One of the interesting aspects of Numbers 11:4 is the aspect of the Children of Israel weeping. I didn’t really pay much attention to this portion of the verse apart from the fact that the Chosen Ones of the Desert could not see beyond their physical needs and were inviting possible harm to themselves from Yehovah as we saw in verses 1 to 3 of this same chapter.
But then we come upon this behavior of weeping. Of all human emotional response to a situation, weeping is the tale-tale sign that something is amiss or is happening to or within the individual who is weeping. In our modern, western society, weeping is usually something that sends a strong visual signal to those who are within eye and ear shot of the person affected. We, the observers of this behavior, typically halt from what it is we are doing and take notice. We are usually disarmed and a sense of compassion or empathy or in some cases even sympathy takes over within us. If the situation or the level of relationship we, the observer is such, we may innately attempt to console the weeping individual. Why. I don’t know, we just don’t like to see people weep. It triggers a biological response within us and we react–one way or the other, we the observer react.
In this case, the Children of Promise wept over the absence of meat (or flesh as rendered in many translations) in their diet. The Hebrew term for weep is “bakah” and it generally, in Scripture, denotes weeping, crying, or the shedding of tears in response to grief, humiliation, or joy. In this particular situation, the weeping of the Children of Promise was over a lack of or absence of meat.
According to Hollady’s Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon, weeping can become whining, which I would contend is accurate here. The Israelites were prompted in to a state of weeping by the “rabble” or the “hangers on” as referencing Matthew Henry. Hallady continues and I believe this is such an astute consideration to be had by every believer in Messiah: the weeping by the Children of Promise should have been a weeping of repentance. Indeed, such weeping transcends most if not all other causes of weeping among humans. When we weep, many times the weeping is a sign of selfishness. In other words, something caused us to feel sorry or sad about something and of course, we do not like to feel sad. In other aspects, we cry because something was taken from us or we are in lack, which happens to be the precise situation here.
Torah, above any other element, elevates man to a higher state of being. It shows us our deficiencies and prompts us to correct our errant ways. Torah and the sacrifice Yeshua made on the cross for our sins, provide for us that open door to the Creator of the Universe who has always, from the beginning of time, sought to provide His creation. It all comes down to relationships: that is the relationship between Yehovah and man. That relationship has been described as that of a Father and children.
We’ll pick this up next time. Have a most blessed day in Messiah.