And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
Psalm 78 recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on Israel and sets their poor response against those benefits. The failure named in verse 18 is that they tested God in the heart by asking for food to satisfy desire rather than to honor Him.
To tempt God in the heart was to demand meat to gratify lust and selfish, self-indulgent appetite rather than from genuine hunger. They spoke against God and asked whether He could furnish a table in the wilderness and give bread and provide flesh after He had struck the rock so that waters gushed out. Their craving, weeping, murmuring and complaining expressed unbelief, distrust of His salvation, and discontent with His provision. They had forgotten His dealings, words, mighty works and the source of their strength, going to complaining when trials came, and remembering what He had done would have kept them from this failure.
They did this despite His care, the evidence of His power, His mercy, and His shelter over them with cloud and fire. They did it despite His having already fed them with manna, the bread of heaven, angels' food, the bread of the mighty, the best food for health and long life, suited to make them a pure, holy and healthy people. They lusted because in Egypt they had become accustomed to flesh food, which God withheld because it is not man's natural food and produces disease and shortens life. He had brought them from Egypt to establish them in Canaan as a pure, holy and happy people, and disciplined them in the wilderness to educate them in correct habits for their own good and for their descendants' good.
Coming after God's revelation of power and mercy at Horeb and the people's pledge to obey, this murmuring was rebellion and brought greater guilt. The Lord heard and was angry, and fire consumed people at the edges of the camp. He rained flesh upon them as dust, abundantly, until they were filled with their own desire. Then while the meat was still in their mouths His wrath came upon them and slew the fattest and the chosen men, with the most guilty complainers struck down.
Their repeated disobedience and self-gratification brought upon them the consequences of their own course, and even when rebuke and chastisement led to repentance they fell again under temptation. Refusing God's wise limits and persisting in appetite-led rebellion brings harmful results, for their demand arose from indulged appetite and disregard for His wise restrictions. Their dissatisfaction and self-indulgence led instead to degeneracy and decay. The verse warns against following that complaining example. Those who fully receive truth of heavenly origin and are sanctified through it will keep advancing in the divine life without complaining. Had they denied appetite and accepted the simple, wholesome food God provided, they and their descendants would have had greater physical and mental strength, clearer understanding of truth and duty, and sounder judgment.
Psalm 78 recounts the rich blessings God bestowed on Israel and sets their poor response against those benefits. The failure named in verse 18 is that they tested God in the heart by asking for food to satisfy desire rather than to honor Him.
To tempt God in the heart was to demand meat to gratify lust and selfish, self-indulgent appetite rather than from genuine hunger. They spoke against God and asked whether He could furnish a table in the wilderness and give bread and provide flesh after He had struck the rock so that waters gushed out. Their craving, weeping, murmuring and complaining expressed unbelief, distrust of His salvation, and discontent with His provision. They had forgotten His dealings, words, mighty works and the source of their strength, going to complaining when trials came, and remembering what He had done would have kept them from this failure.
They did this despite His care, the evidence of His power, His mercy, and His shelter over them with cloud and fire. They did it despite His having already fed them with manna, the bread of heaven, angels' food, the bread of the mighty, the best food for health and long life, suited to make them a pure, holy and healthy people. They lusted because in Egypt they had become accustomed to flesh food, which God withheld because it is not man's natural food and produces disease and shortens life. He had brought them from Egypt to establish them in Canaan as a pure, holy and happy people, and disciplined them in the wilderness to educate them in correct habits for their own good and for their descendants' good.
Coming after God's revelation of power and mercy at Horeb and the people's pledge to obey, this murmuring was rebellion and brought greater guilt. The Lord heard and was angry, and fire consumed people at the edges of the camp. He rained flesh upon them as dust, abundantly, until they were filled with their own desire. Then while the meat was still in their mouths His wrath came upon them and slew the fattest and the chosen men, with the most guilty complainers struck down.
Their repeated disobedience and self-gratification brought upon them the consequences of their own course, and even when rebuke and chastisement led to repentance they fell again under temptation. Refusing God's wise limits and persisting in appetite-led rebellion brings harmful results, for their demand arose from indulged appetite and disregard for His wise restrictions. Their dissatisfaction and self-indulgence led instead to degeneracy and decay. The verse warns against following that complaining example. Those who fully receive truth of heavenly origin and are sanctified through it will keep advancing in the divine life without complaining. Had they denied appetite and accepted the simple, wholesome food God provided, they and their descendants would have had greater physical and mental strength, clearer understanding of truth and duty, and sounder judgment.