Derailing Their Destiny

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Derailing Their Destiny

Israel has now begun it’s journey to the promised land. The pattern of the encampment and the order of it’s movement and the tearing down and building of the tabernacle is all accomplished without incident. Everything is going smoothly. It is only eleven days to Eretz Israel. Expectations were higher than we may realize. Israel journeyed out three days and the cloud rested. From this point on, it all fell apart. First, the people took to voicing complaints. There will always be those who, even when about to be part of something really wonderful, will seek to complain. The journey to greatness is never easy and nothing worth having comes without sacrifice and hardship. Israel’s journey from slavery to the head of the nations was no exception. There were those who did not have the vision to give them the perseverance to accomplish this. Then a new complaint arose, this one specifically an insult to the Almighty. They complained about the food. YHVH had been caring for them and providing their every need since they left Egypt. Now YHVH’s provision was not good enough. They longed for the good old days when they were in slavery and they ate their fill. In Egypt they had their basic needs provided for and it required no risk or faith on their part. It was easy in that sense. Freedom entails risk and responsibility.

There were many who found that difficult and now they complained. And YHVH was angry. To compound things, Moshe has a crisis of confidence. He complains to YHVH about being their leader and how he cannot solve their woes. He knows he is unraveling and it’s not good for either him or the nation. But YHVH steps in and as the King, solves the problem. They will have meat and they will have it for a month until they can’t stand the sight of it. The journey is now delayed . However, a previously strong leader has now been weakened and two incidents demonstrate this. When the elders prophesy in the camp outside of Moshe’s circle of influence, Joshua wishes to restrain them. He sees a threat to Moshe if others are going to prophesy. Soon the people may be following one of these others and Moshe will be cast aside. Uncertainty has set in within Moshe’s inner circle of loyal friends and had Moshe heeded the advice, he would have taken the “first step” to becoming an unjust ruler. Aaron and Miriam are the next to challenge Moshe. Perhaps up until this time they had looked a Moshe as most of the nation did, with awe and respect.

Once they saw the weakness and the others prophesying, they remembered that this guy was only their brother and challenged his authority. However, Moshe had recovered his sense of himself at this point and YHVH himself confirmed his preeminent role. One of the important lessons here is the interaction between leadership and the people. If Moshe would have dealt decisively with the grumbling as he had with the golden calf, they would have been able to move on. Had the people understood the vision of Israel and their destiny, they would not have complained and precipitated the crisis. We have a duty to support our leaders and not burden them unnecessarily because it is often the complaining about the little things that tries their patience and weakens their resolve more than anything. And leaders need to be strong and keep faith so as not to let those in their charge down and derail the destiny of the group.