    It is the nature of sinful human beings to make a bad situation worse. Israel had just been rocked by one rebellion, when the people of Israel allowed petty jealously to lead them into another. In doing so, another round of mayhem and death followed, prolonging the suffering of the nation.
    How often are we guilty of the same thing? We claim that we have forgiven others for things they have done against us, real or perceived, only to harbor silent resentment. Then, when some other thing occurs with those others, we flare right into the anger we have held.
    We see the lessons of such things so clearly in the behavior of Israel in the reading, but how often do we apply such lessons to our own lives? The purpose of having these stories is not just so that we can see the history of the coming of our Savior- granted such a story is important in its own right- but also to learn from the mistakes of those who came before us so that we can grow in our faith and not make the same mistakes again.
DLH
