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Numbers 11

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The Burning at Taberah 1–3

1
And when the people complained, 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: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them. ​

The Demand for Meat and Moses’ Despair 4–15

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. ​

God Appoints Seventy Elders 16–23

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. ​

The Spirit Rests on the Elders 24–30

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.

Quail Sent and Judgment at Kibrothhattaavah 31–35

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's 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: because there they buried the people that lusted. ​
35
And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 11

Verse 1

the fire of the LORD burnt among them — ‘Complained’ is anan, a word found only here and in Lam 3:39. The fire reaches ‘the uttermost parts of the camp’, as fire from the LORD does again in Lev 10:2 and Num 16:35. It stops only when ‘Moses prayed unto the LORD’ (v.2).

Verse 3

Taberah — The name means ‘burning’ and comes from the verb ba’ar, the ‘burnt’ of this very verse. Moses recalls the place by name in Deut 9:22: ‘And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to wrath.’ It is the first of the two places in this chapter named for a judgment (v.34).

Verse 4

fell a lusting — The Hebrew says they ‘lusted a lust’ (avah with its noun ta’avah), the same phrase Ps 106:14 uses of this event: ‘lusted exceedingly in the wilderness’. The ‘mixt multitude’ (asapsuph, a gathered rabble) occurs only here. Paul sets the episode forth as an example (1 Cor 10:6).

Verse 5

in Egypt freely — Chinnam means ‘for nothing’, free of cost. The fish and vegetables are remembered as costing nothing, while Scripture says Egypt ‘made their lives bitter with hard bondage’ (Ex 1:14). Earlier the people had longed for ‘the flesh pots’ (Ex 16:3).

Verse 7

coriander seed… bdellium — Ex 16:31 gives the same likeness: ‘like coriander seed, white’. Bedolach, bdellium, appears elsewhere only in Gen 2:12, among the good things of Havilah. The ‘colour’ is literally the ‘eye’ (ayin) of bdellium. The name was given in Ex 16:15, 31.

Verse 10

every man in the door of his tent — The weeping goes up ‘throughout their families’, at each tent entrance. ‘Displeased’ is ra’a, ‘was evil in the eyes of Moses’, the same verb he uses in v.11, ‘Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?’ The LORD’s anger is ‘kindled greatly’, as in v.1.

Verse 11

the burden of all this people — Massa is a load carried, the word of v.17, where the elders ‘shall bear the burden of the people with thee’. ‘Afflicted’ is the verb ra’a of v.10. Moses lays the weight before the LORD, and the LORD answers by sharing it (vv.16–17).

Verse 14

alone — Bad, ‘by himself’. Moses speaks the same words to the people in Deut 1:9, ‘I am not able to bear you myself alone’, and the LORD’s reply in v.17 answers it: ‘that thou bear it not thyself alone.’ ‘Bear’ is nasa, the verb of the ‘burden’ (massa) in v.11.

Verse 15

kill me, I pray thee, out of hand — The Hebrew doubles the verb ‘kill’, which the KJV renders ‘kill me… out of hand’. Elijah makes a like request under the juniper tree (1 Kings 19:4), and Jonah after the sparing of Nineveh (Jonah 4:3). Here the LORD answers with the seventy (v.16).

Verse 16

seventy men of the elders — Seventy of the elders of Israel had gone up with Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu in Ex 24:1, 9. ‘Officers’ is shoter, the title borne by Israel’s own foremen in Egypt (Ex 5:14). They are brought to ‘the tabernacle of the congregation’ to ‘stand there with thee’.

Verse 17

I will take of the spirit — ‘Take’ is atsal, to set apart a portion, as in Esau’s words to Isaac in Gen 27:36, ‘Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?’ The spirit (ruach) on Moses is shared with the seventy so that they ‘bear the burden of the people with thee’. The LORD says he will ‘come down’ to speak with Moses there.

Verse 20

until it come out at your nostrils — ‘Nostrils’ is aph, the word translated ‘anger’ in vv.1 and 10 and ‘wrath’ in v.33. ‘Loathsome’ is zara, found only here. Ps 106:15 records the outcome: ‘he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.’ ‘A whole month’ is literally ‘a month of days’.

Verse 21

six hundred thousand footmen — The figure is the count of the men of Israel on foot: ‘about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children’ (Ex 12:37), and 603,550 in the numbering of Num 1:46. Moses sets it against the LORD’s promise of flesh ‘a whole month’; the answer is in v.23.

Verse 23

Is the LORD’S hand waxed short? — Qatsar is to cut short, as a harvester cuts. Isa 59:1 uses the picture in the opposite form: ‘the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save’. The proof offered is ‘my word’, whether it ‘shall come to pass’ (qarah, to befall), and the wind and quails of v.31 supply it.

Verse 25

took of the spirit that was upon him — The LORD ‘came down in a cloud’ as at the tabernacle door in Ex 33:9, and the verb for ‘took’ is the same atsal as in v.17. The seventy ‘prophesied’, as Saul did when ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’ (1 Sam 10:10).

Verse 26

they were of them that were written — Eldad and Medad were listed among the elders, but ‘went not out unto the tabernacle’. The spirit ‘rested upon them’ in the camp with the same verb (nuach) as in v.25. Isa 11:2 uses it of the Messiah, ‘the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him’.

Verse 28

the servant of Moses — ‘Servant’ is meshareth, one who ministers, the word of Ex 33:11, where ‘his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle’. ‘Forbid’ is kala, to restrain or shut in. Joshua is still called Moses’ ‘minister’ when he succeeds him (Josh 1:1).

Verse 29

Enviest thou for my sake? — ‘Enviest’ is qana, to be jealous or zealous. Moses wishes ‘all the LORD’S people were prophets’, and Peter says this is what Joel foretold, ‘I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh’ (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). Paul writes, ‘I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied’ (1 Cor 14:5).

Verse 31

a wind from the LORD — ‘Wind’ is ruach, the same word as ‘spirit’ in vv.17, 25, 26 and 29. Quails (salav) are named elsewhere only in Ex 16:13 and Ps 105:40. Ps 78:26–27 says of this event, ‘He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven… He rained flesh also upon them as dust.’

Verse 33

while the flesh was yet between their teeth — Ps 78:30–31 says the same: ‘while their meat was yet in their mouths… The wrath of God came upon them’. ‘Wrath’ is aph, the word of ‘anger’ in vv.1 and 10 and ‘nostrils’ in v.20. ‘Plague’ (makkah) comes from the verb nakah ‘smote’, used in the same verse.

Verse 34

Kibrothhattaavah — The name is ‘graves of the craving’. Ta’avah, craving, is the noun behind ‘fell a lusting’ in v.4, and the verb is in this verse, ‘the people that lusted’. The camp is named for those buried, and the place is listed in Num 33:16 as a stage on Israel’s march. Paul cites it as a warning (1 Cor 10:6).