Page 98 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

The Israelites know they are different, and the events that made them different would have been
passed on. How else would a new generation know this God enough to name a child after him?

What happened next? Israel complained. They complained about hardships (11:1-3). They complained
about the manna (11:4-35). They complained about Moses (12:1-16). In each case the God whose
presence was intended to be a blessing became their judge. Fire consumed some of the people on the
outskirts of the camp (11:2). A plague broke out (11:33). Miriam became a leper (12:10). In two cases
Moses interceded for the people with God (11:2; 12:13). Throughout these chapters the words “evil”
(11:1, 10, 11, 15; 13:19; 14:37; 20:5, 15) and “good” (11:18; 13:19; 14:3, 7) are used, though often
translated differently in English. This is the spiritual debate, the spiritual lesson. Is God good? Does God
give good gifts? Do God’s good gifts sometimes appear bad? If so, why?

We might think they would learn after a few of these situations, but
the power of Egypt is strong in their minds. They know of nothing else,
just life in Egypt and these few months of travel to Mount Sinai and
now from Sinai. They remember the fish and cucumbers and melons in
Egypt (11:5-6). They were “better off in Egypt” (11:18). They fear the
people of Canaan and want to choose a leader to go back to Egypt
(14:2-4). They forget all the hardship back there. They forget the labor
and bondage. They forget the taskmasters. They seem to forget all the
miracles they had witnessed to this point, including the destruction of
so much of what was the Egypt they knew. Fig. 65: Cucumbers

Their response is instructive, of course, for all who read. As already noted, they are examples for us. We
too will look back at the old life and wonder if the new life is better. We too will be tempted to lack trust
in God’s ability to do as he has promised. We too will occasionally seek out some new leader to take us
back to the old life, the more familiar life, even with its troubles and torments.

God responded by giving them their fear. Their bodies would fall in the wilderness. Every last person in
the generation of adults who were numbered in the first census would die in the wilderness (14:22-23,
27-35). Their children would be exempted, yet they would have to spend forty years wandering around
in the wilderness until the parents, the complaining generation, had fallen. At the
Forty years same time, God forgave them. He is “slow to anger, abounding in love and
forgiving sin and rebellion” (14:18-20). Yes, they will be punished for their
rebellion and distrust of him, but God does not destroy them instantly. He does
not start over with Moses. For his name’s sake his mercy pardons them. The words God speaks to Israel
sound familiar. They are the words God spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai after the golden calf incident Ex.
33:12-34:9). God is teaching the entire nation what he taught Moses at Sinai.

This too is instructive for us. God is gracious at the very core of his being. He is a judge who is absolutely
righteous, always following his standard of right and wrong. He is all-powerful, able to punish as he wills.
He is all-knowing and never confused about who deserves what. Yet he forgives. This is an essential part
of his glory. Remove his love, if that were possible, and his glory would dim. Remove his grace, and
people would be less attracted to him. Preach his law, yes, generating dread in the hearts of listeners.
Preach also his goodness, and dread will turn to awe. The first demonstrates need. The second provides
relief.

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