From slave to captive

 Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don't know anything about it, and without consulting experts on what it "really" means.. Let's see where this takes us! 

I'm reading Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Numbers 11

One incongruity that I haven't taken into consideration is: If the people had livestock, why did they need manna to eat?

One might assume that the livestock population wasn't sustainable for a nation of 600,000 men plus women and children. Perhaps they could only have meat when they made offerings with the priests, and by implication the priests had plenty of meat.

The impression I'm getting is that the Israelites felt like captives, held hostage by this being in a self-propelling cloud (that turns to fire at night). Held hostage by the LORD.

And they had a right to feel like they were captives. What happened when the LORD heard their complaints? The LORD starts a fire on the edge of the camp. After endowing 70 men to prophesy (propagandize?) among the people, the LORD gave the people more quail than they could eat.

On the one hand, I speculate there was a special dispensation to eat the dead quails, because the statutes already handed down prohibited the eating of already-dead dead animals (as opposed to slaughtered animals). On the other hand, the LORD sent a great plague on them while they were eating. Maybe the dead quails were "unclean" after all.

The Israelites went from an unjust but seemingly well-ordered enslavement in Egypt to a helpless dependence on a mysterious, frightening, and wrathful being calling itself "the LORD your God" residing in a "cloud" right above them. 

It's like moving from a stable situation to a more dangerous and unpredictable situation. I bet everyone has experienced that, in some way, at least once in their life. When the "gratitude" you try to feel for the manna that sustains you begins to ring hollow. The manna isn't what you signed up for.

But if we see this as symbolism, and the LORD represents your highest self that is within you, then you know this highest self is the only thing that really sustains you. In times of uncertainty or transition, it finds ways to bring the "manna" you need for the moment. When you reject this "Lord," your highest self, and go looking for solutions in the external world, you'll encounter fires and plagues.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: TyshkunVictor)