The Geography of Desire

Scripture: Numbers 11: 4-35

Sermon: The Geography of Desire

Topics: desire, craving, ambiguity

Preached: July 7, 2013

Rev. Mike Abma

PREAMBLE

I was drawn to this passage because I knew the Youth Group on Serve spent most of their week in Newark rather hungry.

They were living with the poor

and eating at the soup kitchen with the others.

It left them physically hungry.

I know they craved junk food.

We will be reading a passage about craving.

It is a fairly long passage.

The more I read it, the more I realized it is actually 2 stories melded together.

There is the story of people’s hunger and the sending of quail.

And there is the story of Moses’ burden and the sharing of the spirit.

Peter and I have actually preached on this chapter 2 times in the last 15 years.

Peter focused on the sharing of the spirit.

I focused on the sending of the quail.

But today I would like to do something different.

I would like to ask why this chapter is written this way?

Why have these two stories intertwined like this?

So let’s read Numbers 11: 4-35

The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! ⁵We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.’

7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its colour was like the colour of gum resin. ⁸The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it.

10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. ¹¹So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child”, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? ¹³Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” ¹⁴I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.¹⁵If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’

16 So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. ¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself. ¹⁸And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wailed in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “If only we had meat to eat! Surely it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹You shall eat not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ²¹But Moses said, ‘The people I am with number six hundred thousand on foot; and you say, “I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month”! ²²Are there enough flocks and herds to slaughter for them? Are there enough fish in the sea to catch for them?’²³The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.’

24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. ²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.

26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ ²⁸And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ ²⁹But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’³⁰And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

31 Then a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground. ³²So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day, gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ³³But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. ³⁴So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. ³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

In the Jewish Midrashic Tradition,

their Torah Commentary tradition,

there is an ongoing argument between

the school of Rabbi Akiva versus the school of Rabbi Shimon.

Rabbi Akiva thinks this is one of Moses’ darkest hours.

Moses is whiny. He is bitter.

He refuses to intercede for the people.

He only considers them a bothersome burden.

He calls the people babies.

And even when God says he will feed them meat, Moses doesn’t believe God.

He is a doubter.

Moses does not look good.

Rabbi Shimon, on the other hand, thinks this is one of Moses’ finest hours.

Moses doesn’t quit.

He bears the burden of leadership.

And when given the opportunity, he shares the spirit of leadership with 70 different elders (which by the way, is the beginning of the Sanhedrin).

He does this all out of his love for the people.

Same chapter, two different perspectives.

Notice that if you concentrate on the quail story,

Moses does not look very good.

If you concentrate on the sharing of the spirit story,

Moses looks much better.

John Calvin, being the fair-minded guy he was,

starts with the bad Moses,

and ends with the good Moses,

and even assumes Moses must have repented of his outbursts after all those

people died eating those quail.

I think it is telling that even Calvin thought Moses had to apologize for his bad behavior.

AMBIGUITY OF DESIRES

This chapter has in it a built-in ambiguity.

Moses is both bad and good.

I think the built-in ambiguity

is there for us to ponder another ambiguity:

the ambiguity of our desires,

the ambiguity of our cravings.

The chapter ends with the dramatic naming of this place where so many died:

Kibroth-Hattaavah.

Literally “Graves of Craving”

Or “Tombs of desire.”

Hattaavah – it sounds bad, very bad.

But that word for craving — Hattaavah –

is not always a bad word.

Often, especially in the Psalms,

Hattavah is a very good word.

It describes God’s desire for his people.

And Hattaavah describes our longing for God.

Hattaavah – craving, desire.

It can be bad.

It can be good.

When it is bad, it can be very bad.

When it is good, it can be very good.

GEOGRAPHY OF OUR DESIRES

So how can we discern whether our desires are good or bad?

And what is there in this chapter that helps with that?

I have found that when you read the book of Numbers,

it is always good to keep the geography in mind.

What was the geography of this camp of Israel?

Let’s start in the middle.

In the very center of the camp was the Tent of Meeting,

or the Tabernacle, representing God’s presence.

Then on all 4 sides of the tabernacle:

3 tribes to the east, 3 to the west, 3 to the north, 3 to the south

were the 12 tribes of Israel.

Then outside this camp there was….wilderness.

wilderness, the place of death.

Life in the middle. Death outside.

Now think about this geography in terms of the two stories:

the story of the quail and the story of the spirit.

Where is the spirit in this story?

The spirit is in the center of the camp,

that center of holiness and life – the Tabernacle,

and it even blows into the camp

landing on Eldad and Medad.

Where are the quail?

The quail blow in from outside the camp:

in from the wilderness,

in from the place of uncleanness and death.

They land around the camp.

In many ways, this chapter asks

in which direction are your desires pointed?

to the center of life

or to the wilderness of death?

WILDERNESS OF OUR DESIRES

In a real sense,

we are all pilgrims.

We are all travelling through our own types of wilderness:

the wilderness of our desires.

And we hunger for the basics: we hunger for food.

In what direction will we turn that hunger?

There is a whole industry out there catering to that hunger.

There are those who are wizards at manipulating our natural cravings for sugar, for salt, for fat.

I was reading about Cheetohs – you know Cheetohs, those cheesy tubular things that literally melt in your mouth.

Well, according to Michael Moss’ book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us the wizards of processed food are particularly happy with Cheetohs.

Cheetohs dissolve in your mouth so quickly that it tricks our brains into thinking that the calories are disappearing as well.

They even have a fancy name for this: “vanishing caloric density.”

In our busy lives, we hunger for a break, time off, for rest.

In what direction will we turn that hunger?

Of course there is a whole industry catering to that hunger as well:

offering amusement parks,

casinos, movies,

and one episode after another on Netflix.

In our loneliness, we hunger for connection.

and in our hunger we become convinced

that a little screen held in our hand

demanding our constant attention

will provide enough virtual companionship.

We are people travelling through the wilderness of our desires

and so often we end up

being tricked,

being deceived,

being lulled into having our desires pointed in the wrong direction.

CENTER OF OUR DESIRES

Through the centuries,

mystics have known the language of desire.

They have explored our natural desires,

and hungers

and cravings.

They have discovered that

we try fill holes that only God can fill;

we try satisfy cravings that only the kingdom can satisfy;

we attempt to address desires that only a community of love can meet.

What these mystics realized is that it isn’t simply us turning

our desires to the center of all things;

it is realizing that the center of all things

has his desires turned toward us.

This is how the Medieval Mystic John Ruysbroek put it:

The inward stirring and touching of God

makes us hungry and yearning.

For the Spirit of God hunts our spirit.

The more it touches us,

the more our hunger and craving.

This is the life of love.

CONCLUSION

The more I thought about it this week,

the more I realized that prayer

is basically our desire,

our longing

our craving

pointed in the right direction:

To the center of life;

To the source of life;

To the well-spring of life.

Prayer allows us to enjoy, and appreciate, and celebrate

real food

real shalom

real people.

This morning we point our desires here,

To this table

To be fed this food

and to be given this drink

Not alone, but together:

real food

real shalom

real people.

All of you who hunger,

Gather here

To taste and see that God is good.

Amen

Prayer:

O Jesus Joy of Loving hearts,

The fount of life, the light of men

From fullest bliss that earth imparts

We turn unfilled to you again

We turn unfilled to you again

Amen