Numbers 11

KJV · Chapter 11/36

1And 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.

2And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.

3And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.

4And 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?

5We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

6But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

7And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

8And 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.

9And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

10Then 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.

11And 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?

12Have 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?

13Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

14I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

15And 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.

16And 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.

17And 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.

18And 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.

19Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

20But 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?

21And 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.

22Shall 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?

23And 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.

24And 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.

25And 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.

26But 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.

27And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29And 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!

30And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31And 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.

32And 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.

33And 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.

34And he called the name of that place Kibroth–hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

35And the people journeyed from Kibroth–hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The people complain about the food, longing for what they ate in Egypt and tired of the manna. God sends quail in abundance, but also sends a severe plague among those who complained the most. Moses, overwhelmed, receives help from seventy elders who also receive the Spirit.

Explanation

This chapter reveals the recurring pattern of complaint that will mark Israel's entire journey in the wilderness: despite having been miraculously freed, the people idealize their past slavery instead of trusting God's present provision. God's response is twofold: he grants the request (quail) but also disciplines the ingratitude behind it, showing that not every granted desire is a sign of divine approval. The distribution of the Spirit upon the seventy elders, including the two who stayed in the camp (Eldad and Medad), and Moses' generous reaction ('Would that all the LORD's people were prophets') shows a leadership that is not jealous of sharing authority and spiritual gifts.

Fun facts

  • Moses' response to Joshua, who asked him to stop Eldad and Medad from prophesying outside the official tent, shows a remarkable parallel with a similar episode involving Jesus' disciples trying to stop someone from casting out demons in his name (Mark 9:38-39) — in both cases, the leader responds with generosity instead of exclusivity.
  • The site of the event was named Kibroth Hattaavah, meaning 'graves of craving,' a geographic name that served as a permanent reminder of the danger of complaining against God's provision.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Numbers 11:1The journey has barely begun when the people already complain about something unspecified, and God responds with fire that consumes the edges of the camp — a harsh response right at the start of the journey through the wilderness.
  2. Numbers 11:2Frightened, the people cry out to Moses for help; he prays to the Lord, and the fire goes out as quickly as it started.
  3. Numbers 11:3Because of this episode, that place became known as Taberah, a word tied to the idea of fire breaking out among the people.
  4. Numbers 11:4This time the complaint comes from a group of foreigners who had also come out of Egypt along with Israel, and their craving for different food spreads to the rest of the people, who start weeping for meat again.
  5. Numbers 11:5After a while eating only manna, the people begin to miss the varied food they had in Egypt, even though they had been slaves there. It is a complaint both exaggerated and human: memory idealizes the past, forgetting the oppression and remembering only the food.
  6. Numbers 11:6After recalling the food of Egypt in the previous verse, the people complain that now nothing is left but manna, day after day before their eyes.
  7. Numbers 11:7The text describes manna physically: it looked like a small coriander seed, with a pale color resembling a resin called bdellium.
  8. Numbers 11:8Here is a description of what manna was actually like: small as coriander seed, it could be ground, boiled, or made into cakes, tasting something like fresh oil. It is one of the few concrete descriptions of how this food actually worked day to day for the people.
  9. Numbers 11:9Manna fell together with the dew at night, which explains why the people needed to gather it early, in the morning, before it melted.
  10. Numbers 11:10Moses hears the people weeping family by family, each one at the door of their own tent, and this troubles him just as much as it kindles the Lord’s anger.
  11. Numbers 11:11Moses pours out his frustration to God, asking why he alone was made to bear the weight of caring for that whole people, as if he had done something wrong to deserve it.
  12. Numbers 11:12He presses the complaint further with a rhetorical question: did he father this people, that he should have to carry them like a nurse carries a baby all the way to the promised land?
  13. Numbers 11:13Moses also asks where he would get meat to feed everyone, since the people were weeping and demanding it of him.
  14. Numbers 11:14He openly admits his limit: alone, he cannot bear the weight of leading that whole people.
  15. Numbers 11:15At the height of his despair, Moses even asks to die right there, thinking it would be easier than continuing to watch that situation.
  16. Numbers 11:16God answers with a practical solution: gather seventy elders already recognized as leaders among the people, and bring them to the tent of the congregation.
  17. Numbers 11:17God promises to come down, take part of the same spirit that was on Moses, and put it on the seventy, so they can share the weight of leading the people with him.
  18. Numbers 11:18To the people, the order is different: prepare yourselves, because tomorrow you will eat meat, since you complained so much that you said it was better in Egypt.
  19. Numbers 11:19God makes it clear it would not be just a little meat: not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, nor twenty days.
  20. Numbers 11:20God answers the complaint for meat by promising too much meat, for a whole month, until the people are utterly sick of it. The wording is harsh on purpose: it shows the problem was not hunger, but the ingratitude of people who already had manna guaranteed every day and still rejected God’s provision.
  21. Numbers 11:21Moses reacts with practical disbelief: with six hundred thousand men among the people, how does God intend to feed everyone meat for a whole month?
  22. Numbers 11:22He questions whether they could manage it by slaughtering all the available flocks, or gathering all the fish of the sea, for so great a number of people.
  23. Numbers 11:23The Lord answers Moses’s doubt with a direct question: is the Lord’s power limited? And He promises that Moses will soon see whether His word comes to pass.
  24. Numbers 11:24Moses delivers God’s message to the people and gathers the seventy elders around the tent, just as he had been instructed.
  25. Numbers 11:25To share the weight of leading alone, Moses gathers seventy elders, and God takes part of the same spirit that was on Moses and puts it on them. They prophesy at that moment as a public sign that they now had authority to help lead the people, but this did not happen again afterward.
  26. Numbers 11:26Curiously, two men who had stayed in the camp, Eldad and Medad, also receive the spirit and begin to prophesy right there, even without having gone to the tent.
  27. Numbers 11:27A young man runs to tell Moses that Eldad and Medad were prophesying inside the camp itself.
  28. Numbers 11:28Joshua, Moses’s trusted assistant, reacts by asking him to stop the two from continuing to prophesy outside the official group.
  29. Numbers 11:29Moses answers with a generous reply, with no jealousy for his own position: he wishes the whole people of the Lord were prophets, if God chose to put His spirit on all of them.
  30. Numbers 11:30After this episode, Moses returns to the camp together with the elders.
  31. Numbers 11:31A wind brought a huge number of quail in from the sea and scattered them over the camp, piled up almost a meter off the ground all around the whole camp. It was God’s answer to the demand for meat, but the chapter ends by showing that it also brought a plague among the people, tied to the excess and greed with which they threw themselves at the food.
  32. Numbers 11:32The people spend the whole day, the night, and the following day gathering quail without stopping; even those who gathered the least still collected a huge amount, spreading it all around the camp.
  33. Numbers 11:33But before the meat was even well chewed, the Lord’s anger flares up against the people, and a very severe plague strikes those who had greedily thrown themselves at the food.
  34. Numbers 11:34Because of this, that place became known as Kibrothhattaavah, because there they buried those who had been overcome by that excessive craving.
  35. Numbers 11:35After this episode, the people travel on from Kibrothhattaavah to Hazeroth, where they camp next.

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