Have you ever noticed the phenomenon that people sometimes remember things vastly different than they actually were? Maybe it is recalling how winters of yesteryear were harsher and rougher - or perhaps how they didn't have a care in the world when they were younger, while you know in fact that they did. The Israelites reach a point in Numbers 11 where they actually begin to pine for their days of slavery in Egypt, remembering how they had tasty morsels to eat, like cucumbers and leeks and onions. "We didn't know how nice we had it in slavery. Oh, if only we were back in good ol' Egypt!" they cry out (vs. 4-5).
This kind of complaining greatly displeases Moses - and the Lord. In a dramatic response to their pleas, God miraculously sends about three feet of quail to blanket their camp. They have meat to eat for a month! But before they can even enjoy it (while it is still between their teeth) the Lord strikes down many of them with a plague (vs. 33).
The people's Exodus from Egypt often serves as a spiritual metaphor in the Bible for the delivery out of sin that God works on behalf of His people. While once we were enslaved to darkness, we are now free to follow God in the light. The Israelites' yearning for their slavery in Egypt is akin to Christians' longing for acts of darkness and days of sin again. Don't fall for the lie that puts a glow and a happy face on the times when we were separated from God because of our rebellion! Don't look back with yearning to sin - look forward to the adventure of following God!
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