Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

contagious, and it soon spread in the camp.
Again they began to demand meat to eat. Many of the
Egyptians among them had been used to a rich diet, and these were
the first to complain.
God could have provided them with meat as easily as with
manna, but His aim was to supply food better suited to their needs.
The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state
so that they could enjoy the food originally provided for the human
family, the fruits of the earth which God gave to Adam and Eve in
Eden. This is the reason the Israelites had been largely deprived of
animal food.
Satan tempted them to think of this as unfair and cruel. He saw
that filling every desire of their appetite would tend to produce
sensuality, and by this means the people could be brought under his
control more easily. From the time he convinced Eve to eat the
forbidden fruit, he has, to a large extent, led men into sin through
appetite. Intemperance in eating and drinking prepares the way to
ignore all moral standards.
God brought the Israelites from Egypt so that He could
establish them in the land of Canaan as a pure, holy, and happy
people. If they had been willing to deny appetite, they would not
have experienced any weakness and disease among them. Their
descendants would have possessed physical and mental strength,
clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discernment, and good
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