Numbers 11. The People Complain

The People Complain

And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³ So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

• Grumbling #1: Grumbling about their misfortunes.
• Taberah (תַּבְעֵרָה) “Burning” due to God striking the outskirts with fire
  • Was anyone hurt?

⁴ Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

• Grumbling #2: Grumbling about food
• All they had to eat was manna for the past year (Exodus 16: God first gives manna shortly after leaving Egypt, on the 15th day of the second month of Year 1)
  • I feel like I would grumble too :/
  • Was there nearby animals they could have hunted? What about their cows?

⁷ Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. ⁸ The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. ⁹ When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

• Similar to Exodus 16 description
  • Manna descriptions:
    • Exodus 16:14 fine and flake-like, like frost
    • Exodus 16:31 like coriander seed, white
    • Numbers 11:7 appearance like bdellium
    • Exodus 16:31 tasted like wafers made with honey
    • Numbers 11:8 prepared manna tasted like cakes baked with oil
• Exodus connects the name מָן (man, “manna”) with the Israelites’ question מָן הוּא (man hu), “What is it?” (Exodus 16:15).

¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. ¹¹ Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ¹⁴ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

• Grumbling #3: Moses Grumbles
• Moses has a BREAKDOWN to God:
  • “Why have you dealt ill with your servant?…… 
  • Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,…….
  • If you will treat me like this, kill me at once
• Why does Moses question God after everything that happened – like, why not take a pause and see what happens?

Elders Appointed to Aid Moses

¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 

• Seems like such a calm response to Moses!
• Are these the 70 of Exodus 24?

¹⁷ And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. 

• We are called to help bear each others’ burdens

¹⁸ And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹ You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, ²⁰ but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” ²¹ But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ ²² Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” ²³ And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”

• NKJV says “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened?” which made me laugh …not sure if it was supposed to be sarcastic to Moses.

²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.

• This is the first time we see the Spirit coming onto a group of people at once.
• Unsure what the prophesying looked like, or if it was inteligible

²⁶ Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” ²⁹ But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” ³⁰ And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

• The Hebrew word for prophesy is נָבָא (nava) and a prophet is called a נָבִיא (navi)
• Eldad and Medad didn’t go up with the rest of the 70 but stayed in the camp, but the Spirit still fell on them
  • Why didn’t Eldad and Medad go up as commanded?

Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 

Moses – Numbers 11:29

Quail and a Plague

³¹ Then a wind from the Lord sprang up,

• רוּחַ (ruaḥ) means “wind” and is same word for “Spirit” in previous paragraph!

and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground. ³² And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail.

• I was a bit confused becuase I thought quail came with the manna every evening (Exodus 16) but the other quail event was a one time thing.

Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

• Ten homers is INSANE – that is thousands of quail

³³ While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. ³⁴Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. ³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

• God providing quail for them was not a blessing- sometime’s God gives us what we want/demand but it does not satiate us like God’s plan
• Kibroth-hattaavah קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה means graves of craving