Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 (NRSV)
Read Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 on biblegateway.com
Verse 4The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, "If only we had meat to eat! Verse 5We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; Verse 6but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." Verse 10Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. Verse 11So Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Verse 12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,' to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? Verse 13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, 'Give us meat to eat!' Verse 14I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. Verse 15If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once-if I have found favor in your sight-and do not let me see my misery."
Verse 16So the Lord said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you.
Verse 24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Verse 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. Verse 26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. Verse 27And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." Verse 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, "My lord Moses, stop them!" Verse 29But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!"
Devotion
The rabble among them had a strong craving ... but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.
God provided the people of Israel with all they needed to survive with daily manna and quail. But they wanted more. We have been programmed to want more—larger portions and more variety.
I have a son who went to an ELCA college. A month into his freshman year, he was bored with his school’s cafeteria. "There is no variety,” he said. His mother and I, from another generation, were blown away with both the quality and variety.
Prayer
God, thank you for all that you provide. We give thanks for our abundance. May we work in ways that enable others to be blessed with enough food to meet their needs. Amen.