Wednesday after Laetare - Numbers 11:1-35 - March 18, 2015
Order of Matins (pg. 32)
Opening Hymn - 425 All Depends on Our Possessing
Office Hymn - 426 The Lord My Shepherd Is
Closing Hymn - 54 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
Opening Hymn - 425 All Depends on Our Possessing
Office Hymn - 426 The Lord My Shepherd Is
Closing Hymn - 54 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
1) The
lesson for we heard read a moment ago can be divided into two parts. The first
part for our consideration is the complaint of Israelites against the Lord and
His called servant, Moses. From this episode we can learn something necessary
for the Christian life. Moses writes, “Now
the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving, so the
children of Israel wept again and said: ‘Who will give us meat to eat? We
remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the
leeks, the onions and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is
nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.” (Numbers 11:4-6) I am
not sure who this “mixed multitude” consists of. Perhaps it is some foreigners
or Egyptians who left Egypt with the Israelites. Perhaps it is a small rabble
of complainers within the ranks of Israel who did not want to flee Egypt in the
first place. Whoever this rabble consists of isn’t important. What they do is
important. They “yielded to intense craving.” Another way to translate the
phrase is that they, “fell a lusting.” (KJV) Whoever they are, the lusted exceedingly for
their former life of bondage and slavery because bondage and slavery had
certain perks. Life was bitter and their toil was loathsome, but at least they
had fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic to eat. This mixed
multitude within Israel submitted to the desires of their flesh, the lust of
their tummies, and that lust of their tummies erupted from their throats in
bitter complaint against the Lord. Their complaint was centered on food, what
their Lord had been putting in their mouths.
2) So the Lord responds in kind and promises to send quail once again but this
quail is not sent to in blessing. It is sent in judgment. The Lord says to
Israel, “You shall eat, not one day, nor
two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month,
until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you
have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him saying, ‘Why
did we ever come up out of Egypt?’” (Numbers 11:19-20) The Lord gives these
covetous complainers exactly what they want. They are not satisfied with what
the Lord feeds them so the Lord gives them their desire. The Lord turns them
over to their lusts and lets them wallow in their lust. Their lust and
covetousness is so great that “he who
gathered least gathered ten homers,” which is a lot for one person,
too much for one person in fact. They spread their quail out all over the camp,
indulging their gluttony and exalting the desires of their sinful flesh. The
Lord often punishes sin with more sin. We see other examples of this in the
Scriptures and in the lives of men. The Lord allows man to wallow in his lusts
so that man may see a bit of the consequences and come to repentance. The idea
is that by punishing sin with more sin, the man will be so tormented by his sin
that He relents and returns to the Lord. Often this is not the case, as we see
in the final end of this mixed multitude. “But
while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath
of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with
a very great plague.” The chapter closes with the naming of that place
Kibroth Hattaavah, the graves of gluttony.
3) From this the Lord wants to teach us once again to be mindful of our sinful
flesh and its desires, lest we fall prey to them and ultimately be overcome by
them. In this instance is was the lust for different, and more, food, instead
of the food God had graciously given them. But each man’s flesh temps him to
different things and in different ways. One person’s flesh drives them to lust
for the flesh of others. Another person’s wicked heart drives them horde money
and possessions for themselves and to take comfort in the amount that has been
stashed away. Still another’s sinful desires leads them to covet another’s job,
house, spouse, abilities, or lifestyle. Others yet are tempted by their flesh
to pride and avarice so that they become puffed up, conceited, easily angered
or easily hurt by others. The devil is the master of a thousand arts. Each of
you he tempts according to your temperament, according to the desires of your
heart, and according to the weaknesses of your unique sinful flesh.
4) We must be on guard against how our flesh works against the Holy Spirit who
dwells in our hearts by faith. Remember the words of St. Paul to the Galatians,
“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so
that you do not do the things that you wish. the works of the flesh are
evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,
dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.”
(Galatians 5:17, 19-21) Against these,
and many other intense cravings and desires, we must be constantly vigilant,
lest through them the devil entice us into sin and harden us in our sin as he
did to this mixed multitude who did not mortify their desires but instead sought
every way they know how to fulfill them. St. James reminds us of this deadly
progression in James 1:14-15, “But
each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Against
our desires we must hold to the cross of Jesus, remember that He offers us the
free forgiveness of the sins we have committed. That same cross of Christ
reminds us, in the hour of temptation, that we ought to, with the Spirit’s aid,
fight temptation because of the love of Christ which drove Him to die for the
very sins we are be tempted to perform.
5) The second part of the text that we want to consider is the outpouring
the Holy Spirit on the seventy elders of Israel, two of whom were not present
in at the Tabernacle, yet still received the gift of prophecy and the Holy
Ghost for that moment. Joshua, Moses’ lieutenant, is offended that these men
refused to join Moses to share in his holy office and responsibilities. He says
they should be silenced. Moses replies and says, “Oh that all the Lord’s
people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”
(Numbers 11:29) Moses wants all the Lord’s people to be able to prophesy so
that they themselves are able to speak the word of the Lord to their brothers.
This would lighten Moses’ load considerably, but it would also be a great aid
against such temptations to yield to sinful cravings, if they could have the
word of the Lord continually in their hearts and on their lips. St. Paul writes,
“Walk in the Spirit,
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:16, 22-24)
6) What Moses desires is given to all believers in the New Testament through
Holy Baptism, which is the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
(Titus 3:5) With the Holy Spirit’s aid we are able to withstand temptation and
fight the cravings of the sinful flesh. With the Holy Spirit’s aid we have
God’s Word upon our hearts and on our lips to help us in the hour of
temptation, so that we can recall the words of our Lord and forsake covetous
words and instead fill our mouths with the pure food of the Word of God. For
that is all that prophesying entails, speaking God’s Word. So we are to speak
God’s word to ourselves in the midst of temptation and fleshly craving. So we
are to speak God’s Word to our hearts and call forth courage in the hour of
doubt and despair. You have the Holy Spirit, given to you in Baptism, present
in the Absolution and preaching, and active in the faith in your heart. With
His heavenly aid, fight temptation, beloved of God. Fill your mouths not with
your fleshly cravings but with His holy Word, for man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Amen.