The Rabble Among Us

“The rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at’” [NUMBERS 11:4-6].” [1]

Exodus the twelfth chapter records the exciting account describing how God freed His people from slavery. Though they had been slaves in Egypt for over four hundred years, God had never forgotten His people. The people may have felt as if they had been forgotten, but God never forgets His own. His people may suffer, but He notes every indignity, every slight, every vile act meant to degrade those whom He loves. In His time and according to His will, God acts to deliver His people from their servitude.

Israel had gone to Egypt at the invitation of the Pharaoh himself. Egypt was seen as a refuge at a time when Israel was threatened by famine. But what had at first appeared to be a refuge had become a prison for God’s chosen people. In the more than four centuries Israel had been living in Egypt, the Israelites had become slaves rather than guests. Now, in the account of their deliverance from Egypt, we read that there were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children who gathered to leave behind the land in which they had been long imprisoned. In addition to God’s beloved people, many other people chose to flee Egypt with them [see EXODUS 12:37-38].

These other people are identified as a mixed multitude in older translations of the Bible. In the text chosen for this message, this group is identified as “the rabble.” Soon, the rabble, those many other people who accompanied the people of Israel, began to complain. Stature and deliverance from the hard tasks that had been their lot was one thing, but trusting an unseen God to provide for them was quite another thing. Complaining against a gracious God was bad enough, but we discover that their complaining served to create dissatisfaction among the Israelites whom God delivered. The recently freed people of God were swept along by the cries of discontent until even they were willing to return to slavery, especially if they could garnish and flavour their meagre meals with cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic grown in the Nile delta. Thus, the rabble served not only as a distraction for Israel, but also a snare since God’s people were drawn into their distrust of the LORD Who had delivered them.

Throughout the Word of God is found a group, whether known as “the rabble” or as a mixed multitude, that seek to affiliate with the people of God. Saved and lost are together even in the Great Babylon at the end of this present dispensation. Man is incurably religious, but he is by nature in rebellion against the God of Heaven. There is inevitably pressure to unite into great religious endeavours, lowering the criteria for union to the least offensive unit, to the lowest common denominator. The consequence of unity without the Spirit of God is disastrous. Let’s explore this thought now.

THE RABBLE IDENTIFIED — “The rabble that was among them had a strong craving” [NUMBERS 11:4]. The text informs readers that the rabble that travelled with the people of Israel during the journey to the Promised Land had a strong craving. The craving that marked the rabble was a desire neither to know nor to follow the Lord GOD. The statement Moses provides is straight forward enough, designed as it is to simply give readers a background to understand what is about to happen. And what is about to happen is highly significant, especially for conscientious followers of the Son of God.

Before we ever explore what this craving might have been and why that craving was important to our understanding of the account, we might be well advised to ask who these people are who are designated as ‘the rabble.’” They are not Israelites, so we might question why they are integrated into Israel. We first meet these particular people in what Moses wrote when he described Israel’s exodus from Egyptian bondage. You will recall that Moses, in EXODUS 12:37-39, informs the reader, “The people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.”