For what great nation is there that has God as close to them as ADONAI our God is, whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today? (Deu 4:7-8 CJB)
Having taken on the daily study of Torah in my life, I have come to terms with many interesting and important aspects and elements affecting my daily walk with Messiah. Some of these aspects and elements are good to know things while others are downright disturbing and are likely impediments in my relationship with the Eternal. I dare say that I probably get on God’s (or as I will use for the remainder of this post, Yehovah’s) nerves more times than I care to guess. I realize in the back of my mind that if I do not correct those deficiencies in my life, I stand the chance of damaging my long-term relationship with Yehovah.
The Wilderness Example
CJB Numbers 11:4 Next, the mixed crowd that was with them grew greedy for an easier life; while the people of Isra’el, for their part, also renewed their weeping and said, “If only we had meat to eat! (Num 11:4 CJB)
Numbers chapter 4 is one of those chapters of Torah (better known to western Christians as the Old Testament) that paints a vivid picture of a people in seemingly perpetual wandering. Initially, the escape from years of bondage under the cruelty of the Egyptians was obviously jubilant and auspicious. The stuff that epics such as the Charlton Heston’s and Cecil B. Demil’s classic the “10-Commandments” captured in all its perceived pomp and circumstance. Beautiful and handsome actors from the United States and Canada, made to look the part, brought a sense of awe and mystery to the story. Despite the brilliance of the film, it failed to capture the inner workings of the human experience: that is the struggles of the flesh as it attempted to fall in line with the requirements of a Holy God; the challenges associated with basic human relationships, especially when a mixed multitude accompanied the Exodus party; Yehovah’s overarching purposes in bringing His Chosen out of the land of Egypt and subjecting them to the many problems and challenges they were to experience. Even today, Orthodox Churchianity and her appendages fail to grasp the immense purpose behind Yehovah’s subjection of those whom He claimed to love to such stark and abject poverty and inconvenience. Beyond that the leaders of orthodox churchianity, these supposed learned men of God, consistently fail to seek the Spirit for understanding how their story (i.e., the children of Israel), their experiences, and their lives impact us today.
The Grace Doctrine Muddies the Water
This problem of minimizing the lessons that would be learned from the Sinai experience by western orthodox and popular churchianity teachers, I believe, may be attributed to the all-encompassing doctrine of grace. This doctrine, more than any, has resulted in millions throughout the centuries, missing entirely what their purpose in Jesus Christ (from this point forward, Yeshua HaMashiach) was. You see, sola gratia (Latin for grace only) requires very little of the child of the Most High to ensure his or her eternal security. In fact, sola gratia provides the would-be child of Yehovah with the opportunity to live as the uncontrollable brat he or she is predisposed to be. Overall, the focus is eschatological (that is, where will I spend eternity and how will I escape the tribulation). Is our only purpose as the redeemed of the Most High to aspire to an eternity that is NOT hell? How many a soul has prayed the sinner’s prayer, not for reasons of being a light to a lost world (Matthew 5: 14) or a friend to Yehovah (James 2: 23), but rather to avoid spending an eternity in hell? (Hell is an entirely separate topic of its own we may discuss at some future time, Yah willing.) Why have we missed the mark and abandoned this life we currently have for some ill-conceived and unbiblical life in heaven sometime in the perceived future? So much benefit is to be had here today in this world for the analogous benefits that salt brought to the ancient Middle East (Matthew 5:13). The preservative and flavor benefits translate into a picture of a people who would bring life to the world and the example by which the human race would be saved. Being the salt to the world as Messiah crowned every follower of His to become and remain, is indicative of the emphasis that Yeshua put on the here and now. He, Messiah, built His entire ministry on relationships–love for His Father and love for His people–the two great categorical basic elements of Torah. It is high-time my friends that we stop focusing on the future and eternity, but instead focus upon our relationships with both Yehovah and our brothers and sisters today. If we are faithful to do what the Master commanded us to do as His disciples, the future will indeed take care of itself. Needless to say, we have very little to no control of the future. What we do have influence over is our relationships with Father and those whom the Father has placed into our spheres of influence.
Weeping for the Wrong Thing
The children of Israel began to weep over lack of meat at the expressed lusting of the mixed multitude. Just prior to this episode, the Children of Israel murmured amongst themselves and against Yehovah for their present situation:
CJB Numbers 11:1 But the people began complaining about their hardships to ADONAI. When ADONAI heard it, his anger flared up, so that fire from ADONAI broke out against them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried to Moshe, Moshe prayed to ADONAI, and the fire abated. 3 That place was called Tav’erah [burning] because ADONAI‘s fire broke out against them. (Num 11:1 CJB)
Thus, we have before us a very unhappy and depressed group all around.
The weeping of the Children of Israel was certainly misplaced here. Indeed the human flesh wants what it thinks it needs and what it selfishly wants. I ask you: knowing what we know about this situation, was the situation that the Chosen ones found themselves valid enough reason to weep before Yehovah and Moses and the hangers on?
I am a firm believer in cause and effect. My job as a Coroner’s Investigator is focused upon learning what the circumstances leading to the death in question were. Many a family member and associate of the deceased would query my staff and me as to the reasons for our inquiry, particularly when the cause of death appeared to be quite apparent. It all comes down to what were the driving elements that led to the death: why did the decedent crash his/her car? Were they sleep at the wheel? Did they have a cardiac event that caused them to become unconscious and lose control of their vehicle? Was someone else in the vehicle who distracted them and caused them to lose control of their car and then crash? Are there criminal elements associated with the death? Criminal negligence? Drugs? Psychological influences leading the individual to commit suicide maybe? The list can go on of course.
Many times, we weep for purposes of soliciting attention and sympathy from those around us, more so of course when we see ourselves incapable of containing or remedying a certain situation. Weeping in these cases seems to bring the comfort that help will come and relieve us of our heavy burden.
However, what about those situations where weeping is a response to something that we’ve done to someone or in response to some situation or some thing; when the only response to an embarrassing or tragic situation is to let the emotions and the depression that collects within us spill over the edges of our souls? What about the weeping that comes from having the knowledge that we’ve disappointed or hurt someone close to us and the only response is a wailing of abject sorrow and rejection of ourselves as subhuman and unworthy of the love of the individual we’ve wronged? When we are in such a deep and uncompromising relationship, either with Yehovah or with our brothers or sisters, we are just a stone’s throw away from finding ourselves in a state of remorseful weeping simply by doing something stupid; and that stupid something can be anything that causes the other party hurt or pain.
As an adult and prior to reaching my 50’s, I had little need of weeping apart from when my Grandmother (of whom I was equally raised by along with my mother and father in our Baltimore Maryland home) died from cancer. The sorrow I felt was of course a reaction to the intense sense of loss I was experiencing at the time; knowing that I would never see my grandmother in this life again. The weeping that emerged from within required no effort; no mental contemplation of how and why; no physical pushing or pulling on my part; just being and allowing myself to feel the pain. Knowing my grandmother was a born again Christian saved by grace (at the time I was a traditionalist/pop Christian), I felt confident she had gone to heaven and that I would see her again in the resurrection and rapture. Yet that assurance did not assuage the sorrow that seemed to engulf my being over the course of a number of days.
Indeed, the Holy Writ is festooned with numerous “weeping” passages; the weepers weeping for various and sundry reasons:
- Sorrow over the death of a loved one (Gen. 23:2; 37:35; Ecc. 3:4; Jer. 9:1; Luk. 7:13; 8:52)
- The lost love/longing for a loved one (Gen. 43:30; 1 Sam. 30:3,4)
- Concern over the anticipated death of a loved one and you can’t do anything about it (2 Sam. 12:21; Job 30:25; Isa. 22:4; Joe. 2:17; Luk 23:28; Jam. 5:1)
- Shame before the Creator and men over one’s transgressions against the Father (2 Chr. 34:27 Neh. 8:9; Isa. 15:2)
- Sorrow over the pain and devastation one we care for is undergoing (Jer. 13:17; Lam. 1:16; Eze. 24:16; Gen. 27:38; Num. 11:4)
- Sorrow over lack of resources, one’s plight, etc (Luk. 6:21)
- Joy (Gen. 29:13; 33:4; 45:2)
In many cases throughout Scripture, the weeping was misplaced and was indicative of a lack of trust and even understanding of those who wept of Yehovah. The weeping was indicative of the hopeless perception the weeper held regarding his or her situation.
Weeping that is Appreciated by Yehovah
Our heavenly Father deeply cares for His creation and there are a few rare examples in Scripture where the weeping of one of His children swayed His heart to change His intended course to bring destruction upon His chosen or the weeping bent His will or the course of natural human events in favor of the weeper:
- The case of Hagar’s remorse over the impending plight of her son Ishmael (Genesis 21)
- The case of the Children of Israel weeping over lack of food (Numbers 11)
- The case of Hannah seeking of Yehovah a child as she was childless and ashamed (1 Samuel 1)
- Josiah’s weeping on behalf of His people for their grave sin and upon re-discovering the Torah in the temple (2 Kings 22)
Weeping does strike at the heart of the creator and has proven from time to time to move the Father to action. But no weeping moves the Eternal more than the weeping of one who sorrows over having offended the Most High and having transgressed His Torah.
We’ll pick this up next time.
We trust that you have been blessed as I have been blessed in this study of Numbers 11:4. I would then ask you to subscribe/register to this podcast and website simply by filling in the three boxes to the right of this post that is titled “subscribe to this website and podcast.” In doing so, you show your support for this ministry as well as provide for yourself updates on the happenings of this ministry. We’d love to have you and rest assured that we will never share your information with any person or organization. We thank you in advance dear friend.
Until next time dear friend, may you be most blessed.