NUMBERS 14: 1-4
1That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
A LONG ENGAGEMENT
Last week we talked about the relationship between The Lord and Israel being a marriage; actually, it is more like an ancient betrothal. In antiquity, the betrothal or engagement was the moment significant vows were exchanged and in full effect until the wedding and marriage feast, which could be months later. During that time, the couple is considered married—or as good as—and the vows are already in effect. The promises are made but the fulfillment is still off ahead in the future. So it is with Israel, which has been snatched away from their “Father” Pharaoh, rescued from the evils of Egyptian paganism, and now make their way toward their new, promised home.
In Sinai, they receive what we might call the prenup—the prenuptial agreements from The Lord—a contract proffered by God through Moses articulated in the ten commandments. These are the terms of agreement for the relationship, the coming marriage. Israel, like that bride whisked away from her father, is between two homes: one, the land of Goshen, where they were enslaved; and two, their new home, the Promised Land from God. What we hear is that Israel seems confused over which home they should be happy to seek. They spend a lot of time and energy griping, and although they are loved, cared for, and provided for by The Lord, they express homesickness for Egypt, forgetting the miseries of slavery they left behind.
It said that the journey is the destination, but when the journey is wandering around in the desert, it may be difficult not to dwell on the glories of the past rather than the promises of the future.
WANDERING
Why did Israel spend forty years wandering in the wilderness? Because none of the men were willing to ask directions [rimshot]. Were they lost? It depends whom you ask.
My family took long trips in our 1968 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon. My father was an engineer and enjoyed maps, which means he always had brilliant shortcuts to try. The problem is, they were neither brilliant nor, as it turns out, shortcuts.
“Are we lost?” I would ask as an impatient 14-year-old. “We’re lost, aren’t we?” Silence.
We have to imagine the people of Israel in the same mode:
“Does Moses have any idea whatsoever where we’re going?”
“I think we’re lost—we’d be better off just going back to Egypt.”
“He clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing; who put him in charge, anyway?”
So Israel, as petulant as road-weary teenagers, rolls its eyes and frowns while pitilessly criticizing the food and accommodations. If there had been any joy at being rescued from slavery it was now as gone and forgotten as the iPhone 1. Israel has become a teeming throng of grumpy cats, and just as hard to herd toward the Promised Land.
GRUMBLING
The text says—not once but many times—that the people “grumbled” against Moses. Other translations used “murmured.” A contemporary version could rightly use words I am not at liberty to use here or elsewhere. The people were miffed, ticked, incensed, and collectively frustrated.
The Hebrew word for all of this is LUN:
to stay, abide in, to lodge, to dwell, to continue, to remain, to tarry, to murmur, obstinate, complain, grudge, gripe, moan, etc.
Isn’t it interesting that the same word for grumbling means to “stay put”? Israel grumbled because they are stuck where they are.
Perhaps this is a lesson of adulthood and maturity, but have you ever noticed that when you are in an unfortunate situation how complaining doesn’t seem to fix anything? In fact, one of the most effective ways of increasing one’s misery is to call attention to it again and again. By doing so, it is possible to turn a mere annoyance into an outright plague. No wonder the Israelites were so miserable.
No problem is so bad that extreme negativity can’t make it worse. You may co-workers or relatives who bring the point home for you. Grouse, Gripe, grumble, moan, mope, and kvetch—it seems some folks absolutely live to find fault and call it into prominence.
No Exit, a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, features three people eternally locked into a hotel room. That’s it—that is their Hell—and Hell it is when there is no kindness, forgiveness, or grace. Reading the play in high school, I wanted yell at the characters: “Just shut up! Be nice! Be good to each other and the room could as easily be a kind of Heaven.” We can indeed be our own worst problem and our own source of eternal unhappiness.
wilderness of sin
The Lord provided the Law not only as the means for a relationship between himself and Israel, but also for Israel’s own good and flourishing. To practice the Law is to have a path toward righteousness, which means wholeness and contentment—joy.
What is revealed is humankind’s slavery to sin. What we call Sinai was known to the ancients as the wilderness of Sin. Our word “sin” comes from the geographical word Sinai. Consider the implications. One who sins—a sinner—is simply someone who is wandering in the wilderness of Sin [Sinai].
To SIN is to be LOST,
WANDERING,
not knowing the WAY;
not knowing how or WHOM to follow.
We speak of sinners as those who are lost, so we also rightly speak of salvation as being found. A lost sheep doesn’t find itself, it must be found by a shepherd who knows which we it ought to be going.
In the 70s there was a popular bumper sticker among Christians of a certain stripe. It said: “I FOUND IT.” The problem with this was at least two-fold. First, the Christian faith isn’t something that sinners find in their own strength. We do not find God, but we, lost sheep that we are, are found by God. God is the finder, not us. 2. The sticker comes off proud if not arrogant. The “I” of “I found it” rings out with self-congratulations and personal glory—things that have never been part of orthodox Christianity.
The only thing the lost can hope to find is the awareness that they are lost—even this is the work of the Holy Spirit who convinces the world of its sin (John 16:8).
The hope for the lost is the hope of being found, of hearing the Shepherd’s voice calling them by name. This is where faith begins, not in our own noble seekings.
SHEPHERDS WHO LEAD
Because the people are lost—irretrievably lost in their own power—God sends his own prophet to rescue his chosen people:
- 1. God sends his people a Shepherd.
- 2. God speaks face-to-face with him.
- 3. He fasts for 40 days.
- 4. He rescues the people from slavery.
- 5. He leads his sheep to a Promised Land.
- 6. He feeds them the bread from heaven.
- 7. He delivers the Law from the mountain.
Did you think I was talking about Moses?
You know who The Story is about, right?
Listen—do you know his voice? Does he call your name? Do you hear him speaking to the longings of your soul? Shall we follow?