Twice Turned
The children of Israel, having been miraculously delivered from Egyptian slavery, took to grumbling: the heaven-sent manna diet, they said, was inferior to the menus offered in Egypt. They were not an easy crowd to lead.
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When the burden of leadership became too heavy for Moses, God gave him an administrative support team composed of 70 elders. "Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel," God instructed his servant in Numbers 11:16, "whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you."
That moment on the sands of exodus was the genesis of a judicial body known as the Grand Council. You might better know them as the Sanhedrin.
Now consider this: according to Paul, the "spiritual Rock that followed" Israel across the desert was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4) It was Jesus who spoke to Moses.
Let it sink in. The administrative help—the gift, if you will—provided to Moses slowly morphed, over the centuries, into the body that would plot to kill Jesus and convict Him of "blasphemy" in an illegal night trial. It was originally appointed by Jesus, but turned on Him. The council was established in the wake of chosen people murmuring against God; the murmuring grew until it became possible to slay God’s Son in an act of sheer hatred.
It makes you stop and think: if that's what was eventually done with the gift sent in Moses' day, what are you and I doing with the gifts God has given us? Is it possible that we might be able to take the gifts God grants us—intellect, ability, speech, music—and actually turn them against God?
It's something to think about.
Fortunately, God turned our evil act on its head and used our act of contempt to save us. In the prophetic words of Joseph, we can see Jesus' response to our wickedness: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Genesis 50:20)
