Of Manna and Quail
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna…”
…Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”
“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ‘ “
But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you…”
…Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague… (Numbers 11:1-6, 10-15, 18-23, 31-33)
I am pretty sure I know more about my wants than I do about my needs; I definitely think more about my wants than I do my needs. Turns out, I only reflect on my needs when I think they aren’t being met or when I think I need what I want.
The Israelites had this problem, of mixing up their wants and their needs; they became so confused that dreams of returning to Egypt (and slavery) surfaced. The flakey white manna was nice, at first, but before long they missed the meat and the melons and the spices of Egypt—they missed it so bad they forgot about the Promised Land they were journeying toward. And so they asked for meat, like they enjoyed in Egypt, and the Lord provided—he sent so much meat that Moses promised they’d loathe it and it would overflow from their nostrils. Quail was stacked three feet off the ground. And they gorged on that quail and the Lord plagued them for their indulgence.
I’m not sure much has changed today; when we indulge and abuse the relationship between our wants and our needs, we plague ourselves and become disconnected from society and from God.
There’s another story in the Bible recorded by some of the Gospel writers, about wants and about needs. It tells of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. The rich man ate and lived very, very well, and Lazarus sat beneath his table waiting to eat the fallen crumbs. Predictably, both men died; while the rich man experienced hell’s agony, Lazarus sat beside Abraham in heaven. We’re told the rich man looked to Lazarus and asked for his flaming tongue to be cooled by a drop (or crumb) of water from Lazarus’ finger.
The rich man had his wants met well during his life, but at the expense of understanding his needs; he must’ve been surprised to learn that Lazarus’ needs were better met.
