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(Numbers 11:10-23)

10. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.

11. And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?

and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

12. Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

13. Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

14. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

15. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

16. And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them;

and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

17. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

18. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

20. But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

21. And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

22. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

23. And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. (Numbers 11:10-23)

The burden of dealing with an ungrateful people was becoming intolerable to Moses. The fire of God’s judgment had nearly destroyed many of the people, but they were again weeping with

self-pity over their lot (v. 10). Moses was weary enough to long for death to relieve him of this burden of leadership over a nation of ingrates. Moses felt that he, a man, was in effect being required to be a wetnurse to a nation of babies. The image is deliberately an impossible one: how can a man be a wet-nurse to a whole nation of cry-babies (vv. 11-12)? The demand of the people lacked all common sense. Their herds of livestock were in the main needed for breeding stock in the Promised Land. Only an occasional one could be used for meat. They were demanding continuous miracles from God and Moses, miracles designed to satisfy their demands. Their attitude was, if we are God’s chosen people, then we should have abundant supplies and no problems. Like so many since, they had a fairy-tale belief in God, not a living faith.

Moses, in praying to God, called attention to two problems. First, there was the demand of the people for meat. How could he meet that? God promised a miraculous answer which would supply Israel with a month’s supply of meat. At the same time, it would be a judgment upon them all, so that God’s apparent blessing would become a curse.

Second, coping with all the complaints of the people was exhausting Moses. He was weary enough to long for death as a relief. Earlier, the system of elders had been established. (The root of the word “elder” in Hebrew means “bearded one.”) These were men who ruled over Israel, an elder over ten families, elders over hundreds, and then thousands, with seventy elders at the top (Ex. 24:1, 9). Now God declared that, by His Spirit, He would empower the seventy elders who presided over all Israel to enable them to help Moses bear the burden of the people (Num. 11:16-17). Their duties had previously been familial and tribal; now they were to assist Moses in the religious government of all the people.

Moses had prayed for God’s help. God’s answer directed him to human help, hardly the answer Moses wanted. However, if God’s people were going to grow, they would have to learn to govern themselves under God. The seventy elders became a partial blessing to Moses; the meat God soon gave to the people proved to be a curse. We cannot ask God’s miracles to replace human responsibilities without judgment.

In v. 21, Moses refers to 600,000 men he must deal with; these are the heads of families. Feeding them all meat seemed an impossible task.

Some armchair scholars are very critical of Moses’s prayer. They see him as having committed the same sin as the people. It is obvious that God did not see things that way! We are told in v.

10 that “the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly.” If God felt that way, would He expect Moses to react with sweetness and light? Where God does not condemn Moses, it is presumption and sin for men to do so. Yet one commentator goes so far as to speak of Moses’s “tantrum.”⁵⁹ Others are not as harsh, but too many seem to believe that Moses should have been a Stoic. The simple fact is that Moses was weary, and he felt inadequate for the task of dealing with an ungodly people.

As we shall see in the verses that follow our text, the seventy elders brought in to assist Moses were above all else filled with the spirit to prophesy (vv. 24-27), to proclaim God’s word to all who were near. Thus, their first and foremost task was to witness in the Spirit to God’s requirements and to support the testimony of Moses. Since these seventy elders were called by

God to assist Moses, it follows that their prophesying was to declare God’s judgment on Israel for rebelling against God and Moses. Nothing God did through these men had any purpose other than to support and uphold Moses, and the word of God through Moses. It was anger over that authenticated word that led soon thereafter to the rebellion headed by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram as leaders of 250 princes (Num. 16:1- 3). The premise of the rebels was that their word was as good as the word of Moses and the seventy elders.

Sin is sin wherever it occurs. In Numbers 11:4, we see that the sin began in the riffraff; it continued on through all Israel, and it included important princes. Lesser abilities do not excuse sin, nor greater abilities and status. Sin is always sin in God’s sight and without excuse.

Superficially, the issue here was food. The people complained about manna and vividly recalled their diet in Egypt. If we accept their version, we join them in their sin. Sinners always have reasonable and logical explanations for their actions and demands. They are adept at using reason to vindicate sin. God tells Moses to tell the people what their real sin is: “... ye have despised the LORD which is among you” (v. 20). Our Lord declares, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). The people knew that God was in the camp in a special way; Christians no less know the promise of Matthew 18:20. In both instances, the conclusion of God is the same wherever a complaining and whining spirit prevails: Ye have rejected or despised the Lord (Num. 11:20).

When God declared that He would provide meat for all the nation, Moses was startled, and he reminded God of the number of families involved. God was patient with Moses because Moses was not showing unbelief but bewilderment. God’s answer was short and to the point: “Is the LORD’s hand waxed short?” (v. 23). God who had sent ten plagues on Egypt, parted the Red Sea, destroyed the Egyptian army, and fed His people with manna, could also provide them all with meat. As our Lord tells us, “with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27).

Israel, to prepare itself to receive the meat God promised, was required to sanctify itself to be ready for the meat which would arrive the next day (v. 18). While Moses told the people of this requirement, we are not told whether or not they complied (v. 24).

According to John Urguhart, an area was discovered which was probably the camp site of this incident. About forty miles from Mount Sinai there are indications of a large and ancient encampment, with remains extending for miles around. Evidences were found of many graves.⁶⁰

Israel at this point resembled too many modern societies: it wanted all the advantages of slavery at the same time as freedom. Slavery, whether called socialism or anything else, offers security, whereas freedom requires responsibility and is full of risks. The slave mentality will distrust freedom under God.

To return to the requirement of sanctification or consecration before the meat was given, the promised meat was God-provided, miraculously given, and, as N.H. Snaith commented, it “is a sacred meal and the people must be ritually clean in order to eat it (cf. Gen. 35:2; Ex. 19:10).”

This is “a sacred meal, but one for punishment and not for new life and strength.”⁶¹ It was a form

of communion, and therefore of judgment because of their ungodliness. There is an apt comment on this in the Apocrypha, The Wisdom of Sirach, 39:27:

All things prove good to the godly,

Just as they turn into evils for the sinful. (Goodspeed trans.)

Thomas Scott very aptly described Israel’s problem at this point, while warning us of a like sin:

Fallen man is a discontented creature: for having forsaken his proper rest, he feels himself uneasy and wretched how much soever he is prospered or distinguished.⁶²

Scott’s comment tells us also why a chapter once popular with preachers is now neglected;

discontentment and whining are now too often seen as evidences of sensitivity by “noble” souls.

God’s judgment on Israel was not a gentle one. According to v. 20, for a whole month they would have meat but would also be smitten with an ailment which would have them vomiting violently even through their nostrils. God is obviously not the Person of sweetness and light some would prefer Him to be. Years ago, I heard one profane and blasphemous man say of the God revealed in this and like passages that He sounded like a mean and lean Scotchman! Perhaps he had John Knox, a man he detested, in mind. At any rate, he now, no doubt, knows more about the matter, having most likely died himself.