Numbers 11:22

_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._ Moses said ... Shall the flocks and the herds be slain? The great leader, struck with a promise so astonishing as that of suddenly furnishing, in the midst of the desert, more than two million people with flesh for a whole month, betrayed an incredulous spirit, surprising in one who had witnessed so many stupendous miracles. Of course, he thought only of its being accomplished in the natural and ordinary course of things. Their flocks and herds, numerous as they were, would soon be diminished and exhausted by the consumpt of so vast a horde. And the problem which was insoluble to Moses was, from what other natural source the supply was to come. OR SHALL ALL THE FISH OF THE SEA BE GATHERED TOGETHER FOR THEM, TO SUFFICE THEM? This al...

16-23 Moses is to choose such as he knew to be elders, that is, wise and experienced men. God promises to qualify them. If they were not found fit for the employ, they should be made fit. Even the discontented people shall be gratified too, that every mouth may be stopped. See here, I. The vanity of all the delights of sense; they will cloy, but they will not satisfy. Spiritual pleasures alone will satisfy and last. As the world passes away, so do the lusts of it. 2. What brutish sins gluttony and drunkenness are! they make that to hurt the body which should be its health. Moses objects. Even true and great believers sometimes find it hard to trust God under the discouragements of second causes, and against hope to believe in hope. God here brings Moses to this point, The Lord God is Almighty; and puts the proof upon the issue, Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or not. If...

Verse Numbers 11:22. _SHALL THE FLOCKS AND THE HERDS BE SLAIN_] There is certainly a considerable measure of _weakness_ and _unbelief_ manifested in the complaints and questions of Moses on this occasion; but his conduct appears at the same time so very _simple_, _honest_, and _affectionate_, that we cannot but admire it, while we wonder that he had not stronger confidence in that God whose miracles he had so often witnessed in Egypt....

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

SHALL THE FLOCKS AND THE HERDS BE SLAIN FOR THEM, TO SUFFICE THEM?.... Suggesting that if all their cattle, their sheep, and oxen were killed, which they and the mixed multitude brought out of Egypt, they would not be sufficient for them to live upon a whole month; and intimating also, that it would be an unwise thing, and very improper, to slay them all, were they sufficient, since then they would have none for sacrifice, or to breed when they came into the land of Canaan; the Targum of Jonathan is, "shall the sheep that are in Arabia and the oxen that are in Nabatea be slain for them, and be sufficient for them?'' OR SHALL ALL THE FISH OF THE SEA BE GATHERED TOGETHER FOR THEM TO SUFFICE THEM? of the great sea, as Jonathan; which, to gather together, is, humanly speaking, impossible; indeed, if it could be done, they would not suffice such a number of people a month together: Moses ta...

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...

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

JOURNEYINGS FROM SINAI TO MOAB (NUMBERS 10:11 TO NUMBERS 22:1) After a stay at Sinai of nearly a year (cp. Numbers 10:11 with Exodus 19:1) the signal is given for the breaking up of the camp. This second division of the book of Numbers relates the wanderings in the wilderness, and covers a period extending from the second to the fortieth year of the exodus: see Numbers 33:38; Deuteronomy 1:3. But as the events recorded in...