Numbers
11:16 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses,
Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the
elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the
tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17 And I will come down and talk with thee
there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it
upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou
bear it not thyself alone. 18 And
say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall
eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us
flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will
give you flesh, and ye shall eat. 19 Ye
shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor
twenty days; 20 But even a whole
month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you:
because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept
before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? 21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am,
are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them
flesh, that they may eat a whole month. 22
Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or
shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?
23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the
LORD’S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass
unto thee or not.
In verses 16 and 17 God makes provision for Moses to share
responsibility and delegate authority so he does not bear the burden of the
people alone. God does make provision for you when there is too much on you if
you wait on Him and are willing to accept His way out of the mess you are in
and not try to tell Him constantly not only what you need but how He should
give it to you. The word temptation in the following verse in
1Corinthians is not just about you avoiding pornography on the internet or
someone else’s money with temptation being trivialized so often by
Fundamentalist preachers trying to make you feel like dirt. It can be a trial
and tribulation as these verses in James and Revelation point out.
James
1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him.
Revelation
3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of
my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Here
then is a promise for us;
1Corinthians
10:13 There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way
to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Here is a good place to talk about how the word spirit,
lowercase S, is defined Biblically as I did in my comments on chapter 5. The spirit,
in most contexts, is a reference to mind, emotions, character, natural
proclivities, and talents among other things that are all incorporeal,
invisible to us. Here are some examples;
Exodus
28:3 And thou shalt speak unto all that
are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may
make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the
priest’s office.
Exodus
31:3 And I have filled him with the
spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner
of workmanship,
Exodus
35:21 And they came, every one whose
heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they
brought the LORD’S offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and for all his service, and for the holy garments.
Deuteronomy
2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not
let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his
heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this
day.
Psalm
34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm
51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Romans
8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God.
Ephesians
4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind;
Phillipians
1:27 Only let your conversation be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be
absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one
mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
2Timothy
1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit
of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
1Peter
3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the
heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
Moses spirit, his wisdom, leadership, and understanding are
shared by God with these men. Remember that John the Baptist came in the spirit
and power of Elijah.
Luke
1:17 And he shall go before him in the
spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord.
In
fact, Jesus confirmed this.
Matthew
17:10 And his disciples asked him,
saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? 11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias
truly shall first come, and restore all things. 12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake
unto them of John the Baptist.
And yet, we know that this does not mean that John the Baptist was
the reincarnation of Elijah the prophet for…
Hebrews
9:27 And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment:
So, clearly the spirit in these passages is a reference to
something else that characterizes both characters; Elijah and John the Baptist,
just as the Antichrist can be called the son of perdition by Paul in
2Thessalonians 2:3 as Judas Iscariot was
by Jesus in John 17:12 without being the reincarnation of Judas as some popular
mythologies claim.
Then follows a discussion between Moses and God that resembles
God’s speech to Job in a way. Moses has seen God’s great deliverance and yet
seems to doubt that He can accomplish what He says here. Job also question God.
Christians do that as well today by saying that God could provide the world
with the original autographs of the Bible but could not preserve His word or at
least what He wanted us to have for centuries by using faithful translators and
copyists.
God’s ability to impact our reality is total and without any
limitation. What He does is a function of His will and is not constrained by
limits.
God’s using of the phrase ‘until it comes out of your nostrils’
should not be misunderstood as a statement of fact. There is no need to believe
that Hebrews were eating and food was coming out of their noses. It is a figure
of speech. We use them all of the time.
God here confirms the need for Moses to delegate authority and
responsibility as God used Jethro, Moses father-in-law, encourage that in
Exodus.
Exodus 18:13
¶ And it came to pass on the morrow,
that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the
morning unto the evening. 14 And when
Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this
thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all
the people stand by thee from morning unto even? 15 And Moses said unto his father in law, Because
the people come unto me to enquire of God: 16
When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and
another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. 17 And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The
thing that thou doest is not good. 18
Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with
thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it
thyself alone. 19 Hearken now unto my
voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the
people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: 20 And thou shalt teach them ordinances and
laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they
must do. 21 Moreover thou shalt provide
out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating
covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers
of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: 22 And let them judge the people at all seasons:
and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every
small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they
shall bear the burden with thee. 23 If
thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to
endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. 24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father
in law, and did all that he had said. 25
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the
people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers
of tens. 26 And they judged the people
at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter
they judged themselves. 27 And Moses let
his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
God confirmed this as well just before He gave Moses
the Ten Commandments on tables of stone, the delegation of authority and
responsibility.
Exodus
24:1 ¶ And he said unto Moses, Come up
unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel; and worship ye afar off. 2 And
Moses alone shall
come
near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up
with him. 3 And Moses came and told the
people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments:
and
all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD
hath said will we do. 4 And Moses wrote
all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an
altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of
Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace
offerings of oxen unto the LORD. 6 And
Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he
sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took
the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they
said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on
the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath
made with you concerning all these words.
9 ¶
Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel: 10 And they saw the
God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel
he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and
drink.
12 ¶
And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be
there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which
I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13
And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount
of God. 14 And he said unto the elders,
Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur
are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. 15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud
covered the mount. 16 And the glory of
the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the
seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was
like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of
Israel. 18 And Moses went into the midst
of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty
days and forty nights.
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