Desert Mutiny

bradleycole77@gmail.com

“If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.” (Matthew 6:14-15 GNB)

“While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the LORD became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them.” (Numbers 11:33)“The ground under Dathan and Abiram split open and swallowed them and their family…So they went down alive to the world of the dead…” (Numbers 16:31,32)

“Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.” (Numbers 21:6)

Mocking Ignore Idealize Idolize

“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. [Jesus] was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders.”

“Now tell the people, 'Purify yourselves for tomorrow; you will have meat to eat. The LORD has heard you whining and saying that you wished you had some meat and that you were better off in Egypt. Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. You will have to eat it not just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or even twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your ears, until you are sick of it. This will happen because you have rejected the LORD who is here among you and have complained to him that you should never have left Egypt.” (Numbers 11:18-20 GNB)

“Suddenly the LORD sent a wind that brought quails from the sea, flying three feet above the ground. They settled on the camp and all around it for miles and miles in every direction. So all that day, all night, and all the next day, the people worked catching quails; no one gathered less than fifty bushels. They spread them out to dry all around the camp. While there was still plenty of meat for them to eat, the LORD became angry with the people and caused an epidemic to break out among them.” (Numbers 11:31-33 GNB)

“By the living LORD,’ David continued, ‘I know that the LORD himself will kill Saul, either when his time comes to die a natural death or when he dies in battle.’” (1 Samuel 26:10)

“So the LORD killed him…” (1 Chronicles 10:14)

“The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” (Job 1:16 – NIV)

“I will fight against you with all my might, my anger, my wrath, and my fury. I will kill everyone living in this city…

It will be given over to the king of Babylonia, and he will burn it to the ground. I, the LORD, have spoken.” (Jeremiah 21:5,6,10 – GN)

“The Israelites left Mount Hor…But on the way the people lost their patience and spoke against God and Moses. They complained, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We can't stand any more of this miserable food!’ Then the LORD sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many Israelites were bitten and died.” (Numbers 21:4-6 GNB)

“Every day of their travels they had been kept by a miracle of divine mercy. In all the way of God’s leading they had found water to refresh the thirsty, bread from heaven to satisfy their hunger, and peace and safety under the shadowy cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Angels had ministered to them as they climbed the rocky heights or threaded the rugged paths of the wilderness. Notwithstanding the hardships they had endured, there was not a feeble one in all their ranks. Their feet had not swollen in their long journeys, neither had their clothes grown old. God had subdued before them the fierce beasts of prey and the venomous reptiles of the forest and the desert. If with all these tokens of His love the people still continued to complain, the Lord would withdraw His protection until they should be led to appreciate His merciful care, and return to Him with repentance and humiliation.”

“Because they had been shielded by divine power they had not realized the countless dangers by which they were continually surrounded. In their ingratitude and unbelief they had anticipated death, and now the Lord permitted death to come upon them. The poisonous serpents that infested the wilderness were called fiery serpents, on account of the terrible effects produced by their sting, it causing violent inflammation and speedy death. As the protecting hand of God was removed from Israel, great numbers of the people were attacked by these venomous creatures.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 428, 429)

“The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Now pray to the LORD to take these snakes away." So Moses prayed for the people. Then the LORD told Moses to make a metal snake and put it on a pole, so that anyone who was bitten could look at it and be healed. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.” (Numbers 21:7-9 GNB)

Isaiah 14 “How you are fallen from heaven, O

shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world.” (Isaiah 14:12 NLT)

Ezekiel 28 “Son of man, sing this funeral song for

the king of Tyre. ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God… (Ezekiel 28:12-13 NLT)

“His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride. Nothing can get through that proud skin-- impervious to weapons and weather. (Job 41:15,16) When it raises itself up the gods are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.” (Job 41:25) “Nothing on earth is his equal-- a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud.” (Job 41:33,34)

“On that day the LORD will use his fierce and powerful sword to punish Leviathan, that slippery snake, Leviathan, that twisting snake. He will kill that monster which lives in the sea.” (Isaiah 27:1)

“The nations surrounding Israel were polytheistic, worshiping many gods. In a polytheistic culture, the good things are attributed to the good gods, bad things to the evil ones. And those evil deities could be so volatile that humans were constantly brewing up incantations and magic rituals to placate them…The great danger for Israel lay in the temptation to worship Satan as another god. So rather than just forbidding magic and incantation, God went a step further and claimed full responsibility for both good and evil.” – Alden Thompson

“As a result, throughout most of its pages, the Old Testament portrays God as the active agent in all things. God is the one who causes everything. Satan simply drops from sight until the very end of the Old Testament.” – Alden Thompson

“I create both light and darkness; I bring both blessing and disaster. I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7 GNB)

“Indeed, only three passages in the entire Old Testament are explicit in their reference to the “Satan” who was God’s great adversary, and all three passages were either written or canonized toward the end of the Old Testament period.” – Alden Thompson

“The LORD was angry at Israel again, and he made David think it would be a good idea to count the people in Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1)

“Satan wanted to bring trouble on the people of Israel, so he made David decide to take a census.” (1 Chronicles 21:1)

“As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up…” (John 3:14 GNB)

“He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, ‘He is a nobody!’ He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins...” (Isaiah 53:1-5)

“Korah…from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben—Dathan and Abiram…and On…and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community. They assembled before Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! All the members of the community belong to the Lord, and the Lord is with all of us. Why, then, Moses, do you set yourself above the Lord’s community?’

When Moses heard this, he threw himself on the ground and prayed. Then he said to Korah and his followers, ‘Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar. Tomorrow morning you and your followers take firepans, put live coals and incense on them, and take them to the altar. Then we will see which of us the Lord has chosen. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!’” (Numbers 16:1-7 – GN)

“Moses continued to speak to Korah. ‘Listen, you Levites! Do you consider it a small matter that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community, so that you can approach him, perform your service in the LORD's Tent, and minister to the community and serve them? He has let you and all the other Levites have this honor---and now you are trying to get the priesthood too! When you complain against Aaron, it is really against the LORD that you and your followers are rebelling.’

Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they said, ‘We will not come! Isn’t it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us? You certainly have not brought us into a fertile land or given us fields and vineyards as our possession, and now you are trying to deceive us. We will not come!’ Moses became angry and said to the LORD, ‘Do not accept any offerings these men bring. I have not wronged any of them; I have not even taken one of their donkeys.’ Moses said to Korah, ‘Tomorrow you and your 250 followers must come to the Tent of the LORD's presence; Aaron will also be there. Each of you will take his fire pan, put incense on it, and then present it at the altar.’

“So they each took their fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tent with Moses and Aaron. Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire community against Moses and Aaron, and they all gathered at the Tabernacle entrance, and they stood facing Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent. Suddenly the dazzling light of the LORD's presence appeared to the whole community, and the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately.’ But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, ‘O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?’” (Numbers 16:8-22)

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram. He said to the people, ‘Get away from the tents of these wicked men and don’t touch anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.’ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children.

Moses said to the people, ‘This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it is not by my own choice that I have done them. If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the LORD did not send me. But if the LORD does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the LORD.’

“As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions. So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished. All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, ‘Run! The earth might swallow us too!’ Then the LORD sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense. (Numbers 16:23-35 - GN)*

“The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, ‘You have killed some of the LORD’s people.’” (Numbers 16:41 – GN)

“The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules. How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow?” (Hosea 4:16 – GN)