The book of Numbers is not a book we normally spend much time with, much less one where we expect to find a word about God's abundant grace. Nevertheless, the First Reading for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, is exactly that. Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 is a story about how God's spirit is given to the elders of Israel. It is given in such a way that it conjures up the Pentecost celebration of Acts 2, where those anointed begin to prophesy. The preacher of this text will have much good news to share and celebrate.
(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but are best used alongside other fine sets of questions with other concerns. These questions are part of a method that seeks to explore the function of the Word in the text, a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers. For more on this method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wipfandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? The Word functions here as both Law and Gospel. In the early verses, the failure of the people and Moses to trust God is front and center. This is the Law, for it declares our utter need for a Savior. God's response to the whining of the people as well as Moses is pure Gospel, for God's grace is abundant. In verses omitted we learn that the people are given what they crave - meat - but in our text we learn that something much more important is shared in abundance: God's spirit. What a gracious God we have!
2. With whom are you identifying in the text? It is always important to identify with those to whom the Word is spoken, and in this text that could be any number of people. We could choose to identify with the people of Israel who doubt God's provision. We could identify with Moses, a burned out leader. We could identify with the elders upon whom God's spirit rests, or even Eldad and Medad, who receive the spirit in absentia.
3. What if any, call to obedience is there in this text? The only place where we are invited to live in a certain way in response to God's grace is at the very end of the story, where Moses invites us to play no favorites when it come to accepting those to whom God gives the spirit. It is not an imperative, but an implied one akin to Jesus statement in the gospel lesson for this Sunday, "Whoever is not against us, is for us."
4. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? Not the vocabulary, but the situation in the text, gives us a few ideas: hungry/filled; burned out/refreshed; burdened/given help.
5. Exegetical work: The intensive form of the Hebrew verb is used twice in this passage, highlighting the state of the speakers. First, in verse 4 we are told that the rabble "had a strong craving" for meat. This is correct, but it belies the emotion behind it. The verb following, which is translated "weeping," gives more a notion of how intense their whining was. In verse 15 it is the emotions of Moses that are revealed through the intensive form. The translation of Moses' words is "put me to death at once," but it might better be translated as "slay me, I beg you, completely". Again the emotion is better conveyed in the Hebrew. It is telling that in describing the whining of the rabble and of Moses the intensive form is used. Another interesting note is that in verse 25 where it is reported that the spirit rested upon the elders, the lexicon informs us that the prophesy that resulted suggests the elders are found in an ecstatic state. (The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, p. 612). This strongly suggests the Pentecost moment in Acts 2.
6. Consider the insights of the pioneers of the New Homiletic? Henry Mitchell regularly exhorted us to celebrate all we can in our preaching and what better time than to do it here. God's grace is abundant, so much so, that the Spirit cannot be contained even by those who received it. Even those who are absent the "official" giving of the Spirit receive it. Let's celebrate!
Blessings on you proclamation!
P.S. The wild goose is the ancient Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit.
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