Penolin,

I haven't had chicken soup. I'm totally robbed. I could find some ... ach, the effort of that sentence alone. It's too much. I mean if its not in that can with the flip lid then forget it. I have some sort of flu-ish thing also. Still have an elevated temp of some kind and achy joints. And today I feel I have just enough energy to feel bad about not being productive. Though I felt bad yesterday, I didn't care. But then what have I been doing these last weeks. I can't say. I think there were some books read and such. Lots of tv. Granted. I did actually scale down my netflix subscription to 1 at a time. I realized I had that power. Just now. About an hour ago. I also had a banana and an orange.

next.

So, the plague was because the people were being all rabble rousers. Which I love that the translation of the word actually exists in the bible. ⁴ The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. ⁶ But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"

next.

¹⁸ "Tell the people: 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. ¹⁹ You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?" ' "

skip to the end.

³¹ Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction. ³² All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. ³³ But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. ³⁴ Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

Now I used to read OT stuff with the words, aw man that's HARSH, alot. And now, there's, i think, only one OT story that makes me bummed out, was when one specifically assigned dude was told not to touch the ark of the covenant while he was carrying it, and the load started to tumble and he reached out and touched it and was struck dead. I'm always like, yikes. Because you know, good intentions and all that, and "its natural" but an important lesson on enabling people right? Sometimes you have to let stuff fall and that God is God and its going to be ok, because you're not and if he gave you a command you should totally follow it even if the consequence looks disasterous to you, and couldn't he have gotten a warning card instead. But then it sounds like he had a complete lack of faith, and that he felt he needed to right what God couldnt? Anyway. There's more there but lets get back to the quail.

These rabble apparently were also I think, non-israelites, aka pagans, but more imporantly they were just stirring up shit and reeking havoc on peace and invading peoples discipline and patience with God by bringing trouble and dissent- and naturally they just complained, there weren't any direct appeals to God. Just a whole bunch of bitter herbs. Keep in mind the manna supernaturally appeared every night and God routinely appeared via clouds and light or some such. I think what was most funny to me was the divine justice aspect of it all and that God was so there and present but it didnt matter- when we want things like lets say netflix and then suddenly we have so much netflix we're ignoring everything else and we're gagging on it because we have so much of it. Maybe it's like a basic cable analogy vs. a premium package cable analogy. I can't decide. But either way Kahle and I snickered and sort of laughed like, oh, the Lord, he's awesome. Dramatic flare and all that. Sure people died but taken in a larger context those people probably sucked, and were sucking the life out of everyone around them- like toxic mold or asbestos. And Moses was in turn beseeching the Lord and God was like, problem solved.

Until they start complaining again.
Its a pretty fantastic love story. But at least God is trying to work it out with them. I don't think he's an indiscriminate smitter.... and the quail would've been a delicacy... too much of a good thing and all that. Oh netflix, why. why. why.