Moses' Lament: A Pentecost Meditation on Numbers 11

Moses is a unique figure in the Old Testament, with a unique calling from God.  Among the Hebrew slaves, God preserves him at his birth, gives him safety and privilege in Pharaoh’s house, causes him to learn of the Hebrews’ plight, preserves him in the wilderness 40 years, and then in his 80^th year leads him to liberate the Hebrews and begin a 40 year journey to the Promised Land.  In Numbers 11, we find Moses and the Hebrews during their wandering, and Moses ready to give up.

Why does Moses want to throw in the towel?  Because the people have weighed on him so much, that he can’t bear them anymore.  For all the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to Moses, he was not able to carry this great people of over 600,000 men, plus women and children—likely some two million souls altogether.  This time, the people were whining about not having meat.  Despising the gift of God’s manna, they mourned for the meat and veggies they had in Egypt, insinuating that they had it better under Pharaoh’s boot than in the gracious hand of God.  In fact, Moses is so worn out, that He tells God:

¹⁴ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (NKJV)

In this moment, Moses learns that he is not able to carry the People of God.  Of all the servants God has raised up by the power of His Holy Spirit, even Moses the Law Giver is crushed by the weight.  And why?  Because the sin of the people is too much for anyone to bear… and his own sin makes him too weak even to bear his own.  Moses cannot carry them, and now he knows it.  He begs for the mercy of God to strike him down, so that he might rest in death, rather than suffer under this intolerable burden.

God’s answer, however, was not to let Moses die just yet.  He took of His Spirit that He had given to Moses, and distributed His gifts to 70 elders, who would carry the burden with him.  Of course, even in that, the 70 were not pure, two of which disdaining the gathering and staying back in the camp.  But the promise of God was efficacious, and even the stragglers began to prophesy.  The burden had been spread out a bit, to keep Moses from despair.  But even 70 people with Moses, couldn’t really carry the People of God—they simply tended it as best they could by the Spirit given to them, encumbered as they were both by their own sin, and the sin of the people at large.  God did eventually judge the sin of the people with plague, and they buried many in the desert.  But God also was constantly present with His mercy and grace by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Moses and the 70 pointed forward to something far beyond themselves.  While Moses could not carry the people, and the elders could not carry the people with him, he knew that One would come who could.  One would come who could carry the sins of the people, unencumbered by sin Himself.  One would come, who would take all the whining, conniving, manipulative, despairing, unbelieving, ungrateful, prideful, disdaining, lustful, murderous multitude upon His own shoulders—pastors and people alike—that they might be carried to the Promised Land.  This One, this Good Shepherd, full of Spirit and Truth, suffered under the weight of countless billions of wicked souls from the foundation of the world until its last day, that by the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood upon a Roman Cross, the people might be saved.  Far greater than Moses and the Prophets, Jesus Christ—the very Son of the Father, born of the Blessed Virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit—takes His place as the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people.  Fully God and fully man, Jesus shepherds the people through the valley of the shadow of death, leading them through as the first fruits of the Resurrection, so that they all might gaze upon that Land flowing with mild and honey.  His gift to His people is His eternal Life, poured out for them, upon them, and through them, that they might live by His grace through faith in Him forever.

While Moses needed help to bear the people, and God accommodated his weakness by giving His Spirit to the 70 elders, Jesus needs no help.  Jesus accomplished all the work of salvation for His people, conquering sin, death, hell, and the devil for them.  1500 years after Moses begs to die so that he might be free of the burden of the people, Jesus goes willingly to die so that He might carry the people forever.  And Jesus, having won all for His people, gives His Holy Spirit freely to His Apostles and to all His disciples—not that they might share His burden, but that they might be witnesses to the victory accomplished through the Cross.  It is on Pentecost that the Spirit is given so liberally to the People of God, richly and without measure, from the bottomless font of grace won by our Lord Jesus Christ.  Here is the prophesy of Moses fulfilled, that all God’s People might prophesy, who all by the power of the Spirit testify of Jesus Christ.

Are you a shepherd, despairing of the weight of the people you have been called to serve?  Remember, it is Jesus who carries both them and you.  Are you a Christian who has been scandalized by the sin of other Christians, or perhaps even whole congregations and churches?  Remember, that Christ carries both them and you.  We are not sent to carry the sins of others, for our own sin bears witness against us that we are too weak to carry even ourselves.  But we are given the Holy Spirit by the Word of Christ, to bear witness to Him who has come to carry us all, to forgive us all, to shower mercy upon us all, and to give life unto us all.  It is by this grace, empowered by this Spirit, that the People of God live by faith in the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.  Here we are witnesses, martyrs, of the grace that carries and sustains us, and is poured out for the whole world.  Here Pentecost’s Holy Fire burns with unquenchable brilliance, and Jesus shines forth as the Savior of the World.  May the fire of His Holy Spirit enflame you, enliven you, and preserve you as a witness of the grace and mercy and salvation of your Lord Jesus Christ, forever.  Amen.