Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people.
Speaker 2: Ah, that'd sell a finger for one drop of dew
Speaker 2: on my tongue.
Speaker 1: They've let us in, our children, straight into the desert
Speaker 1: with no plan.
Speaker 3: What about our children? God just parted an entire sea
Speaker 3: for you people.
Speaker 4: As we speak, a cloud of smoke is before us
Speaker 4: to guide us to paradise.
Speaker 3: You'd hear you are whining like children.
Speaker 2: We won't last at this raid anyway. We don't have
Speaker 2: any food.
Speaker 3: That's why this thief wanted to steal my goats.
Speaker 5: The Egyptians were the lucky ones.
Speaker 3: They got to die a swift death under the sea.
Speaker 5: We're going to wither away under the sun.
Speaker 3: Remember when we were in Egypt, we sat around pots
Speaker 3: of meat and ate all the food we wanted.
Speaker 4: Your constant complaining is kept me up at night. Your
Speaker 4: childish whining is an insissant drip at won't end lucky
Speaker 4: for you. I am not God.
Speaker 3: If I was, I wouldn't be so patient.
Speaker 6: We're nearly out of water, Moses, what are you gonna
Speaker 6: do about it?
Speaker 5: Give us water to drink?
Speaker 4: And what have you been keeping from us? Why do
Speaker 4: you quarrel with me as if I'm the one withholding
Speaker 4: from you.
Speaker 1: Each day God provided food, But each day the people
Speaker 1: grew anxious and tried to save more. Yet day after
Speaker 1: day God provided for their needs. They were His children,
Speaker 1: his chosen people. He would not let them fall.
Speaker 7: Why have you put this burden on me?
Speaker 4: God?
Speaker 7: Am I their mother? What a refrain from Moses or
Speaker 7: the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders? Shallo,
Speaker 7: my friends from here in the Holy Land, I'm yea
Speaker 7: el Exstein with International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Welcome
Speaker 7: to the Chosen People. Each day we'll hear a dramatic
Speaker 7: story inspired by the Bible, stories filled with timeless lessons
Speaker 7: of faith, love, and the meaning of life. Through Israel's story,
Speaker 7: we'll find this truth that we are all chosen for
Speaker 7: something great. Now let's begin. The people of Israel are
Speaker 7: free at last, But freedom has a cost. The Chosen
Speaker 7: People aren't ready for the wilderness, not its hunger, not
Speaker 7: its thirst, not its silence. And it's in this silence
Speaker 7: that their cries sound once more, not cries of faith,
Speaker 7: but of complaint. When does longing become entitlement? When does
Speaker 7: desperation turn into disdain for the one who delivers?
Speaker 1: Caleb Strode blithely through the camp in the dim pre
Speaker 1: dawn light, nodding to the other soldiers stationed here. On
Speaker 1: the eastern side of the Israelite camp. The men of
Speaker 1: tribes Judah, Isuka, and Zebulun were greeting him as eagerly
Speaker 1: as he was greeting them. Despite the long, weary watch
Speaker 1: in the desert night, the sight of Caleb approaching lifted
Speaker 1: the spirits of every soldier. Since the battle with the
Speaker 1: Amalekites two years prior, Caleb had earned not just experience
Speaker 1: but the respect of his men. Rising swiftly through the
Speaker 1: ranks of Judah's leadership, he had secured a place in Nashon,
Speaker 1: son of Aminadab's trusted circle. As Caleb made his way
Speaker 1: to relieve the night watch, he greeted early rises and
Speaker 1: comrades alike with a smile, a grasp on the shoulder,
Speaker 1: bore a friendly word. He glanced at the pillar of
Speaker 1: fire glowing above the tabernacle, soon to change to a
Speaker 1: clod at dawn. It always filled him with awe, a
Speaker 1: reminder of God's guiding presence and the faithful rituals Aaron
Speaker 1: and the priests led in their mourning ascension Offering this
Speaker 1: daily surrender to God brought Caleb comfort. Though desert life
Speaker 1: was routine, marching, packing the morning Manner and the Divine Pillar,
Speaker 1: he found solace in the repetition, knowing that the real
Speaker 1: adventure would come when they claimed the promised land. As
Speaker 1: the sky brightened over the peaks, dew formed on the
Speaker 1: sand and shrubs, heralding the arrival of Manner, Caleb paused
Speaker 1: at the camp's edge where early risers began collecting their share,
Speaker 1: and nodded to his fellow tribesmen. The soldier named Nariah.
Speaker 1: He was sitting with a few other soldiers and two
Speaker 1: other lieutenants from their neighboring tribes on the eastern front
Speaker 1: of camp Egal of Tribe Isaka and Gadie Yell of
Speaker 1: Tribe Sepula.
Speaker 6: Lieutenant Caleb, come join us around the fire before you
Speaker 6: take your post. If you haven't yet broken your past,
Speaker 6: you can wait for the monitor, boil and eat with us.
Speaker 1: Caleb sat beside the men and warmed his hands over
Speaker 1: the crackling fire while they waited for the sticky manner
Speaker 1: to solidify in the hot water.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Mariah, that's very generous of you. I have
Speaker 2: some time before I meet.
Speaker 6: It must be nice to be in charge, begging the
Speaker 6: pardon of my superiors Egal and Gaddiel.
Speaker 1: Here Ego, a lieutenant like Caleb, rolled his eyes but
Speaker 1: showed no offense. He seemed all too familiar with Narah's complaining.
Speaker 4: You'd never beg anyone for anything, you proud fool.
Speaker 6: Well, you're both still on night watch with me, so
Speaker 6: you can't be that important to your tribal leaders.
Speaker 4: That's true enough. And we're all eating the same lassy manner,
Speaker 4: no matter our ranking.
Speaker 5: From foot soldiers to captain, we're all eating mana, nothing
Speaker 5: but bland, dull mana.
Speaker 1: For years now, Caleb knew the night Watch left the
Speaker 1: men in low spirits. The desert's harsh cold was as
Speaker 1: brutal as the day's heat. The extremes of this land
Speaker 1: still amazed him, so unlike Egypt's mild, nile tempered climate.
Speaker 1: The men's biting sarcasm clashed with Caleb's even keel nature.
Speaker 1: He had no patience for cynicism.
Speaker 2: Brothers. Just think, once we take the land, promise to
Speaker 2: us we will never need to eat manna again. You
Speaker 2: will feast on the fruit of our crops and recline
Speaker 2: on wool stuffed bed rolls from our plump herds. You
Speaker 2: will finally have a land to call our own and
Speaker 2: enjoy the yield of all our hard work.
Speaker 6: Don't even get me start it on the condition of
Speaker 6: my bed. Everywhere we can, I managed to find the
Speaker 6: rockiest place to pitch my tent.
Speaker 4: Cal Ford brother, Lieutenant Caleb doesn't want to hear you complain.
Speaker 2: A girl is not wrong, Arah, You should mind your tough.
Speaker 2: Without the provision and protection from the Lord, we would
Speaker 2: still be slaves back in Egypt. Don't forget that.
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, I won't complain in front of our paragon,
Speaker 6: Lieutenant Caleb. Instead, I'll just tell you some of the
Speaker 6: complaints I've heard from other corners of the camp, namely
Speaker 6: the foreigners among us, the Cushites.
Speaker 2: And the like.
Speaker 4: Their numbers are growing every day. I don't remember leaving
Speaker 4: Egypt with so many of them. What here they are
Speaker 4: eating our manner and benefiting our protection.
Speaker 5: Remember all the rich foods we had in Egypt, the
Speaker 5: bounty and variety. Remember cucumbers, Remember melons, leeks, onions, Remember garlic.
Speaker 1: More sighs and murmurs of agreement rippled through the men
Speaker 1: it was true there was little variety in their diet.
Speaker 1: Manner sustained them, and though they occasionally had meet their
Speaker 1: flocks and herds were too valuable to spare except for
Speaker 1: offerings to the Lord.
Speaker 5: Why we even had beer to wash it all down?
Speaker 1: That stirred the biggest response yet. Side conversations flared among
Speaker 1: the men, and bystanders gathered to join in the complaints
Speaker 1: and memories of Egypt. They quieted as Noarah began to
Speaker 1: speak again.
Speaker 6: But no, now it's mana every day, and cold, hard
Speaker 6: beds at night, and grueling travel all day.
Speaker 4: Ah, I remember all the fish we had in Egypt.
Speaker 6: Ah aye, fish is like a distant memory. What I
Speaker 6: wouldn't give for the meat they speak of? When was
Speaker 6: the last time any of you had a proper meat?
Speaker 1: A small crowd began to form around their fire. They
Speaker 1: murmured in agreement as Nariah continued to wax poetry about
Speaker 1: how good they had it in Egypt, complaints of contagious
Speaker 1: from caleb advantage point, Nariah was a walking disease.
Speaker 6: I'm just going to say, well, we're all thinking maybe
Speaker 6: we didn't have it so bad in Egypt.
Speaker 1: The crowd began to nod their heads.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, what was so bad about it?
Speaker 5: Anyways? We had enough food, we had breaks to laugh.
Speaker 6: We still have roofs over our heads.
Speaker 2: What are you saying? Do you hear yourselves?
Speaker 5: Can you blame us for complaining? Lieutenant Caleb, aren't you
Speaker 5: sick of Mana?
Speaker 6: Aren't you stiff every day and tired of all the
Speaker 6: moving about?
Speaker 5: Don't you miss the solid walls of our homes.
Speaker 8: In Egypt, the food and the drinking, why even the
Speaker 8: music and the dancing.
Speaker 4: We have nothing out here.
Speaker 2: I think we need to keep our troubles in perspective.
Speaker 2: This desert is not our whole, will not be this
Speaker 2: way forever.
Speaker 5: Yes, but why can't the Lord spare us some of
Speaker 5: that bountiful harvest he has waiting for us in Canaan?
Speaker 5: Would that be so terrible? Isn't he capable of anything?
Speaker 5: Why deny us what would please us?
Speaker 3: Instead?
Speaker 6: Our appetites are gone, our lives are wasted here.
Speaker 1: Caleb frowned again. What he was hearing was so displeasing
Speaker 1: and disheartening that he could tell from the mood of
Speaker 1: the small crowd that they would not be swayed.
Speaker 2: You are being fools. Listen to ourselves.
Speaker 4: Are you really pining after Egypt the whips too?
Speaker 2: How about the sight of your children being beaten?
Speaker 1: Kleb rose to his feet and turned on his heels
Speaker 1: to leave. The other two lieutenants, Eagle and Gadiel, followed suit.
Speaker 1: Thinking Kleb was out of earshot. Nariah loudly announced his
Speaker 1: departure to relieve himself in the desert, but not before
Speaker 1: tossing a parting complaint to the group about the boiling manner.
Speaker 6: Maybe I'll go and grab Moses's stab while I'm out here,
Speaker 6: so I can use it to turn that manna into
Speaker 6: something more appealing.
Speaker 1: The grumblers laughed at Noriah's jab. Caleb hadn't gone far
Speaker 1: when the morning sun illuminated the valley and he noticed
Speaker 1: the pillar of flame shift to a cloud. He did
Speaker 1: a double take. The normally calm, swirling column now crackled
Speaker 1: with lightning, fierce and erratic.
Speaker 2: Something's happening, some things wrong.
Speaker 1: Suddenly, the bolts of lightness shot from the clue toward them. Blinded,
Speaker 1: Caleb fell back, shielding his eyes. Another crack of lightning
Speaker 1: lit up the sky, and Caleb watched in horror as
Speaker 1: Noarah was engulfed in flames. His screams tore through the
Speaker 1: dawn as fire consumed him. Caleb's shock deepened when he
Speaker 1: saw the others of the fire also ablaze. The Lord
Speaker 1: had answered their complaints. Their cries turned to silence. The
Speaker 1: Lord's anger had burned against them. Even before opening his eyes,
Speaker 1: Moses sensed something was wrong. The Lord's righteous anger was palpable,
Speaker 1: and the screams and panicked shouts outside confirmed his fears. Groaning,
Speaker 1: he rose from his bed roll and splashed cold water
Speaker 1: on his face. As he stepped out of the tent,
Speaker 1: Ho Sheer appeared pale and breathless, falling into step beside him.
Speaker 9: Tell me, Ho Sheer, what have they done? They'd been burned, Moses,
Speaker 9: The Lord struck them down. They were already calling the
Speaker 9: area Tipperah Blaze, because they were also to blaze. It
Speaker 9: was only the edge of the camp, but there were
Speaker 9: rumors that people were unhappy and grumbling about the manner
Speaker 9: they cried for Egypt and her unsatisfied with living Traveling.
Speaker 1: In the desert, Moses stopped in his tracks and tried
Speaker 1: to leash his mounting anger. This again, the complaining, how
Speaker 1: short were their memories? How could they forget the horrors
Speaker 1: of their enslavement so quickly, the cruelty of their oppressors.
Speaker 1: Before Hoshir could continue, Aaron and Miriam closed in and
Speaker 1: added to the reports.
Speaker 10: Have you heard what happened?
Speaker 1: Moses nodded. Still, he did not trust himself to speak
Speaker 1: without cursing or murmuring insults. His anger was simmering just
Speaker 1: below a boil.
Speaker 4: Now infuriated as you, brother, all this commotion over food,
Speaker 4: have we not suffered enough?
Speaker 10: Have they not learned?
Speaker 8: It's these foreigners that travel with us, the Kushites, med Jay's, Libyans, Asiatics,
Speaker 8: whoever they are, the heathens that are leading our people astray.
Speaker 8: They complain about the lack of variety and the blendness
Speaker 8: of our food, disregarding our meager resources.
Speaker 4: And now we will have people clamoring to kill our
Speaker 4: livestock for meat.
Speaker 8: I blame the rabble of foreigners for bringing this upon us.
Speaker 8: They've tempted our good people into.
Speaker 4: Sin, like Eve was tempted by the serpent. We've been
Speaker 4: betrayed by our senses and our appetites. Once again, Yes,
Speaker 4: you're right, and it's only a matter of time until
Speaker 4: enough enough, enough of this blame game, throwing insults around?
Speaker 4: Is it going to correct the flimsy faith of our people.
Speaker 4: They don't need an excuse for their lack of faith.
Speaker 8: Ah.
Speaker 4: And if other refugees from other nations desire to peacefully
Speaker 4: join us, I will not turn them away. I made
Speaker 4: the same offer to my father in law, Jethro he'lsen.
Speaker 3: Some of his lability join us.
Speaker 4: Will you reject them too? The Lord promised our forefather
Speaker 4: Abraham that he would bless the nations who blessed him.
Speaker 4: Who are we to deny them that promise.
Speaker 1: Aaron and Miriam stood silently before him. Moses could tell
Speaker 1: they disagreed, but did not want to push the topic further.
Speaker 4: I'll deal with their bigotry later. For now, we have
Speaker 4: to figure out how to quell these whiners.
Speaker 1: After dismissing Aaron and Miriam, he and Hoshia moved through
Speaker 1: the camp. What Moses saw only fueled his rage. The
Speaker 1: people wept, some for the dead, but most for their
Speaker 1: perceived hardships and lack of comforts. The people faith was fickle,
Speaker 1: their memories short, and their gratitude nonexistent. Moses clenched his
Speaker 1: jaw and fists until he was sore. A cacophony of
Speaker 1: wines and complaints filled the camp, family after family, weeping
Speaker 1: at the entrance of their tents, pining after Egypt again.
Speaker 1: As the complaints rose, so did the Lord's anger. Moses
Speaker 1: could sense it mounting. With the billowing cloud above, Moses
Speaker 1: needed to escape this suffocating camp. The people's wails grated
Speaker 1: on his nerves. He dismissed Hosher and wandered beyond the
Speaker 1: camp's edge to cry out to the Lord.
Speaker 4: Why have you brought such trouble on me? You must
Speaker 4: be angry with me? Why else would you burden me
Speaker 4: with all these people? Am I their mother? Did I
Speaker 4: carry them in my womb?
Speaker 6: No?
Speaker 4: Then? Why could I endure their infantile christ day and night?
Speaker 1: Ahhh?
Speaker 4: What am I going to do? Where can I get
Speaker 4: meet to give all these people? I can't carry all
Speaker 4: these people by myself.
Speaker 3: They're too much for me.
Speaker 4: If you are going to treat me like this, just
Speaker 4: kill me right now. If I found favor with you,
Speaker 4: and don't let me see my misery anymore.
Speaker 1: Moses knew he was being hyperbolic, but felt helpless. The
Speaker 1: burden of leading these people had pushed him to his limit.
Speaker 1: The Lord didn't respond immediately. Moses pulse pounded in his ears,
Speaker 1: his vision still red with anger. In the quiet of
Speaker 1: the wilderness, with only his ragged breathing breaking the silence,
Speaker 1: he sensed the Lord's present stirry, The divine anger simmering
Speaker 1: at the edge of his awareness all morning, began to
Speaker 1: fade with it. Moses's own rage subsided, leaving only bone
Speaker 1: deep weariness. He was exhausted, and the weight of leadership
Speaker 1: felt insurmountable.
Speaker 10: Bring me seventy elders from Israel, take them to the
Speaker 10: tent of meeting, and have them stand there with you.
Speaker 10: I would take some of the spirit who is on
Speaker 10: you and put the spirit on them. They will help
Speaker 10: you bear the burden of the people, so you do
Speaker 10: not have to bear it alone.
Speaker 1: Even as the Lord spoke to Moses about sending him help,
Speaker 1: Moses felt the tension in his shoulders loosen and his
Speaker 1: breath became easier.
Speaker 10: Then you will tell the people consecrate yourselves in readiness
Speaker 10: for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. Because you wept
Speaker 10: in my hearing, saying, who will feed us meat? We
Speaker 10: were better off in Egypt. I have heard your cries.
Speaker 10: I will give you meat, and you will eat. You
Speaker 10: will eat not for one day or two days, or
Speaker 10: five days days, or ten days or twenty, but for
Speaker 10: a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils.
Speaker 10: It becomes nauseating to you, because you have rejected me
Speaker 10: and wept before me, saying why did we ever leave Egypt?
Speaker 1: Moses trembled at the Lord's anger. Where would such an
Speaker 1: abundance of meat come from in the desert? The memory
Speaker 1: of the quail that once covered the ground after their
Speaker 1: escape from Egypt surfaced an extraordinary provision that had been
Speaker 1: a fleeting moment of satisfaction. Since then, there had only
Speaker 1: been manner. The undercurrent of anger in the Lord's voice
Speaker 1: made Moses uneasy. It sounded as though the people's cravings
Speaker 1: would be sated, but not in the way they would expect.
Speaker 4: I am in the middle of a people with six
Speaker 4: hundred thousand foot soldiers and millions more. When you consider
Speaker 4: the women and children, Yet you say I will give
Speaker 4: them meat and they.
Speaker 3: Will eat for a month.
Speaker 4: If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they
Speaker 4: have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea
Speaker 4: were caught for them, would they have enough?
Speaker 10: Is the Lord's arm weak. Now you will see whether
Speaker 10: or not I have promised will happen to you.
Speaker 1: The Lord's response only made Moses tremble more than before.
Speaker 1: He felt the presence lift and took it as his dismissal.
Speaker 1: Moses hurried to obey the words of his God and
Speaker 1: called the men who had become his elders to gather
Speaker 1: before him. The sun began sinking into the horizon, and
Speaker 1: the day's heat begrudgingly began to release its grip. Caleb
Speaker 1: loosed a sigh and welcomed the relief. It had been
Speaker 1: a very tense day on the eastern front of Israel's camp,
Speaker 1: and the searing sun and blistering heat had only sapped
Speaker 1: Caleb's emotional energy, now down to its reserves, a sensation
Speaker 1: Caleb really experienced. He mustered a week but encouraging smile.
Speaker 1: As his friend, Eagle of tribe Isaka, approached him. Egal
Speaker 1: took the night's watch and relieved Caleb from his post.
Speaker 3: Lieutenant Caleb, lieutenanty Gal, how was the day's watch? Did
Speaker 3: you hear what happened to those who gorged themselves on
Speaker 3: the quail?
Speaker 2: I heard? I cannot say I am surprised, though, after
Speaker 2: what happened to the men who were openly complaining against
Speaker 2: the Lord.
Speaker 3: You weren't there to see their faces.
Speaker 4: Though the meat of the quail was still between their teeth,
Speaker 4: and before it was even chewed, he was struck with
Speaker 4: a plague. I've never seen anything like it.
Speaker 3: I don't think I will ever forget it.
Speaker 4: I would not say this in front of our men,
Speaker 4: but from one lieutenant to the other, I think I've
Speaker 4: had enough of the supernatural the last me a lifetime.
Speaker 1: Kleb met Eagle's haunted gaze, weighing how to steady a
Speaker 1: man teetering on the brink of despair. Word had already
Speaker 1: swept through the camp about the grim aftermath of the
Speaker 1: quail's sudden arrival. Two days prior, an inexplicable wind from
Speaker 1: the sea had driven thousands of quail into the camp,
Speaker 1: flying so low that people only had to reach out
Speaker 1: to catch them. The sight of exhausted birds blanketing an
Speaker 1: area nearly four hundred square miles had sent the Israelites
Speaker 1: into a frenzy. Driven by insatiable hunger. They had abandoned
Speaker 1: sleep and their daily tasks, scrambling to gather and feast
Speaker 1: on the sudden bounty, but Kleb's unease had grown as
Speaker 1: he watched the scene. What should have been met with
Speaker 1: gratitude had quickly devolved into greed. The people's excitement bordered
Speaker 1: on frenzy, and he couldn't ignore the gnawing worry that
Speaker 1: something was amiss. The afternoon confirmed his fears. Cries of
Speaker 1: pain began to echo through the camp as the greediest
Speaker 1: those who took more than their share, suffered sudden fatal illness.
Speaker 1: Some choked on the very meat they had craved, collapsing
Speaker 1: lifeless to the ground among the scattered dead birds. The
Speaker 1: stories had left. Caleb haunted himself, but he Eager and
Speaker 1: the others of their station had a duty to their
Speaker 1: unit of men to hold fast and keep their faith.
Speaker 1: Taking a steadying breath, Caleb reached deep for the last
Speaker 1: of his resolve and met his friend's eyes with a firm,
Speaker 1: reassuring look.
Speaker 2: I know, Egaw, this grave business doesn't sit right with
Speaker 2: me either, But I do know that we must steal
Speaker 2: our nerves. Have our men take heart. We must hold
Speaker 2: the promises of our God and keep his commands. He
Speaker 2: is refining us here in the desert and through our hardships.
Speaker 2: We cannot keep looking behind us and claiming that our
Speaker 2: bondage was better. We press on to freedom, We press
Speaker 2: on to abundance, We press on to victory.
Speaker 4: Ah right, you are looting at Caleb, young leader of Judah.
Speaker 6: Ha ha.
Speaker 4: I will need to do better in my own leadership
Speaker 4: over my tribe. Judah may lead us all when we march,
Speaker 4: But Isikar is right on your heels. May we rise
Speaker 4: to stand at your right side in battle when it
Speaker 4: comes to it.
Speaker 2: Brother, I'm sure when the time comes you.
Speaker 3: Will What a story.
Speaker 7: It's raw, it's real. It's not the version we tell
Speaker 7: in children's book books, where faith is always strong and
Speaker 7: hearts are always pure. No, this one is different. It's
Speaker 7: a glimpse into the human condition. How quickly we forget,
Speaker 7: how quickly we turn away from the very God who
Speaker 7: has saved us and who still saves us. And Moses
Speaker 7: I can feel the weight he carried, the frustration, the
Speaker 7: sheer exhaustion of leading a people who would rather look
Speaker 7: back at Egypt than forward to the promised land. It
Speaker 7: makes me wonder how often do we long for the
Speaker 7: familiar chains of our past when the freedom of the
Speaker 7: unknown feels like too much to bear. For my daughter's birthday,
Speaker 7: I didn't buy her an expensive gift, not because I couldn't,
Speaker 7: but because she didn't need it. Instead, I gave her
Speaker 7: something way more valuable. I gave her a day together,
Speaker 7: a whole day at the beach, just the two of us,
Speaker 7: no distractions, just the lap of the waves, this unwarming
Speaker 7: her skin, and the simplicity of being fully present with
Speaker 7: one another. The truth is it was a gift that
Speaker 7: couldn't be wrapped, but it was far more precious than
Speaker 7: anything money could buy, and it was a gift that
Speaker 7: neither of us will forget ever. We live in a
Speaker 7: time of overwhelming abundance, don't we look around? We have
Speaker 7: more than our ancestors ever dreamed of, and yet somehow
Speaker 7: we always feel like we're missing something. Everywhere we turn,
Speaker 7: advertisements scream at us, pointing out what we don't have,
Speaker 7: telling us that happiness is just one more purchase away.
Speaker 7: But when we fixate on what we lack, we lose
Speaker 7: sight of what we already have. Isn't that a lot
Speaker 7: like today's episode. The people of Israel were in the desert,
Speaker 7: sustained each by the mana from heaven, the miraculous bread
Speaker 7: from God. It could taste like anything they desired, enough
Speaker 7: to satisfy their every need. But they complained not because
Speaker 7: the mana wasn't enough, but because it didn't look like much.
Speaker 7: It was the same. Day after day, the Israelites started
Speaker 7: longing for the foods of Egypt. The onions, the garlic,
Speaker 7: the leaks. The very place of their slavery now looked
Speaker 7: better to them than the freedom that they had. Jewish
Speaker 7: tradition teaches us who is rich the one who takes
Speaker 7: joy in what they already have, And that is so
Speaker 7: true and so relevant for the Israelites then and for
Speaker 7: us now. Israelites had a miracle right in front of them.
Speaker 7: They had freedom, they had food, They had God following
Speaker 7: their every footsteps, making sure that they were safe and
Speaker 7: provided for. But their hearts were set on what was missing,
Speaker 7: and so they felt poor. How often do we do
Speaker 7: the exact same thing. When we focus on what we lack,
Speaker 7: will always feel empty. But when we turn our eyes
Speaker 7: to the blessings already in our lives, we discover the
Speaker 7: richness that was there all along. It's time, my friends,
Speaker 7: to shift our perspective to see the mana in our
Speaker 7: own lives, and to realize that true joy comes not
Speaker 7: from having more, but from recognizing the gifts that are
Speaker 7: already in our hands. The Israelites complaint in the story
Speaker 7: isn't just about food?
Speaker 4: Is it? Yes?
Speaker 7: And verse five they complain bitterly about food. They say,
Speaker 7: we remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost,
Speaker 7: also the cucumbers, melons, leaks, onions, and garlic. But the
Speaker 7: great Bible commentator Rashi is very skeptical about this. He
Speaker 7: points out that the Egyptians would not even give free
Speaker 7: straw to the Hebrew slaves to make their bricks, so
Speaker 7: why would he give them fish at no cost? Rashi asks,
Speaker 7: how could they say that the fish was free? And
Speaker 7: he answers his own question. He says, they were free
Speaker 7: from the commandments. In this case, when Israelites used the
Speaker 7: word free, what they really were showing was nostalgia for
Speaker 7: life in Egypt without all of the laws and restrictions
Speaker 7: that they received at Mount Sinai from God. Even free
Speaker 7: fish would not have mitigated the horrible lives of the slaves.
Speaker 7: And this is a great lesson for us today when
Speaker 7: we start reminisce about the good old days. Let's also
Speaker 7: remember that maybe they weren't all that great. We need
Speaker 7: to live in the present and accept its challenges, not
Speaker 7: to create a rosy picture of the past, which is
Speaker 7: often less than accurate. More responsibility means a greater opportunity
Speaker 7: to rise higher as the Chosen People.
Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with Isle Eckstein
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Speaker 1: made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina,
Speaker 1: Max bod Zach Shellavaga and Ben Gammon are the executive
Speaker 1: producers of The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, Edited by
Speaker 1: Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold,
Speaker 1: Sylvia Zaradoc and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore.
Speaker 1: Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Bree Rosalie and
Speaker 1: Aaron Salvato. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin,
Speaker 1: kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, and the team at International Fellowship
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