ETB Numbers 11:4-17

Cedric Chafee
ETB Fall 2025  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Session 2: Provision p.19

Quarterly starts with the following statement:
Many of us know what it’s like to have a job and find out we don’t have the tools we need. [ETB:PSG Fall '25]
Ask: When has some difficulty kept you from being able to do what you needed to do? How did you feel when someone came through with a solution?
God equips His people for whatever He calls them to do. On our own, we can’t accomplish God’s purposes, but He provides what we need to live out His design for us. Scripture records the testimonies of ordinary people whom God used in extraordinary ways when they yielded their lives to His purpose. They knew they couldn’t face life alone, so they called on God, and He answered. They sometimes faced incredible challenges, but God sustained them. [LifeWay Adults (2025). Explore the Bible: Adult Leader Guide, Fall 2025]
Sometimes God sustains us directly, other times He uses the people around us. In today’s passage we will read about God how Moses was helped through a difficult time toward the beginning of the journey from Egypt to Canaan.

Understand the Context

In the second year of the people’s journey after they left Egypt, God lifted the cloud above the tabernacle, and the people moved out (Num. 10:11-28). The military divisions from each tribe led the way, carrying their respective banners to keep the people organized. The people journeyed from the mountain for three days with the ark of the Lord’s covenant in front of them and Moses pronouncing a blessing (10:33-36).
The Lord became angry when the people complained to Moses about the journey’s difficulty, and He sent fire along the outskirts of the camp (11:1). Moses prayed, and the Lord ceased the judgment (11:2-3). But people soon began to complain again. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]
Some additional things to consider while we study this text. Last week we read about God’s presence being displayed visibly upon the tabernacle. The leader’s guide alluded to the marching order of the people as they travelled but there was also a special arrangement of the tribes while they camped.
Do you remember where the tabernacle was to be? Which tribe surrounded it or was between the tabernacle and the other 11 tribes?
We know the arrangement of the 12 tribes, but today’s text starts with a group of people that are not included in any of these.
Where would these people camp?
They would the furthest away from the tabernacle physically, and probably the furthest away spiritually. If they were mixed in their family line or purely Egyptian, then it is reasonable to assume their religious practices were equally mixed or foreign. It is in part with these people that our text for today begins.

Explore the Text

Numbers 11:4–9 ESV
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” 7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Ask: What comes to mind when you hear the word “riffraff” or “rabble”?
The term riffraff is used only here in the Bible, but it is related to the word “gather.” It describes a group that gathered to complain. Some interpreters suggest that they were part of the “mixed multitude” of non-Israelites who left Egypt with God’s people (Ex. 12:38). [ETB:ALG Fall '25]
Since the word is only used here it makes it difficult to determine if this group was of a specific tribe or ethnicity. Their craving, however, reveals to us some of their background which gives us the impression of being in the “outskirts” of the camp. Regardless of the tribal relation it was their attitude and discontent that grouped them together, and unfortunately the group size grew as their dissatisfaction became contagious.
The leader’s guide reminds us that a “redefining “the good old days” led the Israelites to question God’s goodness and to take His provision for granted.”
How does dwelling on “the good old days” skew our thoughts?
When we only remember the “good” parts, it does not give us a realistic image of past events.
The Israelites were guilty of “selective memory.” They remembered the food in Egypt, but they had forgotten the difficult working conditions, oppressive taskmasters, the death of Hebrew baby boys, and more. The challenges they faced in the wilderness already had caused them to remember Egypt as a better place than it really was for them. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

Dissatisfaction comes when our attention shifts from what we have to what we don’t have. The people of Israel didn’t seem to notice what God was doing for them—setting them free, making them a nation, giving them a new land—because they were so wrapped up in what God wasn’t doing for them. They could think of nothing but the delicious Egyptian food they had left behind. Somehow they forgot that the brutal whip of Egyptian slavery was the cost of eating that food.

The people remembered past foods - which they may not have actually eaten themselves - and then remembered how it supposedly was better than what they now had.
What reason were they giving for needing meat?
our strength is dried up
The word “strength” in the ESV or “appetite” in the CSB is more literally “throat.”
Look at the foods they listed, only one could be considered a source of protein, the others all have significant water content.
The body uses the same receptors for hunger as it does for thirst, making it difficult to tell the difference sometimes. We in extreme need of food or water we tend to make inaccurate assessments. The modern word for what the Israelites were feeling is “hangry.”
With what food that they did have were they comparing their memories?
Manna
Does God provide for part of our needs or all of them?
There is no reason to assume that all physical bodily needs would not be met through eating God’s provided food. It may have met the needs of the body, but not the tastebuds and memories.
I did a little more research on manna this week and brought some items from home to help share what I discovered. When describing or classifying rocks in geology you use traits like shape or structure, color including opacity or translucence, and hardness or the Mohs scale. Moses gives us similar descriptions of manna here and in the Exodus account when it first appeared.
Exodus 16:14 “14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.”
If you have ever seen frost on your car, then you get the idea of the “structure” of this bread. It was very thin only slightly thicker than the residue on your car after it rains and you see all the remains of the droplets. The same droplets that brought the dew each morning brought the manna, so it was small and thin.
The next description in the Exodus account and in our text today is that was “like coriander seed.” I brought a jar of it with me today that I will pass around. You will notice that it is quite small, about the size of a dewdrop. If you open the top, you will also notice how aromatic it is. So, manna was small, round flakes that possibly had a distinct smell.
The final description in our text is that “its appearance like that of bdellium.” The first thing I researched about this was how to pronounce it. The “B” is silent. Some English translations have the word “resin” instead which helps us understand the descriptive use in the text. Trees and some large shrubs have sap that can be extracted. Sap is fluid when it becomes more solid with less water content we call it resin. Bdellium is an aromatic -

resinous gum of an Arabian shrub (known scientifically as Commiphora africana).

When resin loses all water content it becomes very hard, and it is called amber. I brought along a piece of it from my rock collection, although technically it is not a rock. Before I pass it around, I want to show you what is unique about this as it will give a better image of bdellium and manna. Notice the color and light that is produced when I hold the light from my phone behind it.
Now imagine in the early morning, coming out of your tent just after sunrise. The sun is still low, and the ground is covered with small, round, flakes of this translucent golden bread. The light refracting through all those edges would be amazing. The ground would have a golden shine and make it easy to find and gather before the sun rose enough to melt it away.
This was the food that God was providing every day. The people did have to gather it, but only about a half-gallon which was all that was needed to sustain you for the whole day. Manna, however, not only could be eaten but notice what else they did with it.
ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it.
Because it was hard like resin, the people could make it into a flour like powder. Adding it to a pot of water would “reconstitute” it enough to give the gummy texture again to reform it into cakes that could be easily packed away for consumption on the Sabbath. God’s provision was incredible. But the Israelites memories were being skewed by the “rabble” and weep for things they did not have instead of what God was providing day by day.

The children of Israel had been given manna miraculously which sustained them wonderfully—and yet they wanted flesh. Oh, how easily this can happen to me. God has given me all things that pertain to life and godliness (

Of what I read this week, I liked J. Vernon’s summation of this part of the text the best.
There were many ways the manna could be prepared. It could be baked or fried; they could grind it to make a bread or a cake out of it. Mrs. Moses probably compiled a cookbook with one hundred and one recipes for manna. The Spirit of God is saying this was an adequate food, a marvelous food, and He is showing to us that it was this food which the children of Israel despised. Let’s not sit back and say how terrible the children of Israel were. How about you, my friend? That manna speaks of Christ. How do you feel about Him? Do you get tired of Him? Many Christians get tired of manna. A lot of people get tired of Bible study. I think it is safe to say that the largest segment of the church today does not want Bible study. They just won’t go for it. The predicament of the church today is due to the fact that folk have turned from the Word and are trying to feed somewhere else other than on the manna which God has provided. [Thru the Bible Commentary]
Ask: What does God’s providing manna to His people reveal about Him? What blessings from God might we tend to overlook?
Not only was the “riffraff” discontent infecting the people around them, it appears to have also to begin taking root in Moses’ thoughts as well.
Numbers 11:10–15 ESV
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Moses heard the people
This is phrase differentiates the group from “the rabble” earlier.
Have you ever gotten caught up in someone else’s emotions or anger at someone else? Ever gotten mad as someone you have never met?
The people were now weeping over a memory that may not have even been their own
I think the “rabble” were most likely part Egyptian and were more privileged than “Hebrew slaves.” They had enjoyed foods and comforts which the workers probably only served to others.
Do we still see similar effects of more privileged groups enticing lesser groups to be angry over things they do not have access to?
The complaining and discontent’s worst affect, however, can be seen in God’s reaction to it.
the anger of the Lord blazed hotly
This is an interesting description of God’s emotion. The literal translation would require God to have a literal face because it means He is “hot in the nose” and “burned greatly”. If God had a face, it would be flush with anger.
When God did have a body, He had a similar reaction to a similar sin.
Mark 3:5 “5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
God had a righteous anger over unrighteous thoughts.
When the people were weeping back in Egypt, the Lord intervened and brought them out from under the oppression.
Now the people weep, and He is angry about it brings a wrathful curse on them by the end of the chapter.
What changed?
In Num 11:20 God clarifies their sin a little more. He was not angered about them being hungry but for rejecting and forgetting what He had done for them already.

This amounted to calling the evil of the Egyptian oppression “good” and God’s good provision in the wilderness “evil.” Insatiable human lust, whatever the object of desire, will lead to a life of bondage.

What warning should this give us today?
Moses’s imagery about giving birth and having massive burdens placed upon him demonstrates his exasperation. It’s easy for us to get frustrated, but such frustrations often lead us in the wrong direction. During those times it’s best to follow Moses’s example and bring our feelings to God, no matter how confused or irrational they might seem in the moment. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]
Ask: How do you handle frustrations? What changes need to be made based on these verses?
Our God is such a gracious and understanding God that He did not rebuke Moses directly but starting with his needs - not his complaints or the peoples - began a process for Moses to receive the provision God had already set in motion.
Numbers 11:16–17 ESV
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.
Ask: What did God reveal about His character by supplying Moses’s specific and stated needs?
In verses 11-14 all the “Eyes and Ewes” are Moses to God. In verses 16-17, they are reversed as God declared what He will do for Moses. God’s perfect hearing, plan, and timing all come through as He responds directly to each need and graciously covers over all the “hangry” accusations that His servant made.
Gather for Me seventy men
The term elders literally refers to older people. In the Old Testament it commonly refers to leaders or officers who had demonstrated the wisdom that came from many years of life and walking with God.
The New Testament records how Paul appointed elders in the churches he planted on his missionary journeys (Acts 14:23). In this case, God commanded Moses to select seventy men from the congregation who were qualified to lead. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]
This pattern of seventy would continue throughout the history of the Jewish nation into the New Testament and beyond. There are mixed views on whether these men were the same group that Jethro suggested and God established in Exo 18:21-26. I think there is room for these two groups to overlap as the numbers given in the Exodus passage seem to be more than seventy.
These seventy elders would help Moses bear the burden of the people. The phrase also can mean “carry” and appears with this sense in verses 12 and 14.
It is interesting to note that God did not deny leading Israel was a burden. Instead, He assured Moses that He would also empower the seventy elders with His Spirit so they could share the burden. These leaders would thus lighten Moses’s load and enable him to continue fulfilling God’s call on his life. Moses would go farther with the support of his leadership team. [ETB:ALG Fall '25]

“Give us meat to eat!” (11:13) they complained to Moses as they reminisced about the good food they had in Egypt. God gave them what they asked for, but they paid dearly for it when a plague struck the camp (see 11:18–20, 31–34). When you ask God for something, he may grant your request. But if you approach him with a sinful attitude, getting what you want may prove costly.

Has God ever given you what you asked for only to find out how bad of a choice it was?

Apply the Text

They were not the only ones to lust after food. In opulent parts of the contemporary world, the preoccupation with food has become idolatrous. Instead of eating to live, millions live to eat. The gross obesity of thousands contrasts cruelly with the gaunt malnutrition of their global neighbours. Huge sums of money are devoted to extravagant delicacies; elsewhere millions die of starvation. The Israelites’ lust for better food mirrors the inordinate craving of modern times; both come under the judgment of a God who gives generously but grieves over those who squander his bounty.

If only these disgruntled travellers had expressed their gratitude for the daily manna instead of dwelling unprofitably on their Egyptian banquets! Confined to a Roman dungeon, the apostle Paul told his friends at Philippi that ‘whatever the circumstances’ he had learned the lesson of contentment: ‘whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want’ (

The things we have seen a read about in today’s passage is not first time that the people complained or showed their discontent with God’s provision. It was not a new thing then and it still continues today. I’m not sure if there is more or not, but it is definitely more publicized.

Complaining is alive and well today, especially with regard to little aggravations, inconveniences, aches, and pains. Obviously, there is a place for directing legitimate grievances to those who have caused our problems or can do something about them, whether they are other people or God (cf. Job, many psalms, and Habakkuk), but grumbling behind someone’s back is destructive. This includes unfocused complaining, which implicitly implicates God as the ultimate cause and denies that he cares about every aspect of our well-being (

Let’s try to make our thankfulness and praise of God more prominent that our grumbling.
All the Way My Savior Leads Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYzzHSetf4A&t=7s
Pray: Heavenly Father, help us to be careful not to take Your provisions for granted or flippantly. Thank You for always being there to listen to our concerns, hear our complaints, vent our frustrations, and then giving us exactly what we need – which sometimes is just more of Your presence. God, teach us how to better trust You to provide what we need for each task and day that grant to us.
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