Wilderness Grumbling - Unposted Life

The Philippian Christians are instructed to do everything without grumbling. What caused the Israelites to start grumbling in the wilderness?

[This discussion can be read in under 11 min.]

Philippians: Shine Like Stars – DAY 42
Family Discussions for a New School Year

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DAY 42/THURSDAY
Philippians 2:14-15
Wilderness Grumbling

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky…”
Philippians 2:14-15 (NIV)

^{*Click here to read in the NIrV, NLT, & ESV.}

On DAY 41, we looked at grumbling in the New Testament and found some answers to the following questions in Scripture:

What leads to grumbling?
How serious an offense is it?
How do we do everything without grumbling?

Today our focus is on the Old Testament.
We’ll start by reminding ourselves what grumbling is.

What is grumbling?

grumble:

to complain in a surly (gruff, arrogant) manner; mutter discontentedly
to rumble or growl

^{*The American Heritage College Dictionary, 4th ed. (2002)}

Israel Grumbles

“That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. ³¹And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.”
Exodus 14:30-31 (NIV)

“When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. ²⁰Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing…

²²Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. ²³When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) ²⁴So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, ‘What are we to drink?’

²⁵Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. ²⁶He said, ‘If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in His eyes, if you pay attention to His commands and keep all His decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.’

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.”
Exodus 15:19-20,22-27 (NIV)

Wonder Water

The Lord saved Israel from 400 years of slavery under the Egyptians with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea being the big finale! “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.” Three days later, the people started grumbling against Moses.

Q: Why did the people start grumbling against Moses?
A: They were thirsty.

Since the human body can only survive about three days without water, it’s no wonder the people would be concerned about finding a water supply; however, they had just experienced a miracle of God involving water! Instead of turning to the God who had provided them with rescue, they turned on God’s man, Moses.

Moses had the right response: he “cried out to the Lord.”

The Lord not only made the bitter water fit to drink, He led the people to Elim “where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees.” God did not withhold water from them even though they grumbled, but He did “put them to the test.”

Grumbling Stomachs

“The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ²In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death’.”
Exodus 16:1-3 (NIV)

Q: Whom did the whole community grumble against directly?
A: Moses & Aaron

Q: Why did they grumble?
A: They were hungry.

Wonder Bread

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow My instructions. ⁵On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?’

⁸Moses also said, ‘You will know that it was the Lord when He gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.’

⁹Then Moses told Aaron, ‘Say to the entire Israelite community, “Come before the Lord, for He has heard your grumbling”.’

¹⁰While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.”
Exodus 16:4-10 (NIV)

Q: Who did Moses say heard their grumbling?
A: The Lord

Q: Who did the Israelites indirectly grumble against?
A: The Lord. As Moses said, “Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

Wonder Birds

“The Lord said to Moses, ¹²‘I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, “At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God”.’

¹³That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶This is what the Lord has commanded: “Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer (about 2 quarts or 2 liters*) for each person you have in your tent”.’

¹⁷The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹Then Moses said to them, ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning.’

²⁰However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

²¹Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²²On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³He said to them, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: “Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning”.’

²⁴So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵‘Eat it today,’ Moses said, ‘because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today’.”
Exodus 16:11-25 (NIV)

^{*The ESV Study Bible (2008)}

Q: What were the Israelites supposed to know when they ate the meat & bread God provided?
A: That He is the Lord their God.

Q: With whom did Moses get angry?
A: The people who paid no attention to him and so did not follow the Lord’s instructions.

Sabbath Sabotage

“‘Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.’ ²⁷Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep My commands and My instructions? ²⁹Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.’ ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³²Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt”.’

³³So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.’

³⁴As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. ³⁵The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. ³⁶(An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)”
Exodus 16:26-36 (NIV)

Q: When some of the people went out on the Sabbath to gather manna, what did the Lord say to Moses?
A: “How long will you refuse to keep My commands and My instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”

Water Worries & Wonders, Part II

“The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²So they quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’

Moses replied, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?’

³But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?’

⁴Then Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.’

⁵The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’ So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And He called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’.”
Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV)

Q: Why did the Israelite community grumble against Moses this time?
A: They were thirsty for water again.

Q: What does Moses say the Israelites are really doing when they quarrel with him?
A: They are putting the Lord to the test.

Q: What does v.7 tell us the people were really wondering?
A: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

What Have We Learned about the Wilderness Grumbling of the Israelites?

Causes:

Thirst	Will the Lord who rescued us provide* for us?*	Exodus 15:24
Hunger	Will the Lord keep* providing for us?*	Exodus 16:2
Thirst	Is the Lord really with* us?*	Exodus 17:3

Hunger & thirst are legitimate physical needs. Why was it wrong for the people to grumble about them?

It was wrong because when they grumbled about hunger and thirst, they were actually questioning God’s character: His goodness, His provision, His faithfulness, His presence, the truth of His Word.

When we grumble, we are also questioning God’s character.
When we grumble, we have likely forgotten Who God really is… and who we are in comparison.

“Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is Your name in all the earth!

You have set Your glory
in the heavens.
²Through the praise of children and infants
You have established a stronghold against Your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³When I consider Your heavens,
the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set in place,
⁴what is mankind that You are mindful of them,
human beings that You care for them?”
Psalm 8:1-4 (NIV)

It is the Lord’s name that is majestic.
His glory is set in the heavens.
The heavens are His;
the moon & stars are the work of His fingers!
The Lord has set all creation in place.
Who are we?
Why does the Lord of all creation think of us?
Who are human beings that He cares for us?

Who are we to ever grumble, when all grumbling is actually directed at God (whether we realize it or not)?

Let’s choose faith, & thankfulness, & praise instead of grumbling.

“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!”
Psalm 8:1 (NIV)

DAY 42/THURSDAY Song

Our discussion today made me think of a song I first listened to as a teen in the mid ’90s about how God is far above us because He’s God! The higher our view of God, the less we will grumble. The video is music only, so I’ve included the lyrics below.

God

^{Rebecca St. James & Tedd T. (1996)}

He made the night
He made the day
Spread the earth upon the waters
Made the heavens & the rain

Look at the sky
See its design
The very same Creator
Is the One who gave us life

And what is man that He’s mindful of us?
We’re merely clay in His hands
And what am I that He loves me so much
He would die?

You know all I can say is…

It’s God, truly God!
Can you see, can you hear?
Can you touch, can you feel?
It’s God, truly God!
I can’t explain any other way
‘Cause it’s God

Inside us all
There is a void
All mankind is searching
For the one who fills the soul

In Him there’s hope
In Him there’s life
The world cries for a savior
Who’s right before their eyes

And what is man that He takes us in
As His children, to be His own?
And what are we that He wants to be
Our Father?

All that I can say is…