesh could not be obtained — manna with fruits, vegetables, and grains — which He made a matter of divine law for their highest good. The long wilderness journey was to educate, discipline, and train them in correct habits. In wisdom He withheld meat in great measure because it was not essential to health and He as Creator and Redeemer knew its harmful influence on the human system. The manna He gave, bread rained from heaven and prepared by angels, was exactly the food He wished them and their children to have and was fitted to build physical, mental, and moral strength. God cared for everything concerning their well-being, and their physical strength and appearance after the long journey were to bear witness to Him as Creator and Redeemer and bear the divine credentials. In the wilderness He would replace their rich food with simple, healthful food and bring them into Canaan as a powerful people.
Had Israel restrained appetite, denied physical wants, practiced self-restraint under God's wise restrictions, and put His requirements first, none would have fallen in the wilderness and they and their descendants would have entered Canaan as a holy, healthy, happy people with physical and mental strength, clear judgment, and sound discernment. Instead indulgence of appetite and passion led them into sin and caused weakness, decline, and loss. Craving the flesh-pots of Egypt with mourning, weeping, murmuring, and complaining weakened the fulfillment of the plain promise. That craving was stirred first among the mixed multitude from depraved appetite for greater variety, especially flesh meats. Many rebelled against the restricted diet and longed for the meat and full bread of Egypt.
Because Israel was so determined to have the flesh of dead animals despite the plain promise, God in wrath gave them the very flesh diet He had withheld. Disregarding the conditions by following their own ways dishonors God and brings sickness, disease, and plagues. Faith in Christ as healer does not remove the need to restrict animal appetites.
Warning and Application Today
The verse belongs to the record of Israel's experience in the wilderness described by Paul, and that history stands as a warning and lesson for God's people to study carefully, especially those living in the last days. Together with Psalm 106, Psalms 105 and 106 contain those lessons of warning, and they should be read at least once every week.
The verse reveals the goodness and enduring mercy and love and care of God in His dealings with His people, which all who claim to be His children and the redeemed of the Lord need to read carefully and appreciate and declare with thanksgiving. Its words are to be taken into individual experience and believed as God's word, so that faith increases and does not diminish, and thanking the Lord for His word becomes a stronghold against discouragement and perplexity.
The same conditions for preserving health then given to Israel still hold for all now. Faith in Christ as healer does not remove the need to restrict animal appetites, for strength was tied to the simple diet of fruits, vegetables, grains and bread from heaven by which God educated and disciplined Israel when flesh was withheld, and the same return to a simple fleshless diet is intended for His people now. To disregard those conditions and follow their own ways dishonors God and brings sickness, disease, and plagues.