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Public-domain commentary
Matthew Henry
From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry comments on passages, not single verses — this entry covers Numbers 11:4–15. His three-level outline is real structure in the source text, so it is rendered as structure.
These verses represent things sadly unhinged and out of order in Israel, both the people and the prince uneasy.
I.Here is the people fretting, and speaking against God himself (as it is interpreted, Psa 78:19), notwithstanding his glorious appearances both to them and for them. Observe,
1.Who were the criminals.
(1.)The mixed multitude began, they fell a lusting, Num 11:4. The rabble that came with them out of Egypt, expecting only the land of promise, but not a state of probation in the way to it. They were hangers on, who took hold of the skirts of the Jews, and would go with them only because they knew not how to live at home, and were disposed to seek their fortunes (as we say) abroad. These were the scabbed sheep that infected the flock, the leaven that leavened the whole lump. Note, A few factious, discontented, ill-natured people, may do a great deal of mischief in the best societies, if great care be not taken to discountenance them. Such as these are an untoward generation, from which it is our wisdom to save ourselves, Act 2:40.
(2.)Even the children of Israel took the infection, as we are informed, Num 11:4. The holy seed joined themselves to the people of these abominations. The mixed multitude here spoken of were not numbered with the children of Israel, but were set aside as a people God made no account of; and yet the children of Israel, forgetting their own character and distinction, herded themselves with them and learned their way, as if the scum and outcasts of the camp were to be the privy-counsellors of it. The children of Israel, a people near to God and highly privileged, yet drawn into rebellion against him! O how little honour has God in the world, when even the people which he formed for himself, to show forth his praise, were so much a dishonour to him! Therefore let none think that their external professions and privileges will be their security either against Satan's temptations to sin or God's judgments for sin. See Co1 10:1, Co1 10:2, Co1 10:12.
2.What was the crime: they lusted and murmured. Though they had been lately corrected for this sin, and many of them overthrown for it, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the smell of the fire was still in their nostrils, yet they returned to it. See Pro 27:22.
(1.)They magnified the plenty and dainties they had had in Egypt (Num 11:5), as if God had done them a great deal of wrong in taking them thence. While they were in Egypt they sighed by reason of their burdens, for their lives were made bitter to them with hard bondage; and yet now they talk of Egypt as if they had all lived like princes there, when this serves as a colour for their present discontent. But with what face can they talk of eating fish in Egypt freely, or for nought, as if it cost them nothing, when they paid so dearly for it with their hard service? They remember the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick (precious stuff indeed to be fond of!), but they do not remember the brick-kilns and the task-masters, the voice of the oppressor and the smart of the whip. No, these are forgotten by these ungrateful people.
(2.)They were sick of the good provision God had made for them, Num 11:6. It was bread from heaven, angels' food. To show how unreasonable their complaint was, it is here described, Num 11:7-9. It was good for food, and pleasant to the eye, every grain like an orient pearl; it was wholesome food and nourishing; it was not to be called dry bread, for it tasted like fresh oil; it was agreeable (the Jews say, Wisd. 16:20) to every man's palate, and tasted as he would have it; and, though it was still the same, yet, by the different ways of dressing it, it yielded them a grateful variety; it cost them no money, nor care, for it fell in the night, while they slept; and the labour of gathering it was not worth speaking of; they lived upon free quarter, and yet could talk of Egypt's cheapness and the fish they ate there freely. Nay, which was much more valuable than all this, the manna came from the immediate power and bounty of God, not from common providence, but from special favour. It was, as God's compassion, new every morning, always fresh, not as their food who live on shipboard. While they lived on manna, they seemed to be exempted from the curse which sin has brought on man, that in the sweat of his face should he eat bread. And yet they speak of manna with such scorn, as if it were not good enough to be meat for swine: Our soul is dried away. They speak as if God dealt hardly with them in allowing them no better food. At first they admired it (Exo 16:15): What is this? "What a curious precious thing is this!" But now they despised it. Note, Peevish discontented minds will find fault with that which has no fault in it but that it is too good for them. It is very provoking to God to undervalue his favours, and to put a but upon our common mercies. Nothing but manna! Those that might be very happy often make themselves very miserable by their discontents.
(3.)They could not be satisfied unless they had flesh to eat. They brought flocks and herds with them in great abundance out of Egypt; but either they were covetous, and could not find in their hearts to kill them, lest they should lessen their flocks (they must have flesh as cheap as they had bread, or they would not be pleased), or else they were curious, beef and mutton would not please them; they must have something more nice and delicate, like the fish they did eat in Egypt. Food would not serve; they must be feasted. They had feasted with God upon the peace-offerings which they had their share of; but it seems God did not keep a table good enough for them, they must have daintier bits than any that came to his altar. Note, It is an evidence of the dominion of the carnal mind when we are solicitous to have all the delights and satisfactions of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness. Be not desirous of dainties, Pro 23:1-3. If God gives us food convenient, we ought to be thankful, though we do not eat the fat and drink the sweet.
(4.)They distrusted the power and goodness of God as insufficient for their supply: Who will give us flesh to eat? taking it for granted that God could not. Thus this question is commented upon, Psa 78:19, Psa 78:20, Can he provide flesh also? though he had given them flesh with their bread once, when he saw fit (Exo 16:13), and they might have expected that he would do it again, and in mercy, if, instead of murmuring, they had prayed. Note, It is an offence to God to let our desires go beyond our faith.
(5.)They were eager and importunate in their desires; they lusted a lust, so the word is, lusted greatly and greedily, till they wept again for vexation. So childish were the children of Israel, and so humoursome, that they cried because they had not what they would have and when they would have it. They did not offer up this desire to God, but would rather be beholden to any one else than to him. We should not indulge ourselves in any desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we ask meat for our lust, Psa 78:18. For this sin the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly against them, which is written for our admonition, that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted, Co1 10:6.
(6.)Flesh is good food, and may lawfully be eaten; yet they are said to lust after evil things. What is lawful of itself becomes evil to us when it is what God does not allot to us and yet we eagerly desire it.
II.Moses himself, though so meek and good a man, is uneasy upon this occasion: Moses also was displeased. Now,
1.It must be confessed that the provocation was very great. These murmurings of theirs reflected great dishonour upon God, and Moses laid to heart the reproaches cast on himself; they knew that he did his utmost for their good, and that he neither did nor could do any thing without a divine appointment; and yet to be thus continually teased and clamoured against by an unreasonable ungrateful people would break in upon the temper even of Moses himself. God considered this, and therefore we do not find that he chided him for his uneasiness.
2.Yet Moses expressed himself otherwise than became him upon this provocation, and came short of his duty both to God and Israel in these expostulations.
(1.)He undervalues the honour God had put upon him, in making him the illustrious minister of his power and grace, in the deliverance and guidance of that peculiar people, which might have been sufficient to balance the burden.
(2.)He complains too much of a sensible grievance, and lays too near his heart a little noise and fatigue. If he could not bear the toil of government, which was but running with the footman, how would he bear the terrors of war, which was contending with horses? He might easily have furnished himself with considerations enough to enable him to slight their clamours, and make nothing of them.
(3.)He magnifies his own performances, that all the burden of the people lay upon him; whereas God himself did in effect ease him of all the burden. Moses needed not to be in care to provide quarters for them, or victuals; God did all. And, if any difficult case happened, he needed not to be in any perplexity, while he had the oracle to consult, and in it the divine wisdom to direct him, the divine authority to back him and bear him out, and almighty power itself to dispense rewards and punishments.
(4.)He is not so sensible as he ought to be of the obligation he lay under, by virtue of the divine commission and command, to do the utmost he could for his people, when he suggests that because they were not the children of his body therefore he was not concerned to take a fatherly care of them, though God himself, who might employ him as he pleased, had appointed him to be a father to them.
(5.)He takes too much to himself when he asks, Whence should I have flesh to give them (Num 11:13), as if he were the housekeeper, and not God. Moses gave them not the bread, Joh 6:32. Nor was it expected that he should give them the flesh, but as an instrument in God's hand; and if he meant, "Whence should God have it for them?" he too much limited the power of the Holy One of Israel.
(6.)He speaks distrustfully of the divine grace when he despairs of being able to bear all this people, Num 11:14. 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.
(7.)It was worst of all passionately to wish for death, and desire to be killed out of hand, because just at this time his life was made a little uneasy to him, Num 11:15. Is this Moses? Is this the meekest of all the men on the earth? The best have their infirmities, and fail sometimes in the exercise of that grace for which they are most eminent. But God graciously overlooked Moses's passion at this time, and therefore we must not be severe in our animadversions upon it, but pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation.
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Summary
Numbers 11:15 captures a raw and profound moment of despair in the life of Moses, the divinely appointed leader of Israel. Overwhelmed by the incessant grumbling and spiritual immaturity of the Israelites, and feeling the crushing weight of their care, Moses cries out to God, pleading for immediate death rather than continuing to witness the misery and spiritual decline of his people and the immense burden placed upon him. This desperate prayer reveals the intense psychological and emotional toll that spiritual leadership can exact, even on God's most faithful servants.
Context
Literary Context
Numbers 11:15 is the apex of Moses' personal lament to God following a fresh wave of Israelite complaining. The chapter opens with the people grumbling, leading to a divine fire that consumes the outskirts of the camp, a judgment that is only quenched by Moses' intercession (Numbers 11:1-3). Immediately after, a "mixed multitude" among them, and then all Israel, express intense craving for the diverse foods of Egypt, despising the manna God miraculously provided daily (Numbers 11:4-9). This insatiable desire and profound ingratitude deeply distress Moses, who feels the full, impossible burden of leading such a rebellious people. He pours out his heart to God in a series of rhetorical questions, expressing his utter inability to "carry all this people" like a nursing child, questioning if he had conceived or given birth to them (Numbers 11:10-14). His plea for death in Numbers 11:15 is the climax of this personal crisis, preceding God's compassionate response to lighten his load by appointing seventy elders (Numbers 11:16-17).
Historical & Cultural Context
The setting is the wilderness journey, a period of profound formation for the nascent nation of Israel following their miraculous liberation from Egyptian bondage. This generation, having witnessed astounding miracles—the plagues, the Red Sea crossing, the giving of the Law at Sinai—repeatedly demonstrates a lack of faith, a propensity for complaining, and a longing for the perceived comforts of their former slavery. Moses, as God's chosen mediator and leader, bore the immense responsibility of guiding this vast, often rebellious, multitude through a harsh desert environment. His leadership was not merely political or military but profoundly spiritual, encompassing judicial, priestly, and prophetic functions. The cultural expectation of a leader in the ancient Near East often involved absolute authority, but also immense personal responsibility for the well-being and conduct of the people. Moses' unique relationship with God, characterized by direct communication "face to face" (Exodus 33:11), placed an even greater spiritual burden on him, making the people's persistent rebellion a direct affront not only to him but to God Himself.
Key Themes
This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes in the book of Numbers and the Pentateuch. It underscores The Burden of Leadership, revealing that even divinely appointed figures like Moses are profoundly human and susceptible to immense pressure and despair when faced with constant ingratitude and rebellion. It highlights Human Frailty and Dependence on God, demonstrating that even the most faithful servants can reach the limits of their endurance and cry out in desperation, acknowledging their need for divine intervention. This moment also serves as a stark illustration of The Destructive Nature of Complaining, as the Israelites' persistent grumbling drives their leader to the brink of death, illustrating how sin impacts not only the individual but also those around them. Finally, while Moses' request for death is not granted, this passage implicitly sets the stage for God's Compassionate Provision, as He responds not by ending Moses' life but by providing a solution to alleviate his burden, as seen in Numbers 11:16-17.
Exposition and Analysis
Key Word Analysis
A primitive root meaning "to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application." In this context, "if thou deal thus with me" refers to the continuation of the current, unbearable situation—the ongoing burden of leading the complaining and ungrateful Israelites. Moses is essentially saying, "If you are going to continue to make me bear this burden alone, in this manner..." It expresses his utter inability to sustain the current state of affairs.
A primitive root meaning "to smite with deadly intent; kill, slay, murder." The KJV's "out of hand" (literally "killing, kill me" or "slay me outright") underscores the absolute and immediate nature of Moses' plea. It is not a casual wish but a fervent, desperate request for a swift end to his life as an escape from his overwhelming suffering and responsibility.
Meaning "bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral); adversity, affliction, misery, calamity." Moses' desire is to be spared from witnessing the full extent of the calamity or misery he anticipates befalling him or the people under his leadership. He feels utterly incapable of preventing or enduring this impending "wretchedness," whether it be the ongoing spiritual decline of the people, the consequences of their rebellion, or his own continued suffering under the burden.
Verse Breakdown
"And if thou deal thus with me"
This opening clause sets a conditional premise for Moses' desperate prayer. It implies that the current state of affairs—the immense, crushing burden of leading the rebellious Israelites—is utterly unbearable for him. He is essentially saying, "If this is how you intend for me to continue, if this is the burden I must carry, then..."
"kill me, I pray thee, out of hand"
This is the direct, shocking, and desperate request. Moses asks for immediate death. The phrase "out of hand" (or "at once," "straightway") emphasizes the urgency and intensity of his desire to escape his suffering without delay. It is a fervent plea for divine intervention to end his life rather than continue in his current state of overwhelming despair.
"if I have found favour in thy sight"
Moses appeals to his established relationship with God, specifically to the favor he believes he has found. This is not a challenge to God's will but a plea for compassion based on their covenant relationship. He is asking God, "If you truly care for me and have blessed me, then grant me this release from suffering."
"and let me not see my wretchedness"
This final clause clarifies the ultimate aim of his plea for death. Moses wishes to be spared from witnessing the full extent of the misery, calamity, or spiritual decline that he foresees for himself or for the nation under his leadership. He feels utterly incapable of enduring or preventing this impending "wretchedness," and death appears to him as the only escape from this unbearable future.
Literary Devices
Numbers 11:15 is rich in Pathos, evoking deep sympathy for Moses as he expresses his profound despair and vulnerability. His direct address to God is an example of Apostrophe, a figure of speech where a speaker directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or an abstract quality or entity. The extreme nature of his request ("kill me") can be seen as Hyperbole, an exaggeration used for emphasis, underscoring the overwhelming nature of his burden and the depth of his emotional distress. There is also a subtle Irony in the leader chosen by God for liberation and life now pleading for death as his ultimate release. This prayer serves as a powerful Lament, a common biblical literary form expressing sorrow, grief, or complaint, often directed to God.
Theological and Thematic Connections
Moses' desperate plea in Numbers 11:15 is a stark reminder of the profound humanity of even the greatest biblical figures and the immense spiritual and emotional toll that leadership, especially in the face of constant opposition and ingratitude, can exact. It underscores that God's chosen servants are not immune to despair, burnout, or the feeling of being utterly overwhelmed. This passage reveals a God who is not distant or unapproachable but one who allows His servants to express their rawest emotions, even a desire for death, and responds not with condemnation but with compassion and practical provision. It highlights the principle that while God gives callings, He also provides the means and support necessary to fulfill them, often through shared responsibility and community, demonstrating His faithfulness even when His people are faithless.
Reflection and Application
Moses' raw and unfiltered prayer in Numbers 11:15 offers profound lessons for believers today. It normalizes the experience of deep despair, even for those faithfully serving God. We learn that it is not a sign of weakness or lack of faith to feel overwhelmed, burdened, or even to cry out to God in our darkest moments. God can handle our honesty, our frustrations, and our deepest fears. This passage powerfully illustrates the vital need for support systems, especially for those in leadership roles, reminding us that no one is meant to bear the burden of ministry or life alone. Just as God provided seventy elders for Moses, He often provides community, friends, family, and fellow believers to share our loads. Furthermore, the context of Israel's grumbling serves as a potent warning against the destructive power of a complaining spirit, which not only dishonors God but can also crush the spirits of those around us, including our leaders. Our response to life's challenges, whether in leadership or as followers, should be one of faith, gratitude, and mutual support, rather than constant complaint, recognizing that our attitudes profoundly impact those with whom we share life and ministry.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Was Moses wrong to ask God to kill him?
While Moses' request for death seems extreme, the biblical text does not condemn him for it. Instead, it portrays it as a raw, honest expression of his utter despair and the overwhelming burden he felt. It demonstrates that God is big enough to handle our deepest fears, frustrations, and even our most desperate cries. Many other biblical figures, such as Elijah (1 Kings 19:4) and Job (Job 3:11), also expressed a desire for death in moments of extreme suffering. God's response to Moses was not rebuke, but compassion and provision, indicating His understanding of human frailty and the immense pressure Moses was under.
How did God respond to Moses' desperate plea in Numbers 11:15?
God did not grant Moses' specific request for death. Instead, He responded with immense compassion and practical provision. Immediately following Moses' lament, God instructed him to gather seventy elders from among the people, upon whom God would put some of the Spirit that was on Moses. This would enable them to share the burden of leadership, alleviating the crushing weight that Moses felt alone (Numbers 11:16-17). This demonstrates God's understanding of human limitations and His willingness to provide support and resources when His servants are overwhelmed, turning a moment of despair into an opportunity for divine provision and community building.
Christ-Centered Fulfillment
Moses' profound despair and his inability to bear the burden of the people alone in Numbers 11:15 powerfully foreshadow the ultimate burden-bearer, Jesus Christ. Moses, as a type of mediator and leader, reveals the inherent limitations of human capacity to carry the weight of sin and rebellion. While Moses cried out for death to escape his "wretchedness" and the people's sin, Jesus willingly embraced the ultimate "wretchedness" of humanity's sin, taking it upon Himself. He is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, bearing not just the complaints of a wilderness generation, but the entire weight of human fallenness. Unlike Moses, who pleaded for release, Christ endured the cross, despising its shame, for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). He perfectly fulfills the role of the compassionate High Priest who can truly sympathize with our weaknesses, having been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Where Moses was overwhelmed and sought an end to his suffering, Jesus invites all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him for rest, offering not merely a shared burden but complete redemption, peace, and eternal life through His finished work.