Rev. Angus Stewart
In what period of Bible history do we have the most narratives about the church’s foolish dishonouring of those whom God has placed in authority over her? During Israel’s wilderness wanderings, which are recorded especially in two Old Testament books: Exodus and Numbers, not the third and fifth books of the Bible. After all, Leviticus contains laws that God gave when His people were camped at Mount Sinai and Deuteronomy consists of sermons delivered by Moses on the plains of Moab, as he retells the events, and applies the lessons, of the previous 40 years.
At the end of Belgic Confession 31, Guido de Bres has his eye on Israel’s wilderness wanderings. After outlining the scriptural teaching on church officers, the article states that we must “be at peace with them without murmuring, strife or contention, as much as possible.”
Four Passages in Exodus
The first recorded incidence of Israel’s grumbling during the wilderness wanderings occurred just west of the Red Sea. The mighty Egyptian army was fast approaching and the people were hedged in. “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness” (Ex. 14:11-12). What did Almighty God do? He powerfully divided the Red Sea and Israel praised Him in the words of the song of Moses (Ex. 15)!
Later in that same chapter, the people “murmured against Moses,” for they were very thirsty and the waters of Marah were bitter (15:23-24). What was God’s response? He commanded Moses to cast a tree into the waters, miraculously making them sweet. Israel had failed the test (25).
In the wilderness of Sin, the hungry people (16:3) murmured (2, 7, 8, 9, 12) against Moses and Aaron (2), Scripture’s first reference to Israel’s grumbling against the elder brother after leaving Egypt. Moses explained the real target of their complaints: “the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord” (8). The Most High then provided manna and quails for His people.
The next grumble party took place at Rephidim (17:1), later named Massah and Meribah or Tempted and Contention (7). As at Marah, the problem was that the people were thirsty (1-3). As usual, they chided and contended with (2, 7) or murmured against (3) Moses (2, 3). This time it was so bad that they were almost ready to stone him (4)! Jehovah’s solution was to bring forth water out of the rock for the people to drink (5-6).
Seven Passages in Numbers
After these four strife narratives from successive chapters in Exodus (14-17), we will now briefly consider seven passages from Numbers. As soon as Israel left Mount Sinai to journey to Canaan (Num. 10), “the people complained” (11:1). At Taberah, the Lord consumed with fire many of those on the outskirts of the camp (1, 3).
Later in Numbers 11, the issue was not hunger as such, as was the case in Exodus 16, but it was rather a despising of the manna (Num. 11:6) and an intense craving for certain foodstuffs: meat, fish and vegetables (4-5). Though no form of the word “murmurings” or its synonyms are found in the passage, this evil reality certainly was present at Kibroth-hattaavah (4-6, 13, 18, 20). God sent quails for them to eat (31-33) and a “very great plague” to slay them (33).
At Hazeroth (11:35; 12:16), the issue was Moses’ choice of a wife. He had married an Ethiopian woman, not an Israelite. Aaron and especially Miriam wrongly criticised Moses for this (1), and sought to elevate themselves (2). God’s response was twofold. He defended Moses with the highest accolades, as a particularly exalted and faithful prophet (6-9), and struck Miriam with leprosy, expelling her from the camp for a week (10-15).
Next came the crisis at Kadesh (13:26), when Israel refused to enter Canaan. This was a national rebellion against Israel’s highest and most faithful leaders: “all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron” (14:2; cf. 27, 29, 36; Deut. 1:27; Ps. 106:25), and “all the congregation bade stone” Joshua and Caleb (10), the two good spies, who urged them to trust the Lord to give them the promised land (7-9). Jehovah appeared in the glory cloud to cow the crowd and condemned Israel to 38 more years of wilderness wanderings.
We are not told the location of the rebellion in Numbers 16. Many office-bearers in the Old Testament theocracy coveted higher positions and fell into the old sin of murmuring (11). Dathan, Abiram and On of the tribe of Reuben (1) complained against Moses (3), and Korah of the tribe of Levi grumbled against Aaron (3, 11). In His fearful judgment, Jehovah caused the earth to swallow up Dathan and Abiram and their families (31-34; Deut. 11:6; Ps. 106:17), whereas Korah and the other 250 who offered incense were consumed by fire from God (Num. 16:35). How did the people react? With more grumblings: “But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord” (41)! Whereupon, God slew 14,700 of them with a plague (49). Next He vindicated the Aaronic priesthood (Num. 17), as He had earlier vindicated His servant Moses (Num. 12). Aaron’s rod that budded was to be brought “before [the ark of] the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not” (17:10; cf. 5).
Like chapters 13-14, Numbers 20 begins in Kadesh. As in Exodus 15 and 17, there is a shortage of drinking water (Num. 20:2, 5). Again “the people chode with Moses” (3) and “strove with the Lord” (13). God brought forth water from the rock, as He did in Exodus 17. But Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter the promised land, for failing to sanctify Jehovah before the children of Israel (Num. 20:10-12).
The final recorded instance of the Israelites’ murmuring in the wilderness occurred when they were travelling from Mount Hor by the north east tip of the Red Sea in order to skirt Edom (21:4). The people grew impatient with the long dry journey (4), complaining about the lack of bread and shortage of water, and criticising the manna (5). In this, the last of our eleven examples, the text mentions God’s name first and then Moses, as the parties criticised by the unbelieving Israelites (5). Aaron is not mentioned because he died at the end of the previous chapter. In judgment, Jehovah sent fiery serpents whose lethal venom slew many (6). God instructed Moses to make a brass or bronze serpent and put it upon a pole so that those who looked upon it would live (8-9)—an Old Testament type of Christ’s crucifixion (John 3:14-15).
Thematic Analysis and Application
After our survey of eleven narratives of Israel’s grumbling during its wilderness wanderings (Ex. 14-17; Num. 11-12; 14; 16; 20-21), we are now in a position to analyse these passages and apply their lessons to the church of our day, as we answer three key questions.
1. Who was in the wrong? Not once was it those who were criticised. In each case, Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb were innocent of the charges made against them. Always the fault lay with the critics: usually the Israelites, sometimes the mixed multitude (11:4), occasionally (lower) leaders (16:1-2) and even, in one instance, Miriam and Aaron (Num. 12). Their sins were those of unbelief (14:11; Deut. 1:32; 9:23; Heb. 3:19; Jude 5), pride (Num. 12:2), envy (Ps. 106:16) and rebellion (Num. 14:9; Deut. 1:26; 9:23). These evils can also stir up murmuring against office-bearers in a true church, perhaps especially among those at the edges of the congregation’s life (Num. 11:1).
The people repeatedly failed God’s testing of them, when they lacked food (Ex. 16) or the food of their choice (Num. 11:5; 21:5) or drink (Ex. 15; 17; Num. 20), or were weary (21:4), or faced military danger behind (Ex. 14) or ahead (Num. 14). The people huffed and complained, because they had to suffer hardships and were “put out.” Everything must go their way in the church or else they grumble and cause strife.
2. What about their criticisms? These were always marked by defeatism and negativity. They often took the form of unbelieving rhetorical questions (Ex. 14:11-12; 15:24; 17:3; Num. 14:3; 16:3, 13-14; 20:4-5; 21:5) and even death wishes (Ex. 16:3; Num. 14:2; 20:3). These people were so filled with unbelief that there was no reasoning with them (16:12-14). They murmured time and time again whenever hardships arose. Sadly, there are also people like this in churches, who continually complain and never seem to learn.
The apostle Paul addressed this problem in first-century congregations. He warned the Philippians against “murmurings” (Phil. 2:14) and cited the bad example of the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings in his exhortation to the members of the church at Corinth: “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (I Cor. 10:10).
Israel’s ungodly criticisms were very serious, leading to abominable proposals. Sometimes they planned to appoint another leader to take them back to Egypt (14:4). On two occasions, they almost stooped to stoning, first, Moses (Ex. 17:4) and, second, Joshua and Caleb (Num. 14:10). Imagine a church wishing to murder or excommunicate its faithful office-bearers!
At bottom, Israel’s grumblings were not merely against Moses or Aaron or Joshua or Caleb. Their discontentment, criticisms and enmity were really against Almighty God Himself (Ex. 16:8; cf. Num. 14:11, 27, 29; 16:11). The spiritual descendants of these Jews murmured (John 6:41, 43, 61) against the Lord Jesus Christ, the true bread from heaven, whom the manna typified. This is what complaining church members need to understand. This is also a truth that faithful elders, deacons and pastors need to grasp when they unfairly receive flak from unhappy members.
Often ecclesiastical problems are, however, more complicated. Consider this scenario. The church’s office-bearers sin or make a bad decision. Then some members react badly and not in a biblical or church orderly way, making things worse. Next the session or consistory responds foolishly and the ecclesiastical mess spirals out of control. Vexatious situations like this swiftly become very hard to sort out or resolve, for even trust itself is lost.
3. What was the result of the children of Israel’s murmurings in Exodus and Numbers? Their grumblings did not do any (direct) good and never achieved their objectives. God was always going to give them food, drink, military defence, etc., anyway. Each time they were tried, the children of Israel failed the test! Jehovah was justly angered by their sin and slew many in the wilderness.
In New Testament congregations, there are people who bring issues to church leaders because of real biblical and confessional concerns, out of good motives and in the proper ecclesiastical way. There may also be those who are simply grumblers. There are others who are somewhere in between these two poles, at least at some point in their lives. It is the duty of the office-bearers to deal fairly and scripturally with the issues brought to them and the people who present them, no matter how the elders may (rightly or wrongly) perceive them.
Those who really are merely complainers may end up being excommunicated for impenitent evil speech and rebellion or they decide to leave the church. Sometimes they stay in a congregation until their death. However, they almost always lose their children, who are soured and put off by the negativity and grumbling of their father or mother or both. Even then, God in His amazingly abundant grace may sovereignly choose to graft some of their descendants back in again. Korah was the chief rebel in Numbers 16 but generations later we read of the sons of Korah praising God in song, according to the headings of eleven Psalms (42, 44-49, 84-85, 87-88)!
