Numbers 11
11
The People Complain Again
1The people started complaining about their troubles. The Lord heard their complaints. He heard these things and became angry. Fire from the Lord burned among the people. The fire burned some of the areas at the edge of the camp. 2So the people cried to Moses for help. He prayed to the Lord and the fire stopped burning. 3So that place was called Taberah.#11:3 Taberah This name means “burning.” The people gave the place that name because the Lord caused a fire to burn in their camp.
The 70 Older Leaders
4The foreigners who had joined the Israelites began wanting other things to eat. Soon all the Israelites began complaining again. The people said, “We want to eat meat! 5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt. That fish cost us nothing. We also had good vegetables like cucumbers, melons, chives, onions, and garlic. 6But now we have lost our strength. We never eat anything—only this manna!” 7(The manna was like small coriander seeds, and it looked like sap from a tree. 8The people gathered the manna. Then they used rocks to crush it and cooked it in a pot. Or they ground it into flour and made thin cakes with it. The cakes tasted like sweet cakes cooked with olive oil. 9The manna fell on the ground each night when the ground became wet with dew.)
10Moses heard the people complaining. People from every family were sitting by their tents and complaining. The Lord became very angry, and this made Moses very upset. 11He asked the Lord, “Why did you bring this trouble on me? I am your servant. What did I do wrong? What did I do to upset you? Why did you give me responsibility over all these people? 12You know that I am not the father of all these people. You know that I did not give birth to them. But I must take care of them, like a nurse carrying a baby in her arms. Why do you force me to do this? Why do you force me to carry them to the land that you promised to our fathers? 13I don’t have enough meat for all these people! And they continue complaining to me. They say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14I cannot take care of all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. 15If you plan to continue giving me their troubles, kill me now. If you accept me as your servant, let me die now. Then I will be finished with all my troubles!”
16The Lord said to Moses, “Bring to me 70 of the elders of Israel. These men are the leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent. Let them stand there with you. 17Then I will come down and speak with you there. The Spirit#11:17 Spirit Or “spirit.” Also in verses 25, 29. is on you now. But I will also give some of that Spirit to them. Then they will help you take care of the people. In this way you will not have to be responsible for these people alone.
18“Tell the people this: Make yourselves ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you cried out and said, ‘We need meat to eat! It was better for us in Egypt!’ So now the Lord will give you meat. And you will eat it. 19You will eat it for more than one, or two, or five, or ten, or even twenty days! 20You will eat that meat for a whole month until you are sick of it. This will happen to you because you complained against the Lord. He lives among you and knows what you need, but you cried and complained to him! You said, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
21Moses said, “There are 600,000 soldiers here, and you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22If we were to kill all the sheep and cattle, that would still not be enough to feed this many people for a month. And if we caught all the fish in the sea, it would not be enough for them!”
23But the Lord said to Moses, “Don’t limit my power! You will see that I can do what I say I can do.”
24So Moses went out to speak with the people. He told them what the Lord said. Then he gathered 70 of the elders together and told them to stand around the Tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He put on the 70 elders some of the same Spirit that was on Moses. After the Spirit came down on them, they began to prophesy.#11:25 prophesy Usually this means “to speak for God.” But here, it might mean that God’s Spirit took control of these men in some special way. Also in verse 26. But that was the only time they ever did this.
26Two of the elders, Eldad and Medad, did not go out to the Tent. Their names were on the list of elders, but they stayed in camp. But the Spirit also came on them, and they began prophesying in camp. 27A young man ran and told Moses. The man said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in camp.”
28Joshua son of Nun said to Moses, “Moses, sir, you must stop them!” (Joshua had been Moses’ helper since Joshua was a boy.)
29But Moses answered, “Are you afraid the people will think that I am not the leader now? I wish that all the Lord’s people were able to prophesy. I wish that the Lord would put his Spirit on all of them!” 30Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.
The Quail Come
31Then the Lord made a powerful wind to blow in from the sea, and it blew quail into the area all around the camp. There were so many birds that the ground was covered. They were about three feet deep on the ground. There were quail in every direction as far as a man can walk in one day. 32They went out and gathered quail all that day and all that night. And they gathered quail all the next day too! The smallest amount anyone gathered was 60 bushels. Then the people spread the quail meat all around the camp to dry in the sun.
33People began to eat the meat, but the Lord became very angry. While the meat was still in their mouths, before the people could finish eating it, the Lord caused the people to become very sick and die. 34So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah,#11:34 Kibroth Hattaavah This name means “Graves of Strong Desire.” because there they buried those who had the strong desire for meat.
35From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Numbers 11
11
Complaints in the Desert
1#Lev 10:2; Nu 16:35Now when the people complained openly before the Lord, the Lord heard, and His anger burned. Then the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2#Nu 21:7; 16:45–48And the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched. 3#Dt 9:22He called the name of the place Taberah because the fire of the Lord burned among them.
4#Ex 12:38; 1Co 10:6The mixed multitude that was among them lusted, and the children of Israel wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5#Ex 16:3We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. 6#Nu 21:5But now our life is dried up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.”
7#Ex 16:31; Ge 2:12The manna was as coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. 8#Ex 16:16–18; 16:31The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked in oil. 9#Ex 16:13–14When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it.
10Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the opening of his tent, and the anger of the Lord burned greatly. Moses was also displeased. 11#Dt 1:12Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You hurt Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You lay the burden of all this people on me? 12#Ex 13:5; Isa 49:23Have I conceived all this people? Have I given them birth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13#Mt 15:33; Mk 8:4Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14#Ex 18:18I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15#1Ki 19:4; Jnh 4:3If You do this to me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”
The Seventy Elders
16#Ex 24:1; 24:9Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may take a stand there with you. 17#Nu 11:25; 1Sa 10:6And I will come down, and I will speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is on you and will put it on them, and they will bear the burden of the people with you, and you will not bear it by yourself.
18#Ex 19:10; Nu 11:1“And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19You shall eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20#Ps 106:15; Nu 21:5but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it will be nauseating to you because you rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’ ”
21#Ex 12:37; 38:26And Moses said, “The people I am with number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and You have said, ‘I will give them meat that they may eat a whole month.’ 22#Mt 15:33Will the flocks and the herds be slaughtered for them, to satisfy them? Or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to satisfy them?”
23#Isa 50:2; 59:1And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the hand of the Lord shortened? Now you will see if My word will happen to you or not.”
24#Nu 11:16Moses went out, and he spoke to the people the words of the Lord and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and set them around the tabernacle. 25#Nu 11:17; 12:5; 1Sa 10:10And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and gave it to the seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do it again.
26#1Sa 20:26; Jer 36:5But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad. And the Spirit rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.”
28Then Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, answered and said, “My lord Moses, forbid them.”
29#1Co 14:5Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Oh, that all the people of the Lord were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” 30And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
The Lord Sends Quail
31#Ex 16:13; Ps 105:40Now a wind from the Lord started up, and it swept quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits#About 3 feet, or 90 centimeters. above the ground. 32#Eze 45:11; Ex 16:36And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers.#Likely about 13/4 tons, or 1.6 metric tons. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33#Ps 78:30–31; Nu 16:49While the meat was between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great slaughter. 34#Dt 9:22And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah because there they buried the people who had the craving.
35#Nu 33:17; 12:16The people journeyed from Kibroth Hattaavah to Hazeroth, and they camped at Hazeroth.
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