Numbers 11; Graves of Craving ~ 20260215 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
2026 02/15 Numbers 11; Graves of Craving; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20260215_numbers-11.mp3
According to the Command of YHWH so they did
Thus far in Numbers, the account is punctuated by ‘as the LORD commanded Moses, according to the commandment of the LORD, so the people of Israel did. They numbered the people, numbered the Levites, paid the redemption money, assigned tasks to the Levites, purified the camp, set up and dedicated the tabernacle, consecrated the Levites, celebrated the Passover, and set out on the march ‘according to the command of the LORD’.
In chapter 10, as they set out on their journey, Moses invited his brother-in-law Hobab to join them;
Numbers 10:29 ... “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.” ... 32 And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.”
At the end of chapter 10,
Numbers 10:35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O LORD, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”
The people were walking in obedience, following the manifest presence of God among them, doing everything ‘according to the command of the LORD’, expectant of the blessing of the Lord and all his good promises. In this context, chapter 11 shocks us:
Numbers 11:1 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, ...
Complaint-Judgment-Prayer-Grace-Memorial
The word ‘misfortunes’ is literally the term ‘evil’. God had set them free from slavery, brought them through the sea on dry land, defeated their enemies, fed them bread from heaven, gave them water in the desert, revealed himself from the mountain and entered into a covenant relationship with them, promised to go with them and do good to them, and they complain about all the bad that happened to them.
Unbelievable! If we experienced all that, we would never grumble, never complain, be only ever overwhelmed by gratitude and joy in his presence – right? We, who have experienced so much more of his grace, we who have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, who have been forgiven of all our sins and welcomed in to relationship with a God who loves us that much; we would never grumble or complain about our circumstances, would we?
The Hebrew title for Numbers is Bamidbar; ‘In The Wilderness’; they were literally in the wilderness, but their circumstances were also exposing the dry and barren condition of their hearts. They had experienced so much of God’s faithfulness, his character, his blessing, and yet they grumbled. They complained. Instead of looking at all the good the Lord had done, was doing and promised to do, they found things to complain about. They were characterized by ingratitude, unbelief.
Numbers 11:1 And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
This is a pattern in the wilderness; the people complain; the Lord responds in judgment, the people cry out, Moses prays to the Lord, the Lord gives grace, and they name the place as a memorial. And then they do it all over again. They don’t remember. They don’t change.
This is not new. The short journey from Egypt to Sinai was also characterized by complaining. Complaining that their work became harder and God saved them by mighty acts of power (Ex.5-6. Complaining that they were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea, and God parted the sea and destroyed the Egyptian army (Ex.14). Complaining that the water was bitter, and God made the water sweet (Ex.15); complaining of no food to eat, and God sent bread from heaven (Ex.16). Complaining of no water to drink, and God brought water from the rock (Ex.17), complaining about Moses’ delay on the mountain and they made idols to worship, and even this God forgave and promised to go with them (Ex.32-33).
Here they were, having made a covenant with God, having promised
Exodus 24:7 ...“All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Setting out from Sinai in obedience to the Lord, and yet their hearts were unchanged.
Craving Wages; Despising Grace
Numbers 11:4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Back in Exodus 16, although their grumbling was no less grievous, at least it was rooted in a real need;
Exodus 16:2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
There, a month away from Egypt, they were hungry and didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. God rained bread from heaven. The next verses describe it:
Numbers 11:7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Bread from heaven, daily bread, as much as they needed. And it tasted good, like pastries baked with the cream of the oil. Wouldn’t you love to taste manna? But God had provided their daily bread for a year now, and they were discontent. They wanted something different. They began to reminisce about the good ole’ days as slaves in Egypt with cruel taskmasters, whose wages were enough fish and vegetables to sustain them for another day’s hard labor. God gave them a free gift, his grace, and they craved their wages, what they earned by their suffering and sweat. They wanted to feed the flesh. How sadly our sinful hearts twist the truth and long for that which costs us more than we know!
Contagious Complaining
Notice, complaining is contagious. The rabble that was among them had the strong craving; this is likely the diverse ethnic group that left Egypt with the Israelites (Ex.12:38). But the grumbling spread like a wildfire out of control through the people of Israel. It even spread to their leader, Moses;
Numbers 11:10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Even Moses has a complaint. The people complain about their misfortunes, the evil that they experienced; now Moses accuses the Lord of dealing in an evil way with him.
We are going to come back to this part of the story next week to see how God answers Moses’ complaint, to give that the time it deserves.
God instructs Moses:
Numbers 11:18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
God promises to give the people what they crave, and even Moses is incredulous;
Numbers 11:21 But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”
Moses too is infected with unbelief. He is not looking at God, at his character, at his nature, at his past proven faithfulness. He is overwhelmed by the noise of the now. He is frustrated, overwhelmed, looking around at the impossibility of the situation, not at the nature of the wonder working God who has faithfully walked with them this far.
God has a simple word for him:
Numbers 11:23 And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” 24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. ...
Is YHWH’s hand shortened? You are forgetting who I AM, who is with you. It’s not you, it’s not on you. It’s on me. Look up. Look at me. I am your provider, your everything. You are not enough; I am more than enough. Jump ahead to verse 31
God Gave What They Craved
Numbers 11:31 Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
God’s provision of quail is not new; in Exodus 16:12-13 the Lord provided quail along with the manna for the people to eat.
By the way, a homer is not a cartoon character; the footnote in my Bible says that a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; it’s the biggest measure of volume; 10 homers was a gluttonous 60 bushels or 2,200 liters of bird meat. I wanted to understand a little better what we are talking about, so I found out a bushel is about 2,150 cubic inches. If I did the math right, if you imagine a crate that’s a little over 4 foot square, that would hold about 60 bushels or ten homers. Or if you fill up almost nine 55 gallon drums with dead quail, that’s the low end of what each one; maybe each family gathered? It does say they gathered quail ‘all that day and all night and all the next day’. When you think a camp of 600,000 men, that’s a lot of dead birds. God said it would be enough to eat for a whole month. How long does the leftover thanksgiving turkey last in your family? Turkey sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey hash, cold turkey...
Numbers 11:33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague. 34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
What’s going on here? The people grumble, longing for meat, for the foods of slavery. God hears and he is angry, he promises to give them a month’s worth of meat, he makes good on his promise, and then his anger strikes down the people with a very great plague.
Psalm 78 is a commentary on this; Asaph rehearses the dark history of Israel, lamenting their unbelief, their forgetfulness, their stubborn rebellion as a warning to the coming generations not to be like their fathers. Verse 17 picks up at this point in the story:
Psalm 78:17 Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 18 They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. 19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 20 He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?” 21 Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel, 22 because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power. 23 Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, 24 and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. 25 Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; 27 he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; 28 he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. 29 And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. 30 But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, 31 the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
This was rebellion, testing God, making demands of God, even slandering God. It was rooted in unbelief and ingratitude. They were treating God as if he exists simply to fulfill all their desires.
Numbers 11:18 ...the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. ...20 ...a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
[KJV] Psalm 106:14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 15 And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
Sometimes getting what we crave is the punishment we deserve.
***
2026.02.15 Sermon Notes
Numbers 11; Graves of Craving
God’s people walking ‘according to the commandment of the LORD’
Numbers 1:54; 2:34; 3:16, 51; 4:37, 41, 45, 49, 5:4, 8:20; 9:5, 20
The Lord promised good; they only saw evil
Numbers 10:29, 32; Numbers 11:1
What good has the Lord given you? _______________________
___________________________________________________________________
see John 3:16; Romans 6:23; Colossians 1:13-14; etc.
Pattern: complaint-judgment-prayer-grace-memorial
Numbers 11:1-3
They despised God’s grace and craved their wages
Exodus 16:2-3; Numbers 11:4-9
Complaining is contagious
Numbers 11:4, 10-15, 21-22
Is your focus on your circumstances, or who God is?
Numbers 11:23
Just punishment; he gave them what they craved
Numbers 11:18-20, 33-34; Psalm 78:17-31; 106:13-15
***
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org