Num 11:31-32 | KingComments | STEP | There is an overwhelming mass of meat ( ). That should make them feel ashamed. They have doubted whether God can do it. Now they get it. But instead of it casting them upon God, they cast themselves upon the meat. It brings them not to God in humility, but to a revelation of their lusts, the proof that their god is the stomach ( ). Then God’s patience with them is over. Also in a general sense there will be an end to God’s patience. His wrath kindles. Many are being killed ( ). The inscription on their tombstone reads: ‘The greedy people’. How will be the inscription on our tombstone? How will people remember us? In Exodus 16 the lesson is that believers must learn to feed on the manna, a picture of the Lord Jesus in His life on earth, from day to day. But the eating of the manna can only happen after one has fed oneself with the flesh of the Lord Jesus, or indeed His death. The consequence of this food is getting part of the blessing of eternal life ( ). The quail in Exodus 16 are a picture of this. Here in Numbers 11, the quail are also a picture of the same death of the Lord Jesus. But the consequence here is judgment. The death of Christ is a blessing if we feed on Him to be freed from our sins. The death of Christ is a curse for those who are disgusted by Him. It is He by Whom God shall judge the earth ( ; ; ). After the event with the quail the people set out for Hazeroth.

‏ Numbers 11:31-32

Quail and Judgment

There is an overwhelming mass of meat (Psa 78:26-29). That should make them feel ashamed. They have doubted whether God can do it. Now they get it. But instead of it casting them upon God, they cast themselves upon the meat. It brings them not to God in humility, but to a revelation of their lusts, the proof that their god is the stomach (Phil 3:19).

Then God’s patience with them is over. Also in a general sense there will be an end to God’s patience. His wrath kindles. Many are being killed (Psa 78:30-31). The inscription on their tombstone reads: ‘The greedy people’. How will be the inscription on our tombstone? How will people remember us?

In Exodus 16 the lesson is that believers must learn to feed on the manna, a picture of the Lord Jesus in His life on earth, from day to day. But the eating of the manna can only happen after one has fed oneself with the flesh of the Lord Jesus, or indeed His death. The consequence of this food is getting part of the blessing of eternal life (Jn 6:53-54). The quail in Exodus 16 are a picture of this.

Here in Numbers 11, the quail are also a picture of the same death of the Lord Jesus. But the consequence here is judgment. The death of Christ is a blessing if we feed on Him to be freed from our sins. The death of Christ is a curse for those who are disgusted by Him. It is He by Whom God shall judge the earth (Acts 17:31; Jn 5:27; Rev 20:11).

After the event with the quail the people set out for Hazeroth.