Daily Devotion | Numbers 11:16–35 | 2026 April 29

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 11:16–35 | 2026 April 29

Scripture: Numbers 11:16–35 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 April 29

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

All right, dear brothers and sisters, peace to you. We thank God for His grace that we come to a new day to study the daily spiritual food. The passage we study today is Numbers chapter 11, verses 16 to 35. Let us pray. God, we thank and praise Your grace. Lord, thank You for leading us so that we can more deeply know You and experience You. This also lets us place these things before us as our reference, Lord, so that we can truly come to know You. We also thank You for leading us to experience the growth of life here.

In Christ’s name, Amen. All right, we continue to look at this passage in Numbers. In this section, after Moses complained, God said a few things to Moses. Moses’ complaints were that he said, I alone bear this burden, it is too tiring, what should I do? God said, then call seventy people from among the people to serve as leaders together with you. Before Me, they will stand in ranks, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and distribute it to them, so that they do not have to bear it alone. This goes to verse 17. This is God’s first response to Moses’ complaint. You call seventy people to bear it together with you. This is God’s response to his first complaint. The second complaint is about eating meat. You want to eat meat, right? All right, you should consecrate yourselves—remember this verse, verse 18—you should consecrate yourselves. We will explain it later. You should consecrate yourselves. Prepare for tomorrow to eat meat, because you said, we have no meat to eat, our life was very good before. Fine, then I will give you meat to eat, one day, two days, let you eat for a whole month, even until the meat comes out of your nostrils, and you loathe it, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you. So God’s response is that I will give them meat to eat, even to the point that they loathe eating meat, so that God lets them know that He has the ability.

What was Moses’ response? At this time Moses showed his unbelief. He said, there are six hundred thousand people, right? Where can there be enough meat for them to eat for a whole month? Even if the flocks and herds, and the fish of the sea all came, it would not be enough. This is Moses’ answer. God’s response is very important. This sentence later appears in Isaiah: has the LORD’s arm been shortened? Now you will see whether My word will come true for you or not. Here is the dialogue between God and Moses. First, God responded to Moses’ two complaints. One is that I alone am too tired. The second is about the issue of meat. After God promised to give the people meat to eat, Moses still doubted, saying, God, how is it possible? Eating meat for a whole month? Eating one meal is already good, right? But to eat for a whole month, that is impossible. God’s response is: has the LORD’s arm been shortened?

We seem to have mentioned before, in the Old Testament, regarding the LORD’s arm. In the ancient Near East, when those kings spoke of their power, they would also speak of their arm. For example, there are some documents that mention the arm of Pharaoh, or the arm of some king. The arm of the LORD means the power and strength of the LORD. This we can understand. The LORD’s arm has not been shortened, meaning God’s power has never been lacking. The arm once defeated Pharaoh, right? Pharaoh wanted to keep the Israelites, but he was struck down by the LORD’s arm. Now the LORD’s arm is revealed again, to let Moses see how great the LORD’s arm is. I think here there is a reminder for us: how do we think about the LORD’s arm? Has the LORD’s arm really been shortened?

When we are in life, when we are in suffering, the question we often have is: where is the LORD’s arm? Does the LORD have an arm? Where is the LORD’s arm? Why can I not see it? Why do I see everywhere the power of this world? Can the LORD’s arm help me? Here, I think the reminder of today’s passage is that the LORD’s arm has never been shortened. God’s power has never decreased. Then why can we not see God’s power? There are two reasons. One reason is that sometimes it is not yet the time for God to reveal His arm. Right? At this time, God is refining us, letting us rely on Him in suffering. This is one reason.

So you cannot see the LORD’s arm. The second reason, of course, which is also very common, is that we simply have no faith. We even disobey His law, so we cannot see His arm. To whom is the LORD’s arm revealed? It is revealed to those who believe in Him. So I think this is something we need to be reminded of. If we are in the first situation, we feel that, well, the time has not yet come, God has not yet come to reveal His arm, then we should endure, wait, give thanks, and praise. Even when our lives are taken away, we should not think that the LORD’s arm has been shortened. The LORD’s arm has never been shortened, it is just that the time for it to be revealed has not yet come. Right? When Jesus went to the cross, when Peter and Paul were martyred, was the LORD’s arm shortened? No. Then why did God not save them? Because at that time it was the best arrangement of God. But what we must avoid is the second situation, which is that we have no faith.

We completely follow this world, and in this way we also cannot see the LORD’s arm. We use all our own methods and abilities to think about these things, and the final result is that we fall into our own arm. All right, you say, how much can our own arm do? So we ask God to forgive and pardon our sins. We must not fall into the second situation. All right, next is the distribution of the Holy Spirit to the seventy elders. The distribution of the Holy Spirit to the elders—we can see that Moses is very willing in this matter. From this perspective, Moses really is willing to humble himself. Although you see that earlier he complained to God, and later he also had some unbelief, God still forgave Moses, because this matter is indeed a very great and difficult matter, so God did not hold it against Moses.

Of course, we know that God not holding it against Moses is not because it seems that this is not sin, but because God loved Moses in Jesus Christ. So God did not hold it against Moses, because the infinitely holy God can forgive Moses completely because of Jesus Christ. We know this, so we will not say more about it. The Holy Spirit was distributed to these seventy elders, letting them prophesy. This is something Moses was pleased with. This also becomes a prophecy and a foreshadowing that later all the Israelites will be filled with the Holy Spirit and be led by the Holy Spirit. Right? In Joel it is said that God’s Spirit will be poured out, and all flesh—the old men will dream dreams, the young men will… the old men…

Isaiah chapter 2, verse 28 prophesies: afterward I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. In those days, I will pour out My Spirit on My servants and female servants, Isaiah chapter 2, verses 28 to 29. All right, so here is about the matter that all Israelites will be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the first prophecy, because God’s Spirit first filled Moses, and then because of Moses’ request, God’s Spirit filled the seventy elders. Later, God’s Spirit also fills every one of God’s people. This is God’s intention, so that the burden of managing the people can be given to the seventy elders, rather than Moses alone.

So these seventy elders were distributed among the twelve tribes, roughly six in each tribe, about this kind of arrangement. Then later, in the later history, these seventy people became the number of Israel’s council. The council of Israel, in the time of Jesus, was also seventy people. They came from the Scripture. The council of Israel was the highest authority of Israel, composed of seventy elders. This also became their custom. This is about the seventy elders. Moses was willing for more people to come and manage Israel, and Moses was also willing in this matter.

Next there is an episode. There were two people who did not come, one called Eldad and one called Medad. These two were also among the seventy elders, but they did not come into the group of the seventy. What is the reason? It is not very clear. The text does not say. One possible reason is that these two people did not believe at all or were not willing to deal with this matter. Right? They were listed among the seventy elders, but they were not willing to go. Why were they not willing to go? Perhaps they just did not believe and were not willing to participate in this matter. But the Spirit of God still rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. At that time, when the Holy Spirit came upon people, there might have been some very special phenomena, for example prophecy.

Whether they spoke in tongues, we are not very clear. In any case, there was a special phenomenon that let people recognize that the Holy Spirit was filling them. These two people did not go. The reason has been mentioned, perhaps because they did not believe or something like that. Someone came to report and said Eldad and Medad are in the camp. They should be at the entrance of the tent of meeting, right? Standing around the tent, but now they are in the camp. What should be done? At this time Joshua spoke.

Here Joshua appears for the first time as Moses’ assistant, Joshua the son of Nun, whom Moses chose, and also God chose. He said, Moses, you should stop them. Moses said, are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit on them. This is the fulfillment of the later prophecy in Joel chapter 2. So Moses’ heart was that he hoped more people would prophesy.

Joshua was somewhat weak and thought that this matter should be at a specific time, right? At a specific place to prophesy. They should come together to receive it. They were unwilling to do so and seemed to despise God. Can we still let them prophesy like this? Right? This is not acceptable. They should be stopped immediately. So here we still see this kind of conflict of the gospel.

The thinking represented by Joshua is that God is strict, and only at a specific time and a specific place can one be filled. But the thinking represented by Moses is that people need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and need to be led by God’s Spirit in order to come before God. I think here we also see two kinds of theological thinking, and we see this kind of collision. It is very clear that the view represented by Moses, in this passage, represents the New Testament thinking, and in fact it becomes a prophecy. The first is that God’s Spirit will fill every one of the people, which was later fulfilled.

The second is that in fact the leading of God’s Spirit comes first, and then people can speak God’s word. So the main work here is God’s work, not human response. It is not that because you stand at the entrance of the tent, you can speak God’s word. It is not like that. On the contrary, it is that the Spirit of God fills us, and then we can speak God’s word. So this is the difference. It may seem that this passage is not directly talking about such a matter of God’s sovereign work of grace, but if you carefully consider this passage, it is actually expressing this meaning.

What does it mean? It means that in fact God’s leading comes first, and human response comes after. It is not that, according to Joshua’s way of thinking, if you come here, then you can speak God’s word. But what does God’s Spirit do? Even those who did not come, I still fill them. Moses stopped Joshua. What does this mean? So the key is not whether you come or not to the front of the tent. The key is whether you are listed among the seventy.

The key is whether the Spirit of God has been poured out on you. If the Spirit of God has been poured out on you, wherever you are, you can speak prophecy. If the Spirit of God has not been poured out on you, even if you come before the tent, you cannot speak God’s word. So I think here, in Old Testament theology, there can be a certain development. It must be that God’s Spirit first fills us. So here, I think for us, this is a very clear doctrine: it is that God first chooses us, and then we have faith to respond to Him.

Only when God’s Spirit comes upon us can we say that Jesus Christ is Lord. Otherwise, it is impossible for us to think this way. So from this perspective, God’s election of us is unconditional. We should thank and praise God, not because we responded to God’s grace, but because God first came to find us, so that we can respond to His grace. Truly we thank and praise the Lord. This is the mercy God has given us.

All right, next is about the event of eating quail. A day’s journey, quail about one meter above the ground. They caught them day and night, at least ten homers. A homer, if you divide it, is about 220 liters. Each person gathered about 2200 liters. This is the translation of the New Chinese Version. What 2000 liters is, I am not very clear. For one month, I do not know whether this was made into preserved meat, I am also not very clear. In any case, they could keep eating quail there.

There is a question here. Verse 33 says that while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and the LORD struck them with a very great plague. So how should this passage be understood? Of course, if we read straight through chapter 11, it is very clear: they complained, then God gave them meat to eat, and then struck them. That is the general event. But I think there are some questions here. Just as I mentioned earlier in verse 18, God said to the people, you should consecrate yourselves. So I raise a thought, you can consider whether it is reasonable.

In fact, their complaining was certainly not in accordance with God’s will, right? Then God gave them meat to eat. Although this was given in God’s anger, eating meat itself is not a problem. If eating meat were a problem, then everyone would have been struck down, right? Then why were only the greedy people struck? Because God said you should consecrate yourselves to eat meat. So here, although God was not pleased, He still wanted them to eat meat in holiness.

So those who were struck, clearly not everyone was struck, this does not need to be said. Then the reason these people were struck may not be that they ate meat, but what? After they ate meat, they again stirred up greed. That is, they became obsessed with this meat, even saying this meat is still not enough, one month is not enough, we still want more, and so on. So I think my reasoning may better fit the logic of the Scripture. In verse 18 it says you should consecrate yourselves and prepare to eat meat tomorrow. So consecration and eating meat is within a framework.

Although God was angry, generally it was still within the requirement of the law. Even though God was not pleased, He gave you meat to eat, and you ate it. That is the first piece of evidence. The second piece of evidence is that if He were to strike them, then everyone would have been struck, because everyone was eating meat. So here, was it those who complained and demanded meat who were struck? This is also not very clear, it is also possible. But I think one conclusion is clear: first, not everyone was struck.

Then regarding those who were struck, I think another possibility is that the key of their sin was not eating meat, but continuing in greed. While eating meat, they should have repented, right? They should have seen so much meat come down and repented. Moses also repented, saying, God, I ask You to forgive my sin, I was so unbelieving. Then the people should say, oh, I have truly sinned against You. You gave so much meat, and while eating, they should give thanks, saying, God, thank You, I should not have complained, thank You for giving me meat to eat. I think such people can be understood, right? Eating with a thankful heart, even with fear and trembling, this kind of person is acceptable.

But who are the bad ones? The bad ones are those who say, you see, as soon as I complain, I get meat to eat. Then I eat a lot, and next time I will still complain. This kind of person will certainly be struck. So I think in verses 31 to 35, the focus is not on eating meat, but on greed. Of course, complaining about meat is certainly wrong, right? God was angry. But even in verse 20, God did not say that eating meat itself is wrong. He said you will eat for a whole month, even until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it, because you rejected the LORD who is among you and cried before Him, saying, why did we come out of Egypt?

After that, God did not say that everyone who eats meat will be struck. There is no such statement. So although God was not pleased, He gave you meat to eat. After eating, you should give thanks, you should repent. You should not have complained to ask for meat. But the reaction of some people is that not only will I complain, but next time I will still complain, right? Very good, life is good. We will not go to the land of Canaan. Let us stay in the wilderness and eat meat. There is meat to eat, there is manna.

Ah, this is not bad, this life is okay. So I think this is what truly provoked God’s anger. So those who were struck were this group of people. Of course, this is also our speculation. In any case, may God have mercy on us. In summary, do not be greedy. On the road in the wilderness, whatever God gives, we eat. If life is a little better, then thank and praise God and give more offerings. If life is more difficult, we also receive it with thanksgiving in God, because we know that in heaven there are better things.

So do not be greedy, do not covet. In what God gives us, if we have clothing and food, we should be content. If God truly gives you much, that is also God’s mercy, right? Then remember to give more, to love the Lord more. This is the purpose for which God gives you more wealth. Do not be greedy. Ah, it is still not enough, I still want this and that. This is what God hates most. If you have gained much, and your heart is still not satisfied, then such a person has already fallen into God’s anger.

So may God help us to take these passages as a reference. The things Paul exhorted in First Corinthians, and the events in Numbers, are all our examples. We must not repeat them. May God help us, under the leading of God’s Spirit, to live a better, upright life. May God’s Spirit be with us. All right, we will stop our sharing here for today. Thank you, everyone.