And they did eat, and were well filled; for that they lusted after, he brought to them.
Psalm 78 retells Israel's history as a warning. This verse sits at the turning point of the quail story in the desert. The people asked for meat, and God sent it in abundance. So why does a full stomach here mean danger instead of blessing?
One writer retells the scene, and points out what was missing when the people ate:
Because they wanted meat, God brought an east wind, then a south wind, that rained birds on the camp all around their tents (vv. 26-28). The Israelites did not even stop to thank God. They ate the birds greedily (v. 29). God gave them what they wanted. Yet while the food was still in their mouths, His anger burned against them, and He "struck the people with a very great plague" (Num. 11:33). It seems to have fallen on the strongest of them (v. 31), the ones at the front of the rebellion.
God had given quails once before, in Exodus 16. One writer shows why the same gift lands so differently the second time:
The end of the chapter shows that the Lord gave them quails in answer to their complaining, and then dealt with them under His government (Num. 11:31-34)… I really believe that what we want, we get. If I want meat, God will give it to me, but He will give me discipline and leanness of soul with it. The hand of God in government was on them here. It was not like the first case, in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus, where they asked and God gave them quails. Then they stood on the ground of pure grace. Now they stood on the ground of responsibility, and He acts differently. There it was sin met by grace; here it is sin judged in government.
Government here means God dealing with His people as responsible for their conduct. Another writer traces the shift to Israel's own choice to put themselves under the law:
Afterwards, through their folly in putting themselves under the law, which they should have known they could not keep, they brought a different kind of treatment on themselves. But God would first have them know how completely He was set on doing them good, however bad they might be.
Both the manna and the quails filled empty stomachs. Only one of them did the people any good:
God gave the quails to satisfy the desires of the people, but they brought no blessing. The manna was different. It was God's provision for the desert, and a precious, vivid picture of that blessed One who was "once humbled here." It was the food that sustained all Israel for forty years.
Being "well filled" usually means mercy. Here the plenty itself carried God's displeasure:
With the people it was very different. They simply craved meat, and God in His displeasure gave them what they wanted. It is a solemn state when the granting of our requests becomes a judgment. He gave them so much that they came to loathe it… This loathing was not just the natural result of eating too much. It had a mark on it that showed it was a special judgment.
This shapes how we pray. Getting a yes is not proof that the asking was right:
We often ask for things that are not good for us. If we press God hard for a wrong thing, and He gives it at last, it always ends in sorrow.
The same appetite is still at work in us. One writer turns the story into a prayer:
They got what they longed for, and found it was death. They insisted on meat, and with the meat came the judgment of God. This is most solemn. May we heed the warning! The poor heart is full of empty desires and hateful cravings. The heavenly manna fails to satisfy. There must be something else. God allows us to have it. But what then? Leanness — barrenness — judgment! O Lord, keep our hearts fixed on Yourself alone and at all times!
(The older translation these writers quote at Psalm 106:15 reads "sent leanness into their soul"; the ESV has "sent a wasting disease among them.")
- Desire — God gave them the very thing they craved. The quails came to satisfy their appetite, not to bless them.
- Gift — The quails came in abundance, and the people ate them without a word of thanks. The manna brought them through forty years.
- Ground — Earlier the quails came on the ground of pure grace. Here the same gift comes under God's government, and He judges the sin instead of meeting it with grace.
- Reach — The meat was still in their mouths when the anger fell. It struck the strongest, the ones at the front of the rebellion.
- Result — When the answer itself becomes the judgment, a full table can mean a lean soul. A wrong thing pressed for and finally given always ends in sorrow.
They were not alienated from their lust, their meat was yet in their mouths,
Psalm 78 retells Israel's wilderness story as a warning to a later generation. Here God gives the people the meat they demanded, then strikes while they are still chewing — how can a gift from God become a grave?
The quails came in answer to complaining, not to faith. Nothing in them changed when the food arrived.
There was no repentance. They fell greedily on what God had provided. It was only to satisfy their lust; they did not see the Giver behind the gift. The rebellious, stubborn heart, unrepenting, was there, using for their own destruction what the Lord had given.
They should have seen their folly. The God they doubted could feed them in a moment.
They ought to have said, "The Lord could have given us quails in a minute — what fools we have been." Instead they set upon the quails to devour them. There was no sign, as far as I can see, of self-judgment, for they flew at the quails instead of humbling themselves about their murmuring when they saw them.
Older translations read, "They were not alienated from their lust" — the craving still had hold of them while they ate. No amount of meat could break it, because the trouble was in the soul, not the stomach.
His very answer displayed His might for them. Yet it brought only leanness into their souls. So it is with the soul away from God: satisfying the thirst, as with salt water, only increases it.
One camp on the journey still carries the memory in its name — Kibroth-hattaavah:
One of the stopping places of the Israelites, called "the graves of lust," "because there they buried the people who lusted" for meat.
God said yes. That yes was the stroke.
With the people it was very different. They just craved meat, and God in His displeasure gave them their desire. It is a solemn thing indeed when the granting of our requests becomes a judgment.
One writer turns this into a test for our own praying:
If it is a mere lust, or something to spend on lust, it goes unanswered (James 4:3). Or the answer comes as chastisement — a Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of lust). But if it is in the Spirit, and the prayer of faith, the answer comes as asked.
The timing is the point. They were still congratulating themselves when the blow came.
The people greedily gave way to the degrading wishes of the mixed crowd that came out of Egypt. So it was entirely right that Jehovah should rise up in His displeasure and strike them. He struck at the very moment when they were flattering themselves with His answer to their cry. But His was an answer of grief. It carried its own deep penalty with it — not only leanness in their souls, but an angry rebuke from God Himself.
God had sent quails once before, and no plague followed. One writer explains the difference by the ground Israel now stood on.
I believe that we do get what we want. If I want meat, God will give it to me, but with discipline and leanness of soul along with it. The hand of God in government was truly on them here. It was not like the first case, in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus, where they asked and God gave them quails. Then they stood on the ground of pure grace. Now they stand on the ground of responsibility, so He acts differently. There it was sin met by grace; here it is sin judged in government.
This history carries a warning for us.
They got what they longed for, and found it death. They wanted meat, and with the meat came the judgment of God. This is most solemn. May we heed the warning! The poor heart is full of empty desires and hateful lusts. The heavenly manna fails to satisfy. There must be something else. God allows us to have it. But what then? Leanness — barrenness — judgment!
- Craving — the desire was never filled. Appetite away from God is like drinking salt water: each mouthful deepens the thirst.
- Granted — God said yes. The answer came as an act of displeasure, and it is a solemn thing when a granted request turns into a judgment.
- Grabbed — they fell on the quails without repentance. They never looked past the gift to the Giver. The miracle only fed the murmuring it should have shamed.
- Grave — judgment struck while the answer was still in their hands. The camp took the name "the graves of lust" from those buried there.
- Guard — when prayer is only lust asking, the answer comes as chastening. Find the heavenly manna dull and demand something else, and God will let you have it — and leanness with it.
When the anger of God went up against them; and he slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
In the desert Israel demanded meat instead of the bread God was giving, and God said yes. The food was still in their mouths when His anger broke out — which raises the hardest question in the psalm: how can an answered prayer end in a grave? (Older translations read "the fattest of them" and "the chosen men of Israel"; the ESV has "the strongest" and "the young men of Israel.")
God answered them. The answer itself was the judgment.
It was very different with the people. They simply craved meat, and God in His displeasure gave them their desire. It is a solemn thing when the granting of our requests becomes a judgment. He gave them so much that they loathed it... Nor was that all: direct and immediate wrath fell upon them. There was no delay: "While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague." There was both the plague and the wrath.
God's power was on open display. It should have shamed them; instead it fed their appetite.
This wonderful display of God's power should have led them to condemn their murmuring. Instead they used it as an occasion for their lust, and so brought on themselves the consequences of their own folly in God's government. The chosen men of Israel were struck down.
They had every reason to stop and be ashamed, and they did not.
There was no repentance. Greedily they fell upon what God had provided. It was only to satisfy their lust; they did not see the giver behind the gift. The rebellious, stubborn heart, unrepenting, was there, using for their own destruction what the Lord had given. So came the severe judgment... Kibroth-Hattaavah means "graves of lust."
The plague was not a random sweep through the camp. It singled out one group.
God gave them their desire. Yet when the food was still in their mouths, His anger was so kindled against them that He "struck down the people with a very great plague" (Num. 11:33). The blow was clearly aimed at the strongest of them (v. 31), those foremost in the rebellion.
Israel had asked for meat once before, in Exodus 16, and God gave it with no punishment. What changed was not God, but the ground Israel now stood on.
I really believe we get what we want. If I want meat, God will give it to me, but with discipline and leanness of soul along with it... It was not like the first case, in Exodus 16, where they asked, and God gave them quails. Then they stood on the ground of pure grace. Now they stood on the ground of responsibility, and He acts differently. There it was sin met by grace; here it is sin judged in God's government.
Judgment this direct should have broken them. It did not — and that shows where unbelief lives.
So judgment picks out the fat ones, and the choice men of Israel are struck down. And with what effect? "In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite His wonders, they did not believe." This makes the source of unbelief perfectly plain: it lies in the heart rather than in the head.
The writers press this warning on the reader, not just on Israel.
They got what they longed for and found it death. They insisted on meat, and with the meat came the judgment of God. This is most solemn. May we heed the warning! The poor heart is full of empty desires and hateful lusts. The heavenly manna fails to satisfy. There must be something else. God allows us to have it. But what then? Leanness — barrenness — judgment!
- Asked. They wanted meat instead of the bread God was giving. He gave it to them — in displeasure.
- Given. God's power was on open display in the gift, but they never looked past it to the Giver.
- Unrepentant. They fell on the food without a flicker of repentance, turning God's gift into an occasion for lust.
- Struck. The blow landed while the food was still in their mouths, aimed at the strongest — those leading the rebellion. Even then they kept sinning, because unbelief sits in the heart, not the head.
- Warned. Getting what you crave is no proof of God's favour. It can arrive with discipline and leanness of soul attached.