The Pentateuch Numbers

Trumpets & Complaints

Discover Jesus as: Rock Numbers 10-11 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 79 of 730
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INTRO

In Numbers 9, we saw how the cloud always led the people. Chapter 10 is about silver trumpets and how they were essential in declaring how to move. Today, we have many ways we hear from God: through the Word of God, through the Holy Spirit, and through pastors, teachers, and other Christians.

TEACHING

Numbers 10: Trumpets declared to the people when to come together. In this chapter, the silver trumpets declared to Israel how God wanted them to move. The sound of the trumpet will also be heard when Jesus comes back (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). It is going to be the sound of heaven, and He is coming back!

Numbers 11:1: The people of Israel still had not learned to trust God’s provision. In Exodus 15:22–24, three days after they had been delivered from slavery, they started complaining. We are the same. Over and over, we see God move, and still we complain. The people complained openly about hardship. God’s anger burned and He sent fire, burning intensely.

Numbers 11:2–5: The fire got their attention, so they went to Moses to complain. Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. This place was named Taberah, meaning “fire had blazed among them.” It was a warning, and Nelson’s commentarysays it was purifying.1Then they complained about food. “Contemptible people” were the foreigners who joined the Israelites who had a strong craving for other food.

Numbers 11:6: “But now there is nothing for us to look at but manna,” they complained. “Our appetite is gone.” Such extremeness! Ten chapters later (Numbers 21:5), the Israelites hadn’t changed. They were still complaining. Wiersbe wrote, “Jesus taught that wherever the Lord ‘plants’ His true children, the devil comes along and plants counterfeits.”2

As soon as we forget God has cared for us, and we start complaining, we stop trusting.

  • 2 Peter 2:1–2: people’s heresy is that we want different food or more food. This seems small, but this is how it gets started. The second you start looking to your own strength, you will continue to seek your own desires and agenda.

Galatians 2:4: This isn’t the lost outside the walls, it comes from within the church.

2 Corinthians 11:13–14: Be alert! Christ is coming back. Be aware of those appearing as an angel of light, like Satan. Be careful, church!

Jude 4: Men are stealthily coming into our churches, complaining and campaigning to change the truth, implementing false teaching.

Be careful, the complaining card can turn into denying Jesus Christ. Love the people, but do not compromise just to appease them; tell them truth.

Numbers 11:7–10: Moses described the manna and said that it was good. The Israelites just had to gather and prepare; there would be just enough. Exodus 16:33 gave instructions for the golden pot of manna so the Israelites would not forget how God provided. Complaining spread from family to family and many cried at their tents. The Lord was angry, and Moses was provoked.

Numbers 11:11–14: Moses pointed out that God appointed him to this leadership position, and he (Moses) hadn’t actually birthed the Israelites. This is one of the times in the Old Testament when God is portrayed as a female giving birth to the people. Moses told God, “This is your baby, not mine. You nurse them.” Moses just wanted to give them meat so they would shut up. Moses was done with them.

Numbers 11:15: Moses basically said, “If I have to put up with this just kill me, I’m done or, if I’ve done my job, don’t let me see misery, take it away.” In 1 Kings 19:4, Elijah hit a wall, sat down under a broom tree and asked to die. When leaders hit a wall, they have to decide whether to go on or not.

Numbers 11:16–17: Moses received help. Seventy men were brought in to help Moses. The anointing on Moses, in part, was taken from him and put on these men. God was going to help Moses by imparting the gift on these 70 also.

Numbers 11:18–20: Moses told the Israelites: “Get ready! Tomorrow you will have meat! Purify yourselves. You are going to eat.” They would have meat not one day but for a whole month. There would be so much meat, it would come out of their nostrils and be nauseating. God was saying, “Do not question Me again.”

Numbers 11:21–24: Moses tried to comprehend feeding meat to 600,000 soldiers, not to mention women and children. Moses knew he didn’t have enough animals for meat, even if the fish of the sea were counted. It was a promise. Do not limit God’s power but wait and see. Game on! Moses told the people. And God brought in the 70 men.

Numbers 11:25: The Lord descended in the cloud. The elders received some of the spirit that was in Moses. They released the word and began to prophesy, that one time only. Eugene Merrill wrote, “Prophesying here does not refer to prediction or even proclamation but to giving (in song or speech) praise and similar expressions without training.”3The same thing happens in 1 Samuel 10:9–10. This same thing happens in 1 Samuel 10:9–10. This is what happened to the 70.

Numbers 11:26–29: Eldad and Medad were listed among the men but were not present. Yet, the same spirit came upon them also. A young man reported about them prophesying. Joshua wanted them stopped. Moses told Joshua not to be jealous on his account––all people need to be prophets and speak what the Lord tells them to speak (1 Corinthians 14:1-5). We should desire these gifts and bless those who do so and receive them.

Numbers 11:30–32: Moses and the elders returned to camp. Wind from the sea brought quail that flew about three feet off the ground for about 20 miles beyond camp, in all directions. Israelites had to catch and kill this meat. For two days and a night, they gathered quail. The minimum amount a family gathered was 50 bushels.

Numbers 11:33–35: God sent the meat but also a severe plague (Psalm 106:15; 78:31). The reality is that the plagues were from the Lord. God killed some of the best men. The Israelites buried the men who craved the meat then they moved on to Hazeroth and remained there.

CLOSING

Wiersbe wrote, “To ignore the Word, treat it carelessly, or willfully disobey it is to ask for the discipline of God (Hebrews 12: 5–11).”4We must depend, not on the world, but on the Word of God (Jeremiah 15:16). This is what a prophet does. This is what a person of God does, and that should be enough!

  1. Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, and H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1999), p. 207.

  2. Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary: Genesis–Deuteronomy (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2001), p. 328.

  3. Eugene Merrill, The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids. MI: Zondervan, 1957), p. 227.

  4. Wiersbe, p. 329.

Questions

  1. What were the silver trumpets used for? (Numbers 10:1–10)
  2. Moses persuaded Hobab to continue the journey when he wanted to go back to his old land and people (Numbers 10:31). In what ways have others encouraged you to stay on the journey God has for you? What has been your response?
  3. In Numbers 11:14, Moses told God that his current role was too much of a burden to carry on his own. When have you felt like a role you held was too much of a burden for you?
  4. God told Moses to summon 70 elders and explained that He would put some of the Spirit that Moses carried on them (Numbers 11:17). Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like delegation was the only option? In what practical ways does God lighten your burdens when you ask Him to?
  5. When the elders received some of the Spirit that Moses carried, they prophesied, but only one time. (Numbers 11:25) Why were they able to prophesy only once? How did Moses’ words in Numbers 11:29 ultimately become fulfilled in Acts 2? Why was it important for the Spirit to assist the 70 elders in their new role?
  6. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Numbers 10-11 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Numbers 11:23

“The Lord answered Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.’”

The Israelites complained about hardship, and the Lord’s anger liter- ally burned among them, consuming parts of the camp. Then some became dissatisfied with the manna the Lord had provided. They wanted something different—they wanted meat. In response, the Lord gave them quail, and the people who complained for a different type of food died while eating it. Have you noticed a pattern yet? The people become dissatisfied, God answers, and the people are still dissatisfied. How exhausting!

The Lord longs for you to find your satisfaction in Him alone. You are to crave God’s presence in your life more than anything else. The lies of the enemy will tell you otherwise. Today, examine your heart, and ask the Lord if you are craving things of this world for satisfaction rather than Him. Remember, in the Lord’s presence there is fullness of joy.

“The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.’”

— Numbers 11:23

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Psalm 16:11 — “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
  • Jeremiah 15:16 — “Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became a delight to me and the joy of my heart, for I am called by Your name, Yahweh God of Hosts.”
  • Philippians 2:13–15 — “For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.”