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The people now went away from
Sinai, and came into the desert of Paran. They were led by the cloud
and kept by God, and, with His love and blessing, they might have been
very happy; but these Israelites were, like ourselves, weak, sinful
people; and soon they began to be tired of serving God, and discontented
with what He gave them. When they came to Taberah, they murmured,
and God sent a fire which burnt many of them in their camps.
"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God," for He is a "consuming fire." Moses
prayed to God to forgive the rest of the people, and He heard the prayer,
and quenched the fire. But soon again the Israelites began to be
discontented, and cried, and said, "Who shall give us flesh to
eat? We remember the fish we ate in Egypt, and the cucumbers, and
the onions, and the fruit: but now we have none; we have only this
manna to eat, and we are tired of it; we do not like it." Then
they all stood at their tent doors, and wept; and Moses heard them.
How wicked they were! God gave them the manna; He rained it for them
from Heaven; they had as much as they wished every day; but instead of
being thankful they were discontented. Were
they wicked? Yes; and let us take care not to be like them.
How many people now are unthankful, and discontented with the blessings
God gives them, because it is not what they like; they wish for something
better, like the fish, and onions, and fruits of Egypt. Let us learn
to be thankful for what we have: whatever it is, God sends it, and
we sin against Him if we are discontented with His blessings. Moses
was angry, and tired of hearing their murmurings. He told God how
unhappy he was, and that he had no power to give the people what they
wanted. But God kindly comforted Moses, and told him that He would
give the people flesh. He had given them quails before, but only for
one day; now He said they should eat flesh for a month; till they had had
enough, and were sick and tired of it. Then God sent a strong wind
which brought the quails, and they fell close by the camp. The
Israelites stood all day and all night, greedily gathering the quails, as
many as they could. They
had plenty of flesh now; but did it make them happy? No, because
they had not God's blessing; for without His blessing there can be no true
happiness. While they were eating the food, God's anger fell upon
them, and He sent a plague which killed many of these rebellious
people. The Israelites called the name of the place
Kilbroth-Hattaavah, or the graves of those that sinned: and then
they journeyed on sorrowfully to Hazeroth.
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