Tag: Numbers

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Remember Meribah & Massah.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did. For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’ ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭95‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David writes this Psalm and it is put into the book of Psalms towards the end of his life. The Psalm starts with a burst of praise, a crescendo of thanksgiving, ”Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him.” Yet, it ends with this warning, to remember Meribah & Massah.

What happened in these places that was so egregious, that God took an oath to not allow the eldest into the promised land. Maybe there’s a hint in the phrase, “Rock of our salvation?” Meribah was the final straw of hard-hearted, contentiousness with the elders who were freed from Egypt, but their souls were still enslaved with bitterness. Gotquestions.org writes, “The incident at the waters of Meribah Kadesh is recorded in Numbers 20. Nearing the end of their forty years of wandering, the Israelites came to the Desert of Zin. There was no water, and the community turned against Moses and Aaron.”

The people held Moses & Aaron responsible for their lack of water in the desert. And, once again Moses & Aaron went to the Lord with the complaint/request. God told Moses & Aaron to gather the people at a rock in Meribah (which means strife or contention). God told Moses to speak to the rock, but apparently Moses had reached his limit of patience. The anger of his youth rallied and raised its ugly head. Moses took the staff of God and smacked the rock saying, “Listen, you rebels, must WE bring you water out of this rock?” (Numbers‬ ‭20‬:‭10‬). Uh oh. You can hear the exasperation in Moses’ words.

Water came out and the people were once again satisfied, but God took notice that Moses and Aaron (God held Aaron responsible as well) were disobedient to God’s command. “…the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them. The other place at the rock of Horeb, is found in Exodus 17:1-7, this time God had told Moses to strike the rock. Both times, the people were grumbling, and threatening towards Moses. In Horeb, God called the place, Massah (nasah), to test or quarrel with God. Is there a proper way to wrestle with the Almighty? Jacob did so and God displaced his hip so his limp would remind Jacob of a moment in the ring with His creator.

Here, the people also struggled with God with contempt, blame and bitterness. What strikes me is that David in this Psalm writes about these specific, named places where humans contentiously strived with God and clearly lost! God was also angry at them! They wandered in the desert, going in circles for forty years. And they never made it to the promised land. But neither did Moses, nor Aaron, their leaders.

The people who start with you on a faith journey, may not end with you. And if leaders aren’t careful, we might not see the promise of God fulfilled either! Remember your own places like Meribah & Massah, where we strived with God. Remember to be patient, humble and most of all obedient if we want to see the promises of God come to pass.

Prayer

Dad,
Is grumbling and complaining just a byproduct of aging? I used to think it was funny to see an old man or old woman just muttering muffled rants as they went about their life. Now, I don’t think it’s so funny. I don’t want to be a whiner, a complainer or finish my life spewing bitterness! Help me God to fight the disease of Meribah & Massah! Help me watch my attitude and my words. Help me hold my tongue and slow my witty words that are not godly. Deliver me from the bitter-soul syndrome that seems to come with seeing too much, experiencing too much pain and suffering around me. Help me have the necessary faith to see Your promises fulfilled. Amen.

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Does God have a sense of humor?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

….So Balak, king of Moab, sent messengers to call Balaam son of Beor, who was living in his native land of Pethor near the Euphrates River. His message said: “Look, a vast horde of people has arrived from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and are threatening me. Please come and curse these people for me because they are too powerful for me. Then perhaps I will be able to conquer them and drive them from the land. I know that blessings fall on any people you bless, and curses fall on people you curse. ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭4‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

These feudal, tribal, clan-clashing are all throughout the Old Testament. Yet, at each inflection point there is always a person, or persons (in this case) that God uses to tell His story. Here we have the major characters, Balak, king of Moab, Balaam, a wicked prophet (Balaam was a pagan prophet who practiced divination and other magic arts, led Israel into apostasy, and was identified as a greedy, unscrupulous man by Peter and Jude ( 2 Peter 2:15 -16; Jude 1:11)) – oh and a donkey, Balaam’s ride.

Oh Moab, the nation that came out of Lot’s grandson via an incestuous relationship with Lot’s daughter, who remained unnamed. Moab’s king, Balak, thought it would be helpful to get a prophet, known for being a spokesperson for God, to CURSE Israel because he thought they were a threat to his kingdom. Balaam’s reputation must have been well known. Balaam turns down the offer to be paid to “basically” make up a curse from God. Balaam knew God would not curse his own people and told Balak it wouldn’t work.

Balaam seeks God and God answers, “don’t curse my people.” But king Balak is persistent and keeps upping the bribe money. God finally releases Balaam to go with the entourage from Balak, but forbid him to actually curse Israel. Balaam leaves for his journey but in-route an angel of the Lord blocks the path of the donkey. Balaam can’t see the angel, but his donkey can. God told Balaam he could go with the Moabite men, but God must have known that Balaam was toying with the idea of pronouncing this curse. This happens three times and each time, Balaam beats the animal for stopping and for embarrassing him.

After the third time God grants the donkey the ability to speak! The donkey talks! Come on – this is hilarious. The donkey and Balaam have a brief conversation on the trail! The donkey says, “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam. “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!” “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?” “No,” Balaam admitted.”

This donkey-talk scene has captured so much attention as one of the most unusual but humorous parts of the Bible. Every kid going to Sunday School in the past would have heard about Balaam’s donkey! Feel free to insert your own donkey/ass jokes here. God commits three whole chapters in the book of Numbers to tell this story. And in this story, you’ll find a Messiah reference, an “easter egg” discovery of a mysterious mention of the future Messiah – Jesus (Num 24:17).

Sadly, even though Balaam does not curse Israel, in fact, he blesses them three times – Balaam does figure out how to trap Israel with their own lust and desires. Balaam advised the Moabites on how to entice the people MEN of Israel with prostitutes and idolatry. And, it worked. See it in Numbers 25:1-3. The men of Israel took the bait, believed the lie and gave into to their disordered desires. The results – God judge them and 24,000 people died from a plague.

The talking donkey was funny, but our sin and desires, causing us to disobey God is no joke. As a youth hearing this story, I was so focused on the donkey that I completely missed the fact that there is more than one way to curse people. The direct curse is one way, but the subtle manipulation of luring us away from God and towards the shiny object of desire is the other. The last one seems enormously more effective.

Prayer

Dad,
I really do appreciate the humor in this story. I even like the fact that the villain is forced to do what is right, for the short term. Oh, but I hate seeing a mirror reflection of our own desires, imagination and dark thoughts eventually wearing us down and winning far too often. That’s embarrassing to know that we can falter from our own curse within. I am still in awe and wonder your grace and mercy offered to us! Thank you once again. Amen.

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I’ll give you something to complain about!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭21‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’m not sure my mother said this to me directly, or I heard her tell my little sister. Either way, my mom was famous for asking THE parental, rhetorical question. “What are you crying about?” Before I could answer, because honestly I didn’t know why myself or my sister was crying – we just had the feels! My mother would then say what she really wanted to say. “I’ll give you something to cry about.” Which totally confused me as a child. There were already tears. Why would anyone want more of whatever caused the tears to begin with. Not me!

At first glance, one might read the Old Testament stories, especially this freedom trek from slavery to independence and say, “boy those Israelites were sure negative. They’re a bunch of complainers and whiners.” Is negativity genetic? Can whining be passed down through our DNA? Come on. You know you have family or friends that are negative about most things. The constant grind of questions and an Eeyore approach to life can get any parent, any leader irritated. Especially when one is trying to get them from point A to point B and, for goodness sake, does not need the extra headache necessary to drag people into faith and freedom the entire way.

I have learned that it’s not just an Jewish exile issue. It’s a human trait, a bent character flaw in all of us. The whiners took it way too far. This wasn’t just honest prayers of angst like we find in Psalms. This was BLAME. This was toxic negativity that would eventually infect every person, every family. They spoke AGAINST God and Moses. Moses own sister had played this game once, and caught an awful case of skin disease because of it! I mean yeah, her name, Miriam, means bitter, but really? She started trash talking Moses wife because she was a Cushite. God turned her skin ashen and sent her off for a seven day timeout.

Here, the the complainers cried, “you brought us out here to die!” When freedom starts looking like slavery you know you’re messed up! God brought in a snake infestation and it killed a bunch of them. Come on Pastor out there, you know you’ve at least thought about this story when you got served complaining and misery while trying to lead the flock.

When the whiners started watching their friends die, they wised up pretty quick. To stop them from dying, to stop them from complaining, God had Moses make a bronze snake and hang it on a pole. Was it an idol, I don’t think so. They weren’t told to worship it. They were required to stare at it hoping the odd remedy would work. And it did. God even used the whole object lesson to help us understand that the one hanged on a tree (or pole) was cursed but would bring healing through faith as one gazed on him. We gaze at Jesus who became sin and was hung up on the pole for our own cure. Not just for whining but for living a life of sin.

Two points to be made from this story. One, the complainers and doubters ended up dying in the desert after all. They never made it to the promised land. Two, I should be very careful not to accuse God of leading me to freedom and live a whiner’s life believing that He’s going to just let me die in the desert.

Prayer

Dad,
It used to be so easy to read the Old Testament and get so judgey about your Israelites. Then after growing up a little and looking into the pure mirror of your word, I realized that I struggle with an Eeyore attitude and dip into negativity far too often. I want to live a life of faith, not fear. And, certainly not go down as a whiner and complainer. Thank you for your grace as a self awareness of my faults. Help me in my faith and please, no snakes for me!