Sunday School Lesson 15: Look to God and Live

Numbers 11:5-6 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers and the melons, and the leeks , and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all beside this manna, before our eyes. First of all, what odd things to remember - two different kinds of onions and garlic? Wow.

Side note: I heard a public radio broadcast about marketing once that talked about how sometimes a product comes along and is marketed so well that it creates a need for itself by inventing a problem that it solves.  Listerine was one of the examples.  The report claimed that Listerine didn't invent fresh breath, but rather, it defined halitosis. Prior to Listerine's marketing, halitosis was as normal a part of life as rain--sometimes it happens, and there's nothing you can really do about it.

Back to their weariness of manna. I can't say I really blame them.  I've thought this.  If you had to pick one food that would magically be imbued with all the nutrients you need to survive, what would you choose?  You might say something like chocolate for the flavor but I would pick something like carrots.  You are going to get sick of whatever you choose, so I would go for convenience, knowing that no matter what, you'll hate eating it after a while.  I'm considering things like packing it around, needing to worry about it melting or spilling, bruising, rotting, preparation, etc.  Regardless, I came to the same conclusion the poor children of Israel did: eating the same thing every day sucks.  And they had to eat nearly a gallon of the stuff every day.  Yuck.  imagine dumping over a quart of bread-crumbs in a bowl three times a day. I can't say I blame them for getting sick of it.  Still, go hunting or something. Whining isn't going to get you any cucumbers.

Numbers 11:7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. The picture of coriander seed on wikipedia indicates coriander seed is about 4-5 mm in diameter.  Bdellium is either resin used to make myrrh or a round gem-stone, and the color is apparently indeterminate, with supposition including white, light yellow or resin, and gray.

Numbers 11:2 vs. 11:11-15.  Moses and the Lord seem to go back and forth on who wants to kill the children of Israel the most.  In verse 2, the Lord is sending fire among them to consume them for their sins and in 11-15, Moses is crying because it's too much to take.

Numbers 11:19-20 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? That seems a little petty. However, pettiness is not a godly attribute. So, how is this merciful?

Numbers 11:31 Speaking of the quail the Lord sent so they could eat "flesh." And he that gathered least gathered 10 homers. 10 homers is 3644 liters or ~965 gallons.   Here's a picture of a 1000 gallon tank with a man standing beside it and a pickup truck in front of it for reference.

Numbers 12:3 Now the man moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the Earth. Wow.  That's a statement, and on that I don't typically think of with Moses. I should probably reevaluate my thoughts on Moses.  He just seems to whine a lot, and that irritates me, but I should probably remember that he was extremely quick to forgive, and apparently very meek. The Lord makes a clear distinction between him and a normal prophet in verse 6-8.

Numbers 14:18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression. I love it when I find verses in the Old Testament that reaffirm the New Testament version of the Lord.  It often seems that there are two different Gods--the vengeful, angry, and sometimes petty God of the Old Testament and the kind, forgiving, turn the other cheek God of the New Testament. The thing to remember, is the Gospels run for 3 years, while the Old Testament is highlighting a couple thousand years of interaction. 

Numbers 14:15-16 as contrasted with 45.  When the Lord is about to kill all the children of Israel, Moses asks him not to, saying that all the nations are aware of how the Lord brought them out of Egypt and promised them the land of Canaan. He says that if the Lord kills them there, the people will all assume that the Lord killed them because he couldn't come through on his promise to give them the land.  And yet, in verse 45, you have them getting beat down as they tried to enter the land and then they turn around and head back into the wilderness. How did Moses miss that the people will think the same thing after beating them back as they would have if they had all been killed?  Nobody's going to believe they're all bad if they can't even cross the border, regardless of whether they run away scared or were killed by their god.  Either way, he didn't bring them into the land.