◄ Numbers 11:13 ►
Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, 'Give us meat to eat!'
Study Bible
Where can I get meat
In this phrase, Moses expresses a deep sense of frustration and helplessness. The Hebrew word for "meat" is "בָּשָׂר" (basar), which can refer to any kind of flesh or food. This highlights the Israelites' craving for physical sustenance beyond the manna provided by God. Historically, this reflects the Israelites' struggle to trust in God's provision, a recurring theme throughout their wilderness journey. The desire for meat symbolizes a longing for the comforts of Egypt, representing a spiritual struggle between reliance on God and the temptation to return to former ways.

to give all these people?
Moses is overwhelmed by the responsibility of leading a large group of people. The phrase "all these people" underscores the vast number of Israelites, estimated to be over a million. This immense responsibility weighs heavily on Moses, illustrating the burden of leadership. The Hebrew word for "people" is "עָם" (am), often used to denote a community or nation. This reflects the collective identity of the Israelites as God's chosen people, yet also highlights their frequent discontent and lack of faith. Moses' question reveals his human limitations and foreshadows the need for divine intervention.

For they keep crying out to me
The phrase "keep crying out" indicates persistent and intense complaints from the Israelites. The Hebrew root "צָעַק" (tsa'aq) conveys a sense of crying out in distress or protest. This reflects the Israelites' continual dissatisfaction and lack of gratitude for God's provision. Historically, this behavior is consistent with their repeated grumblings throughout the Exodus narrative. Moses, as their leader, becomes the focal point of their complaints, which adds to his burden. This situation underscores the challenge of leading a people who struggle with faith and contentment.

‘Give us meat to eat!’
This demand highlights the Israelites' insistent desire for physical satisfaction. The repetition of the request for meat emphasizes their fixation on immediate gratification rather than spiritual growth. The Hebrew word "נָתַן" (natan), meaning "to give," suggests an expectation or entitlement, reflecting a lack of trust in God's provision. This demand is a direct challenge to Moses' leadership and God's plan, illustrating the tension between human desires and divine will. It serves as a reminder of the importance of faith and reliance on God, even when circumstances seem challenging.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites, chosen by God to lead His people out of Egypt. In this verse, Moses is expressing his frustration and feeling overwhelmed by the demands of the people.

2. The Israelites
The people of God who were delivered from slavery in Egypt. They are in the wilderness and are complaining about their lack of meat, showing a lack of faith and gratitude.

3. The Wilderness
The setting of this event, where the Israelites are journeying towards the Promised Land. It is a place of testing and reliance on God.

4. God
The ultimate provider and sustainer of the Israelites, who hears their complaints and Moses' plea.

5. Quail
Although not mentioned directly in this verse, quail is the meat that God eventually provides in response to the Israelites' complaints.
Teaching Points
Dependence on God
We are reminded of our need to rely on God for our daily needs. Just as the Israelites depended on God for sustenance, we must trust Him to provide for us.

Gratitude vs. Complaining
The Israelites' complaints highlight the human tendency to focus on what we lack rather than being grateful for what we have. Cultivating a heart of gratitude is essential for spiritual growth.

Leadership Challenges
Moses' frustration is a reminder of the burdens leaders often carry. It is important for leaders to seek God's strength and wisdom when feeling overwhelmed.

God's Patience and Provision
Despite the Israelites' grumbling, God responds with patience and provision. This teaches us about God's character and His willingness to meet our needs even when we falter.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Moses' reaction to the Israelites' complaints reflect the challenges of leadership, and how can leaders today draw strength from God in similar situations?

2. In what ways do we see ourselves in the Israelites' complaints, and how can we cultivate a heart of gratitude instead?

3. How does God's response to the Israelites' demands for meat demonstrate His character, and what does this teach us about His nature?

4. How can we apply the lesson of dependence on God in our daily lives, especially in times of need or uncertainty?

5. How does the provision of quail in Numbers 11 connect to Jesus' teaching in John 6 about being the "bread of life," and what does this mean for our spiritual nourishment?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 16
This chapter describes a similar situation where the Israelites grumbled about food, and God provided manna and quail. It highlights the recurring theme of God's provision despite the people's complaints.

Psalm 78
This psalm recounts the history of Israel, including their complaints in the wilderness and God's response, emphasizing His patience and provision.

John 6
Jesus refers to Himself as the "bread of life," drawing a parallel to God's provision of manna, and pointing to the ultimate spiritual sustenance found in Him.
Sermons
The Complainers, and How God Made Answer to Their ComplaintsW. Binnie Numbers 11:4-15; 31-35
Affliction Preferable to SinSpurgeon, Charles HaddonNumbers 11:10-15
Afflictions May be Full of MerciesT. L. Cuyler.Numbers 11:10-15
Seeing Afflictions from God's StandpoinSpurgeon, Charles HaddonNumbers 11:10-15
The Burdens of LeadershipW. Jones.Numbers 11:10-15
The Expostulation of MosesD. Young Numbers 11:10-15
The Sufferings of the Good in the Path of DutyW. Jones.Numbers 11:10-15
The Sin of Despondency, in a Servant of GodE.S. Prout Numbers 11:11-15
People
Eldad, Israelites, Joshua, Medad, Moses, Nun
Places
Egypt, Hazeroth, Kibroth-hattaavah, Paran, Taberah
Topics
Eat, Flesh, Meat, Saying, Trouble, Wailing, Weep, Weeping, Whence
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Numbers 11:4-34

     4438   eating

Numbers 11:10-15

     8726   doubters

Numbers 11:10-17

     8614   prayer, answers

Numbers 11:11-15

     5265   complaints

Library
April 12. "They were as it Were, Complainers" (Num. xi. 1).
"They were as it were, complainers" (Num. xi. 1). There is a very remarkable phrase in the book of Numbers, in the account of the murmuring of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It reads like this: "When the people, as it were, murmured." Like most marginal readings it is better than the text, and a great world of suggestive truth lies back of that little sentence. In the distance we may see many a vivid picture rise before our imagination of people who do not dare to sin openly and unequivocally, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Deaf Stammerer Healed and Four Thousand Fed.
^A Matt. XV. 30-39; ^B Mark VII. 32-VIII. 9. ^b 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech [The man had evidently learned to speak before he lost his hearing. Some think that defective hearing had caused the impediment in his speech, but verse 35 suggests that he was tongue-tied]; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33 And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue [He separated …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Baptist's Testimony.
"There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light.... John beareth witness of Him, and crieth, saying, This was He of whom I said, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me. For of His fulness we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. …
Marcus Dods—The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. John, Vol. I

Third Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 16-21. 16 Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. 19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. 20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

False Ambition Versus Childlikeness.
(Capernaum, Autumn, a.d. 29.) ^A Matt. XVIII. 1-14; ^B Mark IX. 33-50; ^C Luke IX. 46-50. ^c 46 And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them was the greatest. ^b 33 And he came to Capernaum: ^c 47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their heart, ^b and when he was in the house [probably Simon Peter's house] he asked them, What were ye reasoning on the way? 34 But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest. [The Lord with his disciples was …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
"The Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified."--John vii. 39. We have come to the most difficult part in the discussion of the work of the Holy Spirit, viz., the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the tenth day after the ascension. In the treatment of this subject it is not our aim to create a new interest in the celebration of Pentecost. We consider this almost impossible. Man's nature is too unspiritual for this. But we shall reverently endeavor to give a clearer insight …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Third Sunday Before Lent
Text: First Corinthians 9, 24-27; 10, 1-5. 24 Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain. 25 And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: 27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Eastern Wise-Men, or Magi, visit Jesus, the New-Born King.
(Jerusalem and Bethlehem, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 1-12. ^a 1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem [It lies five miles south by west of Jerusalem, a little to the east of the road to Hebron. It occupies part of the summit and sides of a narrow limestone ridge which shoots out eastward from the central chains of the Judæan mountains, and breaks down abruptly into deep valleys on the north, south, and east. Its old name, Ephrath, meant "the fruitful." Bethlehem means "house of bread." Its modern …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Messiah's Easy Yoke
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. T hough the influence of education and example, may dispose us to acknowledge the Gospel to be a revelation from God; it can only be rightly understood, or duly prized, by those persons who feel themselves in the circumstances of distress, which it is designed to relieve. No Israelite would think of fleeing to a city of refuge (Joshua 20:2. …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

Of Immediate Revelation.
Of Immediate Revelation. [29] Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him; and seeing the revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit; therefore the testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed; who as, by the moving of his own Spirit, he disposed the chaos of this world into that wonderful order in which it was in the beginning, and created man a living soul, to rule and govern it, so by …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Blasphemous Accusations of the Jews.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XII. 22-37; ^B Mark III. 19-30; ^C Luke XI. 14-23. ^b 19 And he cometh into a house. [Whose house is not stated.] 20 And the multitude cometh together again [as on a previous occasion--Mark ii. 1], so that they could not so much as eat bread. [They could not sit down to a regular meal. A wonderful picture of the intense importunity of people and the corresponding eagerness of Jesus, who was as willing to do as they were to have done.] 21 And when his friends heard it, they went …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix ii. Philo of Alexandria and Rabbinic Theology.
(Ad. vol. i. p. 42, note 4.) In comparing the allegorical Canons of Philo with those of Jewish traditionalism, we think first of all of the seven exegetical canons which are ascribed to Hillel. These bear chiefly the character of logical deductions, and as such were largely applied in the Halakhah. These seven canons were next expanded by R. Ishmael (in the first century) into thirteen, by the analysis of one of them (the 5th) into six, and the addition of this sound exegetical rule, that where two …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Numbers
Like the last part of Exodus, and the whole of Leviticus, the first part of Numbers, i.-x. 28--so called,[1] rather inappropriately, from the census in i., iii., (iv.), xxvi.--is unmistakably priestly in its interests and language. Beginning with a census of the men of war (i.) and the order of the camp (ii.), it devotes specific attention to the Levites, their numbers and duties (iii., iv.). Then follow laws for the exclusion of the unclean, v. 1-4, for determining the manner and amount of restitution …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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