Numbers 10-11: We Gleefully Run to the Slavery of Sin

O how fickle we are! The Israelites have hardly begun their march toward the Promised Land when they begin to complain. They are tired of Manna, they long for the decadent food they had in Egypt.... when they were slaves! Initially this amazed me. Why would the Israelites, who had been overjoyed at their release from bondage, want to go back to the shackles simply for the earthly delight of eating flesh?! But my amazement subsided when I realized that we all do this whenever we desire to sin. Through baptism (just as the Israelites were "baptized" through the waters of the Red Sea) we have been released from the slavery of sin, but as we walk with the Lord through the journey of life, how often do we tire of living piously? How often do we get urges to return to our former, sinful ways? We forget completely the utter miracle involved in our escape from sin, how much the Lord did for us in releasing us from the bondage of iniquity, and we want to go back to our old ways for such trite reasons as slothfulness or gluttony or lust! So the Israelites, being gluttonous for flesh instead of the plain Manna, actually wanted to return to the land of their enslavement! God answers their complaints with more meat than they could handle. He gives them millions of quails, which subsequently bring a plague among them. We must be careful what we ask for. The lesson of Numbers 11 is a memorable and profound one.