Numbers 11: When The Bible Gets...Weird?!

Numbers 11: When The Bible Gets...Weird

1. O God, our guide and help on the journey of life, strengthen us to confront the oppressor and free the oppressed, so that all people may know the justice and unity of your kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. OPENING PRAYER

2. SUNDAY // SEPTEMBER 29 Numbers 11: When the Bible Gets…Weird

3. WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE COME ACROSS SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT’S JUST…WEIRD?

4. WHAT DO WE DO WHEN WE COME ACROSS SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT’S JUST…WEIRD? WE ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!

5. SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK… IS THIS DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE? If so, where, and why?

6. IS THIS DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE? If so, where, and why? ARE THERE…DIFFERENCES? If so, can they be reconciled? Is reconciling the differences necessary? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

7. IS THIS DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE? If so, where, and why? ARE THERE…DIFFERENCES? If so, can they be reconciled? Is reconciling the differences necessary? DOES THIS SOUND LIKE JESUS? How so, or how not? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

8. IS THIS DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE? If so, where, and why? ARE THERE…DIFFERENCES? If so, can they be reconciled? Is reconciling the differences necessary? DOES THIS SOUND LIKE JESUS? How so, or how not? IF NOT, THEN WHAT? What’s our filter for final authority? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

9. NUMBERS 11:1-3 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.

10. If this is literally true, what does it say about God’s nature/character? Does this sound like something Jesus would do? If so, how? If not, what do we do with that reality? What else does Scripture say about God’s anger/self-control? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

11. EXODUS 34:6b-7a The  Lord , the  Lord , the compassionate  and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. PSALM 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love  and faithfulness.

12. NUMBERS 11:4-7 The rabble (riffraff) 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—and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” The manna was like coriander seed  and looked like resin.

13. NUMBERS 11:8-10 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. Moses heard the people of every family wailing (whining)  at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 

14. PROVERBS 19:11 A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense. PROVERBS 29:11 Fools give full vent to their rage, but a wise person keeps themselves under control. ECCLESIASTES 7:9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

15. Does God need to live by similar standards for human behavior, or is anything/everything God does automatically “right” because God is the one doing it? If it’s foolish for a PERSON to vent their anger, what about GOD? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

16. NUMBERS 11:11-13 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 ancestors? Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 

17. NUMBERS 11:14-15 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, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes— and do not let me face my own ruin.

18. If Moses can talk this way with God without stirring God’s anger/wrath, what does that tell us about our ability to vent our emotions and express our questions to God? Why would God get so exceedingly angry at ISRAEL for complaining, but NOT get angry with MOSES for doing the same thing? Does this reveal GOD to us, or does it reveal historical/cultural context?

19. NUMBERS 11:16-17 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.  They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

20. NUMBERS 11:18-20 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…and have wailed before him…“Why did we ever leave Egypt?”

21. NUMBERS 11:21-23 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? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

22. NUMBERS 11:24-29 We go back to the part about the Elders, seventy of them are appointed; som e of them prophesy once, but a couple guys do so more than that; Joseph finds out and wants to make them stop, but Moses says he wishes all the Lord’s people were prophets…

23. Why the major topical changes? Is it possible we’re dealing with the blending of multiple traditions knit together in one story/setting? If not, how do we account for it? If so, what does that tell us? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

24. NUMBERS 11:31-34 Now a wind went out from the  Lord  and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to 3ft deep all around the camp, 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. 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… 

25. Does this sound literal/mythical? Does this sound like something Jesus would do? What should we glean from these types of stories ? What benefit or purpose comes form reading/ studying them? SOME QUESTIONS TO ASK…

26. God looks like Jesus. God has always looked like Jesus. There has never been a time when God hasn’t looked like Jesus. There will never be a time when God doesn’t look like Jesus. We haven’t always known that. But now we do. BRIAN ZAHND

27. Creator God, help us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit as we love and serve our fellow human beings. Open our hearts in compassion to all you have made, and give us grace to trust your image revealed to us in Jesus. Amen. CLOSING PRAYER