How Down Can You Get? Ask Moses.

Numbers 11:10-15 Moses Complains About the People and About His Own Life

Day 52 of social distancing. Some grocery stores now requiring all customers to wear masks. Churches all over the U.S. are defying the “do not assemble” orders. Some stores are banning the wearing of gloves and rightly so. The world is crazy. And so is the weather – it snowed today (May 9). So much for global warming a.k.a. as climate change. They lied to us about that. They’re lying to us about a lot of things. We press on. Let’s learn about what got Moses down. Next time we’ll see how God responds to Moses and the Israelites.

The Passage

¹⁰ Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and ^[a]Moses was displeased. ¹¹ So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You ^[b]been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a ^[c]nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’¹⁴ I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too ^[d]burdensome for me.¹⁵ So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”

Footnotes

1. Numbers 11:10 Lit it was evil in Moses’ sight
2. Numbers 11:11 Lit dealt ill with
3. Numbers 11:12 Or foster-father
4. Numbers 11:14 Lit heavy

Thoughts on the Passage

As we read this passage we can’t miss how ‘down’ Moses must have felt. He had been through a lot since he was left floating in a basket in the Nile river many decades previously. God had blessed him with much power and authority, as well as respect from the people. But ask any leader, and they’ll tell you that with those, especially respect, comes expectations. And the people surely expected a lot from Moses. So, Moses cries out to God because he was at the “end of his rope” as Chuck Smith says, even though Matthew Henry says, he knew he had done his utmost for God and the Israelites. Imagine that – knowing you had given all you possibly could, and things still go wrong. In fact, that happens to many leaders. But it need not be the end of the world. 

The first thing I noted was that Moses had heard the people. Somehow, he had a sense of what each Israelite was feeling. Maybe he walked from one standard to the other on a regular basis. Maybe he listened to their individual tribe leaders. Whatever method he used he knew what his people were going through. [Throughout history, leaders have been separated into two categories on this issue – those who listened and understood their people and those who didn’t. I’ll let you think of names to put in each category.]

Moses also knew that God was angry at the grumbling of the people. He too saw the fire consuming the edges of the camp. The combination (the people grumbling and God being angry) made him uncomfortable, frustrated, exasperated, and even perturbed. And notice what he does. He speaks to God about it.

The text uses the word “displeased” to describe how Moses felt. I looked up some of the synonyms for that, and in addition to the ones I used above, I also found annoyed, irritated, infuriated, incensed, angered, irked, vexed, provoked, peeved, galled, nettled, maddened, disgruntled, dismayed, put out, affronted, offended (I like that one), insulted, mortified, outraged, scandalized, troubled, upset, disturbed, aggravated, needled, riled, rattled, miffed, wound up, teed off, and ticked off. So, why am I listing all these emotions here? Because we need to ask ourselves, “Do we do what Moses did when we feel any of these?” Do we turn to God first and foremost?

But look at what he says to God? He makes it all about him. And he blames God. He tells Him that he feels the Israelites are a big burden to him. He tells God they’re His responsibility; He’s the One who promised them a new home.

David Guzik says God allowed Moses this experience for the same reason He afforded it to the Israelites, and even to us today – so that we will learn to become more reliant on Him. In 1 Thessalonians 3:3 we read, “That no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.”

He tells God what He already knows – that the people are crying for ‘meat’ and that this is too much for Moses, he can’t do it. The crying was like that of babies says Guzik and thus Moses makes a reference to ‘conceiving’ these Israelites. “And if that’s the way it’s going to be, God, then you might as well kill me, please. I don’t want to go on living.”

Wow. Does that sound familiar? Have you ever felt that down?  Have you known anyone who has felt that down? I’m sure the answer is a definite ‘yes’ to the last question, and for many of us, likely a ‘yes’ to the first one as well. I don’t need to spell out the unfortunate outcomes that this kind of response to circumstances can lead to for many that we love, and even for ourselves. We don’t need to go there. We need to “tell God” and then let Him respond to us as He does to Moses in the passage that follows.  Hang in there.

But, in the meantime, are there some lessons of what not to do that we can learn from what Moses’ actions? Matthew Henry says there are several:

·       He undervalues the honour God had put upon him

·       He complains too much of a sensible grievance (i.e. makes a mountain out of an anthill), and lays too near his heart a little noise and fatigue (how would Moses fare against the problems that war would bring upon the Israelites?)

·       He magnifies his own performances with respect to the onus of caring for the people

·       He was prepared to give up his responsibility as a leader of these his ‘children’

·       He takes too much to himself when he asks if he was to provide them the meat

·       He wishes for death

None of the above are helpful when seeking God’s help. Robert Jamieson summarizes Moses’ attitude and words up by saying, “It is impossible not to sympathize with his feelings although the tone and language of his remonstrances to God cannot be justified.” Hopefully, we would agree.

And a little advance peek into what God does answer and what He doesn’t. God answers Moses’ heart’s desire, but not his wish to die because God loves him too much and Moses still had a job to do. God also does not answer his desire not to see his own wretchedness – in fact, Guzik says, God wants us to see our wretchedness – our weakness, then we can be strong in God’s strength. As Paul learned, “God’s strength is made perfect in [our] weakness.” [2 Corinthians 12:9]

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Joseph Provides for His Father’s Household - Genesis 47:11-12

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.  And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.

What a far cry this is from what occurs today in many households.  Recently I read about an older parent, left on her own, who was suing her son and daughter-in-law for not properly taking care of her in her old age, especially since the two of them had done very well ranching.  In my own city of Toronto with its very cold winters, a son and his wife pleaded guilty to having his mother live in an improperly insulated garage converted into a room for her without heat or proper bathroom facilities.  I’ve seen well-off children who became what they were because of the sacrifices of their parents allow their aged mother and/or father to live in nursing homes that left much to be desired.  God certainly did not intend for us to treat each other that way, especially in our own family.

Joseph’s behavior here is exemplary in how he treated not only his aged father, but also his brothers, who by the way, had previously intended to do him great harm.

There is an interesting phrase in this passage as well.  Joseph gave them “a possession in the land of Egypt”.  This was not just a simple, “go live there for now” or “lease that property” or “rent it”.  Rather, scripture tells us that Joseph gave it to them under the order of Pharaoh as an inheritance, for the root word used here is translated as to property coming via inheritance and now being owned by those that receive as such.

The application of this point for us as Christians is also interesting.  In our travels during our lifetime here on earth, we will indeed be given or we will amass property and other material good that will be deemed, without challenge, to be “our inheritance” or “our possessions”.  As we unfold the story of the Israelites in Egypt, we will see that although they had ‘rights’ in Egypt as this passage implies, there was no point in getting too attached to their possessions at all.  It is the same for the Christian.  We would do well to ask ourselves how closely we are literally ‘bound’ to our various legally owned assets.

Finally, we note that Joseph provided for his father’s entire household in accordance “to their little ones.”  That means proportionally.  The bigger the household was, the bigger the provision to that part of the family would be.  As one whose career was in Human Resources, I know that many years ago many employers did pay people differently based on their need.  For example, a young single healthy man would make less money than an older family man, married, and with several children.  The latter’s need was greater.  That was legal and acceptable, perhaps in keeping with this part of scripture and others.  But as the years wore on, laws of equal pay for equal work, and later, equal pay for work of equal value, were introduced that prevented people from addressing the greater needs of one employee over another.  And in a world which is not based on a godly worldview perspective that is understandable.  As Christian employers we are required to follow the laws of our land.  At the same time, however, it behooves us to keep in mind God’s general principle of taking care of others in accordance with their need, to the extent that we can do so, within the law, and perhaps outside of the ‘employer-employee’ relationship.

Still the major message for us in these two verses is that we do have a responsibility for our families beyond those living under our roof.   It is my prayer we have not talked ourselves out of that because of circumstances.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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