Numbers 11:1-35
1 And when the people complained,a it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
3 And he called the name of the place Taberah:b because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.
4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
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.
24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.
25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day'sc journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.
34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah:d because there they buried the people that lusted.
35 And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.
COMPLAINT ANSWERED BY FIRE
(vs.1-3)
Israel had reason for profound thanksgiving to the Lord, as believers certainly have today. Yet now they complained (v.1) without any reason for it. It is sad when one becomes a chronic complainer, but it is the very character of people generally, and believers too often resemble the ungodly world in this way. Because Israel had no definite occasion for this discontent, God sent fire among them in the outskirts of the camp. It does not appear that any person was burned, but the fire was intended to frighten them sufficiently that they would judge their complaining. The people appealed to Moses, who prayed again as an effective intercessor, and the Lord quenched the fire (v.2). The place was named Taberah, meaning "you may burn," which was therefore a warning to Israel (v.3).
THE MANNA DESPISED
(vs.4-15)
Following this, however, "the mixed multitude" found an occasion for which they complained (v.4). The mixed multitude were those who had attached themselves to Israel though not actually Israelites. They are similar therefore to mere professors of Christianity, not born again, and who therefore to mere professors of Christianity, not born again, and who therefore do not find pleasure in Christ, of whom the manna speaks. They lust after the things of the world. It was not that they lacked food, but the manna did not satisfy them.
The children of Israel however then took up the same complaint, for believers are always too ready to copy the selfishness of unbelievers. They remember that in Egypt they ate fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (v.5). But they forgot that this was connected with intolerable bondage! This is the reason for all departure from God's path. If we do not enjoy feeding on Christ we will crave the things of the flesh, things once enjoyed in a world that leaves God out.
We are told now that the manna was like coriander seed, and the people ground or beat it, then cooked it, making cakes of it. In Exodus 16:31 it was said to taste like wafers made with honey, while here we read its taste was like pastry prepared with oil (v.8). Do these things describe the way Israel perceived it at first, then the way it seemed to them later? If so, this is a lesson for us as to how we perceive the goodness that is in the Lord Jesus. Never is it true that Christ changes, but our appreciation of Him may too easily change, and we want something else besides Him. We are reminded again too that the manna fell when the dew first fell. So it was typically a provision of the Spirit of God (the dew). Of course God knew it possessed sufficient good nourishment to sustain the Israelites without any additional diet.
But the discontent spread like wildfire among the people, and they all wept, so that the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused and Moses also was displeased with them (v.10). However, in a state of discouragement Moses pleads with the Lord as to why He had made Moses a leader of such a rebellious people. He speaks of the Lord laying the burden of all this people on his shoulders (v.11), and asks, "Why?" Was he responsible for their birth? And where could he find meat with which to supply their demands? (vs.12-13).
SEVENTY ELDERS TO SHARE RESPONSIBILITY
(vs.16-30)
In gracious compassion toward Moses, the Lord asked him to gather seventy elders of Israel whom Moses knew to be reliable men, and the Lord would then take of the Spirit that was upon Moses and place this upon the elders that they might share in bearing the responsibility of the people's welfare (vs.16-17). We may well ask, would there now be more power for maintaining order than before? Not at all, for whether on one man or on many, it was the same Spirit of God, only that seventy-one were now sharing that power. If God intended Moses to do the work alone, He would give him grace and strength for it, yet He does show compassion for Moses' weakness.
As to the people's complaints, the Lord tells Moses He will give them meat, but that they would eat it, not only for a few days, but for a whole month, until it became loathsome to them (vs.18-20). Thus it is when we want our own way: God will allow us to have it until we feel the painful results of such selfish desires.
Moses protested to God that to provide meat for a month for 600,000 men besides women and children would require all the fish of the sea: he saw no possibility of supplying what God promised. Had Moses forgotten God's giving Israel the quails in Exodus 16:13, and also that God had been giving them sufficient manna for well over a year? No wonder the Lord answers, "Has the Lord's arm been shortened?" (v.23).
Before giving them meat, however, the Lord had Moses gather the seventy elders of Israel around the tabernacle, and He came down and took the Spirit that was upon Moses and placed the same Spirit on the seventy elders (vs.24-25). In demonstration of this the elders prophesied at the time, but only then.
When God had given His Spirit to the 70 elders of Israel, the elders had prophesied at the tabernacle. However, two of these men had not come to the tabernacle, yet the Spirit came on them and they prophesied in the camp. When someone told Moses of this, Joshua the assistant of Moses, urged Moses to forbid them to do this. He evidently felt they were infringing on Moses' rights, but Moses firmly reproved Joshua, asking if he was envious simply for Moses' sake. Moses was a man not interested in taking advantage of his rights as leader of Israel, but expressed the genuine wish that all the Lord's people were prophets by the Lord's giving them His Spirit. This humble attitude of Moses indicates why he was qualified for the work God gave him, though we know he did not himself choose that work.
QUAILS GIVEN BY THE LORD
(vs.31-35)
How astounding it must have been to Israel to see millions of quails brought by a strong wind to fall on both sides of the camp of Israel for a matter of miles and to a depth of three feet! Certainly God could have done this at any time, but it was an object lesson that ought to have profoundly humbled them in judging their unbelieving, complaining attitude.
However, it appears that rather than first humbly thanking God, the people immediately applied themselves to gathering the quails, and while the meat was still between their teeth, not even chewed or digested, the Lord struck them with a great plague that caused the death of those whose greed had activated them. If they had first been subdued to thank the Lord for this food, would He have brought this infliction? We may be sure He would not, for food is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:4). There at Kibroth Hattaavah these offenders were buried. Then Israel moved to Hazeroth (vs.34-35).