Maybe the Wilderness isn't so Bad After All

Numbers 13: 26-33

So the leaders come back from scouting this land- the land they've been waiting for all this time and the people gather to hear the report. This must have been a meeting filled with amazing anticipation. Way back in Exodus they were promised this land flowing with milk and honey- and finally, here it is.

So they gather- and the news isn't what they hoped it would be. With Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly before them the leaders report... "well, yeah- there's the whole milk and honey bit-in fact here's some fruit so big we had to carry it in on poles- but the dudes that live there are crazy tough. I saw one of them get in a fight with a tree- and he won. The cities are huge- there are so many of them living there. And these guyss are huge- like Shaq huge- like Incredible Hulk huge- their kids were as big as that guy in The Green Mile.

They spelled out who the people were that lived there- some of whom are the very people God told them would inhabit the land He was going to lead them to back in Exodus. In the midst of the fear mongering, Caleb stands up, silences the crowd and does his best impersonation of Gene Hackman in Hoosiers. We got this- let's take what God has promised us.

But his enthusiasm is shot down by the other leaders. Are you serious? These people make John Wayne seem like Seth Rogan. We felt like grasshoppers among these people- and they looked at us like we were grasshoppers.

This must have been demoralizing. After walking for years, when it looked as if it was finally time to reap the benefits of all the labor- the carpet is pulled out from beneath their feet.

And while it's easy to wonder how this group so easily forgets the Red Sea rendezvous and doubts deliverance, it's easy for us to forget how we've been taken care of in the past and to stress about what is to come.

The Hills Have Spies
Numbers 13: 1-25

So God tells Moses to send out some leaders to scout out the land. So he does- and in this passage he lists each one by name and clan. While it doesn't make for interesting reading there are a couple of things about it that I do find interesting. Knowing what is to come in regards to these explorers, I wonder how Moses chose the order of listing them. Joshua and Caleb are tucked in the middle of the list- is Moses building suspense? Are they listed based on geography? Age of traveler? I'd like to think it's a literary device- although much of Moses' writing style works agaisnt that theory.

Second, while this might at first appear as a list of honor...these men were so well thought of that they are forever immortalized in sacred text... perhaps the opposite is true. Since the expedition (as we'll find out soon) doesn't go so well, perhaps this is a list of shame. Maybe it's a constant reminder that our leaders can let us down, can make mistakes, are far from perfect- and can't be the litmus of our own faith. If my spiritual stability is dependent upon church leaders, then I'm in trouble- because when they mess up (as they will- as I do...) my faith is damaged. I have to recognize the fallibility of us all and trust in God's grace- not in the models of leaders.

So Moses instructs them to go up through the Negev into the Hill country. He wants them to find out some particulars of the area- things like what the land is like- demographic information- how tough are these guys? What are the towns like? Good restaurants? How's the night life? Do they have trees? He instructs them to bring back some fruit. It happened to be grape season during the expedition. You know what that means... lots of grape juice.

So they came to a valley where they cut off a cluster of grapes to carry back on a pole- along with some pomegranates and figs. This was such an important moment that the valley was named the valley of cluster (Eshkol). Must have been a slow news day.

After forty days they returned home. Hope the grapes were still fresh.

Moe's Foes

Numbers 12

In this edition of Life in the Wilderness, sibling rivalry rears its ugly head. Aaron and Miriam start to talk smack about Moses- "God speaks through us, too," they proclaim. They seem to be none too happy being the supporting players anymore. Seems like Paul's tempted to break up the Beatles. Or more like Ringo is.

What strikes me most interesting about all the detail here is perspective. We're told the cause of this skirmish is that Moses has taken a Cushite wife. I'm not aware of any regulation against the marrying of foreign born partners, but it seems Moses' clan was none too keen on for'ners. And this skirmish has nothing to do with Moses, after all- as verse three tells us, Moses was "more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth."

It seems like the fight is very one sided, jealous siblings hungry for power- and maybe I've been reading too much into Moses' character in previous readings. While he seems to be getting too big for his caftan, the scripture here is clear- Moses is humble... until you consider that the scripture is written by Moses. So, Moses is the self-proclaimed most humble man on earth. I doubt the Book of Miriam would have chronicled the interaction quite this way.

This is interesting to me and raises a question that might be fundamental to understanding all scripture. Does inspiration remove the biases of the chronicler or is Moses really humble and it would have wounded his pride to have to write about it if he had any pride in the first place. I tend to think that there's lots of Moses in the telling of these stories- I don't think he fell into a trance and woke up to find scrolls scribbled that he had no memory of.

Regardless, God comes down and calls the three of them out and sets them straight. First He lets them know that things are a little different between He and Moses. He implies that Aaron and Miriam may be prophets- and He speaks to prophets in dreams and visions- but there's no mystery when He talks to Moses. With Moses it's face to face, with no riddles- so, He asks, why didn't it scare you to trash him to the camp?

Once again, this might be Moses talking again. Don't you see how tight I am with God? Nothing like what the two of them have relationally. But it certainly creates some questions. Does God talk to some of us more directly than others? Do you get a direct voice, and I get a weird dream, but someone else gets nothing? Why does God send puzzling messages to prophets? Why not make His will plain? And does He keep talking to us until we get the message- or if we don't solve the riddle, does He move on to the next contestant?

So God gets angry and Miriam (notice not Aaron) is struck with leprosy- or at least some disease that turned her skin white. Maybe Miriam was pretty and Aaron wasn't so a skin disease would have meant more to her, but more likely this is just some old testament time misogyny. Aaron sees the disease, and perhaps feeling a bit guilty, begs through Moses to not hold their sin against them. He asks to not let her be like a "stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away." This is a difficult image to picture- but apparently Miriam didn't make People's most beautiful list this year.

Moses cries out to God to heal her and God does, but not immediately. He tells Moses, "“If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?"

So she is put out of the camp for a week while she healed and everyone stayed put (which would have made the issue public, I would think). After this they moved on to the desert of Paran.

God's justice here is a little troubling. Is He slow to forgive us too? Or did He forgive instantly but continue to teach Miriam (and Aaron indirectly) by this disease? And how does that translate into our forgiving each other?

In the meantime, how would you like to be this Cushite wife- already an outsider- talked about by family and now perhaps feeling guilty for the fate of her sister-in-law. Would this have made the relationship worse? Awkward Thanksgiving dinner? And in contrast how much pain would have been spared by open and accepting spirits?

Bread and Whine

Numbers 11: 4-35

So the Israelites have been feasting on manna for some time now. God blessed them with this coriander seed-like substance in abundance that they would cook in a pot or make into loaves. It had a taste of olive oil to it. I'm picturing bread from Romano's Macaroni Grill- although I'm sure that's a faulty analogy. Plus unlike at Romano's, instead of coloring on tablecloths while the bread is brought to you, they have to gather and create this food.

Instead of being grateful for the bread, a faction of Israelites Moses refers to as the "rabble" start to squawk. Give me some meat! I could go for for a big ol'e steak burrito! Anybody else wish we had watermelon? I'd even take a salad over this endless supply of bread! They complained of missing meat, and cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic.

This sounds like when I'm dieting and being a little pouty about it and start to talk about all the food I wish I was having. Oh- I could go for some Moose Tracks ice cream about now. I saw an ad for all you can eat wings...too bad I'm on a stupid diet. Instead of realizing that they have all that they need- and their needs are being met with a high-quality food, grumbling becomes a coping mechanism.

So- the source of the gift, God, is none too pleased with the reception of his bread. It's like I went home to dinner at my parent's house. Mom's cooked up something special for me and after it's put before me, I ask for something else. They don't just complain about the manna- they reminisce about the free fish they had back when they were slaves. They don't just not want mom's spaghetti, they want to eat someone else food as a slave. If your children tell you that being a slave is a better option than eating dinner at your house, you probably shouldn't be waiting by your mailbox for a mother's day card.

God gets angry- and Moses gets worried. In fact Moses reverts into martyr mode. God, why are You doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? Why have you put this burden on me? They aren't my kids- why am I forced into being their nursemaids? Why do I have to baby them all the way to the land You said You'd give their ancestors? How am I supposed to get meat for all of these people? This is too much! If you love me, and this is how You're going to treat me- why don't You just go ahead and kill me?

Seems like Moses has already started down the path toward the infamous striking rock chapter of his life. He seems to view himself as the center of suffering- instead of as a servant to help alleviate it. I also sense a lot of "playing God" subtext in his diatribe. Where am I going to get meat? Moses... the same place you get the manna perhaps? Why do I have to get them to the land that You promised them? It seems like he's saying, "God, you created this mess with Your long overdue promise- why do I have to bail You out? (ital mine)

What Moses is doing here strikes me as being pretty similar to what these meat-starved bread eaters are engaged in; parading in self-pity.

It's easy to be hard on them- ingrates... you've been rescued, God is providing- stop your whining, but I think I would react similarly (though perhaps a bit more passive-aggressively). I love bread... but if that's all I had to eat, I would probably start to grumble. Bread is great, especially covering a cheeseburger, or sopping up gravy, or as a pastry after eating some ribs. I get their complaining. Don't misunderstand- they're still ungrateful, spoiled brats. I'm just saying that I'm one too.

And Moses- he's turned his life upside down to follow this path that God has directed him toward. He could be rich and living luxuriously. Instead he's leading a bunch of less than pleasant people through a desert. With all that walking I'm sure he has ample time to contemplate vocational decisions. Of course he's playing a martyr. His life has become cleaning up these people's messes. He's in charge of God's people. Once again- this isn't admirable... but I'd be throwing a pity party too- and you'd all be invited.

But God responds to both whines. First He tells Moses to gather together 70 elders he knows as leaders and officials and He'll divert some of the spirit from Moses' shoulders and make the burden a bit lighter.

He's a little less gentle with the Israelites. You want meat? I've heard you whining- and I'm going to give you meat. Oh, we miss Egypt- we want meat. Alright you ungrateful babies- I'm going to give you so much meat it will be coming out of your noses. You'll get meat for a month and you will be so sick of it- you'll run to the nearest city and join their chapter of PETA. You'll hate meat. This is all because you rejected Me.

Moses is skeptical. Um God? Maybe you haven't noticed but there are quite a few people here... like 600,000. Where are you going to find a month's worth of meat? Even if you gave them all the fish in the sea would that even be enough?

Umm Moe, did you miss the whole parting of the Red Sea thing? Maybe you didn't realize that I supply the manna already? Did you happen to catch that plague thing back in Egypt? If not, they replay it from time to time on the History Channel. God asks "Is my arm too short?" Moses, what have I yet failed to do?

So Moses gathered the 70 together and the spirit was shared and these 70 prophesied... but only once. So this solution to help ease Moses' burden was only a short term solution. Is this because the 70 didn't want to step on Moses' toes? Was God making a point about His will being questioned? Is God subtly telling Moses to stop being a baby? Did God view this one night off as enough of a break? It seems odd that such elaborate measures were taken for such a small solution. Moses seems happy to get what he could.

Two other elders were nearby, outside the tent where the big event was happening and the spirit rested on them as well. So- even though they weren't of the 70, they started prophesying too. Joshua sees it and runs to report it to Moses, asking him to stop them. And Moses disagrees with the plan of action. He asks Joshua- are you feeling jealous because you think that I'll be jealous. Are you kidding? I wish the whole camp had gotten the spirit and started prophesying.

Maybe he's wishing the joy of spiritual gifts on them all- but it reads to me like Moses is saying- if they could all prophesy, I could wash my hands of it. The more who jump in, the less I need to do. And while I think there is something admirable about wanting everyone to be involved in God's work- this seems to be foreshadowing Moses' meltdown.

Finally, the quail came. God sent a wind that brought the quail from the sea. There were so many that when the people went looking for it- no one found less than 1 3/4 tons of quail. I'm not sure how they would have carried this quail back to the camp- but regardless, they had plenty of bird. They sat around eating quail- but God seeing it all had His anger restirred and before they even finished chewing- He sent a plague down on them.

They named the place "Grave of Craving" (very bad for local real estate agents) because they ended up burying people who had craved other foods.

This blunt reaction from God is frightening and puzzling to me. I'm not sure what they did here that God didn't expect. He gave them the quail- He knew that they had been grumbling. Is it because they enjoyed it too much? Did they brag about convincing God? Were they just being gluttonous?

The bottom line is that God expects gratitude for what He's given. I think the key here may be attitude. Maybe when we grumble- we should be careful if we get what we ask for.