Monday – Numbers 11 - Problems

When Moses was up on Mt. Sinai getting the Decalogue, the people rebelled against God. Before that, there were problems when they ran low on water ... before that, when they got to the Red Sea... before that, when Pharaoh took away their straw. It seems like when the people finished one thing and were waiting on the next... they tended to get distracted, especially if there were inconveniences in conjunction with the lull.

When the people finished the whole process of building, initially using and moving the tabernacle ... they lost focus. They started complaining. Understandably, God wasn't pleased and some of the people were taken. Sadly, their death was not enough to motivate everyone else to straighten up. Dissatisfied with the manna, they complained to Moses. They literally cried because they didn't like their (FREE) food. And, when Moses heard them whining, he complained to God about the burden of having to lead such an exasperating group of people. He was so annoyed that he asked God to kill him (Numbers 11:15).

As a result of this whole sad mess, the first Sanhedrin was formed. God allowed Moses to delegate much of his burden of responsibilities to a group of 70 Jewish elders.  And, this move was none too soon either.  It seems that the toll of leadership was beginning to wear on Moses. Not only was he all too happy to pass off some of His responsibility to the 70 elders, he would have been happy to see anybody take part of his burden (Numbers 11:29).