MURMURS IN THE WILDERNESS
Dena Ivie
A. Introduction
B. Syllabus
A. INTRODUCTION
The Egyptians greatly oppressed the Israelites after "...there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). God spoke to Moses from the bush which burned, but was not consumed. He told Moses, "Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:9-10).
Shortly after the first request Moses and his brother Aaron made to Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, the Israelites began murmuring. Recorded in God’s word are 15 occasions of murmuring done by the Israelites during the 40 year period of wandering in the wilderness. You will recall this 40 years of wandering came about because of the disobedience of the Israelites.
It will be helpful if you will read the entire books of Exodus and Numbers, before or during this study, in order to have a better understanding of all this. If possible, also read Deuteronomy as it retells and helps to reinforce these thoughts in our minds.
Many might ask the value of studying a part of the history of the Israelites (the Jewish nation). God’s word answers that:
"Nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Corinthians 10:10-11, NKJV).
We study these things because they are examples and were written for our admonition. We study these because they were written for our learning.
"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4).
We shall study many of these occasions of murmurings and consider:
the complaint, the reaction (or reactions), the reply (or replies), and the result.
We shall also make applications from these lessons for our lives today.
B. SYLLABUS TITLE DATE DUE
Lesson 1 Two Occasions of Murmurs .................... March 8
Lesson 2 Three Occasions of Murmurs.................. March 15
Lesson 3 One Occasion of Murmurs....................... March 22
Lesson 4 Four Occasions of Murmurs.................... March 29
Lesson 5 One Occasion of Murmurs....................... April 5
Lesson-6 Two Occasions of Murmurs..................... April 12
Lesson-7 Two Occasions of Murmurs..................... April 19
Lesson-8 What applications can we make for our lives today?...April 26
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Dena Ivie