Chapter 33—The Terrible Murmurings of God’s People
This chapter is based on Numbers 10 to 12.
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The government of Israel was characterized by thorough organization, wonderful for its completeness and simplicity. God was the center of government, the sovereign of Israel. Moses stood as leader to administer the law in His name. A council of seventy was afterward chosen to assist Moses in the general affairs of the nation. Next came the priests, who consulted the Lord in the sanctuary. Chiefs, or princes, ruled over the tribes. Under these were “captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens.” Deuteronomy 1:15.
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The Hebrew camp was separated into three great divisions. In the center was the tabernacle, the abiding place of the invisible King. Around it were stationed the priests and Levites. Beyond these were encamped all the other tribes.
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The position of each tribe was specified. Each was to march and to encamp beside its own standard, as the Lord had commanded. Numbers 2:2, 17. The mixed multitude that had accompanied Israel from Egypt were to abide upon the outskirts of the camp, and their offspring were to be excluded from the community until the third generation. Deuteronomy 23:7, 8.
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Strict order and thorough sanitary regulations were enforced, measures indispensable to the preservation of health among so vast a multitude. It was necessary also that perfect order and purity be maintained. God declared: “The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy.” Deuteronomy 23:14.
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In all the journeyings of Israel, “the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them, ... to search out a resting place for them.” Priests bearing silver trumpets were stationed near. These priests received directions from Moses, which they communicated to the people by the trumpets. It was the duty of the leaders of each company to give definite directions concerning all the movements to be made, as indicated by the trumpets.
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God is a God of order. Everything connected with heaven is in perfect order; thorough discipline marks the movements of the angelic host. Success can attend order and harmonious action now no less than in the days of Israel.
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God Himself directed the Israelites in their travels. The place of their encampment was indicated by the descent of the pillar of cloud; and so long as they were to remain in camp, the cloud rested over the tabernacle. When they were to continue their journey, it was lifted high above the sacred tent.
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Only eleven days’ journey lay between Sinai and Kadesh, on the borders of Canaan. With the prospect of speedily entering the land, the hosts of Israel resumed their march when the cloud gave the signal. What blessings might they not expect, now that they had formally been acknowledged as the chosen people of the Most High?
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With reluctance many left the place where they had encamped. The scene was so closely associated with the presence of God and holy angels that it seemed too sacred to be left thoughtlessly, or even gladly. At the signal from the trumpeters, however, all eyes were turned anxiously to see in what direction the cloud would lead. As it moved toward the east, where were only mountain masses huddled together, black and desolate, a feeling of sadness and doubt arose in many hearts.
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As they advanced, the way became more difficult. Their route lay through stony ravine and barren waste, “a land of deserts and of pits,”“a land of drought and of the shadow of death,”“a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt.” Jeremiah 2:6. Their progress was slow and toilsome, and the multitudes were not prepared to endure the perils and discomforts of the way.
(EP 264.1)
After three days’ journey open complaints were heard. These originated with the mixed multitude, many of whom were continually finding fault with the way in which Moses was leading them, though they knew that he was following the cloud. Dissatisfaction is contagious, and it soon spread in the encampment.
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Again they began to clamor for flesh to eat. Many of the Egyptians among them had been accustomed to a luxurious diet, and these were the first to complain.
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God might as easily have provided them with flesh as with manna, but it was His purpose to supply food better suited to their wants. The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state that they might enjoy the food originally provided for man, the fruits of the earth which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. For this reason the Israelites had been deprived in a great measure of animal food.
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Satan tempted them to regard this as unjust and cruel. He saw that unrestrained indulgence of appetite would tend to produce sensuality, and by this means the people could be more easily brought under his control. Through appetite he has, to a large extent, led men into sin from the time he induced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. Intemperance in eating and drinking prepares the way to disregard all moral obligations.
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God brought the Israelites from Egypt that He might establish them in the land of Canaan a pure, holy, and happy people. Had they been willing to deny appetite, feebleness and disease would have been unknown among them. Their descendants would have possessed physical and mental strength, clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discrimination, and sound judgment.
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Says the psalmist: “They tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? ... can He provide flesh for His people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth.” Psalm 78:18-21. They had been witnesses to the majesty, power, and mercy of God; and their unbelief and discontent incurred the greater guilt. They had covenanted to obey His authority. Their murmuring was now rebellion, and as such it must receive prompt punishment if Israel was to be preserved from anarchy and ruin. “The fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” The most guilty of the complainers were slain by lightning from the cloud.
(EP 265.1)
The people in terror besought Moses to entreat the Lord for them. He did so, and the fire was quenched. But instead of leading the survivors to humiliation and repentance, this fearful judgment seemed only to increase their murmurings. In all directions the people gathered at the door of their tents, weeping and lamenting. “The mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes.” Yet, notwithstanding the hardships, there was not a feeble one in all their tribes.
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The heart of Moses sank. In his love for them, he had prayed that his name might be blotted from the book of life rather than that they should perish, and this was their response. All their hardships, even their imaginary sufferings, they charged upon him. In his distress he was tempted even to distrust God. His prayer was almost a complaint: “Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant ... that Thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? ... they weep, ... saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.”
(EP 265.3)
The Lord hearkened to his prayer and directed him to summon seventy men possessing sound judgment and experience to share the responsibility with him. Their influence would assist in quelling insurrection, yet serious evils would eventually result from their promotion. They would never have been chosen had Moses manifested faith corresponding to the evidences he had witnessed of God’s power and goodness. Had he relied fully upon God, the Lord would have guided him continually and given him strength for every emergency.
(EP 266.1)
Moses announced the appointment of the seventy elders. The great leader’s charge to these chosen men might well serve as a model of judicial integrity for the judges and legislators of modern times: “Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.” Deuteronomy 1:16, 17.
(EP 266.2)
“And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and ... they prophesied, and did not cease.” Like the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they were endued with “power from on high.” It pleased the Lord to honor them in the presence of the congregation, that confidence might be established in them.
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A strong wind blowing from the sea now brought flocks of quails, “about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth.”
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All that day and night and the following day, the people labored in gathering the food miraculously provided. Immense quantities were secured. All that was not needed for present use was preserved by drying, so that the supply, as promised, was sufficient for a whole month.
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God gave the people that which was not for their highest good because they persisted in desiring it. But they were left to suffer the result. They feasted without restraint, and their excesses were speedily punished. “The Lord smote the people with a very great plague.” The most guilty among them were smitten as soon as they tasted the food for which they had lusted.
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At Hazeroth, the next encampment after leaving Taberah, a still more bitter trial awaited Moses. Aaron and Miriam had occupied a position of high honor and leadership in Israel. Both had been associated with Moses in the deliverance of the Hebrews. Richly endowed with gifts of poetry and music, Miriam had led the women of Israel in song and dance on the shore of the Red Sea. In the affections of the people and the honor of Heaven she stood second only to Moses and Aaron.
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But in the appointment of the seventy elders, Miriam and Aaron had not been consulted, and their jealousy was excited against Moses. They felt that their position and authority had been ignored. They regarded themselves as sharing equally with him the burden of leadership and regarded the appointment of further assistants as uncalled for.
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Moses realized his own weakness and made God his counselor. Aaron esteemed himself more highly, and trusted less in God. He had failed in the matter of the idolatrous worship at Sinai. But Miriam and Aaron, blinded by jealousy and ambition, said, “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us?”
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Miriam found cause of complaint in events that God had especially overruled. The marriage of Moses had been displeasing to her. That he should choose a woman of another nation instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews was an offense to her family and national pride. Zipporah was treated with ill-disguised contempt.
(EP 268.1)
Though called a “Cushite woman,” the wife of Moses was a Midianite and thus a descendant of Abraham. She differed from the Hebrews in being of a somewhat darker complexion. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah was a worshiper of the true God. She was of a timid, retiring disposition, and greatly distressed at the sight of suffering. For this reason Moses, on his way to Egypt, had consented to her return to Midian.
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When Zipporah rejoined her husband in the wilderness, she saw that his burdens were wearing away his strength, and she made known her fears to Jethro, who suggested measures for his relief. Here was the chief reason for Miriam’s antipathy to Zipporah. She regarded the wife of Moses as the cause of the supposed neglect shown to herself and Aaron. Had Aaron stood firmly for the right, he might have checked the evil; but instead of showing Miriam the sinfulness of her conduct, he sympathized with her and thus came to share her jealousy.
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Their accusations were borne by Moses in uncomplaining silence. Moses “was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth,” and this is why he was granted divine wisdom and guidance above all others.
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God had chosen Moses. Miriam and Aaron, by their murmurings, were guilty of disloyalty not only to their appointed leader, but to God Himself. “And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam.” Their claim to the prophetic gift was not denied. But to Moses a nearer communion had been granted. With him God spake mouth to mouth. “Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and He departed.” In token of God’s displeasure, Miriam “became leprous, white as snow.” Aaron was spared, but was severely rebuked in Miriam’s punishment. Now, their pride humbled in the dust, Aaron confessed their sin and entreated that his sister might not be left to perish by that loathsome, deadly scourge.
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In answer to the prayers of Moses, the leprosy was cleansed. Miriam was, however, shut out of the camp for seven days. The whole company abode in Hazeroth, awaiting her return.
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This manifestation of the Lord’s displeasure was designed to check the growing spirit of discontent and insubordination. Envy is one of the most satanic traits that can exist in the human heart. It was envy that first caused discord in heaven, and its indulgence has wrought untold evil among men.
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The Bible teaches us to beware of lightly bringing accusation against those whom God has called to act as His ambassadors. “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.” 1 Timothy 5:19. He who has placed upon men the responsibility of leaders and teachers of His people will hold the people accountable for the manner in which they treat His servants. The judgment visited upon Miriam should be a rebuke to all who yield to jealousy and murmur against those upon whom God lays the burden of His work.
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