Orthodox Commentary

Question 1

Desire (thoughts on Israel grumbling in the desert)

Answer 1

In itself, desire is a blameless passion. But if it is not controlled, it can go astray and become a sinful passion—for example, gluttony. Now the children of Israel and the Gentiles who came with them out of Egypt were grumbling about food, which, in turn, caused them to lose control of their desires. This resulted in gluttony (v. 32). Their belly became their god (Php 3:19). Grumbling and gluttony are an evil combination.

This place was called Burning (v. 3) because the Lord hates grumbling, which is an expression of ingratitude. This was written to admonish us not to grumble, complain, and murmur about things we may not like (1Co 10:10, 11). Grumbling is one of the sins that undermines spiritual stability:

Question 2

Repentance

Answer 2

To repent is to do a total “about-face.” The word in Greek literally means to “change one’s mind.” Repentance is a radical change of one’s spirit, mind, thought, and heart—a complete reorientation to a life centered in Christ