Numbers 11-12; Psalm 34:15-22

Numbers 11
And so it starts -- the complaining. And to think of it -- I started earlier than did the record of their complaining. You know -- all that moving!

1-15 - Complaining in the Desert

• People complain "in the hearing of the LORD" (? - Does He not hear everything?) about "their misfortunes" (it doesn't go into details right here exactly what those were)
• Result: "The fire of the LORD burned against them" -- literally -- "and consumed some outlying parts of the camp." No deaths mentioned, so it looks like this was just a warning.
• The people cry out to Moses, Moses prays to God, and the fire abates.
• The "rabble" among them have a strong craving, and they all ask for meat, longing for the food they had in Egypt - fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic.
  
• They're tired of the bland manna -- forgetting they owe their very lives to the Provider.
• This time the LORD becomes very angry, and Moses is displeased with both them and God: Why are you treating me so badly, giving me the care of these whining babies?

16-20 - The 70 Elders

• God listens to Moses, and asks him to gather 70 of the elders to help him bear the burden
• In the meantime, the people must consecrate themselves
• And God promises them meat - "not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but for a whole month--until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you--because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'" If we want to know God's attitude toward complaining--especially by those he has rescued from slavery--this is a good indication.
• Moses gathers the elders at the tabernacle; God puts his spirit on them, and they prophesy -- but only this one time.
• Curious incident: Two chosen elders, Eldad and Medad, don't join the group at the tabernacle, so when they prophesy, they're still in the camp. A young man runs to Moses and "tattles" on them, and Joshua asks Moses to tell them to stop prophesying. Moses' reaction: "Would that all the LORD's people were prophets!"

31-35 - The Quails

• Wind brings quails from the sea, and people gather them
• But before they can finish eating, the "anger of the LORD was kindled" and he strikes them with a plague.
• In that place, called "Graves of craving" they bury the people who had the craving
• From there they journey to Hazeroth
  

Numbers 12 - Aaron and Miriam's Jealousy

• They speak against Moses' marriage to a Cushite woman
• They say "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us?"
• Moses calls the three of them to the tabernacle and chastises Aaron and Miriam for speaking against his servant. Reminds me of Romans 14:4 - "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand."
• Miriam is smitten with leprosy - Aaron pleads on her behalf, and Moses asks God to heal her. She's banned from camp for 7 days.
• Only when she returns does the camp move on - to the wilderness of Paran

Psalm 34:15-22 - Contrasts between the righteous and the wicked
The Righteous:

• The LORD's eyes are upon them
• his ears are open to their cry
• he hears their cries for help
• he rescues them from troubles
• he is near to the brokenhearted
• he keeps their bones from being broken
• he redeems their lives

The wicked:

• His face is against them
• he will cut off all remembrance of them
• they will suffer death and condemnation