Lesson three is entitled, Rebellion Against God and his gifts. We're going to see that as a constant theme for all the book of numbers and beyond even into the historical books is overbells against God all the time. We saw in Exodus as a matter of fact, so just continuing more of the same. But we're going to be looking at chapters 11 through 14, at least a book of chapter 14.
And before we dive into verse one of chapter 11, I wanted to do a quick little overview and touch base a little bit with the typology that we're looking at, the spiritual typology and the spiritual applications. For us reading these verses, I had quoted St. Paul from 1 Corinthians chapter 10 versus 1 in following in previous lessons about how all of this is written down for our instruction. All right, so just a quick quick overview about all the rebellions in general.
It turns out that there are a round, not a round, but a specific around number of 10 rebellions in the book of numbers. Now 10, this is significant for a couple of reasons. I think 10 is the number of perfection, totality and completion, not seven, by the way. Seven is the number of the covenant.
It's rooted in the Hebrew word to swear on oath. And so people often get this mixed up. I'm seven could be a number of completion perfection, but if it's in relation to the covenant first, 10 is the number of perfection, totality and completion. So the fact that you have 10 rebellions listed here in the book of numbers is interesting because one, it is a strong contrast to the 10 commandments.
I think, you know, God gives 10 commandments to Israel and to all of us, you know, the natural law is divinely revealed at Mount Sinai. There are 10 commandments. Now, there are 10 rebellions. Now, there are not 10 rebellions, one rebellion for breaking each commandment.
That would be pretty interesting. That's not as clean as that. I just think that there is this comparison, this contrast that basically Israel is rebelling against God all the time, breaking his commandments all the time, and it's going to not bode well for them. All right.
Now, 10, because it's the number of perfection, totality and there are 10 rebellions, it's very significant because numer, the numerology, the symbolism is that Israel is perfectly completely, totally rebellious against God. They have hard hearts. They have this propensity to always reject him that is complete in total. All right.
So it is, in fact, we're going to see the whole first generation is going to die in the wilderness. We'll talk about that towards the end of this lesson. It is a very sad symbolism going on. They are totally, completely hard-hearted.
So there are 10 rebellions and numbers. We're going to see later on, there's kind of a doubling of this number because in one of the rebellions, God is going to say they've rebelled me these 10 times. I'm kind of ahead of myself right now, but that is another mention of another group of 10 rebellions against God. So the fact that it's doubled this significant, like, you know, Jesus, amen, I say to you in scripture when there's a doubling, it means like the thing is set, right?
And so Israel's heart is set against God. All right. Well, these rebellions in the book of numbers, it's interesting, especially as you begin with the first rebellions that they commit, there's an echo of Exodus. Before they travel to Mount Sinai, there's a series of rebellions.
And we talked about that in the Exodus Bible study. They're at Mount Sinai for a year. And now when they leave Mount Sinai, there's another series of rebellions. And so the little commentary, however, you put number two says the story is on the journey to Mount Sinai and the journey from Mount Sinai have many similarities such as the manna, water from the rock, Moses, Moses, and ability to rule the people by himself.
I would also add in there the quails. I think that's significant because as Israel is journeying towards Sinai, God is leading them towards the covenant at Mount Sinai, they're rebelling against God and they're trying to learn to trust him. They don't do so well. But then they have the covenant with God at Mount Sinai.
They swear to follow him, they swear to keep the ordinances and the commandments of God and they have this covenant. But when they leave, it really shows you how they haven't really changed. They're the same hard-hearted people. And that's a really sad reality to reflect upon after encountering God on the mountain and receiving his graces and seeing his signs.
They're no different. All right. So we're going to see these 10 rebellions. We're going to look at the rebellions number one through four here.
And we'll continue the rest in future lessons. But one old friend of mine, a colleague of mine, he wants to call this whole sequence, the ultimate family vacation from hell. It's pretty sad. There's all these rebellions.
In fact, I like to joke also. You can kind of turn this into a drinking game. Every time you see a rebellion, you got to take a shot. You got to take a beer or whatever it is.
I wouldn't recommend that because there are 10. And that's going to go to your head really, really quickly. But there's a lot of, there's kind of like a dark humor in all of this as well as God is trying to deal with this rebellious people. And that actually is a good segue to our application as we read these stories and we want to bang our head against the wall.
A lot of people when I teach this, like, gosh, what is wrong with these Israelites committing the same sins over and over? And the thing that I teach people and I have to reflect on myself is that we are Israel. This is a common refrain for many teachers of scripture. We are Israel.
And so if you want to bang your head against the wall, I like to say, bang it against the mirror. Don't break the mirror, obviously, but bang it against the mirror because it's a reflection of us and our human condition and our propensity to rebel against God over and over again. So just as they go through the waters of the Red Sea, or they see all God's wonders and signs and God delivers them from slavery and they go through the waters of the Red Sea and they are fed by manna and they encounter God in the covenant and all this stuff, and then they go into the wilderness and they rebel against him. Doc can happen to us as well.
You know, we in our journey through the wilderness of life, we have trials and temptations and tests and tribulations, and we must not be like Israel, but often we are. We must not be like them. We shouldn't crumble. We shouldn't murmur and complain and rebel against God.
When things get tough, we cling to him and patience. You know, we don't want to desire to go back to Egypt. We don't want to go back to slavery because we think it's easier and we idealize with rose-colored glasses, the life that we used to have. We need to fight the good fight.
So this is a good reflection for our spiritual life as well. When we go through all these different rebellions and murmurings and stuff, it's not just a picture of us, it's a picture of the church. And it's even worse actually because, you know, when we go see God's signs and we go through the waters of baptism and receive the Eucharist and we go through life, we just have to be where it's so easy to turn away from God. And so this quote here that I have for you from when your commentary says, quote, the experiences of the people of God during their desert pilgrimage helps us to understand the life of the new people of God, advancing through trials and tribulations, the churches strengthened by God's grace, promised to her by the Lord so that she may not waver from perfect fidelity.
That's in the Bible quoting the Vatican II, talking to the women's genseng. And that's just so, so true. So we need to be aware of this. We're going to experience hard times and tough times, but we just need to be patient.
So studying this is going to be very, very applicable, whether you're in the season of Lent, which I'm in right now, we are now or you're studying this at ordinary time or whatever it is, there are 10 rebellions reflects or total heartheartedness and we cannot be like them. All right. So with that then let's study the first three rebellions that are recorded in chapters 11 through 12. I want to begin by reading this quote here for you in your notes.
It says, The immediate purpose of these events is to contrast the God who is present in his camp to bless his people. So that would be chapters one through 10 with the God who is present in his camp to judge whoever a group or individual attempts to shout out to harmony of the community. All right. And that's going to be a thing we're going to see throughout this whole story, right?
God is there and is justice or in his mercy. And, you know, we can choose, right? God wants to bless us, which is what you see in chapters one through 10. We discussed that in the last lesson.
God wants to bless us. Everything kind of hinges and centers upon that beautiful, priestly prayer, the ironic blessing. He wants to bless us if we let him, if we obey him, but if we disobey, there will be disciplines, there will be punishments that are remedial. They're meant to wake us up and sober us up and we experience the consequences of our own actions really.
And then we're supposed to turn back to God. All right. So we're going to see how God wants to bless Israel, but they keep turning away. So God's going to have to discipline them.
That's the word that Moses uses in Deuteronomy. I think that's the best word punishment, of course, is important as well. So the first rebellion, let's read chapter 11, verses one through three. He says, the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes.
And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outer line parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire abated. So the name of that place was Tabarah because of the fire of the Lord burned among them. Now you can check your, the map that I gave you, the map that's in with your syllabus or this course.
And you can see where some scholars are, at least it's considered to be where this took place, Tabarah. The place name is not very creative. This is often the case in the Bible. Tabarah means fire, blaze or burning.
And they're like, oh, well, there's the burning of the Lord. So let's just name it, burning of the Lord. So in any case you could check out that map and see where this is. And it's very, very close to where they think about Sinai is because this is only three days after they left.
We know that from chapter 10, verse 33. They went out from the Mount of the Lord, a three days journey and the Ark of the Covenant went before them, a three days journey to seek a resting place for them. So it's very, very close to Mount Sinai. And now they're beginning to, to rebel and to complain and grumble.
And so they were very comfortable at Sinai for over a year. And now they're going into the wilderness where things are going to get a little bit tough. Again, there's so many applications to us all the time. When times get tough, when things get tough, it's easy for us to grumble and complain and say, God, where are you?
And God, why do you do this? So now they're complaining about their misfortunes of the desert life. Now, I always kind of wonder like, what misfortunes? Like really God delivered you from Egypt.
And he made the Egyptians give you all of this wealth, right? So you're very wealthy people after they gave you gold and silver and coins and fabric and all this kind of stuff. You've been there at Mount Sinai, you have a covenant with God about Sinai, you're eating heavenly bread and doing all this stuff. Yeah, you're out in the wilderness.
And to be fair, you're under the hot sun. And that's true. Things are getting tough here. And that's really what they're complaining about, but they're forgetting God's signs.
They're forgetting how God has been with them this entire time. So we got to be careful, you know, very quickly after when we leave the comfort of our own home or the comfort of a situation, things get tough. We rebel, we complain, we murmur. So it's a sin against hope.
It's a sin against gratitude. It's a sin against trust and faith. We have to be very careful of this. So God sends this fire to the edges of the camp.
Now, I find that really interesting that this very first brief rebellion, the fire goes to the edges of the camp where maybe some of the rebellions took place. You have to be careful when it comes to complaining and murmuring and grumbling because or even small sins in general, because if you don't take care of them, they'll quickly grow into the center of the camp or the center of your life as we're going to see actually here really, really soon. So the fire comes on the outer edges of the camp. Moses intercedes and the fire abates.
It's a very brief thing, but this sets the pattern for us for the rest of this book. The pattern is they sin and then there's punishment. Moses intercedes and then there's relief. Okay, and then sometimes they're actually more laws that are given as we're going to see too.
So sin punishment, intercession and relief is a little bit of a parallel with the book of judges, which you can consult in the Salvation History introduction, but book of judges is coming very, very soon. I'll have a Bible study on that. So first rebellion, you got the pattern that's going to happen over and over and over again. Now let's go to the second rebellion in verse four happens immediately after.
It says the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. You can underline or circle the word craving there. The people of Israel also wept again and said, oh, that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish and we ate that we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers and melons and leeks and the onions and the garlic.
That sounds like quite a spread, right? It sounds delicious, but now our strength is dried up and there's nothing at all, but this man had to look at. It's dark humor here. So they're just they're complaining about food, right?
They're limited menu options is what they're complaining about. You know they have the same thing over and over again. And now they're craving the food that they had in Egypt. Now that word craving is significant.
It really kind of evokes the the concubisense of the desires of the flesh to satiate their bodily desires. And what they're doing is they're idealizing Egypt. They're idealizing these disordered attachments that they had and the fact that though they were crying out in slavery and Pharaoh was killing their Hebrew boys, their children and they were certainly being abused by all the taskmasters. They still it's okay.
So long as my belly is full, boy, there's a lot to say about that. You know, God, Saint Paul talks about in his pistols, you know, they worship their belly, right? We do this all the time too. So long as we're satiated in our bodily desires and we can fill our bellies and we're full then, you know, it's okay for slavery as long as we get food to eat.
And that's and that's what's going on here. They desire the food despite the fact that they were in slavery to Pharaoh into Egypt. And so God has been giving them this manna and they say, we have nothing but this manna to look at. And it's this rebellion is deeper than just kind of getting tired, getting tired of eating the same thing.
You know, like in a family, it would often happen sometimes in our family. It really, really busy and we can't menu plan. And so we make pasta, right? And so the kids like pasta again, I don't want pasta again.
It's like the Israelites. Oh manna again. All right. Now the manna is more than just that.
Okay, it's not the same old pasta over and over again. The manna was miraculous, as you well know. In chapter 16 talks about how the manna suited every taste. It doesn't matter like what you wanted.
What you wanted to taste like, it always tasted the best to you. So wisdom, chapter 16, verse 20 says, you gave your people the food of angels. That's beautiful right there. The food of angels is what the manna is called.
And without their toil, you supplied them from heaven with bread ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste. So when you read the account in Exodus about the manna and here are numbers, you know, it's not to taste like, you know, coriander seed and oil or honey or, you know, I like to think of it as niloafers or whatever. But the point is it tasted perfect for you, right? It tasted perfect for you because it was this miraculous bread.
But nevertheless, for 13 months now, they've been eating it, you know, and they've been trying to prepare in different ways. You could boil it or you could bake it. You can grind it up and they've been making banana bread for all this time and they've been making manna kadi for all of this time making it all these different ways. Now, they're sick of it.
All right. Now, they're sick of it. But the deeper meaning is what the manna represents. The manna is a foretaste of the promised land.
The manna tastes like these wafers with honey or, you know, milk and honey, mill the wafers. I like the joke because it is a foretaste of the promised land that flows with milk and honey. All right. And it is a, it is a, the land that flows with milk and honey.
The center of the land is, is God is rest at Sabbath rest with God who gives the people the land. So when you reject the manna, you're rejecting the land and when you reject the land, you're rejecting that covenantal Sabbath rest with God. You're rejecting communion with God. That's a big deal.
Does not like a kid saying, I don't want pasta and get another night of her dinner. It's I'm rejecting this manna that God has given me. I'm rejecting his gifts and therefore you're rejecting the giver of the gifts as well. That's what's happening here.
And there's more significance for us. So if the manna, as we talked about in the Exodus Bible study, if the manna is a clear, very obvious type of the Eucharist, you can apply the same principles. If you reject the Eucharist, which is a foretaste of the promised land of heaven, then you're rejecting heaven itself. If you reject Christ and the Eucharist, you're rejecting Christ himself.
All right. That's a big, big deal. You do not want to be rejecting the Eucharist, which is one of the God's greatest gifts to us as we wander in our wilderness of life. God is sustaining us throughout all these trials and tribulations and testings with his own body, blood, soul and divinity.
And so we can't reject that. Whether you're rejecting the teaching of trans-fanciation, because you're not a Catholic or if you are a Catholic, you reject it, you don't believe it. That's highly problematic. Or unfortunately, a lot of people will say, you know, they go to Mass.
I didn't get nothing. I didn't get anything out of Mass. I got nothing out of Mass. And they kind of complain and they grumble, right?
You can see the parallels so easily. So they're complaining and grumbling that they got nothing out of Mass. Now, granted, Mass can be said very poorly, absolutely. But despite that fact, if it's still a valid Mass, you've got the Eucharist.
You've got the bread of angels. You've got the bread of life. So God gives us himself, Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist. And so when you say we got nothing out of Mass, that's a huge affront and an insult to God who gives himself to us.
So we were rejecting the gift and we were rejecting the giver as well. So you have to be very, very careful. You have to be careful not to complain, not to grumble, not to murmur against God and his gifts. So there's a lot of good stuff there.
You know, teach and preach too much about that. Or maybe not too much. Take that to prayer. Take that to prayer and don't grumble against the new manna, the Eucharist, the bread of life.
Okay?