How to Read 'Numbers'Намуна

Complaining - Thanksgiving
‘Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord …’ Numbers 11:1
‘Again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost – also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.’ Numbers 11:4-5
‘Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife’ Numbers 12:1
‘All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron’ Numbers 14:2.
This short travel section, 10:11 - 14:45, describes the Israelites’ journey from Sinai to Kadesh, but it is marked by failure and division almost to the point of complete anarchy as one group after another complains against the Lord and looks back yearning for Egypt. This complaining moves from the outside to the centre so that even Moses complains to the Lord; 11:11-15.
The plan to enter the promised land faltered because the people became frightened of the Canaanites. Moses begins to wilt under the weight of leadership, especially when that leadership involves standing up against the people’s rebellion. Moses and Aaron escape with their lives, but only because God intervened.
While we might sympathise with the people’s hardships, the Biblical writers do not. The Lord had demonstrated his intervening power on several different occasions over the previous two years, so there was no justification for their complaining and disbelief.
At first, his judgement is limited; the fire is at the outside of the camp, 11:1, but the final judgement, 14:22, is on the whole generation that were saved out of Egypt - they will not enter into their inheritance.
Ultimately, even Moses and Aaron fail to enter into the promised land.
Our lives as disciples should be marked by thanksgiving and gratitude as we walk with Jesus and the Spirit leads us into our inheritance.
Thanksgiving flows out from our trust in the Lord.
‘Give thanks in all circumstances: for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ 1 Thessalonians 5:18
‘… always giving thanks to God for everything …’ Ephesians 5:20
‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ Philippians 4:6
What can you do to establish patterns of thanksgiving as a regular part of your daily life?
Scripture
About this Plan

‘Numbers’, the fourth book in the Old Testament, narrates the journey made by the Israelites from Mount Sinai north through the desert to the plains of Moab and Ammon on the Eastern side of the river Jordan, opposite Jericho. In this plan we shall study in Numbers how the Lord prepared his people to take possession of their inheritance, so that as his disciples we can learn more about engaging in the kingdom and living in our inheritance in Christ.
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