Israel's Past Generations

This morning, we were scheduled to be in Hebrews chapter 3 which is a very strong message, but the portion we were going to look at is a quotation from Psalm 95. So, I was thinking it might be good to start by looking there.

Psalm 95, however, references events from Israel’s history that every faithful Jew would have been familiar with. So, I decided to focus our time on that. We won’t be spending our time in Hebrews, then. We’ll be learning, or reminding ourselves, about a portion of Israel’s history.

I want to tell you about the generation of Israelites that came out of Egypt. For that, I’d like you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 14. We’re going to cover a lot today, so I need to move fast, so just be prepared for that.

Exodus is the second book in the Bible, and chapter 14 includes the story of them crossing the Red Sea.

You might remember that through Moses, God sent various plagues on Egypt. Those plagues were amazing demonstrations of God’s power over the gods of Egypt, but in all that happened, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not release the Israelites. In fact, he made life harder for them. So, the Israelites got mad at Moses and they complained. Their anger with Moses, however, was really an expression of a lack of faith in God.

Their faith came to fruition, though, during the tenth and final plague, when God intended to kill the firstborn of every household. The Israelites could be spared from death by sacrificing a lamb and placing the blood on the doors of their homes. God’s judgment passed over their homes because of their obedient faith. In every other house, however, there was death, and, as a result, Pharaoh relented and told them to leave.

The Bible tells us that when Israel left Egypt, there were about 600,000 men, plus the women and the children. That leads us today to estimate that the entire group probably numbered around 2 million. After 430 years of being in Egypt, the people got to head back to the land God had promised Abraham.

God chose to lead them out, not through occupied lands, which would have been scary for them because of the enemies, but through the uninhabited wilderness. He led them in the day by a pillar of cloud and at night by a pillar of fire. These pillars reminded them God was with them, and they guided them through the darkness of the night.

The people’s faith and hope, however, turned back to dread and despair when they realized that Pharaoh had changed his mind, his army was now chasing after them, and the people were pinned against the edge of the Red Sea. They were trapped, and they were panicking.

Let’s pick up the story in Exodus 14:10. Exodus 14:10—When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. [11] They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? [12] Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

[13] And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. [14] The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

God was not going to abandon His people. He showed His power through the plagues, and now He was going to do it again. The pillar of fire and cloud moved behind the people creating a barrier between them and the Egyptian army. God told Moses to stretch out his staff over the waters, and when he did it, the sea was parted. All that night, the people crossed over on dry land with a wall of water on either side.

Once the people crossed and the sun was rising, God allowed the Egyptian army to follow, but He bogged them down between the walls of water. Then Moses stretched out his hand again and the waters came back, drowning the entire Egyptian army.

Look with me, now, at verse 30 of Exodus 14. It says—Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. [31] Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Imagine what it’s like to have 2 million people go from terror to relief, from fearing Pharaoh to fearing God., from doubt and despair to confidence and Who wouldn’t have wanted a front-row seat to that? God fought for His people against the global superpower of that time. The people broke out into song, chapter 15 says. They were praising God for His goodness which they had seen.

But not long after leaving the other side of the Red Sea, it seems the people had forgotten. Fear turned to faith, and it turned to forgetfulness. Look with me at Exodus 15, verse 22. Exodus 15:22

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. [23] When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. [24] And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

God had just miraculously parted the sea, and now the people are scared because they don’t have any potable water. How are they going to survive this? Well, once again God provides for them. But this time, by the waters of Marah, God gives them a reminder.

Verse 25—And he [Moses] cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, [26] saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” [27] Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

God mercifully and miraculously provides for them. And then He moves them to a place with abundant water. But He gives them a warning and an ultimatum. They need to diligently listen to God. They need to trust Him.

In Exodus 16, about 6 weeks later, the Israelites start grumbling again. Look at chapter 16, verse 3. Exodus 16:3—And the people of Israel said to them [Moses and Aaron], “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Do you see the pattern Israel is stuck in? They’re scared and upset about their circumstances, and they don’t believe God can or will do anything about it. They don’t trust. And then when God mercifully and miraculously steps in, they feel relieved. But then, when another difficult situation comes up, they’re scared and upset again. They don’t really trust in God. They don’t have true faith.

Throughout the book of Exodus, we read that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by the plagues. But once Israel is freed from Egypt, they are the ones with the hard hearts! They don’t learn their lesson. They’ve got the same attitude now as they did when there was no water in sight, and as when they were pinned against the Red Sea. They felt glad initially to be out of Egypt, but now they’re saying, “What’s the point in following Yahweh? We were better off in Egypt!” Their lack of faith and their grumbling spirit even leads them to have inaccurate memories about the past.

And how does God respond? Once again, He mercifully and miraculously provides for them. Look at verse 4—Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

That night, God brings to them a flock of quail, or Cornish hens, large enough to make sure they all get meat. And the next day, with the morning dew, God also provides manna, which they can use to make bread. Again, this is more evidence of God’s power and mercy and provision and nearness, but it’s still not enough for Israel. The people don’t get it! Just listen to what God says! Trust in Him.

When God tells the people only to collect enough manna for one day, some people collect extra. When God says not to collect manna on the sabbath, some people come out anyway. It’s like they’re playing a board game for the very first time and they can’t remember the rules!

Look at chapter 16, verse 28. Exodus 16:28—And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?”

It’s not an issue of intelligence. It’s not that the people are stupid. It’s that they will not listen to God despite all the evidence of His power and His faithfulness.

This brings us, now, to Exodus chapter 17. Israel is moving in the wilderness, and one more time, they come to a place that has no water. What should they have done? They should have said, “Moses, you can clearly see that there’s no water here, but we’re trusting in God. Tell us what to do, and we’ll do it. We know God will provide.” That’s not what happens.

Look at Exodus 17, verse 2—Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” [3] But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” [4] So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” [5] And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6] Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Verse 7 ends the story by saying—And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

“Massah” means test, or trial. God was testing Israel to see whether they trusted in Him. But Israel failed, and in response, they tested God. They refused to be satisfied with what had already happened; they demanded more and more. It’s like a little girl whining to her grandpa, asking him to prove he loves her by buying her a pony.

The name “Meribah” means quarrel, dispute, strife, contention. It was a reminder that the people fought against God. Rather than submit to Him, they wanted to be in charge. They wanted to be in control, so they would not submit.

When every generation of Jews looked back on these stories and on the cycle of Israel’s rebellion, they didn’t blame God. They knew that this was all Israel’s fault. God was faithful, but Israel was unfaithful. Israel was stubborn.

Incidentally, this is what one of my seminary professors said was a good summary of the message of the Old Testament. God is faithful, but Israel is unfaithful.

This is a vital lesson to keep in mind as you read the Old Testament. The main character is not Abraham or Moses or David or Israel. The main character is God. He chose to work through one nation in that period of time, but those people would not stay faithful to Him.

What happened to this generation of Israelites? Well, the rest of Exodus tells us that they received God’s law and built the Tabernacle. The book of Leviticus covers one month of receiving more of God’s law. But it’s in the book of Numbers that we find out what ultimately happened with this generation.

The people spent about a year at Sinai seeing God’s faithfulness toward them. God protected them. God gave them food. But Numbers 11 tells us, the people started to complain again. Go with me to Numbers chapter 11, verse 4. Numbers 11:4—Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. [6] But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

If you get tired of hearing about Israel complain, just imagine how God felt having to put up with it over and over again. They are ungrateful, rebellious children! Moses was so disheartened, he wanted to die!

In response to Israel’s rebellion, God feeds them, but this time judgment comes. Look at what God says concerning meat in verse 19. Numbers 11:19—You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, [20] but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”

The people are tired of manna, but now God is tired of their grumbling. God sends them meat, but He also sends a plague, and many people die. Disobedience comes with judgment.

We get another example of that in Numbers 12 when Moses’ brother and sister oppose his leadership. And Miriam gets punished with leprosy for a week.

Despite all that we’ve covered, the main expression of this generation’s rebellion and God’s judgment comes in Numbers 13 and 14. The people make it to the edge of the Promised Land. They could see it for themselves. They send spies into the Land who confirm that the land is good, but they also tell the people that the land is filled with enemies who appear much stronger than the Israelites.

Again, what’s the proper response here? It’s the same as when the Egyptian army was chasing them. It’s the same as when they didn’t have any water or food. “God, tell us what to do, and we’ll do it!” But that’s not how the people respond.

Jump over with me to Numbers 14, verse 1. This should sound very familiar to you by now. Numbers 14:1—Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. [2] And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! [3] Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” [4] And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Two of the spies trusted in God. They said, “God can give us the land. Don’t rebel against Him. Fear the Lord, not the people who live there. Don’t be afraid of these people.” And if we had written this story, we might have had the people be encouraged and united in their commitment to enter the land. But that’s not what happened. Instead, the people get ready to kill those spies, and God has to intervene.

And look at what God says to Moses in verse 11—And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

In His mercy, God doesn’t kill them that very day, but their continued disobedience is going to be met with consequences from the Lord. Jump down to verse 21. Here’s the judgment. Numbers14:21—But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, [22] none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, [23] shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

Jump down to verse 29—Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, [30] not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. [31] But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

[32] But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. [33] And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. [34] According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ [35] I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

The promises of God which the people clung to as they left Egypt would no longer be theirs. The entire generation of adults who left Egypt, except for a few exceptions, was going to die in the wilderness without ever entering the Promised Land.

This is called the book of Numbers because at the beginning of the book the people are numbered. They take a census. And God says to them, everyone that got numbered is going to die. My promise to you as a nation will not come until the next generation, until 40 years later.

For the next 39 years, God leads them in circles in the wilderness, just waiting for a generation to die. As that first generation is almost gone, we get the story of Numbers 20. Miriam dies, and the people come once again to the wilderness of Zin and Kadesh. Look at Numbers 20, verse 2. Numbers 20, verse 2. Again, this should sound familiar.

Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. [3] And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! [4] Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? [5] And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”

Moses is fed up with the people, and in a moment of anger, He rebels against God too. Look at the closing verses in this story, verses 12-13—And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” [13] These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Even Moses and Aaron are part of that first generation who was judged, never to enter the Promised Land.

Israel refused to learn its lesson. In Numbers 21, God sends poisonous serpents as a judgment. In Numbers 25, God kills 24,000 people with a plague because of their idolatry. And that’s the end of that first generation. It’s one story after another of their disobedience to God which resulted in God’s judgment. There is such a vital lesson here for us.

God’s intent is not that we just roll our eyes at Israel, but that we would fear and be warned.

As the next generation was getting ready to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded them about what had happened. In Deuteronomy 6, he says—[16] You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. [17] You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses tells the next generation about their parents provoking the Lord at Massah and rebelling against His command to take possession of the Land. He says they rebelled. They did not believe.

Even as Moses is about to die, God reminds him what happened. In Deuteronomy 32 God tells Moses to climb a mountain from which he’ll be able to see the Promised Land, but it’s on that mountain that Moses will die because, God says—[51] because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. [52] For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.

This is not God rubbing it in. This is God, once again, reminding every generation to come that disobedience, rebellion, and a lack of faith come with severe consequences.

And so, when we read psalms like Psalm 78 and Psalm 106, which trace Israel’s history, we find references to Israel’s sin of testing God and grumbling and rebelling. God wants us to learn from this.

Lord willing, next week, we’ll see how this story of one generation plays a part in the message of Hebrews, but as we close our time today, I’d like us to see how this story affected the Apostle Paul. And for that, we turn to First Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10.

This was a church with all kinds of problems. There was pride, there was division, there was no love. And the people were using their Christian freedom as an excuse for sin. And though the people in this church weren’t Jews, Paul reminds them about the generation we just covered.

Here’s what he says. First Corinthians 10—For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, [2] and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, [3] and all ate the same spiritual food, [4] and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. [5] Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

These people experience so many of God’s blessings, but that didn’t mean that they were healthy spiritually. Despite the amazing things they saw and were part of, God’s judgement came upon them.

Verse 6—Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. [7] Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” [8] We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. [9] We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, [10] nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.[11] Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. [12] Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

That’s the lesson we need to take away from Exodus and Numbers. Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

God’s patience has limits. Rebellion has consequences. And you may think you’re good with God, when in fact, you will be judged by Him forever.

Testing the power and the patience and the mercy of God is the same heart as Satan who tested Jesus in the wilderness by saying: “If you’re really the Son of God, prove it.” That’s not the heart of faith. That’s the heart of rebellion.

If you find your heart to be like the Israelites longing to go back to Egypt, longing to go back to the old way of life, beware. Repent and run. Beg for forgiveness and come to Jesus who died and rose again, and will save His people forever.