And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So the name of that place was called Taberah because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But 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 appearance like that of bdellium. 8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. 11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Elders Appointed to Aid Moses
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 And I 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 with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. 18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” 21 But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord's hand shortened? 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 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then 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 as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
26 Now 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.27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
Quail and a Plague
31 Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail 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, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. 32 And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague.34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
 
Meditation
God’s grace redeems the rabble and transforms grumbling into gratitude.
 
The people complained about what they had and what they did not have (1-9). The rabble (4) had selective memory, dis-ordered cravings, and were impatient with God’s timetable. Their sin of grumbling was contagious and gratitude evaporated by the heat of life in the wilderness.
 
Moses was overwhelmed by the rabble, unable to carry the leadership load alone (10-15). God gave relief through providing elders to stand with Moses who were filled with the Spirit of God. God gave meat to the masses to satisfy their cravings and convict them of their grumbling. When we complain of our circumstances, we minimize God’s providence and provision. When we try to lead alone, we minimize God’s design and undermine the impact we can have. The rabble were infectious. God’s relief was gracious.
 
Wilderness narratives teach us not to grumble (1 Corinthians 10:6-10). God’s grace frees us to be honest with our grumbling, repent, and begin again. When weary in the wilderness we complain and proclaim, “Not your will or your way but my will and my way!” Jesus in the garden prays to the Father, “Not my will but Yours be done” and goes the way of the cross. Jesus was faithful in the wilderness and died in our place so rabble like us can be redeemed to walk according to the spirit and not the sinful cravings of our heart (Galatians 5:16).
 
Redemption redeems the rabble, transforming grumbling into gratitude through grace.
 
Richly Dwelling      
-What stands out to you about the character of God revealed in this passage?
 
-Is your life marked more by sinful cravings and grumbling or gratitude and contentment? Why?
 
-How does the faithfulness of Jesus and the redemption He offers give strength to your Spirit to not complain and to replace grumbling with gratefulness?
 
Key Verse
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Qualifications for Elders5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”[j] 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

​Meditation
In a world of disorder God reveals His pleasure for an ordered church. Jesus’ Church should have an ordered life together (1 Corinthians 14:40). The whole body is joined together in Christ and, when equipped and working properly, the body grows so that it builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).
 
Paul leaves Titus in Crete to “put what remained into order, and appoint elders…” (1). The elders are “God’s stewards” of the Church, overseers of God’s house, whose life should be ordered under the authority of God’s design and following the authority of God’s word (6-10).
Those who do not know God’s grace and reject God’s word, who “profess to know God but deny Him by their works,” (16) have no place to bring leadership to God’s people. God’s people re-ordered by His grace and word lead to bring order to His Church.
 
Paul briefly stopped in Crete on his way to Rome (Acts 27:4-5). Paul’s planting and passing on leaves Titus to water and cultivate the church in Crete and surrounding area. Much of Paul’s direction echoes what he wrote Timothy. All of Paul’s direction reminds us the church is led not by personality but in a faithful group of elders. Knowing and following Jesus is essential for the collective overseers appointed to bring order to God’s house and equip Christ’s Body.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Why is it significant that God designs His house and His Body to have order?
 
-Who are elders you need to pray for to have collective wisdom, unity, and faithfulness to follow God as they bring order to the house of God?
 
-Where can you grow in celebrating the leadership and authority of the elders God has placed over you?
 
Key Verse
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 

And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”
6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me[b] to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: 9 “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. 11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Meditation
Get comfortable in God’s love because His love culminates in an ETERNITY of God dwelling with you. God loves you and He has gone to great lengths to ensure He will be with you- forever. You are totally and eternally secure in His love.
 
Zechariah’s original audience consisted of insecure exiles recently returned home (@ 537BC), too insecure to begin to rebuild the temple until @520 BC. The second vision was intended to boost confidence and remove complacency of the remnant- God’s plan to dwell with His people will be eternally established!
 
God’s revelation shows a city with walls of fire from the glory of God in her midst (1-5)! The interpretation and application are for God’s people to get up (6, 7) and get moving. God’s glory is coming! God will plunder the plunderers and shake those who shake His people (8-9). Redeemed ones sing and rejoice knowing God’s redemptive plan will be accomplished (10) and the temple will be rebuilt, restoring the Lord’s dwelling with His people (5, 10, 11, 13). Nations will be grafted in (11, 12) and the celebration should begin- God’s sovereign grace will accomplish God’s will, a holy dwelling with His people (13).
 
God’s original temple plan was to restore dwelling with His people (Exodus 25). The prophet’s proclamation comes to culmination in Christ (who is both God’s dwelling & God’s temple- (John 1:14; John 2:19-22) and consummation in the 2nd coming of Christ (Revelation 21:15-27).
 
God WILL dwell with His people ETERNALLY! You are secure in God’s covenant love today.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Describe your response: God will eternally dwell with you if You are in Christ. This truth should shape celebration in your soul! You are secure in God’s steadfast love.
 
-Good news of God’s sovereign grace accomplishing God’s will should get us up and get us going. The original audience was to rebuild God’s temple to restore God’s glory. Where can you respond to God’s plan to create a place for God’s glory to dwell?
 
-God’s love will not let you go. How does this secure promise propel you to faithfulness?
 
Key Verses
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. 11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.
 
Meditation
As a family we read this Psalm most Sunday evenings. So much so that after one of my daughters returned from college the first time she said, “You are still doing this?!” Yes. Not every week… but most. We lay down to sleep, resting in God’s sovereign grace, and trust He will keep us.
 
This pilgrim passage promises protection for people ascending to Jerusalem for feasts and festivals. Help does not come from strongholds in the hills but from the One who made the hills (1-2). The Lord watches over every step (3) and promises trusting pilgrims they will be kept from evil and every danger (6-7).
 
The Lord is our Keeper (4, 5, 7, 8) from this step forward and forevermore! Total security is sustained in God’s sovereign grace. By faith we rest in the One who does not slumber or sleep (4) because He promises to keep… you, me, and all who trust in Him.
 
Jesus endured every danger, even death, so that we can be secure moving forward forevermore. God’s grace awakens us to realize our Lord does not slumber or sleep, so we can rest in His sovereign grace.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What descriptions of the Lord’s keeping are most inviting? Why?
 
-On your pilgrim journey, what are you trusting in to keep you?
 
-How does God’s guarantee offered through the finished work of Jesus increase your trust in Him and give you permission to rest in His sovereign grace?
 
Key Verse
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper…

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
2 “Judah mourns,
    and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
    and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
3 Her nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
    and cover their heads.
4 Because of the ground that is dismayed,
    since there is no rain on the land,
the farmers are ashamed;
    they cover their heads.
5 Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn
    because there is no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;
    they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail
    because there is no vegetation.
7 “Though our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O Lord, for your name's sake;
for our backslidings are many;
    we have sinned against you.
8 O you hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
9 Why should you be like a man confused,
    like a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
    and we are called by your name;
    do not leave us.”
10 Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
“They have loved to wander thus;
    they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the Lord does not accept them;
    now he will remember their iniquity
    and punish their sins.”
11 The Lord said to me: “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”
Lying Prophets13 Then I said: “Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” 14 And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.15 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.
17 “You shall say to them this word:
‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,
    and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound,
    with a very grievous blow.
18 If I go out into the field,
    behold, those pierced by the sword!
And if I enter the city,
    behold, the diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land
    and have no knowledge.’”
19 Have you utterly rejected Judah?
    Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
    so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
    and the iniquity of our fathers,
    for we have sinned against you.
21 Do not spurn us, for your name's sake;
    do not dishonor your glorious throne;
    remember and do not break your covenant with us.
22 Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
    We set our hope on you,
    for you do all these things.
 
Meditation
Days of drought are difficult. The Lord wants to fill your cisterns with the Living Water of His grace and love. Jesus alone transforms drought into delight.
 
“Concerning the drought” (1) the prophet describes “no water… no rain… no grass… no food” (3-6). The wealthy still have servants to fetch water but they only find empty cisterns, cracked earth, and starving animals. The descriptions of drought are devastating.
 
More devastating is the people’s exchange with the Lord. They plea for mercy, using beautiful language from the Psalms (7-8)! But they also accuse God of being absent, a stranger and wanderer (9). Ironically, it was the people who wandered and vainly trusted false prophets, worldly power, and prosperity to solve their problems (10-18). God refuses to reply to their manipulative and halfhearted plea for mercy. The dialog ends with a poetic plea for mercy that leaves the reader wondering what God will do: “We set our hope on You…” (22).
 
God is always worthy of wholehearted hope. He especially gives hope during devastating days of drought. Jesus meets us where we look for water to offer us Living Water, true satisfaction for our devastated soul (John 4). Jesus cried out, “I thirst!” when He was on the cross (John 19:28) so that we can access the covenant blessings of His everlasting love through faith alone, trusting Jesus to transform our drought into delight. God provides abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, Living Water who eternally satisfies and restores our devastated souls.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stand out to you about this passage? The descriptions of drought? The dialog with God?
 
-Why is it significant to see the Lord NOT ANSWER the people’s plea in the passage but eventually answer through the person and work of Jesus?
 
-Where do you need the Living Water of Jesus to satisfy the drought of your soul? How can He work in you to transform your drought into delight? Be specific in asking Him to do so- Jesus hears your plea for mercy!
 
Key Verse
14 And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.

Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself. 2 And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 to oversee them. 3 And Solomon sent word to Hiram the king of Tyre: “As you dealt with David my father and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in, so deal with me. 4 Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him, and for the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the Lord our God, as ordained forever for Israel.5 The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. 6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? 7 So now send me a man skilled to work in gold, silver, bronze, and iron, and in purple, crimson, and blue fabrics, trained also in engraving, to be with the skilled workers who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.8 Send me also cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And my servants will be with your servants, 9 to prepare timber for me in abundance, for the house I am to build will be great and wonderful.10 I will give for your servants, the woodsmen who cut timber, 20,000 cors of crushed wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths of wine, and 20,000 baths of oil.”
11 Then Hiram the king of Tyre answered in a letter that he sent to Solomon, “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.” 12 Hiram also said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the Lord and a royal palace for himself.
13 “Now I have sent a skilled man, who has understanding, Huram-abi, 14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He is trained to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, and in purple, blue, and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and to do all sorts of engraving and execute any design that may be assigned him, with your craftsmen, the craftsmen of my lord, David your father. 15 Now therefore the wheat and barley, oil and wine, of which my lord has spoken, let him send to his servants. 16 And we will cut whatever timber you need from Lebanon and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa, so that you may take it up to Jerusalem.”
17 Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, after the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600. 18 Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.

Meditation
God is relentlessly committed to increasing His glory. Christians have works of glory Jesus has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:8-10). The ascended Jesus gifted the Church (Ephesians 4:4-24) so that we can live faithfully as the temple of His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). God will use the gifts of kings of the earth to increase His glory on the globe so that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10).
 
Gifted by his father, Solomon sets out to exalt God’s glory by building the Lord’s temple (1). The temple was to laud God’s greatness (5, 6, 7) by providing a place for offerings to the Lord (6).  Using the gifts of the artisans king David prepared (3, 7, 14, 17) Solomon demonstrates his wisdom by setting his sight on stewarding what has been entrusted to him, obeying God’s direction, and enhancing God’s glory.
 
As the king of Persia helped provide materials for the rebuilding of the temple after exile (Ezra 1:1-11; 6:1-12) so the king of Tyre sent supplies and skilled craftsman to build a temple for God’s glory (11-16). God harvests from the glory of the nations to increase his glory around the globe (Isaiah 60:1-11; Revelation 21:24-27).
 
God is working His glorious will around the globe and He wants to use you to increase His glory. Are you aware of and willing to be a part of His larger story to share and show His glory?
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about this passage? Why?
 
-You are a part of a larger story of glory, and wisdom compels you to steward all you have for His glory. How does this dignify you with purpose and give you hope in His sovereign plan?
 
-Where can you be more focused on responding to His grace by using all you have to spread His glory all over the place as you live as His temple? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
5 The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.