But if so, it didn't work. Those that survived God's fire immediately began to whine again, saying
Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Numbers 11:4-6So Moses and God talk things over and God says he'll give them meat, alright. He'll feed them meat until it comes out their noses!
Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you. Numbers 11:19-20Where did God get the meat, you ask? From quail. Lots and lots of quail.
And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. Numbers 11:31God coated the ground with dead quail. A meter deep, within a circle 60 kilometers in diameter. Six trillion (6 x 1012) dead quail. A couple million for each of several million people.
So everyone had plenty of meat to eat. And the moral of the story is this: If you are hungry, just ask God to feed you. You may get more than you want. You may get so much that it comes out your nose. But God will feed you.
Or that would be the moral, if it weren't for the next verse.
And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague. Numbers 11:33So God fed the people quail until it came out their noses and then killed many of them with "a very great plague."
Which means we need a new moral for this WTF Bible Story: If you are hungry, don't ask God for help. He'll force you to eat food that you don't like until it comes out your nose and then he'll kill you in a plague.
God hates whiners.
(Since this was "a very great plague," I put the death toll at 10,000.)
God's next killing: Ten scouts are killed for their honest report
12 comments:
This quail thing is a vegetarian's nightmare--being forced to eat quail until it's literally coming out of your nose!
God seems so childish at times. You're sick of eating the same manna day in and day out? You want some meat? Fine, I'll give you so much quail, you'll wish you never had to eat it again. And then for the fun of it, I'll send a plague. So there.
Is this the God that's supposed to be giving America its moral guidance?
Thus does the bible explain why there are no more quail in the ocean.
O/w the story is senseless.
Does God have the moral development of a two-year-old? Really, quail? Ouch.
"I Am" I'd like to reply to you on this. The moral of the story is in fact telling people to relinquish their control over their bondage.
We are looking at a story where God frees the Irelites only to have them romanticize their bondage under the hands of the Egyptians. They escape the cruel hand of their masters only to complain about wandering through a desert because they have no idea where they are going.
God frees us from out bondage and as happen change it may be, humans have this interesting quirk (part being we have free will) to either happily abandon our bondage or control it with deep vigor.
The mana gave the people everything they needed. I suspect it tasted wonderful, but I wasn't there so I can't speculate, however, the point here is that God gave them food in a desert and instead of appreciating the miracle of the water and the bread and their freedom, they did as all people tend to do, control the situation to make it better instead of appreciating the beauty and freedom they have.
Kind of the glass half full vs. half empty mentality.
I believe either the Buddhists or Taoist Zen Masters have a similar perspective on this, where one must experience the world as it is to appreciate its beauty and find peace. I believe this passage is indicating that when we try and control the situation and demanding trivialities when we have all we need and losing sight of the miracles at hand, we begin to destroy the positive values of what we have.
Sort of like Materialism, where, you want something new, even if it isn't better than what you already had, and is worse. I mean, the Mana was everything required. God gave them the works, yet they wanted more. Yet when they wanted meat they forgot it must be cooked, you get sick of it after a while, etc. and they didn't think that God would provide for them.
Those who had taken such strong control over their sin where God could no longer speak to them, where to be smote made a point, but being smote is not destroyed from existence. We have this horrible tendency to overlook basic intrinsically aspects of the bible and God. We think or make God out to be this horrible bully figure, when things like, "smote" really are freeing them from their control. I didn't read "and they were banished into the eternal fires, or obliterated from all existence never to return." Simply, "smote" or "killed".
So they died? That in conceptual belief isn't the end. Just the end of mortal living. I really can't say what happened to them, but I think the idea here is when on a long journey, you must look for the positive attributes not the negative factors.
Our current situation in America is a great example. We can look at the negative, or we can say, alright...God, what is you plan here? What do you want from us and the like? And move forward with whatever you get. Do you best and have faith. Most importantly, stand strong and optimistically move towards a better future, because sedentary mentalities or grumpy monkey mentality is how society fails. If you always think it was better in the past, how can you appreciate the present, nor make improvements in the future? The same hold for life, you just have to flow with it.
Hope that brings some clarity.
-Chris
Chris, you basically just attempted to justify God murdering people for voicing their needs. Murdering them with the flesh still in their teeth no less! So you think there is some merit for punishing people for having desires for better things? Or, if you believe this story to be true, that God is somehow justified in murdering people for saying they want to eat meat for a change instead of endless bread? I rest my case.
Chris, you're completely ignoring reality. Of course bread isn't enough to thrive: you have to have protein in your diet, it's simply a fact. You would think God would know that, seeing how he supposedly created us. But no: he get's all pissy about it ("You want food? I'll give you so much food it'll be coming out of your nose!") and then even when he does recognize a human's basic need for meat (or some kind of protein) he poisons it, just to punish them for complaining about their needs. He's childish and a prick, nothing worth worshiping or revering.
This is another contradiction.
Not only does God totally over-react in verses 19-20 to their complaints, but he can't even wait a month to smite them with a plague.
So much for 1 John 4 v 8, "God is love", and 1 Corinthians 13 v 4, "Love is patient, love is kind."
God is One with great understating - The book of Enoch says that He needed no holy councils, not even the council of ten thousand holy counselors. God's purpose for giving the Israelites that food (manna and quails, though they didn't like it) is good, and it came to a good end. Though they didn't like the food God gave them, but they wax strong and mighty plus they mightily increased. And God smote them because they had no morals.
Regards,
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I pray for you people. Chris was stating exactly what was happening. You have to separate spirituality from the reality on earth that we're used to. All God wants is us to have faith- we don't know the circumstances of the day of these happenings. Remember, if you think God 'overreacted', he did end up sending Jesus to pay for all of our sins. There are questions I have about the bible, but I have enough faith to know that there is a reason for all the questions I have. Thank you, Chris for trying to clarify, but unfortunately, all these people want to do is argue.
• They’ve been freed as salves – God single handedly w/o army or help from any of them had defeated the greatest nation on earth… (by national plagues, and destruction of their powerful army – 600chariots, pulse horseman…)
• He has provided for all their needs with water, food and restful camps.
• They’ve received the commandments outlining their covenant w/ God,
• The tabernacle is constructed displaying the presence of God in the middle of the camp.
• The laws, and priesthood have been implemented.
And yet, Let’s briefly review a partial list of their complaints during this time:
• We’ve referenced their fear and complaint upon reaching the Red Sea… Ex 14:11-12, “What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt, Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?’”
• In Ex 15, they are so happy, they are singing songs of praise to God’s rescue, but in v. 24, they come to the waters of Marah, and “the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink, and cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed Moses a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.”
• In Ex 16:2, they murmur for bread to eat… “would to God we had died by the hand of the lord in the land of Egypt… you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”(v.3)
• Then we learn they again complain From Num 11 (the parallel account to that in Ex 16, (v.6 – “Our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna!”) The next thing we saw was that grown men wept… every man in the door of his tent… as well as their families…
o Then we read of God’s anger. Thru’out these events, God keeps coming thru’ for them… but no matter what, there are some who just will not learn the point of trusting Him.
o A people of promise, headed for a land of promise, and they are totally unfit to take possession of the land in their current condition. --- they still do not know God, and they do not trust Him.
o These are people who refuse to learn… they are unteachable, incorrigible… “As dogs who return to their vomit are fools who repeat their folly” (Prov. 26:11).
The tragedy is not that they made mistakes… (God forgives mistakes)… it is that they rebelliously said it was God’s fault, as they persisted in their rebellion and attitudes of unbelief… -- Instead of seeing God as a source of dependance, they blamed God for their refusal to learn, repent and change – they refused to strengthen their faith in the God who kept proving Himself. They were shortsighted in learning from their history.
How much pain do people need to experience before they change and begin to relight on God rather than criticism Him? -- A really great perspective is that of the Psalmist in Psalm 78:12-38 -- Some may not read it because they are no diffrent than the people who failed to get the simple lesson... others, well, for others there is hope and joy no matter what this life offers up. They get it... they understand the lessons seen by examining the Wilderness Wanderings.
Some amazing comments here. Yes, God does not operate His universe by liberal mind set. His is a kingdom, not a democracy of created retards telling Him what to do. Suck it up. If you stood in front of God right now you would have nothing to say let alone tell him how to run His creation and design. So many ants on the pages of time under the false impression that their GIGO opinion actually is correct, let alone counts. Reality is a byche.
Sorry Unbelievers, God didn't "murder" anyone. He is God. He just removed people from earth. People murder people. God can do WHATEVER he wants with His creation. Who is a puny human to look up at someone as powerful as God and call him guilty? You are NOTHING. God made this entire earth and the food, oxygen and water we need to survive and when have you unbelievers EVER told God "thank you" for that delicious food you enjoy, "thank you" for the taste buds that translate food into taste, for the eyes that can appreciate color, sunsets, etc. Or for The legs that help you walk or the arms and hands that help you handle things? Or for the amazing experience of sex, love, laughter? When have you ever thanked your creator for that? You haven't. Because you have no gratitude for what he is done for you. It's so easy to point the finger. It takes an exceptional human being to show gratitude. Something the people of Israel did not have concerning the freedom God gave them. God did not kill those Israelites because they asked for better food. It was their attitude. The Bible says that they murmured. They were complaining. All they ever did was complain. No matter how many miracles God performed, they always wanted something better. Maybe you should stop complaining and thank him for once for creating this beautiful earth just for you. God made the earth. Man destroyed it. Why don't you take Michael Jackson's advice and start with the man in the mirror?
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