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The Murmuring of the People At Kadesh
v. 1. Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the Desert of Zin, on the northern border of the Wilderness of Paran, in the first month of the fortieth year of the wilderness journey, Cf v. 29 with Num_33:38; and the people abode in Kadesh, in or near the place where they had camped some thirty-eight years before, Num_13:26. The older generation had in the mean time died, being overthrown in the wilderness for their unbelief, 1Co_10:5. And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Moses and Aaron, and the most prominent among all the women of the host, died there, and was buried there.
v. 2. And there was no water for the congregation; and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, in a dissatisfied mob, just as their fathers had done before them.
v. 3. And the people chode with Moses and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren, all those that had gradually been taken away during the stay in the wilderness, died before the Lord!
v. 4. And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our cattle should die there? It is the same unreasonable grumbling, the same exaggeration of unbelief which had characterized the actions of the people more than a generation before.
v. 5. And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, which the memory of their childhood now painted before their eyes in glowing colors, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, that is, where grain can grow, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. They missed all the delights of field and orchard and vineyard, and the entire situation filled them with disgust.
v. 6. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly, where they had heard the bitter complaint, unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation; and they fell upon their faces, in helpless surrender and in pleading supplications And the glory of the Lord appeared unto them, in majestic contrast to their abject perplexity. Christians should also keep in mind at all times that it is nothing but God's goodness and mercy which still takes care of them, in spite of all their dissatisfaction and their many faults.