Numbers 11 Summary: A Concise Overview in 5 Minutes
Numbers 11 Summary - A Quick Overview
WHEN:
In Numbers 10, the Israelites set out from Mount Sinai to go to Paran on the 20th day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year after leaving Egypt.
The year was approximately 1490-1489 B.C.
CHARACTERS:
Moses – Moses was selected by God to lead the Israelites to Canaan. God spoke directly to Moses and Moses communicated God’s words to the people.
70 Elders – 70 respected men from the camp of Israel who were selected to help Moses lead the people.
Joshua – He was the assistant of Moses and had been since his youth.
Eldad and Medad – 2 of the 70 elders of Israel who prophesied in the camp.
WHERE:
In Numbers 10, the Israelites journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai to the wilderness of Paran.
The events of Numbers 11 took place at Kibroth-hattaavah.
The last verse of the chapter tells us the camp of Israel moved from Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth.
OUTLINE:
THE ISRAELITES COMPLAIN (11:1-17):
Not long after leaving Mount Sinai the Israelites started complaining about their “misfortunes.”
The Lord became angry and sent a fire that consumed parts of the outer camp.
Moses prayed for the people and God withdrew the fire.
After this incident, some of the “rabble” of the people started complaining that they didn’t have any meat to eat and how they were tired of eating manna.
Manna was the food that God provided 6 days a week. Numbers 11 describes it as “like coriander seed… its appearance like that of bdellium… And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil” (11:7-8).
After hearing the people’s continual complaining, Moses was weighed down by the burden of his responsibilities and went to God to tell Him he was struggling to lead the people.
God told Moses to gather 70 elders from Israel to help him “bear the burden of the people.”
God would give the 70 men a portion of His Spirit that had been given to Moses so they could lead faithfully.
THE LORD SENDS MEAT AND A PLAGUE TO ISRAEL (11:18-5):
God told Moses He was going to send meat to the Israelites, not just for one day, or even a week, but for a whole month. They would have so much meat they would grow sick of it.
So, Moses gathered the people together along with 68 of the selected 70 elders.
God descended in a cloud and spoke to Moses. Afterwards, He gave His Spirit to the elders.
The men immediately began to prophesy.
Two of the selected elders weren’t present at the assembly but remained in the camp. They also received the blessing of God’s Spirit and prophesied.
When Joshua, Moses’ assistant, heard of the men prophesying in the camp he wanted Moses to stop them, but Moses was pleased that God had gifted them His Spirit even though they weren’t present.
After these events, God sent a wind that blew a massive number of quail in the vicinity of the camp of Israel.
The people gathered the quail day and night until everyone had gathered a minimum of 10 homers (2,200 liters or 581 gallons).
While the people were eating the meat, “the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people,” and He struck down the complainers with a plague.
The place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, “because there they buried the people who had the craving.”
APPLICATION:
Before you look down on the Israelites for complaining all the time, look introspectively.
It’s easy to see other people’s ungratefulness, but it can be difficult to see our own.
How often do we complain even though our circumstances aren’t nearly as hard as the Israelites.
We aren’t wandering around in a wilderness right now. We don’t have to eat the same thing day-in-and-day-out. We have nice comfortable homes with air conditioning.
That said, we do our fair share of complaining, don’t we?
Let’s try to do better at being thankful for our blessings and remembering God’s goodness to us.
Philippians 2:14 - Do all things without grumbling or disputing.
DIAGRAM OF THE CAMP OF ISRAEL:
DIAGRAM OF THE TABERNACLE:
