Numbers · chapter 11 of 36
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Numbers 11 shows how, after leaving Sinai, the people first complain about hardships and then about the manna, and long for the food of Egypt. Moses, overwhelmed, asks God to relieve him of the burden; the Lord puts his Spirit on seventy elders and sends quail in abundance, but a plague strikes those who craved, and the place is named Kibroth-hattaavah.
With chapter 11 the most dramatic part of Numbers begins: the actual journey. Israel has left Sinai in order and with God's presence in front, but the pattern that will mark the book soon appears: complaint, Moses' intercession and God's response, which combines judgment and mercy. The chapter shows the people and their leader at their weakest.
The people complain about their hardships, and the Lord is angry: a fire burns at the edge of the camp. The people cry out to Moses, he prays, and the fire dies down. That place is called Taberah, meaning burning.
The mixed multitude that had come with Israel is seized with craving, and the Israelites too weep: they want meat, and they remember the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic they ate in Egypt. They say they see nothing but manna. Moses hears the people weeping, is distressed and complains to God: he feels crushed by the burden of a people he cannot carry alone, and would rather die.
The Lord tells him to gather seventy elders and to take some of the Spirit that is on him and put it on them, so that they may bear the burden with him. He announces that he will give the people meat for a month, until it comes out of their nostrils. Moses doubts: there is not enough meat for so many. The Lord answers that his hand has not been shortened. The seventy elders receive the Spirit and prophesy. Two men, Eldad and Medad, who had stayed in the camp, also prophesy; Joshua wants Moses to stop them, but Moses answers that he wishes all the people were prophets.
A wind brings quail from the sea, and the people gather them in great quantity. While the meat is still between their teeth, the Lord's anger burns and he strikes the people with a great plague. The place is named Kibroth-hattaavah, graves of craving. Then they set out for Hazeroth.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The mixed multitude and the Israelites weep for meat and remember what they ate in Egypt. Nostalgia for Egypt forgets the slavery and despises what God was giving them each day in the wilderness.
Moses says he cannot carry all the people alone and that, if this is how it must be, he would rather die. Israel's leader does not pretend to be strong: he brings his exhaustion to God, who does not rebuke him but gives him help.
The Lord will put some of the Spirit who is on Moses on seventy elders so that they will bear the burden with him. Leadership is shared, and the strength to serve comes from God's Spirit, not from the abilities of one person.
Moses wishes that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them all. It is an expression of generosity opposed to jealousy, and it anticipates what the prophets and the New Testament announce about the Spirit poured out.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Taberah, meaning burning. — Numbers 11:3
Answer: The fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. — Numbers 11:5
Answer: It looked like coriander seed and had the appearance of bdellium; the people ground or crushed it and cooked it. — Numbers 11:7-8
Answer: Seventy. — Numbers 11:16
Answer: That he wished all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them all. — Numbers 11:29
Answer: Kibroth-hattaavah, meaning graves of craving. — Numbers 11:34
Numbers 11 shows how easy it is to forget God's goodness when the road grows long. The people remember the menu of Egypt and forget the slavery. In a small group you might ask what from the past you idealize and what present gifts you fail to see. Gratitude is a spiritual discipline practiced by naming what God gives each day.
It is also a chapter for those who serve. Moses feels broken and says so plainly, and God answers by sharing the load. Church leaders and Sunday school teachers are not called to do everything alone: sharing the work, training others and rejoicing when others receive gifts are signs of healthy leadership.
Numbers 11 ends with the graves of craving and the people moving on to Hazeroth. In Numbers 12, the tension shifts from the people's complaint to a conflict inside Moses' own family.
It means God equipped them to help Moses in leadership, and their prophesying was the visible sign that the Spirit was with them. The text says they prophesied on that occasion and did not do so again. It is a one-time act to back their authority, not a permanent rule.
Because the problem was not the food but the attitude of contempt toward what God was giving them and the craving that ruled them. They asked for meat with distrust and with longing for Egypt. God gave them what they asked for, but the plague showed how serious their ingratitude was.