Chapter Eleven

Taberah. — Popular discontent regarding the absence of meat, fish, and certain types of vegetable food. — Moses’ distress. — Selection of 70 elders as helpers of the prophet Moses. — The sin of craving; Kibroth-hattaavah. — Movement to Hazeroth.

Numbers 11:1. And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Under “the fire of the Lord” in this case (compare Num 11:3) one can understand an extraordinarily violent lightning, sent by God in punishment of those who complained — similar to how “the fire of heaven,” “the fire of God” is the name given to lightning in the Book of Job (Job 1:16) and 4 Kings (2 Sam 1:10).

Numbers 11:2. And the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire subsided. In the complete list of the Israelite camps (Num 33) Taberah does not appear. It is supposed that this name was applied only to that part of the Hebrew camp (at Kibroth-hattaavah) that was consumed by fire.

Numbers 11:7. Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like the appearance of bdellium; According to some assumptions, “bdellium” (compare Gen 2:1) means pearl (which is confirmed by later Jewish understanding), according to others, it is a kind of crystallized fragrant Arabian resin of a light-yellowish color (LXX: “like the appearance of crystal”).

Numbers 11:10. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, at the entrance of each tent; and the anger of the Lord became very hot, and Moses was displeased. Numbers 11:11. And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Numbers 11:12. Did I conceive all this people? Did I bring them forth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you swore to give to their fathers? Numbers 11:13. Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are weeping before me and saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ Numbers 11:14. I am not able to carry all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me; Numbers 11:15. If you will treat me this way, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your sight, so that I may not see my wretchedness. The evident ingratitude and constant complaining of the people could not fail to affect even such a strong-spirited person as Moses was: for even Moses, Theodoret remarks, was not only a prophet, but also a man (Commentary on Numbers, question 19). As permanent helpers to the prophet Moses in managing the people in accordance with the God-given law, the Lord commanded the leader to choose from the elders of Israel 70 men and, when they were chosen and, according to His command, brought to the tent, He endowed them with the Holy Spirit. According to Christian commentators, the 70 chosen elders endowed with God’s Spirit served as the beginning of a special prophetic ministry among the Hebrew people and as a model for those prophetic schools that later produced inspired interpreters and tireless guardians of God’s law throughout the whole Old Testament history. According to Hebrew tradition, the 70 elders, helpers of Moses, served as a prototype for the creation of the supreme Sanhedrin.

Numbers 11:20. But a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you — because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’ “Until it becomes loathsome to you”: according to the Greek text (LXX) — “cholera”; according to the translation of Symmachus — “indigestion.”

Numbers 11:21. And Moses said, “There are six hundred thousand foot soldiers among this people, and you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they shall eat for a whole month!’ Numbers 11:22. Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to suffice for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them? Moses is puzzled as to the means by which the promise of divine omnipotence can be fulfilled.

Numbers 11:25. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but did not continue to do so. “To prophesy” in biblical language does not always mean “to predict.” In this case, as often in the Bible (for example, 1 Sam 10:5; 1 Sam 19:20), the expression “to prophesy” can be understood in the sense of — to praise God and His wonderful works in exalted hymns of praise, which presupposes, of course, a special elevation of the human spirit. With the temporary cessation of this elevation the elders also ceased to “prophesy.”

Numbers 11:26. Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp. Two of the 70 chosen elders could have failed to appear at the tent on account of some legitimate ritual impurity or illness, while remaining inwardly worthy to receive the communication of God’s Spirit.

Numbers 11:31. Then a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quails 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, all around the camp, about two cubits above the ground. Flocks of birds carried by the wind in such quantity that they blocked out the sun have been repeatedly observed by travelers.

Numbers 11:32. And the people rose all that day, and all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. Ten homers are approximately equal to 180 bushels.

Numbers 11:33. While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. “Plague” — that is, some acutely expressed stomach disease, as a consequence of excessive consumption of spoiled meat from lying about, especially after a prolonged diet. See the note to Num 11:20.

Numbers 11:34. And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving. Numbers 11:35. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth; and they remained at Hazeroth. The camps of Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth are sought to the northeast of Sinai. In general, it should be noted that the majority of geographical assumptions identifying the stopping points of the Hebrews with known present-day localities are nothing more than assumptions. The main direction of the movement of the Hebrew forces is known. From the gathering point in Egypt at Rameses the Hebrews moved eastward, in the direction of the northern end of the Suez Gulf, where the well-known passage “through the Red Sea” took place. After coming out of the sea and entering the Sinai peninsula they moved south, in the direction of the group of Sinai mountains, keeping to the western shore of the peninsula. From the group of Sinai mountains they moved northeast, in the direction of the northern end of the Gulf of Akaba. From there — northward, toward the southern limits of Canaan (Kadesh-barnea). After the well-known condemnation to 40 years of wandering — a return to the deserts of the Sinai peninsula; a new arrival at Kadesh-barnea; a turning movement around the southeastern corner of the promised land; the occupation of eastern Transjordan; a positioning near Jericho; the occupation of Canaan. * * * Graves of craving.