The Israelites in the Wilderness (23 Iyar)

by Fr. Mark Wojdelski, FSSP

(This is part of a series of articles, and will make little sense without the introductory articles: (1) , (2), (3), and (4).  There are more than four articles in the series, but the first four are very important to understanding the conceptual framework.  There is also an index of all articles that includes a calendar with links for convenience.

In this part of the lunar calendar, we continue to accompany the Israelites on their Exodus out of Egypt.  The correspondences with the Roman liturgy continue.  We have already to seen some of what happened in the second month after the Exodus in one of the first articles on this topic. By way of brief reminder: on what corresponds to the fourth Sunday after Easter in the Roman liturgical calendar, the people begin to receive manna from heaven, which they would continue to receive for the entire time of their wandering in the desert. We have seen (above) that this date, no matter what else might have been going on, was a Sunday, specifically the 16th day of the second month, called Iyar.1  They continued to journey after this, with the manna sustaining them.  According to an old tradition, they make it a whole week before complaining again.2 On the 23rd day of Iyar (also a Sunday in this arrangement) we read:

All the congregation of the sons of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.  Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”  So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”  And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go.  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the fault-finding of the sons of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the test by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex 17:1-7)

Now, the fact of the human body’s need for water on a fairly regular basis in order to avert death allows us to establish that the Israelites’ request for water in the desert was not nearly so frivolous as e.g. the desire for the fleshpots of Egypt because one tires of the food that one has (we will see this later on). God knows that the people are thirsty, and He will provide water in due time. God mildly rebukes the Israelites, but does not afflict them for their reasonable petition. Their fault did not consist in asking, but in asking wrongly, i.e. without faith. Even Moses appears to be at the end of his rope, perhaps fearing the mob (and death) when he expresses his fear of being stoned, as though God could not rescue him from every harm.3 If we despair of obtaining some earthly good that we need very much, that is not a sin against hope, but it might be a sin against faith if we do not believe that God will provide for us in our need (and our greatest need is to be with Him in heaven).

We can contrast this with what happens exactly one (lunar) year later. Keep in mind what has happened in the intervening time. The Israelites continued on to Mt. Sinai, where they remained until the following year “in the presence of God,” as it were. Their time there was not without incident.

Less than seven weeks after arriving at the holy mountain, the Israelites committed the sin of idolatry with the golden calf and the covenant was broken. In witness of this, Moses smashed the tablets of the law in the sight of the people. Moses then had to remake the covenant between God and the Israelites, making a new pair of tablets. This took place traditionally on 10 Tishri, the Day of Atonement, after Moses had spent another 40 days on the mountain in the presence of God. After his return with the new tablets, the tabernacle and the ark could be constructed, and these were assembled on the first day of Nisan in the second year of the Exodus. The Israelites remained there a bit longer, then:

In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the covenant, and the sons of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. They set out for the first time at the command of the Lord by Moses. (Num 10:11–13)

So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.  And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, whenever they set out from the camp. And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered; and let them who hate you flee before you.” And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” (Num 10:33–36)

Three days’ journey would bring them to the afternoon of 22 Iyar:

Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving; and the people of Israel also wept again, and said, “O that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for 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.” (Num 11:4–6)

As was observed above when we were looking at the first 23 Iyar, it was perfectly reasonable for the Israelites to desire water, a basic necessity of life. This “craving” the people have now is holding the gifts that God is already providing (manna) in contempt, the exact opposite of gratitude.

Moses then spoke to the Lord and He told him:

And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.  You shall not eat one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,  but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come forth out of Egypt?” ’ ” But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to satisfy them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?” And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Num 11:18–23) And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose all that day, and all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails; he who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.  While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. (Num 11:31–33)

A “homer” in this context is about 9 gallons of volume, so imagine two big barrels almost filled with quail per person.  This would be more than anyone could eat or even process before the meat spoils, and that spoilage might have been the very cause (on the natural level) of the plague that they suffered. This story is meant to remind us that God will provide for us, as He did for them (with the manna) but if we put Him to the test He will “reward” us with more than we can possibly handle, and this might overwhelm us. We must remember that it is important to be content with the blessings that God has given to us, and not to wish for more than we have been given, unless it is God’s will. The manna came to them for the first time on a Sunday morning, the first day of the week. Now that they despise the manna, they are stuffed with quail and punished with a plague. If we imagine that the Exodus began on a Friday, then after a (lunar) year, this second round of quail would come on Thursday, 23 Iyar. They gather “all day, all night, and all the next day” (Friday) and then they are struck with a plague. Is it a coincidence that eating meat on Friday leads to a plague? This time, most likely.

This leads to the connection to be made with the Roman liturgy. The twenty-third day of Iyar in our artificial calendar corresponds to the fifth Sunday after Easter. This Sunday serves as an introduction to the lesser Rogation Days, which occur on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday leading up to Ascension Thursday. The lesser (or minor) Rogation days were originally a local custom and were introduced by St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne, some time in the fifth century. They did not appear in Rome until the time of Leo III (795-816).4  Nevertheless, the fifth Sunday after Easter, at least as it appears in the Roman missal, serves as a very appropriate introduction to them and may have influenced their placement. What would not have influenced their placement, but is certainly interesting in the context of this long study of seemingly random coincidences, is that they were originally instituted in response to a local plague.

In the gospel for the 5th Sunday after Easter, our Lord says, “Amen, amen, I say to you: if you ask the Father any thing in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto, you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.” (Jn 16:23–24)

We are meant to understand by this, and from the two stories from the book of Exodus that we can tie into this, that all our prayers of petition must be made well, in a spirit of thanksgiving, whether the petition is granted or not. It would be preferable also, as we saw from the story of the quail, if our petition is not tied a spirit of ingratitude, as though what we have is somehow not sufficient for us at that exact moment. If our hearts are conformed to the heart of Jesus, then we will always ask the Father in the name of His Son, just as he asked the Father in the garden of Gethsemani, “Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” (Lk 22:42) All of our prayers made in such a spirit are answered. Often the answer is “no,” but it comes with knowing God’s will in a particular case. It is worth reiterating that every prayer of petition made in this spirit will result in God’s will being done, and we the petitioners gain merit from it, no matter what the result, and so thanksgiving (at least in our minds) must come before and after every prayer of petition, or it is scarcely prayer at all.