They yielded to their cravings

And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.- Numbers 11v32-34

I realise that some of what we are seeing is media sensationalism, but when we see footage of the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake we see an illustration of human nature. Many of the relief truck coming to bring supplies are dealing with mobs of people who attack the trucks and stop the delivery. In fact any time there is a disaster of any sort one of the first things we see is footage of looting.

It is an image something like this that I have in mind when I think of God’s provision of quail for the people of Israel. They complained about the manna so God gave them quail. When they saw the quail they gathered it all that day, all night, and all the next day. Then they laid out their loot before them.

Then they dug in, but before they could even chew their food God struck them with a great plague.

I can’t of course know the mind of God, but I suspect that the judgement did not come because they ate the quail, but because of the way they did it, because, as He says here, they ‘yielded to their cravings.’

If we are honest I think there is an attitude here that we can all identify with. There is a nature that we see in young children where they want all that they can see, especially if another child has it. Recently I saw this in one of my grandchildren. This young one was holding a massive armful of toys, so much in fact that the toys were useless. The most important thing to this young one was possession of those toys.

Very bold indeed, but no worse than Israel when they gathered the quail. In reality it is no worse than us when we forget to yield to the Spirit and instead yield to the cravings of our own flesh.

It is an ugly scene when people are consumed by their cravings. Next time we are tempted to do so may we see the ugliness and think how it must look to God.