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| Wonder how many Israelite families this guy would of fed? |
I have taken a little
break, it seems. I didn't intend to, I have just had a lot of business to
take care of and writing had to take a back seat. As I opened up the
website I noticed the final post was entitled, "Its Here.....Can You Hear
the Wind?" I had no idea of what the future would hold within that
coming week. I considered writing a post about the destruction in Moore,
Oklahoma and how we should see it from a Biblical perspective. I chose
instead to make my comments on the posts of the many other bloggers who have
weighed in on the matter or on my Facebook page rather than posting here.
Many of those who have written or tweeted about the tragedy are
absolutely wrong about the cause and are misinterpreting scripture. It
only proves they have NOT sought to learn God's Word from God's very own people
who know His Word inside and out. These kinds of tragedies are no mystery
to the Jewish people. They understand them full well. Just ask them.
Now on to this week's
Parashat! (It is a mouth full!) Beha'aloscha - When you set up.
This Parashat is from Numbers 8:1 - 12:16. It begins with the
dedication of the Levites and ends with Miriam being stricken with Leprosy. Yet tucked away in the midst of this reading
is something so applicable to the Church, both individually and collectively, within
today’s society I could not escape it. It is the story of the people's
grumbling about not having any meat.
I have always read the
story of the people’s grumbling about eating manna and just thought, “Well yeah
the Israelites were tired of eating the same ole thing day after day! I would be too”, but oh no!!!! Read it
again, with me!
The Hebrew translation
says in Numbers 11:1
"The people took to
seeking complaints; it was evil in the ears of HASHEM, and HASHEM heard and His
wrath flared, and a fire of HASHEM burned against them, and it consumed at the
edge of the camp."
They were seeking
complaints? What does that mean? Consumed at the edge of the camp?
Before I go any further let's take a look at verse 4.
"The rabble that
was among them, cultivated a craving and the Children of Israel also wept once
more and said, 'Who will feed us meat?'"
The Jewish scholars tell
us the rabble and the reference to the edge of the camp refers to the
non-Israelites who had come along with them when they left Egypt. These
Gentiles had begun to create discontent within the camp. These men, women and children would have been
required to remain in the outer fringe of the camp. The Israelites, you see, were lined up around
the Tabernacle in a specific manner detailed by God, Himself. (I guess I now know where the term rabble-rousers, comes from!)
Apparently there was
contentment (serenity, gladness, satisfaction, gratification, ease) until….. a
craving was cultivated (developed, promoted, encouraged, enriched). Have you ever been at a place in your life,
whether it be food, clothing, a house or a “feeling of” contentedness, just to
have someone come along and tell you about something you were missing out
on? Did this begin to stir a craving within you
for something you didn’t have before? A
craving can sometimes be dismissed or diverted unless it is cultivated by us or
others.
As an example perhaps
you were fine with having leftovers for dinner until someone mentions “Mexican." Now you have a sudden craving for “Mexican”
food, right? You think about it for a minute
and then dismiss the idea only to have that same someone just keep on with “Come
on, let’s go to the new Mexican restaurant in town! I hear they have the best chicken fajitas
ever!!! And, their grand opening special
is all you can eat for $3.95!” This person not only stirred a craving within
you, but cultivated that craving! This
is true discontentment which can only be satisfied by eating at this new restaurant
then it is good-bye leftovers!
The Israelites, along
with these Egyptians, had just witnessed the greatest miracles known to
mankind! The plagues, the parting of the
Red Sea, the cloud that moved with them by day and a pillar of fire that moved
with them by night, the presence of God on Mt. Sinai!!! Oh yeah and the miracle of the giving of the
manna as food, which by the way according to the Sages tasted like whatever you
were craving at the time!!!! To put it
in redneck terms; in the morning it tasted like biscuits and gravy, at noon it
tasted like a turkey sandwich and in the evening it tasted like steak and
potatoes! (Well sort of!)
The point of this
rambling of mine is they were only a short time removed from all those miracles
and still in the midst of receiving the manna when suddenly they began to
grumble and complain. Have you been
there? Are you there now? Are we any different? We could blame them for letting outsiders
influence them. Outsiders who knew no
different, but those outsiders knew about all those miracles. Those outsiders had witnessed every single
miracle themselves! They didn’t really
grow dissatisfied with the manna, the “rabble” as the Torah puts it dredged up
something much, much deeper.
This is what I see in
the lesson and one the Sages teach also.
The Israelites now had the instructions from God on how to connect with
Him. The Egyptians, who were with them,
knew these things also, but they took just enough of the truth and mixed it
with a lie to breed unhappiness. They
not only introduced an idea, but they then cultivated the idea until it began
to grow. Like a gardener planting a seed
and then caring for the seed until it produces fruit.
Perhaps it went
something like this:
“I know that Moses said
you could only marry within your own people, but what could possibly be wrong
with marrying one of our daughters?
Didn’t we come along with you showing our loyalty to your people? Here look at our daughters, see how beautiful
they are. Now you can never have them
again like you did in Egypt. They are
off limits to you.”
Or perhaps:
“Moses said you are to
worship only the God, Yahweh, but in Egypt our gods were kind to us and we have
brought them along. Our gods have given
us many wonderful things and blessings and have done you no harm, so what is
wrong with worshiping them also just as we also worship your God? In Egypt our gods provided you with many
different foods and didn’t put restrictions on you such as only being able to
marry within your own race of people or observing one day as holy. What kind of god puts restrictions on his
people?”
Can you imagine other
such conversations? I could come up with
many, many more. Think about what goes
on within your own life and the life of the Church in our society today. We see it every day within the Church. The music is too modern or too old
fashioned. The people are too stuffy or
they dress too casually. Churches are
splitting every week over some paltry little issue where someone has bred
discontent. These things should not be
among God’s people!!!
Now, let me introduce
something totally abstract to you----could it be there are times when someone
SHOULD breed discontentment within you or within the Church? Think about the Church at Laodicea. We are told they were a lukewarm Church and
due to that fact God said to them, “I
will vomit you out of My mouth.”
Do you wish to be a
person God says this of? Do you wish
your congregation to have this said of them also? I am so afraid many, many Christians and congregations
are in this boat OR in the boat of the Church at Sardis who were told; “you have a reputation for being alive, but
in fact you are dead!”
I think it is time we
shook things up a little bit. Every
Church and every Christian should face a questioning from time to time. Its’ called, accountability! It is what keeps us on the right track. There are a few questions we need to ask and
if it breeds discontentment, perhaps it needed to.
1. Do we
teach the entire Word of God, every verse, not just the verses we like?
2. Do we teach our children from the Word daily in
our homes?
3. Are we striving to live our lives by the Word
and the Word alone?
4. Is God the first priority in our lives? (Look at your appointment calendar if you
aren’t sure. Or check out your Facebook
status history!)
5. If what we think we believe were not true, would
we want to know? What do we believe and
is it the truth?
6. Are the individual groups, (youth, senior
adults, men, women, etc.), within our church doing a lot of activities, but not
a lot of Bible Study? (I.e. concerts,
eating out, volleyball games, golf tournaments etc.)
Number 5 is so crucial,
because many people who classify themselves as Christians do not truly know
what they believe. They can quote a few
statements that sound like scripture and may contain scripture, but they cannot
expound any further on the issue. Many
church-goers actually quote people more than scripture. Even within one single denomination there are
soooo many different explanations or answers to any one question on doctrine or
belief. Don’t agree? Ask just one question that may not seem so
cut and dried such as, "What happens when someone dies?" You may be a bit
surprised. Many times the response goes
something like this: “well, I believe…..” “I”, should not be part of the equation. The answer should always be, “The Word says,….”
Number 6 is also a lightning
rod for accountability. This is where
you find out if your church is a “Sardis” church! Is the calendar for your church always full,
but yet very empty? Is there a whole lot
of “nothin” goin on? If so, there
should be a lot of red flags going up over this one!!!!
We need people who are willing to be “rabble-rousers” within their own congregations to create discontent for lukewarmness and then cultivate a craving for the Word of God! We desperately need people and
Churches that have ravenous cravings for the Word of God! Individuals and Churches that are screaming, “Who will feed us meat!” because they are the ones who go into the world and MAKE DISCIPLES!!!! They also feed the hungry and give the thirsty a drink, share their homes with strangers, clothe the naked, take care of the sick and visit the prisoners. Jesus said in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:34-40;
"The King will say to them, 'Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!'"
Do you know what the
Word says? Do you know how to find the
answer? Do you need to breed a little discontentment
within your congregation and cultivate a craving? Did I breed a little discontentment within
you? I hope I have stirred a craving in
you that can only be filled with the Word of God. I would love to be a “rabble rouser” who
causes an insatiable craving inside of you!
Until next time……(This is where I normally say Shalom, but not today! Today I want there to be unrest within you! Unrest that so many people DO NOT want to feed on the Word of God! May you not find peace until you help cultivate a craving for the Word of God, my friend!)
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