I don’t know if ya’ll remember this, but when I was a little kid, there were these sweet snacks that I was fascinated with. Mama didn’t let us eat them a lot (she was all about feeding her babies unprocessed foods, whole grain cereal, the fancy quart milk from the stores, etc.) but I saw them as a treat I could get my hands on periodically at daycare and school and other places. I had a fish wish.
They were these little, fish-shaped gummies named Swedish Fish.
I’m sure 6-year-old me thought Sweden was the coolest place in the world because American fish didn’t smell or taste nearly as good as Swedish Fish. I could get fish that tast like sweet berries, and oranges, and lemonade. So on and so forth. I didn’t care that Swedish Fish wasn’t good for me, I would’ve eaten that sugary candy all day long if you’d have let me. Thankfully, I grew out of that by the time I was a teen (chocolate is the only “candy” I really consume now), but for a time, I was all in for Swedish fish. I had a wish for some Swedish fish.
Sam, what does Swedish fish have to do with the Holy Word of God? Take the journey with me folks, we’re getting there.
4 And the mixt 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?
5 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:
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
Numbers 11:4-10
With the Lord’s help, we’re going to spend a couple of minutes examining some people who, just like 6-year-old Sam, had a wish for some fish. But before we get there, let’s go ahead and get some background context on what we’re walking into.
Context
At this time, the children of Israel are on their way to the Promised Land. They have left Egypt, the Red Sea has been miraculously split into and they’ve walked across on dry land. The Lord has been going before them, a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. As they’ve been journeying, the Lord has been setting up the laws of the offerings. The structuring of the tabernacle. In Numbers 9:5, we see they’ve kept the first Passover in the wilderness of Sinai. In Numbers 10:12, we see that God has brought them from the wilderness of Sinai into the wilderness of Paran. They are steadily marching towards the destiny that God has waiting for them. They are going through challenges. They are moving from wilderness to wilderness, but God is steadily leading the way. He is leading visibly. The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were just as real as you and me sitting here this morning.
It was not enough for the children of Israel. Evidently, they became accustomed to the miracles. Evidently, they had lived in the blessing and provision of God so long that they had lost their sense of awe and respect for Him. They’d forgotten about God’s wrath after they built the golden calf and danced before it naked in Exodus 32. 3000 men died in the aftermath. They’d forgotten about God’s wrath after the priests Nadab and Abihu, sons of the head priest Aaron, performed offerings God told them not to in Leviticus 10. God struck them dead, burning them with fire.
Time and time again, we see the children of Israel treat God flippantly, even after seeing his power, provision, might, and justice, on full display. In fact, right before our passage, in Numbers 11:1-3, we see the children of Israel have just gone through another one of these scenarios.
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
Numbers 11:1-3
They have been complaining, we don’t know for what reason. But evidently, it had reached a level where the Lord decided punishment was in order. The fire of the Lord fell among the camp and people were consumed.
Wow Sam. Seems like the Lord is being a bit over-the-top. Burning people alive for a couple complaints?
This is a verse nonbelievers like to point at to explain why God isn’t someone we should follow. They say, “If He is real, he’s an evil god waiting to smash you with his thumb, just like he did to his “chosen people” here”. People who hold this view are sadly mistaken.
Upon study, I found that “when the people complained” could also be translated, as “Now the people became truly murmurous, an offense to Yahweh’s ears“.
I say that to say, it may not be the exact complaining we think about today. The things the people said were a great offense to God. It could be they became so discontent and angry that they began blaspheming the name of the Lord. We simply don’t know. But we do know that God is just and righteous. The punishment was warranted.
Now some time has passed evidently. And we pick up in verse 4. Let’s begin unpacking what the Lord would have us to see.
The mixt multitude
4 And the mixt 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?
Numbers 4:11
The first thing I need you to see here this morning is that there is a mixt multitude. A mixt multitude.
What does that mean? The original word that was translated to mixt means “a bunch of vagabonds”, or “a promiscuous assemblage”. This is the only time in the entire Bible this word is used. It’s the idea of the rabble. Just a bad group of people. The Lord decided to use this word because He wanted us to know that this group was not just the Israelites that had exited Egypt. Along the journey to the Promised Land, they’d picked up some outside influences. They’d come into contact with some outside people groups and cultures. For all we know, as they passed through Sinai and Paran, vagabonds were joining them on the way. People who were down and out on their luck. Vagabonds who wanted to see something new. After all, a huge group of over a million people led by a miraculous pillar of fire and cloud come walking by your town, that may have been seen by some as the golden ticket to the adventure of a lifetime.
So they joined the journey. Thus, over time, the Israelites that departed from Egypt came also to include a mixt multitude among them, as verse 4 says.
Well, those outsiders may have been walking alongside Israel, but they weren’t walking alongside Israel’s God. Even though God was evidently raining manna down for them too, they refused to see God as their provision. The Bible says they fell a lusting. They desired and craved and longed for more than what the Lord was giving them. They talked about it and complained about it.
There are people like that in the world today folks. They may be in the church, they may be in the culture, or they may just be in the world in general, but they’re benefiting from the blessings of God while lusting after the things of the world.
They may be running with God’s people, but God is not their master and savior. Be wary of them. Be wary lest they pull you to the side. They’ll remind you of all the pleasures you can have with sin for a season. They’ll remind you of all the supposed freedoms you miss out on by binding yourself to submission to Jesus. This mixed multitude in verse 4 reminded the children of Israel of the meat and flesh of animals.
The mixed multitude of today’ll remind you of the pleasures of the flesh. The end result is the same. The hope is that you will join in with them. Misery isn’t the only one who likes company. Sin loves it as well. And we see this unfold here in verse 4.
Pretty soon, the children of Israel joined in with them. The Bible says they wept again.
Here’s what’s interesting though, Wept again isn’t talking about just crying. It’s not just talking about having physical tears coming out of your eyes. The word means to “turn back”. It has the same root as the word meaning apostasy, faithlessness, and falling away. It’s important that we know this because it shows that the mixt multitude led Israel down a path of faithlessness. What began as a few dissenters in the camp led to a widespread turning away from God. They turned back to their sin. They reverted back to lusting after the things of the world.
Two things to note. They got into the mixed multitude and they got over God’s blessings. Let’s talk about the first point, then hit verse 5 before we discuss the second part.
Getting into the mixt multitude
Notice how verse 4 starts versus how it ends. First, the lusting of the mixt multitude was among them. But by the end of the verse, they, the children of Israel, are the ones lusting after what they had before. No longer was the mixt multitude a fringe group with fringe beliefs and complaints. The children of Israel got right in there with them.
Growing up, eating at my Papa and Grandma’s house was always a treat. Thanksgivings, Christmases, birthdays, it didn’t matter. My papa knew how to cook. You’d walk into the garage-turned-carpeted-playroom, smell the turkey basting in the rotisserie oven on top of the dryer in the laundry room off to the left, and you’d think you’d gone to heaven.
My best memories though were breakfasts. During summer break as kids, Mama’d drop us off over there before going to work and we’d have these huge breakfasts. As we got older and had summer jobs and such, we’d still make it a point to get up early some Saturdays and go to Papa and Grandma’s for those breakfasts. It’d only be 7 of us, Papa’d crack two or three dozen eggs, whip up plates of chocolate and regular pancakes, and cook 5 pounds of local sausage. We’d smother it in jam and butter and syrup and eat it all while drinking cold glasses of milk and downing cups of Tim Horton’s coffee.
It was during one of these breakfasts that Papa used a cup of that Tim Horton’s black coffee and taught me one of his many life lessons I’ll never forget. He poured a cup of that black coffee into a mug, then slipped a clear plastic straw into it. The black coffee came up into the straw as it rested in the cup. He then poured the creamer into the mug. All the coffee around that straw turned a warm tan color, but the black coffee trapped in the bottom half of the straw remained black.
He said, “son, this is what happens when you let a little bit of bad get into a lot of good”. He pulled the straw out and the entire cup of coffee became a shade darker as the black coffee, no longer trapped, mixed back in with the creamer-ized coffee around it.
It became more bitter and more dark because a little bit of bad got into a lot of good. The SAME THING happened with the Israelites. They let that tiny mixed multitude get in with them, and soon they were getting in with the mixed multitude, being bitter, murmuring, and complaining.
5 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:
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
Numbers 11:5-6
Getting over God’s blessings
The picture could not be clearer folks. They are being given DIVINE fresh manna, (this sweet, soft wafer bread) EVERY MORNING THEY GOT A FRESH BATCH MIRACULOUSLY, and they are turning their nose up at it for garlic and onions and fish. Listen the contempt in verse 6. The drama.
And some of you are thinking Yeah Sam, but they’ve been eating that stuff for weeks, maybe even months. You’d probably get tired of it too. You’d probably be over it too.
Yes, and isn’t that the problem folks?
You need to see this. The children of Israel got over God’s blessings.
Have you ever gotten tired of one of God’s blessings? You ever been over it, ready to move on to the next thing?
Whoah now Sam, what are you saying? I’d never do that.
I’ve done it. I’ll shoot ya straight right now. The Lord gave me a good job and I eventually got over it. Started complaining about some of the work and some of the people. The Lord gave me a clean, nice, apartment close enough to work where I wouldn’t have Charleston traffic, and I got over it. I started complaining about my neighbors, my rent, my two flights of stairs, and my one parking spot. The Lord gave me a new opportunity, a new road to travel on, apart from my family and my friends back home, and, for a time, I was over it. I was bemoaning and complaining about the road the Lord wanted me to walk.
I’m not alone in getting over God’s blessings.
There are some men whom God has blessed with a good woman, and some women whom God has blessed with a good man. But they’ve gotten over it. What began as irritation about leaving toilet seats up or spending too much money on makeup products has morphed into silent treatment in the car and nights on the couch. What began as withholding simple conversation has now become withholding of yourself in the marriage bed. God gave them something good, the honeymoon wore off, they got over it, and now they complain about it.
God has blessed some with good churches. The preaching is Spirit-filled, the body of believers is strong, the outreach is funded, and the building is in good condition. But members get over it. They complain about the hymns (or they flip and complain about the drums). They complain about the lack of youth or the lack of laymen. They complain about the way the pastor dresses, or they complain about getting out after the buffet rush has started down the street.
Parents, God has blessed some of you with good kids. He’s given you the ability to support and nurture them. They make mistakes of course, but he’s given you the patience and wisdom to correct and guide. But you choose to get into yelling matches and complain about their disrespect while enabling them further.
Kids, God has blessed some with good parents. They love you and they want to see you grow and mature. They put food on the table and clothes on your back. They try to shield you from the evil that’s out there in the world, trying to destroy your purity and your innocence. But you got over it. You’d rather argue and fight with them. You’d rather dream of the day when you don’t have to listen to them anymore, and they can’t tell you what to do, and they can’t ground you.
I could keep going.
Ask yourself… is there a blessing in my life that God has given me that I’ve gotten over? What is the manna in your life that you’re trying to throw away for some smelly garlic and fish today?
What were the Israelites REALLY doing in verse 5? They were looking back to a time of bondage, and they were longing for it. It’s ironically funny that they used the word freely in verse 5, considering they were slaves in Egypt.
Let’s be real here. They weren’t just longing for the buffet at Golden Corral. They were reminiscing about the days of Exodus 1:22 when they were drowning all of the Hebrew boys in the river. They were wishing for the days of Exodus 2:11 when Egyptian slavemasters treated them like animals, cracking whips on their backs as they made bricks out of straw. That was the reality of what Egypt was for the Israelites. That was why they cried out to the Lord. Check this out…
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Exodus 2:23
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exodus 3:7
And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exodus 3:9
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
Exodus 6:5
Keep in mind, these are the SAME people who now want to go back.
Seems foolish when you really begin to think about it doesn’t it?
But we do the same thing.
If you’re saved this morning, God has freed you from the bondage of sin, but sometimes we want to go back, don’t we?
Some feel the temptation to go out and get drunk one more time.
Some feel the temptation to go sleep around one more time.
Some want to say something ugly about someone more time.
Some want to cuss someone out one more time.
Some want to look at some porn one more time.
Some want to shoot up, just one more time.
Sin’ll do that. Satan will tempt you with temporary pleasure in hopes of causing eternal pain. He wants the one time to turn into two times, then three. And so on.
Understand this, if you’re saved, the chains of sin that used to be shackled around your wrists are lying in a pile at your feet. Satan wants you to take those heavy chains and bind them back to your wrists, then he wants you to admire them as if you were wearing bracelets of gold and diamond jewelry. He can’t do it himself. His demons can’t do it. The only person who can put those chains back on you is you. The only person who can willfully submit you to sin is you.
Satan will do his best to help you get over God’s blessings. Because, if you forget the blessings, you will eventually forget the Blesser. If you take them for granted, you eventually take the One who gave them to you for granted.
Taking God for granted
There was once a little boy who didn’t like to see his grandma at Christmas. She was alright during the rest of the year, but he didn’t like seeing her at Christmas. Why? She always got him wool clothing. Every year, she made it a point to buy her grandchildren wool clothing every Christmas. Socks, mittens, caps. The little boy thought they looked ugly, and he didn’t like how itchy it was. Every year, he’d have to awkwardly smile and pretend to be thankful for his Grandma’s present. He wondered why she couldn’t be like other grandparents, and get him a bike, or a basketball, or a Nerf gun. It just wasn’t fair.
Then there came a week one winter when the power went out due to a bad ice and snow storm. The little boy and his family got snowed in. The roads were closed. They didn’t have a generator. All of a sudden, those warm wool clothes became a lot more important than the Nerf gun, the bike, and the basketball.
You see, that grandmother knew what it was like to live in a house with no heat. She had to do it often as a little girl. She had knowledge about the cold that that little boy didn’t. She didn’t want her grandkids to have to go through that, so she gifted them with those wool clothes.
Much in the same way, God has knowledge about your life you don’t. He knows what you’ve been through. He knows what you’re going through currently. He knows what’s coming down the road next. And there are times in life when he blesses you with things, and you look at them the exact same way that little boy was looking at those itchy wool clothes.
You take God for granted when you begin to lust after the life you lived before you began to walk with Him. That attitude is no different from the Israelites snubbing their nose at his divine provision for the wages of slave labor in Numbers 4:5-6. No different than when they physically wished for the life they had before walking with God in the desert, sustained by heavenly manna.
If God has you in a desert right now, are you wishing for Egypt (what you had before), or are you wishing for the Promised Land (the better future he’s bringing you to)? In this present moment in your life, if you were to stop and examine yourself, can you identify any areas of your life where you’re taking God and His blessings for granted?
If you can, it’s time to fix it.
It’s about time some of you spouses looked at each other straight in the eyes and reminded the other about what a blessing God has allowed them to be in your life. No relationship is perfect, but a relationship ordained by God and built on God and His principles will be a help to you, not a hurt.
It’s about time for some kids to quit huffing and complaining, and thank God for the Mama and the Daddy he’s placed them with. Lord knows not everyone gets to experience that blessing.
It’s about time for some of you to punch the clock with a smile on your face, excited for the opportunities the Lord’s gonna give you that day in the job He has placed you, rather than simply spending every day waiting for the 8 hours to drag by.
Now, I know this phrase is about to sound a bit weird in this situation, but let’s say we were to play devil’s advocate. Let’s say we continue to take the Lord’s blessings for granted. Let’s say we ignore the warning God is giving us today, and we continue to lust after the pleasures of the world. Let’s say the Lord is working on your heart in this message right now, but in a few minutes, when the opportunity is put forth for you to do business with God and get right, you decide to ignore Him. You decide to leave the same way you came. You decide to choose to keep that fish wish in your heart. You decide to keep pining after the Egypt of your life. What’s going to happen?
The quail
Friend, if we skip down a couple of verses, God gives us a sneak peek. He doesn’t leave his people guessing on these kinds of things you see. The Bible is thorough and complete, showing both the warnings and the consequences.
31 And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.
34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.
Numbers 11:31-34
Here we see the reprobate mind of the children of Israel in full display. Remember, reprobate means depraved and rejected. Beyond hope. Notice the progression. First, it’s just a few dissenters in the camp. A tiny mix of outsiders among the children of Israel. Their rebellion grew like a cancer among the people. It persuaded them that God wasn’t good enough. It persuaded him that his provision wasn’t good enough. So what did God do? He was patient for a time, but he finally turned them over to their lusts. He allowed them to have the thing that their heart was putting over Him. And it killed many of them.
This wasn’t a few quail falling out the sky. The people didn’t just calmly pick them up, go home, clean ‘em, and throw ‘em in a stew like regular. The Bible doesn’t say, but I think they descended upon the birds like crazed maniacs. For 36 hours they went and began greedily gathering piles of the birds in order to feast on the meat. The Bible says in verse 32 that the smallest amount a man gathered was 10 homers. From what I can tell, a homer is about 58 gallons. That’s 580 gallons of birds. That’s a dude filling up 6 of those huge outside garbage cans the trash man comes and picks up in the neighborhood. All with quail!
The Bible says in verse 33 that as they went to tear into the meat, while it was between their teeth, before they swallowed, the Lord struck them with a plague.
Now my question was… why in the world did God do that? He let them gather it for 3 days, and do all that work, only to kill them with a plague?
I like the way that Matthew Henry said it…
God often grants the desires of sinners in wrath, while he denies the desires of his own people in love
Matthew Henry
God wasn’t letting them gather that quail because he was okay with their rejection of Him. I think He was giving them yet another opportunity to correct their course. Sadly, few of them made the right choice.
Verse 34 says the place was called Kibroth-hattaavah (keev roe tah tah vah), which means “the graves of the longing” or “the graves of the lusting”
Can I tell you that God is doing the same thing today? There are people who are denying God’s provision in their lives. There are people who are denying His power in their circumstances. They are taking it for granted. So what is God doing?
He’s letting them gather the quail. He’s letting them live in nice houses. Drive nice cars. Build big 401ks. He’s letting them spend their days gathering material things in a futile effort to build a life of ease and comfort apart from Him. He’s letting them spend years and years chasing after lusts of the flesh, seeking to satisfy a hunger that can only be filled by Him.
Friend, if that’s you, and you are living a life apart from God, know that you will meet the same fate as these poor souls at Kibroth-hattaavah.
If God doesn’t forcefully intervene in a mighty way, and you choose to continue to ignore Him in your life, there may come a moment in your life when you will be like the rich man in Luke 12. You will see all of your earthly successes piled in front of you, just as these people saw the quail piled in front of them. You’ll chuckle and tell yourself you need to build a bigger barn to hold all your wealth. You will tell your soul to eat and drink and be merry. You’ll have the taste of earthly pleasure in your mouth. The meat of all your worldly successes will be between your teeth and then God will require your soul of you. You will have made the wrong choice because you valued the meat of this world more than the manna of God. You valued the provision of this world, more than the provision of God. You never bowed to the Lord, accepting Him as the sole ruler of your life. You chose to live apart from him.
This will be the eternal fate of all who live their lives apart from God.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Notice that verse 34 says that they only buried the people who lusted. They only buried the people that rejected the provision of God for the pleasure of the earthly quail Similarly today, the only people who are going to suffer that agonizing end are the ones who reject Christ.
He’s still calling
The good news is that, if you’re reading this, you haven’t gotten that far. There’s still hope for you.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
He’s calling you. The Lord doesn’t want a single one of us to die and go to hell. That was never the plan. Hell was created for Satan and his demons, who rejected God’s authority outright. When Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority in the Garden of Eden, and the sin curse came upon man, we were put in that same predicament.
Jesus came, and He died on the cross. He sacrificed himself, taking on my sin curse, and yours, so that the price for sin could be paid, and eternal hellfire could be avoided.
I’ve had people ask me Sam, doesn’t eternity in torment sound a bit excessive for not following some commands written in a book. A loving God wouldn’t do that.
A just God would. God would not be God if He didn’t stand on His Word. How effective is a parent that never holds their children accountable? A good father warns his child of the consequences of wrong-doing. He pleads with the child repeatedly, giving them opportunities to learn from their mistakes and change. He cries over the child. He tells them the truth, He writes them the truth, He shows them the truth. He makes sacrifices of himself in an attempt to give the child a better outcome.
But, there comes a day that if the child doesn’t internalize that truth, and they don’t make a point to step out on faith and live the truth, then there must be consequences. We frown upon parents who let their children run wild and do whatever they want. We called the child rebellious and the parent irresponsible. Ironically, we, sin-cursed and sin-filled humanity, turn our face to God and tell Him, “I just don’t think hell is real. I don’t think a loving God would allow a place like that to exist”.
He’s an eternal God. His commandments are eternal. His love is eternal. His blessings are eternal. His justice is eternal. His punishments are eternal.
If you don’t know Jesus Christ this morning as your Savior, I beg you to step out on faith and accept Him. If he’s calling you, would you answer? Reach out. We’ll go through what it means to be saved, and you can know for sure that your sins are forgiven.
The Bible isn’t just for the lost, it’s for the saved too. If you’re reading this, and the Lord has convicted you of a fish wish that you have in your own life, today’s the day to handle it. If the Holy Spirit has shown you an Egypt that you’re still longing for in your life, today is the day to be free of it.
If you leave this the same way you came to it, you’ve wasted an opportunity. Any time God’s word is preached, taught, read, or heard, there is power in the words to change lives and hearts. Would you let it change yours?
