WHAT YOU NEED TO EAT 4
When the
Lord brought his people from Egyptian bondage, he led them through the
wilderness to prove them, and try them. He promised to be their God, and to
take them to himself as his peculiar treasure. He did not prohibit their eating
meat, but withheld it from them in a great measure. He gave them food which he
designed that they should have, which was healthy, and of which they could eat
freely. He rained their bread from Heaven, and gave them purest water out of
the flinty rock. He made a covenant with them, that if they would obey him in
all things, he would put no disease upon them. But the Israelites were not
satisfied with the food which God gave them. They murmured against Moses and
against God, and wished themselves back in Egypt, where they could sit by the
flesh pots. God in his anger gave them flesh to gratify their lustful appetite,
and great numbers of them died in the act of eating the meat for which they had
lusted. While it was yet between their teeth the curse of God came upon them.
God here teaches his people that he is displeased with their permitting their
appetite to control them. The Israelites at times would prefer slavery, and
even death, rather than to be deprived of meat.
The curse did not come all at once. It
was first felt at Adam's fall, and increased at the murder of Abel, and greatly
increased at the flood. Since the flood, as the human family have forgotten
God, and have followed in a course of disobedience, and have transgressed his
commandments, the curse has rested heavier and heavier upon men and upon the
beasts. The trees and all vegetation also have felt the effects of the curse.
All through the inspired history are exalted blessings promised upon the people
of God on conditions of obedience, and curses threatened for disobedience.
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