Numbers 11:15

_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._ Moses said unto the Lord ... 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 series of the undivided responsibilities of his office....

10-15 The provocation was very great; yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him. He undervalued the honour God had put upon him. He magnified his own performances, while he had the Divine wisdom to direct him, and Almighty power to dispense rewards and punishments. He speaks distrustfully of the Divine grace. Had the work been much less he could not have gone through it in his own strength; but had it been much greater, through God strengthening him, he might have done it. Let us pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation....

Occurrences at Kibroth-hattavah. Numbers 11:4 THE MIXT MULTITUDE - The word in the original resembles our “riff-raff,” and denotes a mob of people scraped together. It refers here to the multitude of strangers (see Exodus 12:38) who had followed the Israelites from Egypt. Numbers 11:5 The natural dainties of Egypt are set forth in this passage with the fullness and relish which bespeak personal experience. Numbers 11:6 THERE IS NOTHING AT ALL ... - literally, “Nought at all hav

EXPOSITION KIBROTH HATTAAVAH (Numbers 11:4). NUMBERS 11:4 THE MIXED MULTITUDE. Hebrew, _ha_-_saphsuph, _the gathered; the rift-raft, or rabble, which had followed the fortunes of Israel out of Egypt, where they had probably been strangers and slaves themselves. What the nature and the number and the fate of this rabble were is a matter of mere conjecture and of some perplexity. There does not seem any room for them in the regulations laid down for Israel, nor are they mentioned in any other place except at Exodus 12:38. In Le Exodus 24:10

AND IF THOU DEAL THUS WITH ME,.... Let the whole weight of government lie upon me, and leave the alone to bear it: KILL ME, I PRAY THEE, OUT OF HAND; take me out of the world at once, or "kill me now, in killing" n; dispatch me immediately, and make a thorough end of me directly: IF I HAVE FOUND FAVOUR IN THY SIGHT; if thou hast any love for me, or art willing to show me a kindness, to remove me by death, I shall take as one: AND LET ME NOT SEE MY WRETCHEDNESS; or live to be the unhappy man I shall be; pressed with such a weight of government, affected and afflicted with the wants of a people I cannot relieve, or seeing them bore down with judgments and punishments inflicted on them for their sins and transgressions I am not able to prevail upon them to abstain from: so the Targum of Jerusalem, "that I may not see their evil, who are thy people;'' so Abendana, and in the margin of s...

II. THE JOURNEY STARTED: ISRAEL'S UNBELIEF, FAILURE AND PUNISHMENT 1. The Departure and the First Failure CHAPTER 10:11-36 _ 1. The cloud moves (Numbers 10:11)_ 2. The standard of the camp of Judah (Numbers 10:14) 3. The standard of the camp of Reuben (Numbers 10:18) 4. The standard of the camp of Ephraim (Numbers 10:22) 5. The standard of the camp of Dan (Numbers 10:25) 6.The first failure (N

NUMBERS 11:4 (JE). THE PEOPLE'S LUST FOR FLESH AND MOSES-' COMPLAINT OF HIS EXCESSIVE BURDEN. This section is a combination of two narratives (from J and E), relating (1) a demand of the people for flesh (instead of manna), which was satisfied by a flight of quails; (2) a complaint of Moses that the responsibility of leadership was too great for him, which was met by the appointment of 70 elders to assist him. But the separation of the two stories cannot be effected with perfect confidence, and some verses may originally have stood in a different context. NUMBERS 11:4. THE DISCONTENT WITH THE MANNA, AND THE DESIRE FOR FLESH. The complaint about the lack of flesh is inconsistent with the possession by Israel of the flocks and herds implied in...

MY WRETCHEDNESS. Should be "thy evil", evil being put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6. One of the eighteen emendations of the Sopherim. See App-33. WRETCHEDNESS. Hebrew. _ra'a'._ See App-44, put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for punishment due, see above....

AND IF THOU DEAL THUS WITH ME, KILL ME, &C.— "If I must carry this heavy burden to the end of my days, I entreat of thee, O my God! as an especial grace, that thou wouldst hasten my last moment, _that I may not see my wretchedness;_—that I may not see myself reduced to still greater evils." To see death, and to die; to see salvation, and be saved; to see affliction, and be afflicted, are synonimous expressions in Scripture. REFLECTIONS.—Moses heard the general murmur, and was justly displeased; and God also beheld with anger their base ingratitude. Had Moses rested here, he had done well; but impatience at their perverseness, and despair of supporting the burden of such a people, seem to have provoked him to speak unadvisedly with his lips. He finds fault with that charge which was his highest honour; and wishes for that death with impatience, which he should wait for with resignation. _...

E. BITTER EXPERIENCE AT THE GRAVES OF LUST (KIBROTH-HATTAAVAH), vv. 4-35 TEXT Numbers 11:4. And the mixed 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 garlic; 6. But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes. 7. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium. 8. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground 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 ange