SoiKosum

It is most probably because he is tired of leading Israel and allowed himself to be blinded to God's plan and purpose for His people. Moses was at the point of emotional and physical exhaustion. In the natural of course there would be grounds for complaints - the Israelites were so demanding and ungrateful. They kept wanting and asking for more and more. in some ways, Moses' prayer could be a model prayer - when we are weak, He is strong, when we cannot He can. On the other hand, the prayer also shows us how not to pray - we cannot blame God for everything. God answered Moses by putting some of his Spirit on 70 of Israel's elders in order to help Moses manage/judge Israel and God gave Israel what they wanted - meat.

Laying on of hands on the animal's head and confessing one's sins, symbolically imparts one's sins to the animal that God has accepted as a substitute. This is the basis of the concept of the Substitutionary Atonement. The sin offerer has to slay the animal himself as a reminder of the penalty for our sin and rebellion against God. There must be accountability. The blood is the life of the creature and it is significant because the blood has to be shed before there can a forgiveness of sins. Jesus shed His blood and died on the Cross as a sacrifice to atone for our sins.

The arrangement of the furniture, the Tabernacle and the courtyard teaches us the flow of worship: 1. Entering. We enter into prayer to begin to seek God and draw near to him. 2. Sacrifice and confession of sin are represented by the bronze altar where sacrifices for sin were made. Christ is our sacrifice since our sin has caused an estrangement from God. As we confess our sins in humility and look with faith to his sacrifice for us on the cross, we connect with his grace and atonement. 3. Cleansing and forgiveness are represented by the bronze laver or basin. We receive his forgiveness and cleansing by faith with thankfulness. 4. Worship is the next step. As the priests tended the lamps, the table, and the altar of incense, we offer regular thanksgiving and praise to God in the Holy Place, as a sweet fragrance before him. 5. Encounter with God in the Holy of Holies is the ultimate goal. Before him in the Holy of Holies, our words are no longer necessary as we bask in his presence. The bronze altar and bronze laver were outside the Tent because we have confess our sins and be cleansed and forgiven before we can truly worship God will all our heart and all our strength.

The Ark in the Holy of Holies is the most holy object. It contained the tablet on which was written the Ten Commandments. This represented God's covenant with His people Israel. The Ark is also considered holy because from over the cover of the Ark between the two cherubims God would speak to Moses.

The layout of the camp was given by God to Moses and Aaron. The twelve tribes of Israel were arranged in order of their assigned position and order of march and it the centre was the Tabernacle of God. This layout taught the Israelites that God is (or supposed to be) central to their lives. The Levites and priests were camped closest to the Tabernacle because they were given the responsibility of taking care of the Tabernacle and the furniture inside.

Their faith in God was shallow. They were impatient and could not wait for Moses to return. Aaron himself was swayed by the masses as he was also not sure of Moses' return. The golden calf was an abomination to God. Today, there are many idols that are leading Christians astray - charismatic pastors, money/materialism, jobs, family and hobbies, to name a few.

God provided manna for His people because they had finished the food that they brought from Egypt and they were now grumbling to Moses and complaining about the lack of food. God had already prepared this provision because He knew their food would run out in time. The manna ceased when they were about to enter Canaan their promised land. I suppose when someone is given something that they don't have to work for, after a while they will tend to take that provision for granted. Often, we take our health, our jobs, our family, our spouses and even God's love and patience for granted.

If we follow the precept that the Lord puts authority over us, then yes, grumbling against a leader can be taken as grumbling against the Lord. I am sure there are instances where this is not entirely true although I can't think of any now. As the bumper sticker says, "Lord I love you, it's your people I can't stand!". It is human nature that when people face criticism they take it personally. However this is much more evident in Asian than Western culture. Asians tend to take themselves too seriously. Most Caucasians will be able to look at criticisms objectively. There is much the Asians can learn from Westerners in this regard.

One of the major reasons is fear stemming from unbelief and a lack of faith. Grumbling is the outcome of fear. When we fear, we start to feel dissatisfied with our own situation. We have taken our eyes of the the Lord Jesus and instead we focus on the problem. Grumbling can take its toil on us causing us to be depressed and moody and may eventually cause us to sin when we direct our fear at God - "God, why have you allowed this (and that) to happen?", "God, did I not give enough offering in Church on Sunday?", etc. Although it is sometimes easier said than done, the one critical thing we must do is always have God at the centre of our lives. Our focus must be on Jesus. When we shift our attention away from Jesus, we will start to sink, like Matthew. We need to submit our problems to God and trust (and have faith) that God is faithful and just to do what He has promised.