Numbers 11:10 Commentary

Hitherto things had gone pretty well in Israel; little interruption had been given to the methods of God's favour to them since the matter of the golden calf; the people seemed teachable in marshalling and purifying the camp, the princes devout and generous in dedicating the altar, and there was good hope that they would be in Canaan presently. But at this chapter begins a melancholy scene; the measures are all broken, God has turned to be their enemy, and fights against them - and it is sin that makes all this mischief. I. Their murmurings kindled a fire among them, which yet was soon quenched by the prayer of Moses (Num 11:1-3). II. No sooner was the fire of judgment quenched than the fire of sin breaks out again, and God takes occasion from it to magnify both his mercy and his justice. 1. The people fret for want of flesh (Num 11:4-9). 2. Moses frets for want of help (Num 11:10-15). Now, (1.) God promises to gratify them both, to appoint help for Moses (Num 11:16, Num 11:17), and to give the people flesh (Num 11:18-23). And, (2.) He presently makes good both these promises. For, [1.] The Spirit of God qualifies the seventy elders for the government (Num 11:24-30). [2.] The power of God brings quails to feast the people (Num 11:31, Num 11:32). Yet [3.] The justice of God plagued them for their murmurings (Num 11:33, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 11 This chapter informs us of the complaints of the people of Israel, which brought the fire of the Lord upon them, and consumed many of them; and which, at the intercession of Moses, was quenched, and the place from thence called Taberah, Num 11:1; and of the lusting of the mixed multitude after flesh, to increase which, they called to mind their food in Egypt; and to show their folly and ingratitude in so doing, the manna is described, Num 11:4; and of the uneasiness of Moses, and his complaints of the heavy burden of the people upon him, Num 11:10; and to make him easy, it is promised, that seventy of the elders of Israel should partake of his spirit, and assist in bearing the burden, Num 11:16; and that the people should have flesh to serve them a whole month, Num 11:18; at which last Moses expressed some degree of unbelief, Num 11:21; however God fulfilled his promise with respect to both. Some of the spirit of Moses was taken and given to seventy elders, who prophesied, and two men are particularly taken notice of, who did so, Num 11:24; quails in great numbers were brought by a wind to the people; but while they were eating them wrath came upon them, and they were smitten with a plague, whence the place was called Kibrothhattaavah, Num 11:31; and from thence they removed to Hazeroth, Num 11:35.

Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families,.... So general was their lusting after flesh, and their discontent for want of it; and so great their distress and uneasiness about it, that they wept and cried for it, and so loud and clamorous, that Moses heard the noise and outcry they made: every man in the door of his tent: openly and publicly, were not ashamed of their evil and unbecoming behaviour, and in order to excite and encourage the like temper and disposition in others; though it may have respect, as some have observed, to the door of the tent of Moses, about which they gathered and mutinied; and which better accounts for his hearing the general cry they made; and so in an ancient writing of the Jews it is said (l), they were waiting for Moses until he came out at the door of the school; and they were sitting and murmuring: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; because of their ingratitude to him, their contempt of the manna he had provided for them, and their hankering after their poor fare in Egypt, and for which they had endured so much hardship and ill usage, and for the noise and clamour they now made: Moses also was displeased; with the people on the same account, and with the Lord also for laying and continuing so great a burden upon him, as the care of this people, which appears by what follows. (l) Siphri apud Yalkut in loc.

The people are exhorted to obedience from a consideration of God's goodness to their fathers in Egypt, Deu 11:1-4, and what he did in the wilderness, Deu 11:5, and the judgment on Dathan and Abiram, Deu 11:6, and from the mercies of God in general, Deu 11:7-9. A comparative description of Egypt and Canaan, Deu 11:10-12. Promises to obedience, Deu 11:13-15. Dissuasives from idolatry, Deu 11:16, Deu 11:17. The words of God to be laid up in their hearts, to be for a sign on their hands, foreheads, gates, etc., Deu 11:18, taught to their children, made the subject of frequent conversation, to the end that their days may be multiplied, Deu 11:19-21. If obedient, God shall give them possession of the whole land, and not one of their enemies shall be able to withstand them, Deu 11:22-25. Life and death, a blessing and a curse, are set before them, Deu 11:26-28. The blessings to be put on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal, Deu 11:29, Deu 11:30. The promise that they should pass over Jordan, and observe these statutes in the promised land, Deu 11:31, Deu 11:32.

MANNA LOATHED. (Num. 11:1-35) When the people complained it displeased the Lord, &c.--Unaccustomed to the fatigues of travel and wandering into the depths of a desert, less mountainous but far more gloomy and desolate than that of Sinai, without any near prospect of the rich country that had been promised, they fell into a state of vehement discontent, which was vented at these irksome and fruitless journeyings. The displeasure of God was manifested against the ungrateful complainers by fire sent in an extraordinary manner. It is worthy of notice, however, that the discontent seems to have been confined to the extremities of the camp, where, in all likelihood, "the mixed multitude" [see on Exo 12:38] had their station. At the intercession of Moses, the appalling judgment ceased [Num 11:2], and the name given to the place, "Taberah" (a burning), remained ever after a monument of national sin and punishment. (See on Num 11:34).

Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant, &c.--It is impossible not to sympathize with his feelings although the tone and language of his remonstrances to God cannot be justified. He was in a most distressing situation--having a mighty multitude under his care, with no means of satisfying their clamorous demands. Their conduct shows how deeply they had been debased and demoralized by long oppression: while his reveals a state of mind agonized and almost overwhelmed by a sense of the undivided responsibilities of his office.

When Moses heard the people weep, "according to their families, every one before the door of his tent," i.e., heard complaining in all the families in front of every tent, so that the weeping had become universal throughout the whole nation (cf. Zac 12:12.), and the wrath of the Lord burned on account of it, and the thing displeased Moses also, he brought his complaint to the Lord. The words "Moses also was displeased," are introduced as a circumstantial clause, to explain the matter more clearly, and show the reason for the complaint which Moses poured out before the Lord, and do not refer exclusively either to the murmuring of the people or to the wrath of Jehovah, but to both together. This follows evidently from the position in which the clause stands between the two antecedent clauses in Num 11:10 and the apodosis in Num 11:11, and still more evidently from the complaint of Moses which follows. For "the whole attitude of Moses shows that his displeasure was excited not merely by the unrestrained rebellion of the people against Jehovah, but also by the unrestrained wrath of Jehovah against the nation" (Kurtz). But in what was the wrath of Jehovah manifested? It broke out against the people first of all when they had been satiated with flesh (Num 11:33). There is no mention of any earlier manifestation. Hence Moses can only have discovered a sign of the burning wrath of Jehovah in the fact that, although the discontent of the people burst forth in loud cries, God did not help, but withdrew with His help, and let the whole storm of the infuriated people burst upon him. Num 11:11-14 In Moses' complaint there is an unmistakeable discontent arising from the excessive burden of his office. "Why hast Thou done evil to Thy servant? and why have I not found favour in Thy sight, to lay upon me the burden of all this people?" The "burden of all this people" is the expression which he uses to denote "the care of governing the people, and providing everything for it" (C. a. Lap.). This burden, which God imposed upon him in connection with his office, appeared to him a bad and ungracious treatment on the part of God. This is the language of the discontent of despair, which differs from the murmuring of unbelief, in the fact that it is addressed to God, for the purpose of entreating help and deliverance from Him; whereas unbelief complains of the ways of God, but while complaining of its troubles, does not pray to the Lord its God. "Have I conceived all this people," Moses continues, "or have I brought it forth, that Thou requirest me to carry it in my bosom, as a nursing father carries the suckling, into the promised land?" He does not intend by these words to throw off entirely all care for the people, but simply to plead with God that the duty of carrying and providing for Israel rests with Him, the Creator and Father of Israel (Exo 4:22; Isa 63:16). Moses, a weak man, was wanting in the omnipotent power which alone could satisfy the crying of the people for flesh. עלי יבכּוּ, "they weep unto me," i.e., they come weeping to ask me to relieve their distress. "I am not able to carry this burden alone; it is too heavy for me." Num 11:15 "If Thou deal thus with me, then kill me quite (הרג inf. abs., expressive of the uninterrupted process of killing; see Ewald, 280, b.), if I have found favour in Thine eyes (i.e., if Thou wilt show me favour), and let me not see my misfortune." "My misfortune:" i.e., the calamity to which I must eventually succumb.