18. What illustration of bad association is given to us in Numbers 11:4-34?

¹⁸ A historical example of the effect of bad associations even among Jehovah’s people was furnished in the wilderness of Sinai in Moses’ day. We remember the “vast mixed company” that went along with the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. (Ex. 12:38) Concerning this non-Israelite element, the prophet Moses tells us:

And the mixed crowd that was in the midst of them [the Israelites] expressed selfish longing, and the sons of Israel too began to weep again and say: “Who will give us meat to eat?

19. How does that experience of the Israelites with the “vast mixed crowd” in the wilderness show that we cannot hold God responsible for bad effects from our chosen environment?

¹⁹ Thus that “vast mixed crowd” set things in motion among the Israelites. Unsatisfied with Jehovah’s provision of bread from heaven, they turned back in their hearts to Egypt because of selfishly longing for things once enjoyed in that idolatrous land. (Ps. 105:40) They made their belly their god, because they brought along selfish longing for the material comforts of demon-controlled Egypt. (Phil. 3:19) So they infected the Israelites with such an appetite. For the time being they proved to be bad associates for Jehovah’s chosen people Israel. This historical example serves as a good warning for us today. We cannot make God responsible for the bad effects that we reap from the bad environment that we select.

Numbers 11:4-34;