In the midst of the wilderness there was nothing to eat, except what God provided: manna from heaven. Yet the people whined that they had no meat: they missed the fish they had eaten in Egypt, along with all the cucumbers and melons, the leeks, onions, and garlic that they had had when they were slaves there (Numbers 11:4-6).

Their complaint got to Moses, so he in turn complained to God: “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?” (11:11). We can see that our modern phrase of frustration – “just kill me now” – has been around a long time, all the way back to Moses himself (11:15). The text also shows us that Moses apparently missed the irony of how his own whining matched the whining of the people.

It is interesting to see that God responded this situation in three ways. First, God answered Moses’ complaint by providing an additional 70 elders, to help him bear the burden of the people (11:16-17); and second, God answered the people’s complaint by providing an astonishing amount of quails for them to eat meat (11:31-32). So far, so good: but then we see God’s third response, which includes deep resentment (11:20) and severe anger resulting in a plague (11:33).

Stories like this often bother people. It seems like God should be mature enough to deal with such situations – even if they are times of human sin and rebelliousness – without such tantrum-looking rage and retribution. Surely the Lord of the universe would never pitch a fit! Yet throughout the Bible we encounter passages that show us God experiencing deep and vivid emotions. Are we in a position to declare that humans can feel things this strongly, but God cannot? We could decide to explain all such passages away. Many people do. But that leaves us with a residue that is non-threatening and sterile. And if we do that, we will have created our own tame deity, imagining it’s the real thing.

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I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49).
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We don’t like stories about your wrath, O Lord: we don’t want to think that you might respond to our sin with passionate fury. Can’t we just presume that you will always forgive our rebelliousness? Apparently not. Grant us swift repentance, O God: teach us to depend on you.

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