• : Numbers Chapters 1
• 1, 12, 14
• The Israelites complain
• The Lord sends Quail
• Aaron & Miriam's revolt
• The Israelites complain again; refuse to fight
• 40 year wandering in the desert
• Key Verses and Themes
• Chapter 11

See discussion questions below.

• Chapter 12
• Cleansing a leper:
• Num. 12:13

Moses prays and asks God to heal Miriam's leprosy.

• Chapter 14
• Intercession for others:
• Num. 14:13-20

Moses intercedes for the people again.

References to the New Testament & our Church practices

• Cleansing a Leper
• Luke 5:12-16

Contrast Moses dealing with a leper with Christ dealing with one!

See discussion questions.

• Intercession for others
• Luke 13:6-9
• We discussed this in
• Week 7

of Exodus; see another example here!

• Discussion Questions
• Numbers 11

What do the people complain about?

• In

vV.1-3

there is a complaint separate from the one after it, but it is unknown exactly what, but inferred that it is general complaining about their conditions. Some people die on the outskirts of the camp from this.

• In

vV. 4-6

, the people complain that they have no meat to eat, having “fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic” to eat in Egypt. They complain that they have no strength and are tired of looking at the Manna they receive.

• In

vV.7-9

, we see what’s ironic about their complaints. They have no strength, but manna is easy to gather. They are tired of looking at it, but it is a white color that is easy to see. They crave variety in their diets, but manna can be prepared and eaten in a variety of ways, plus the manna was itself tasty, tasting like wafers with honey in

• Exod 16.31

As stated by St. John Chrysostom,

“Prosperity has a way of bringing about the downfall and complete dissolution of the unwary [careless]. Thus the Jews, who from the beginning enjoyed the favor of God, repeatedly turned to the law of the kingdom of the Gentiles [Egyptians]. When they were in the desert, after receiving manna, they kept recalling onions!”

How do God & Moses react?

God is greatly angered, and Moses is also displeased, see

• v.10
• Moses also cries out to the Lord in

vV.11-15

, stating that the burden is too much for him, ending by saying that if it keeps up like this he would rather die.

How can we learn from the people’s mistake?

Their complaint was not even warranted, as mentioned earlier, and they were preferring slavery with meat over freedom with manna.

Well, remember Egypt as being compared to a Christian’s old life, and flesh and meat as we have established as being fleshy, earthly things. The Israelites desired those earthly things in complaining about meat, not remembering their salvation to that life of slavery.

So too we as Christians can’t look back at our old lives by desiring carnal pleasures and pursuing them. We anger God in doing so, and at the end of the day our complaints don’t make sense, just like the Israelites’s.

What do we learn from Moses’s reaction & pleas?

Even in his distress Moses is being humble; he confesses his weakness and inability to bear their entire burden. He, so great and close to God that his face shined, is asking God why he hasn’t found favor in His sight, and to kill him if he keeps getting treated like this!

See the honesty of Biblical intercession; God allows His saints to pour out their struggles! Moses spoke to God as a friend speaks to a friend

• (Exod 33:11)

, pouring out his struggles and begging for help, reminding us of the closeness

• (intimacy of relationship)

that Moses has with God.

Now God helps by not removing the problem, but sending grace to lessen the burden, in that He will appoint 70 elders as helpers. So sometimes God does not take away our issue; He gives us, in grace, ways to deal with it, whether it be teaching us to avoid the issue, fight the issue, subdue the issue, etc.

• This recalls St. Paul’s plea to God in

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

. The Lord’s grace is sufficient for us, meaning that He is pleased in us to continue in prayer, fasting, worship, avoiding things that lead to sin, etc., to overcome our problems, and for us, we not only do these things, but also then continue to admit our reliance on God and His help to keep us going, as Moses did.

So even leaders need help, and if they do, then so does everyone else. Our deacons, priests, bishops, and Patriarch needs help. Our saints needed help. The Church is not upheld by one man’s strength but by the shared gift of the Spirit.

Because these leaders, like Moses, love their flock. As true shepherds, they would rather die than see their flock perish.

Why did God choose to send quail?

Quail are small, abundant birds that naturally migrate across the Red Sea. They’re also low-flying birds with a high ration of flesh, to showcase the downpulling effect that this lust for meat and earthly desire in general had on the Israelites.

How much quail was there?

See Vv.31-32. It stacked about 3 feet high, and each person gathered about

2 tons!

Why did Moses question how the Lord would feed everyone in vV.21-22?

Remember, no matter how holy Moses is, he is still human! So his pastoral anxiety over the Israelites seeped through, and he doubted slightly for a moment.

• God’s response in

v.23

, “Is the Lord’s arm shortened?” reminds us that our doubts as humans mean we fail to consider God being all-powerful; our faith can fail, but God’s power never does. The Lord’s arm means His strength and power.

Is Moses’s spirit diminished because it is being placed on the elders as well (v.17)?

No, because the Spirit is being multiplied, not lessened by being added to others. It’s like how 1 candle’s flame can light many others.

Is Moses appointing the 70 elders similar to something else in the Bible?

Yes, it directly parallels the Apostolic Ministry, where Christ appoints 70/72 disciples. To look at a direct similarity, notice in

• v.25

we read that those elders prophesied when receiving the Spirit. In

Acts 2:4

, the apostles speak in tongues when receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and in

Acts 19:6

, when St. Paul lays his hands on some believers to give them the Holy Spirit, they also speak in tongues and prophesy.

What’s the point of including that 2 of received the Spirit despite being outside the Tabernacle?

To make it clear that it was not Moses who bestowed the gift but the Spirit Himself, Eldad and Medad, who had been called, but had not presented themselves, also prophesied. God has set in order for the Holy Spirit to be received in baptism, but that does not mean He is limited to that! So when the thief on the right hand of the Cross, literally unable to believe baptism, repented and believed, He received the grace of God, because God is not limited by His own rules.

• Numbers 12

Who is Miriam?

Moses & Aaron’s sister.

What did Miriam and Aaron do?

They were upset Moses took an Ethiopian wife, i.e. not an Israelite nor Levite woman specifically, but a black woman descended from Ham

(Ham was Noah’s son, cursed, and brother of Shem, ancestor of Semitic peoples, including the Hebrews & Assyrians)

But really here they are jealous, because they don’t say “Moses, why did you take foreign wife, not one of your own?”, but instead they say “Has He [God] not spoken through us also?”.

So Miriam and Aaron were not offended at Moses’s marriage so much as at his authority. They disguised jealousy under a pretext. Thus, they are rebelling against divine order and authority because Moses is chosen by God.

Moses, being humble and gentle, let God defend him; God reminds them how close Moses is to him, asking angrily why they were not afraid to speak out against His servant.

Here Moses is a type of Christ (i.e. foreshadowing). Moses remains silent against his accusers, and then prays for the very person who accused and wrong him. Christ was silent at His accusers and prayed on the Cross ‘Father, forgive them…” Moses prays for those that hate him and forgives his enemies before Christ proclaims it in the Gospel.

Why was Miriam struck with leprosy, and why was Aaron unpunished?

Leprosy, a very visible and off-putting disease, displays Miriam’s inward corruption outwardly, and serves to make others fear the consequence of rebellion against Moses. Leprosy, by law, also required the leper to be cast outside of the camp, i.e. separated from the people, like how sins casts us outside of the Church and away from the Eucharist.

Why was Miriam punished only? We don’t know if Aaron received no punishment, because he said don’t lay this sin on

• “us”
• in

v.11

, but why didn’t he get leprosy? Aaron bore the dignity of the high priesthood. If the high priest were made leprous, it would shame the sanctuary service. God’s judgment was softened with mercy for the sake of the people.

What does “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days” mean?

It is a way of saying “If a father’s rebuke to his daughter would bring temporary disgrace and shunning, can God’s discipline not do the same?”

• CLEANSING A LEPER:

What does Christ’s interaction with a leper teach us?

For background, in Leviticus chapters 13 & 14 (we skipped), the law outlining lepers and cleaning them is given. In essence, lepers have to show themselves to the priests for him to judge the leprosy’s severity, and they are cast out from the camp for a certain time, usually 1 week. No one would touch the lepers, as that would make them defiled/ceremonially unclean. In fact, the leper would have to yell from a distance “unclean, unclean!” so no one would get near them. They were ostracized.

So firstly, the leper here breaks the law by getting close to Jesus. Also, by saying “Lord, if You want, You can make me clean,” he acknowledges Jesus as God, because only God could instantly cleanse someone of this disease, as we see with Moses and Miriam.

But how does Christ reveal His Divinity here?

He heals leprosy instantly; only God can heal leprosy like that!

He touches the leper but does not become unclean; because He is the Giver of the Law, and so He is above it. Leprosy cannot affect Him because sickness and disease don’t affect God.

He says “I am willing, be cleansed”, not “God cleanse you” showing that He is equal in power to God, not calling upon God to heal like Moses did. He speaks with Divine authority.

Again to disprove the Pharisee’s false claims that He is against the Law, He commands the leper to show himself to the priests and offer the sacrifice that Moses instituted for cleansed lepers.

But didn’t He break the Law by touching the leper? No, because again, He did not become unclean, because *

point 2 above*

. Going further, He is building upon the fact that what comes from inside someone defiles them, not outside. No one who is pure can be stained by what outwardly appears unclean, it’s only sin, which is the leprosy of souls, that makes someone unclean.

• Numbers 14

What’s going on in this chapter?

• In

chapter 13

, Moses sends spies into Canaan to see what the land is like. Joshua and a man from the tribe of Judah named Caleb say they can conquer the land, but all the other spies lie and spread rumors among the Israelis that Canaan’s cities are greatly fortified and that there are giants (Nephilim) living there who make the Israelites look like grasshoppers next to them,

The Israelites react to this news, and complain against Moses and Aaron and obviously against God too, even getting ready to stone Joshua and Caleb.

Then God tells Moses that he will make a great nation of him alone, destroying the other Israelites. Again, like we saw in Exodus where Moses intercedes after the Gold Calf incident, he intercedes here.

Notice the Lord’s response: “I have pardoned, according to

your

word”. How can anyone discredit intercessory prayers now! If you argue only the living can intercede, you again ignore God saying He is the God of the living, not the dead.

What does God punish them with this time?

• God declares they will wander in the wilderness

(desert)

for 40 years, 1 year for each day the spies were spying out Canaan. The spies who spread the lies about Canaan died in a plague.

Also, when the people, regretting what they did, tried to go up to war with the Canaanites the next day, despite Moses saying they would fail, they were beaten badly.

We cannot conquer sin without God, as the Israelites could not conquer their enemies without God. The Israelites tried to right their wrong by doing what God originally had planned, but He no longer wanted them to fight after their refusal, so going anyways was another sin they committed as a people.

This Week's Study

—Listen to the podcast on learning to be content with little, and relate it to the Israelites and their complaints from this week's reading.