Scholars have stated that there were approximately 3,000,000 Hebrew people. In order to feed them manna every day it required 4,500 tons of manna every morning. To feed them manna over 40 years required 65,700,000 tons of manna. If every person ate one quail per day it would take 3,000,000 quail per day or 90,000,000 quail per month. To provide water for all of the people would have required 15,000,000 gallons of water every day.
It was not God’s will for the people to have to eat manna for 40 years. They could have been in Canaan by now eating off the fat of the land but because they were so negative and short-sighted, they were still wondering in the wilderness eating the manna.
Numbers 21:4-9 NKJV (4) Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. (5) And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” (6) So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (7) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (8) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” (9) So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Serpents and brass are always a type of sin.
The serpent is then put up on a pole and whoever will look at it will live.
John 3:14-15 NKJV(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, (15) that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus makes an allusion to the fact that He would be crucified by mentioning that He was going to be “lifted up.”
Jesus said that people would have to believe on Him and in Numbers people just had to look on the serpent. We have this comparison but looking and believing are very closely connected.
If you are not looking, you are going to have a hard time believing. Whatever you look at it, will have a great impact on what you believe.
You cannot have strong and effective faith if you are not looking at the right things.
Proverbs 4:20-22 NKJV (20) My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. (21) Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; (22) For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.
We must pay attention to the Word of God on an ongoing basis.
God’s Word cannot stay in the midst of your heart if you let it pass away from your eyes. It must be imprinted on your eyes.
Health = medicine – God’s Word is like medicine for your body but in order for this to be effective, you must keep it in front of your eyes.
When you focus your attention on the Word of God, you build your capacity to believe it.
Whatever you look at, you will steer towards.
You have to go to the Word of God and find things to look at.
When you are looking at it you can begin to say it.
It is important not just to see the Word; it is important to follow it with your words.
Joshua 1:8 NKJV (8) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Notice he did not say that the Word shall not depart out of your heart but rather out of your mouth. Most people believe that of the two, Word in your mouth or Word in your heart, Word in your heart is most important. The Bible does not do it that way.
If you want to get the Word in your heart, you have to first put it in your mouth.
God created us to be able to hear our own words and build a capacity to believe them in our hearts.
Solomon is considered to be the wisest man in the Bible outside of Jesus. 44 verses in Proverbs talk about what you say with your mouth will determine your life experience.
Proverbs 18:20-21 NKJV (20) A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. (21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:20-21 GNB (20) You will have to live with the consequences of everything you say. (21) What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words.
Believing what you say versus saying what you believe:
- Believing what you say (building your faith by your words):
Romans 12:3 NKJV (3) For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Romans 10:17 NKJV (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The highest interpretation of this Scripture is that faith comes when you hear yourself speak the Word of God. This is because you believe what you say.
Your faith is given to you through the Word. Your faith is not some kind of noble quality that you have because you are a good person or even a Christian. It comes to you because you hear (or give attention to) the Word of God. It is imparted to you directly because of the attention given to the Word of God.
You can make your faith go to a high level based on the level of attention that you give the Word of God.
- Saying what you believe (speaking from your faith):
Mark 11:23 NKJV (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Romans 4:17 NKJV (17) (as it is written, “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV (14) Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (15) For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Confession (Greek: Homo-logeo) – means “saying the same thing.”
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If we are told to take a prescription by our Doctor, there is no arguing with this. We will stay with it until the condition that required the medicine is changed or gone altogether.
We are willing to do this even if we do not see immediate results.
We need to give the Word the same diligence!