Lusting After Food
Consider the fickle crowd. One moment they are wanting flesh (meat) to eat; the next moment they lamenting the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt (and neglecting to remember their former status as slaves). In their lust for flesh to eat and unthankful complaints about manna, they speak hyperbole and declare: "now our soul is dried away" (Num 11:6 KJV). In this they resembled hungry Esau in Genesis 25:31-32 who also engaged in costly hyperbole when he declared he was so hungry that he was about to die. Esau: "Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?" The fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24) include temperance or self-control. Managing our desires for food are part of self-control. Soon, the Almighty sent quail to the Israelites to eat (Numbers 11:31-33) but while the flesh of the quails was still between their teeth a deadly plague also came among them.
