Numbers 11:31-35--Quail and a Plague

Numbers 11:31-35
English Standard Version

Quail and a Plague​
31 Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. 34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

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Last time we saw how Moses questioned how it would be possible for God to fulfill His promise that He would give the Israelites meat to eat for a whole month without killing every one of the animals they had in their camp or their catching every fish that was in the Sea (assuming Moses meant the Red Sea and not the Mediterranean Sea).  God's answer to Moses was one that is summarized by the verses "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:27) and "Do not disbelieve, but believe.” (John 20:27b).  "23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord's hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”" (Numbers 11:23).

The word translated "wind" in verse 31 could also be correctly translated as the word Spirit (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h7307/nasb95/wlc/0-1/) for it is the same word used to describe how God breathed His breath or His Spirit into Adam to bring Adam to life and the same imagery is used by Jesus in John 3 when talking to Nicodemus that as they talked about the Spirit they began talking about the wind.  So then, it is a fair reading here to say that these Spirt of the Lord drove the quail, probably with a mighty rushing wind that we see at Pentecost, so that these animals that typically don't fly at all were picked up and carried and dropped off at the doorstep of the Israelite camp.

Every indication here is that the Israelites did not thank God for hearing their request or answering it so miraculously and so completely.  They not only received a little bit of meat, but the quail were stacked on top of each other approximately 3 feet high, and it seems as if they were made to be easy for the people to catch so that each person took as much as they wanted with the person who took the least taking about 60 bushels or 2200 liters of quail meat or about 580 gallons of meat, probably weighing in at about 475 pounds!  Now the standard serving size of meat should probably be about 1 pound, so one person is taking 475 servings--which should be enough for a family of five to eat nothing but quail meat for 3 meals a day for 30 days.  It's not only gluttony and hunting way more than was needed, but it was a sign of their being unhappy with the provision that God had given to them in the manna that they received and that they didn't trust God to continue to provide for their needs--they had to take everything they could possibly get right now, even if it was more than they needed or could even reasonably consume before it went bad.  The people spent all day, all night, and all day the next day doing nothing else but hunting quail to appease their appetites--appetites here that we should associate with sinful desires since those appetites are trying to get these people to turn back to Egypt and put themselves back into slavery (to sin) in order that they might satisfy the lusts and desires and appetites of the flesh.  


Galatians 5:16-25
English Standard Version
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Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[b] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

See how these fleshly desires are opposed to the good desires that God had given them to be His people and for Him to provide for them and for them to have "rest" in the Promised Land (see Hebrews 4:1-13)?  These people do not trust God to be who He said He was or to do what He said He would do or to be the same yesterday, today, and forever.  This angered God so much that he struck the people with a great plague--not because they were eating the very meat that He provided for them but because He showed them His power and His goodness and His love by giving something that they did not deserve and yet their only desire was to take was to be greedy, ungrateful, irreverent, and glutenous.  They were not acting like His people who were to be reflecting His nature and character to the world and while He had tried to speak to them through His blessings, they did not listen, so He instead had to speak to them through His anger.  Even in doing so though, His punishment is just and merciful and loving and in the best interest of those who are His children.

Because so many people were struck down that day in the place of their cravings and appetites, the name of the place was called "Graves of Craving."


Romans 7:5
English Standard Version
5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.


Romans 8:6
English Standard Version
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.