Num 11:7 | KingComments | STEP | The recently executed wrath of the LORD has not caused any lasting fear for Him in the hearts of the people. There is a general feeling of discontent in , now a concrete evil is mentioned that arises with the “rabble”. This “rabble” is made up of people who went with the people from Egypt, also called “a mixed multitude” ( ). They do not belong to those who have a hope before them. They do not long for the promised land. They live only for the here and now and not for the future. The history of Christianity has many nominal Christians, people who only bear the name ‘Christian’, meaning that they have no life from God. With their negative attitude they contaminate the whole people of God. So nominal Christians always get the carnal Christians on their side. People who have joined God’s people just because of the pleasant feelings this gives, have never been separated from the world. If Christian life does not give them what they expected, they will, in pictures, long back to Egypt. For the sake of convenience, they do not think of the heavy slavery, but of its pleasurable sides. The unpleasant things are pushed away. In Exodus we only hear the people moaning about the heavy service. After a short stay in the wilderness they have forgotten this and their only thought is of the food of Egypt ( ). That food consists of six kinds. They are all without nutritional value. Some are spicy in taste, but cause a bad breath. It is a striking picture of what the world has to offer: magazines, films, music, that are attractive to the flesh, but do not satisfy the heart. Also a consequence of consuming this food is that there is a bad smell around us; our behavior is corrupted by it. On the other hand, there is the food of the land. This consists of seven nutritious and tasty kinds ( ). The use of that food will give us a behavior and radiance in which the Lord Jesus is seen. “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” with which God has blessed us ( ) fade away if we feel neglected in relation to the wealth in which the people of the world sometimes bathe. But the real reason is that we despise the food that God gives, the manna. The manna is a picture of the Lord Jesus as “the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” ( ). He is our food. We feed on Him when we read about Him in the Gospels, when we think about the way He went His way on earth, the mind in which He did everything, the words He spoke, the deeds He did and His feelings accompanying all this. This food is the food of eternity. If He is not satisfactory now, how will it be in eternity? In heaven we have nothing and no one else but Him. The only difference between now and later is that we won’t have the flesh anymore. The Lord Jesus is and remains the same, but the flesh longs for the things of the world. We want the pleasure of the world, but not the judgment. If the world attracts us again, it is because we despise the Lord Jesus as it were, that we think that He does not offer us enough. The heart then no longer knows the power of the words the Savior has spoken: “He who comes to Me will not hunger” ( ). The description of the manna is done in terms of equation ( ; ). It is compared with coriander seed and with the bdellium, a precious stone. It gives the features of the life of the Lord Jesus. That is like the coriander seed: white, perfectly pure and perfectly balanced. He who sees Him and has an eye for Him sees in Him “a precious corner[stone]” ( ). The people deal with the manna in a way that God has not commanded ( ). It is like flavoring the Bible. We recognize this in making Bible translations with the aim of making them marketable. The truths of Scripture are popularly translated or even filmed and then offered to the public. But it is all because people can no longer bear the unmixed truth of the Lord Jesus. They are looking for something that suits them well ( ). There is still the taste of oil, a picture of the Holy Spirit. It is still brought as something that speaks of God. The Holy Spirit sometimes wants to use it to convince people that they are dealing with God. The fact that “its taste was like wafers with honey” ( ) is not mentioned here. The sweetness of the relationship with the Lord Jesus that we enjoy when we read the Word of God ( ) is not present in it. The manna is connected with the dew ( ; ). Dew is a refreshment. Manna refreshes the soul. God provides the food while the people sleep. His care is there day and night. When they rise, they can take what God has laid out. The manna is the daily testimony of God’s daily care.

‏ Numbers 11:7

The Food of Egypt and the Manna

The recently executed wrath of the LORD has not caused any lasting fear for Him in the hearts of the people. There is a general feeling of discontent in Num 11:1-3, now a concrete evil is mentioned that arises with the “rabble”. This “rabble” is made up of people who went with the people from Egypt, also called “a mixed multitude” (Exo 12:38a). They do not belong to those who have a hope before them. They do not long for the promised land. They live only for the here and now and not for the future. The history of Christianity has many nominal Christians, people who only bear the name ‘Christian’, meaning that they have no life from God.

With their negative attitude they contaminate the whole people of God. So nominal Christians always get the carnal Christians on their side. People who have joined God’s people just because of the pleasant feelings this gives, have never been separated from the world. If Christian life does not give them what they expected, they will, in pictures, long back to Egypt. For the sake of convenience, they do not think of the heavy slavery, but of its pleasurable sides. The unpleasant things are pushed away.

In Exodus we only hear the people moaning about the heavy service. After a short stay in the wilderness they have forgotten this and their only thought is of the food of Egypt (Num 11:5-6). That food consists of six kinds. They are all without nutritional value. Some are spicy in taste, but cause a bad breath. It is a striking picture of what the world has to offer: magazines, films, music, that are attractive to the flesh, but do not satisfy the heart. Also a consequence of consuming this food is that there is a bad smell around us; our behavior is corrupted by it. On the other hand, there is the food of the land. This consists of seven nutritious and tasty kinds (Deu 8:8). The use of that food will give us a behavior and radiance in which the Lord Jesus is seen.

“Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ” with which God has blessed us (Eph 1:3) fade away if we feel neglected in relation to the wealth in which the people of the world sometimes bathe. But the real reason is that we despise the food that God gives, the manna.

The manna is a picture of the Lord Jesus as “the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (Jn 6:50). He is our food. We feed on Him when we read about Him in the Gospels, when we think about the way He went His way on earth, the mind in which He did everything, the words He spoke, the deeds He did and His feelings accompanying all this. This food is the food of eternity. If He is not satisfactory now, how will it be in eternity? In heaven we have nothing and no one else but Him.

The only difference between now and later is that we won’t have the flesh anymore. The Lord Jesus is and remains the same, but the flesh longs for the things of the world. We want the pleasure of the world, but not the judgment. If the world attracts us again, it is because we despise the Lord Jesus as it were, that we think that He does not offer us enough. The heart then no longer knows the power of the words the Savior has spoken: “He who comes to Me will not hunger” (Jn 6:35).

The description of the manna is done in terms of equation (Num 11:7; Exo 16:14 ; 31). It is compared with coriander seed and with the bdellium, a precious stone. It gives the features of the life of the Lord Jesus. That is like the coriander seed: white, perfectly pure and perfectly balanced. He who sees Him and has an eye for Him sees in Him “a precious corner[stone]” (1Pet 2:6).

The people deal with the manna in a way that God has not commanded (Num 11:8). It is like flavoring the Bible. We recognize this in making Bible translations with the aim of making them marketable. The truths of Scripture are popularly translated or even filmed and then offered to the public. But it is all because people can no longer bear the unmixed truth of the Lord Jesus. They are looking for something that suits them well (2Tim 4:3).

There is still the taste of oil, a picture of the Holy Spirit. It is still brought as something that speaks of God. The Holy Spirit sometimes wants to use it to convince people that they are dealing with God. The fact that “its taste was like wafers with honey” (Exo 16:31) is not mentioned here. The sweetness of the relationship with the Lord Jesus that we enjoy when we read the Word of God (Eze 3:3) is not present in it.

The manna is connected with the dew (Num 11:9; Exo 16:14). Dew is a refreshment. Manna refreshes the soul. God provides the food while the people sleep. His care is there day and night. When they rise, they can take what God has laid out. The manna is the daily testimony of God’s daily care.