Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The examples which the Apostle Paul has given are for our learning that we may avoid the pitfalls of idolatry, immorality and rebellion against God as a result of unbelief, inordinate lusts and discontentment. The lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life are of this transient world.
The Israelites in the wilderness were constantly murmuring, dissatisfied with their present state, grumbling and complaining. Their murmurings were against God. For He brought them out of Egypt by reason of their bondage and showed them the way to the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The murmuring of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram against Moses and Aaron is highlighted here – Numbers 16:1-3 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
The Israelites in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land murmured against the LORD kindling His anger. This is the sobering account of how God’s people did not realise how God is their sufficiency. Would God do them harm? Certainly not!
Balaam could not curse Israel. How to defeat the Israelites? The evil scheme to sent in Moabite women to entice the Israelite men to commit whoredom and worship the Baal-peor, god of the Moabites. The women had to be removed from the Israelite camp and the men who were involved in the worship of Baal-peor were severely dealt with by the sword.
Moses was in the Mount communing with God when the Israelites made a golden calf for worship. It was an abomination to God. This scene described by the Apostle Paul is recorded in Exodus 32:1-6 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Barnes observed well what it means to lust after evil things, “Desire those things which are forbidden, and which would be injurious. They lusted after flesh, and God granted them their desires; and the consequence was a plague, and the destruction of multitudes. So Paul infers that the Corinthian Christians should not lust after, or desire the meat offered in sacrifice to idols, lest it should lead them also to sin and ruin. “
God was not pleased with the Israelites who murmured against Him despite the good care that they received from Him. There is that tendency to take granted the goodness of God in our lives. Why did God allow Israel to go through the wilderness experience? What was the lesson?
The children of Israel experienced the sufficiency of God in their wilderness experience. God supernaturally protected them from their Egyptian oppressors. The sustenance the children of Israel experienced was traced to Jesus Christ.
There were many in Israel who experienced the mercies of God in the wilderness and yet will not acknowledge God’s goodness but chose to still murmur and complain. This is the heart of sinful men whose life is lived after the flesh and not in the spirit.
The Apostle Paul recounted the event of the Exodus when God delivered Israel out of bondage in Egypt through many miracles of extraordinary measure. And yet when Israel was brought to the brink of the Promised Land, they had not the faith to enter. Many were overthrown in the wilderness because of their unbelief.