Beginning of the End: The People Demand a Meat Diet

 After three days’ journey open complaints were heard. These started with the mixed multitude, many of whom were always finding fault with the way in which Moses was leading them, though they knew that he was following the cloud. Unhappiness is contagious, and it soon spread in the camp.

Again they began to demand meat to eat. Many of the Egyptians among them had been used to a rich diet, and these were the first to complain.

God could have provided them with meat as easily as with manna, but His aim was to supply food better suited to their needs. The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state so that they could enjoy the food originally provided for the human family, the fruits of the earth which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. This is the reason the Israelites had been largely deprived of animal food.

Satan tempted them to think of this as unfair and cruel. He saw that filling every desire of their appetite would tend to produce sensuality, and by this means the people could be brought under his control more easily. From the time he convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, he has, to a large extent, led men into sin through appetite. Intemperance in eating and drinking prepares  the way to ignore all moral standards.

God brought the Israelites from Egypt so that He could establish them in the land of Canaan as a pure, holy, and happy people. If they had been willing to deny appetite, they would not have experienced any weakness and disease among them. Their descendants would have possessed physical and mental strength, clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discernment, and good judgment.

Says the psalmist: “They tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: they said, ‘Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ... Can He provide meat for His people?’ Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious” (Psalm 78:18-21). They had been witnesses to the majesty, power, and mercy of God, and their unbelief and discontent brought on them greater guilt. They had made a covenant to obey His authority. Their grumbling was now rebellion, and as such it must receive prompt punishment if Israel was to be preserved from chaos and ruin. “The fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.” The most guilty of the complainers were killed by lightning from the cloud.