The People Grumble Against Moses

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This is Day 15 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

After they had crossed the Red Sea, God led the Israelites through the wilderness. This was largely desert and they had little water to drink. They came to the land of Marah and finally found some water, but it was bitter and undrinkable. The people began to complain about Moses, wishing they had stayed in Egypt. The Lord told Moses to throw a tree into the water and when he did the water became sweet.

Then the Lord told Moses that if the Israelites would trust in Him and obey His commandments, He would not inflict plagues on them. He would keep them healthy and safe. And the Lord led them to a place with twelve springs and palm trees for them to make their camp.

When they left that place the people began to complain again, this time that they had no food to eat. They wished they were back in Egypt where they had bread and meat. They asked Moses, "Did you lead us from Egypt to bring us out into the desert to starve to death?"

So the Lord made a bread like flakey honey wafers appear in the morning like the due. It was called manna, and every morning it appeared on the ground. The people could eat as much as they wanted put could not keep any for the next day or it would spoil. This taught them to depend on the Lord daily for their bread. And in the evenings quail came and covered the camp so that they would have meat to eat. So in the evenings they ate meat and in the mornings they ate bread.

The Israelites eventually came to the borders of Canaan. You will remember that Canaan was the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendents the Israelites. As they camped outside of Canaan, they again had no water. The people complained to Moses, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt to thirst to death in the desert?" So God told Moses to go to a certain place and strike a rock with his rod. Moses did so and water flowed forth from the rock.

Local tribes from the land of Amalek called the Amalekites attacked the Israelites. Moses commanded a man named Joshua to lead the men to battle against the Amalekites. And Moses stood and watched the battle holding up his arms, his rod in his hand. And when his arms were raised the Israelites would win, but when Moses' arms dropped the tables would turn and the Amalekites would win. Moses grew weary holding up his arms, so Aaron and another man named Hur assisted Moses, holding his arms up for him, and Joshua and the Israelites defeated Amalek.

Moses' father-in-law, Jethro came with Moses' wife and sons and met the Israelites. Moses told Jethro all that had happened in Egypt, causing Jethro to rejoice. The next day Jethro noticed that the people kept coming to Moses with their problems, and he was spending all of his time as a judge over every issue imaginable between two people. So Jethro suggested Moses appoint people under him and teach them God's laws so the could act as judges for the people. Moses listened to Jethro and appointed men in each tribe for the people to go to with their problems.

The Israelites continued travelling through the wilderness until they came to Mount Sinai.

Next: God's Covenant.

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!