Numbers Chapter 11

At a Glance

  • Numbers 11 plunges into the people’s morale crisis in the wilderness.
  • The core dynamics here revolve around trust, complaint, and divine pedagogy.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Placed in the wilderness narrative, Numbers 11 continues the angsty arc of the desert generation’s testing of faith.
  • In the book’s structure, this chapter sits after regulations and before further leadership challenges with Miriam and Aaron.

NUMBERS CHAPTER 11

Chapter Overview

Numbers 11 plunges into the people’s morale crisis in the wilderness. Complaints erupt about the monotony of manna and the longing for flesh. The mixture of a restless crowd and the “mixed multitude” intensifies dissatisfaction, leading to a vivid episodes of divine anger and mortality-as-lesson. The text paints a picture of a people flanked by desire and dependence on God’s provision, revealing the fragility of faith when immediate gratification threatens fidelity.

Moses bears the brunt of the prophetic burden—his humanity surfaces in his plea, “Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?” He confesses the weight of leadership and the burden of feeding a multitude. The narrative escalates as God responds with a dramatic provision: a wind brings quail, followed by a severe judgment that strikes the people with plague when the craving becomes greed. The chapter ends with Moses interceding again, setting the scene for future intercessory leadership and divine restraint.

The core dynamics here revolve around trust, complaint, and divine pedagogy. Israel must learn deeper dependence on God, not merely on tangible food. The text also foregrounds the limits of human leadership—Moses cannot bear the burden alone, demonstrating the need for communal reliance on God’s grace and governance.

Historical & Literary Context

Placed in the wilderness narrative, Numbers 11 continues the angsty arc of the desert generation’s testing of faith. The genre blends historical narrative with didactic episodes that teach about God’s character and Israel’s response. The “mixed multitude” motif signals a broader social reality: diversity within community, sometimes complicating loyalty and appetite. The episode of the quail and plague demonstrates the seriousness of God’s provision and the accountability that accompanies ingratitude.

In the book’s structure, this chapter sits after regulations and before further leadership challenges with Miriam and Aaron. It provides a hinge for Moses’ prophetic authority and for the broader pedagogy of wilderness survival—how God disciplines, sustains, and directs a people who are learning to trust Him in scarcity and abundance alike.

Key Themes

- Trust vs. Grumbling: The danger of contentment-seeking grievance contrasts with faithful reliance on God’s provision.

- Divine Judgment and Mercy: God’s response to ingratitude includes both mercy (bread from heaven) and corrective punishment (plague).

- Leadership Burden: Moses’ overwhelming responsibility highlights the need for communal support and intercession.

- The Role of Community Diversity: The mixed multitude reminds readers that growth and tension come with a people formed by God’s grace.

Modern Application

The chapter speaks to contemporary churches and households wrestling with dissatisfaction and the allure of quick gratification. It invites believers to examine the motives behind grumbling and to reframe gratitude as a discipline. In leadership, the text acknowledges the heavy load carried by pastors, parents, and leaders, encouraging intercession, shared responsibility, and communal resilience.

The quail episode also warns against greed and sensational experiences of God’s gifts. When abundance is too quickly consumed in self-serving ways, judgment can follow. Yet the chapter remains hopeful: God continues to provide and teaches through the very desires He stirs within His people, inviting repentance and renewed trust.

- Exodus 16 (manna and grumbling)

- Psalm 106:13–15 (God’s anger at ingratitude and generosity)

- 1 Corinthians 10:9–11 (examples of Israel’s failures and warnings)

- Numbers 12 (mediator and leadership challenges)

- Moses (leadership burden and intercession)

- Jesus (as a humanly burdened servant who learns to rely on God’s provision)

Chapter Text

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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