The Law · Chapter 11 of 36

Numbers 11

Israel's complaining kindles God's fire at the camp's edge until Moses prays. Then the people crave meat, despising the manna and remembering Egypt's food. Overwhelmed, Moses cries that the burden is too heavy, so God puts his Spirit on seventy elders to share the load, and they prophesy. God sends quail in vast quantity, but strikes the greedy with a plague, and the place is named for the graves of craving.

What happens in Numbers 11

The people complain, and the fire of the LORD burns the outskirts of the camp until Moses prays and it stops. Then the mixed multitude craves meat, and Israel weeps for the fish, cucumbers, and melons of Egypt, loathing the manna. Moses, crushed by the weight of leading them, tells God the burden is too heavy and asks to die rather than carry it alone. God tells him to gather seventy elders, and he takes of the Spirit on Moses and places it on them, and they prophesy; even Eldad and Medad, who stayed in the camp, prophesy, and Moses refuses to forbid them, wishing all the LORD's people were prophets.

Then God sends a wind bringing quail in staggering abundance, but while the meat is still in their teeth, his wrath strikes the greedy with a great plague, and the place is named Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lust.

Numbers 11 in context

Chapter eleven begins the wilderness rebellions that dominate the middle of Numbers. Having set out from Sinai, Israel quickly turns from gratitude to grumbling. The chapter interweaves two crises, the people's craving and Moses' exhaustion, showing both the danger of discontent and the mercy of shared leadership.

The Spirit resting on the seventy anticipates a wider outpouring later hoped for in Scripture, while the quail plague exposes the deadliness of appetite unmoored from trust.

Main themes of Numbers 11

Numbers 11 (KJV)

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 Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. 35And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.

Verses to carry from Numbers 11

“But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.”Numbers 11:6

“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.”Numbers 11:17

“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!”Numbers 11:29

Reflection

Israel's craving turned God's gift bitter, while Moses' honest cry drew God's help. Watch what discontent does to a grateful heart, and how quickly the present provision looks small beside a romanticized past.

When your burden feels too heavy, bring it honestly to God as Moses did. He answers weariness with help and offers himself as the bread that truly satisfies.

A prayer from Numbers 11