Numbers 11
(1) Israel Complains; God Burns their Outskirts
Eventually, the people started complaining as if they had been wronged. Hearing that made the Existing One mad, and His fire burned in their midst, scorching some of the outskirts of the Israeli camp.
The people came to Moses crying, so he intervened with the Existing One, and the fire died out.
That place became known as “Taberah” [which means “burning”] since the Existing One’s fire burned in their midst.
(4) Israel Greedily Craves Meat
Then a mob of Israel’s descendants became overcome with a greedy desire. They cried some more, saying,
“Who will give us some meat to eat? We remember the free fish we used to eat in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic… but now we’re all shriveled up. Now we don’t have anything in sight except for this manna!”
(7) Description of Manna
The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. The people would walk around gathering it, and grind it up with 2 millstones or beat it in the mortar, then cook it in a pot and make cakes out of it. It tasted like a juicy morsel with oil. When the dew would come down on the camp at night, the manna would come down with it.
(10) Moses Asks God to Put Him Out of His Misery
Moses could hear everyone crying. All the families were crying as a man stood at the doorway of each tent. That really ignited the Existing One’s anger.
Moses felt like God was wronging him, so he asked the Existing One,
“Why have you treated your servant so poorly? Why do you dislike me so much that you burdened me with these people? I’m not the one who conceived all these people. Did I become pregnant with them, and now You’re telling me to carry them around in my belly and nurse them like babies? Am I supposed to do this all the way to the land you promised my ancestors? Where am I supposed to get enough meat to feed all these people? They’re crying in front of me, asking me for meat. I can’t carry these people all by myself. It’s too heavy of a burden for me. So if that’s how You’re gonna treat me, then just kill me now. If I’ve found any favor in your sight, then just kill me now and put me out of my misery.”
(16) God Promises Meat
The Existing One answered Moses, saying,
“Gather 70 of Israel’s leaders for Me who serve as elders and officers. Bring them to My meeting tent and have everyone present themselves there with you. Then I’ll come down and talk with you there. I’ll take the Spirit who is on you and put Him on the rest of the leaders. Then they’ll help you carry the burden of the population so you don’t have to carry it all alone.
“Tell everyone to set themselves apart for tomorrow—and tell them that they’ll eat meat. They’ll eat it because they cried to the Existing One, asking Me for meat, saying that they were better off in Egypt. The Existing One will give you meat, and you’ll eat your fill. You won’t eat it for just 1 day, 2 days, 5 days, 10 days, or even 20 days—but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating for you. This will happen because you despised the Existing One who is present with you, and you cried to Me saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
Moses said,
“There are 600,000 of these people, yet You said You’d give them meat for a whole month. Will countless herds of animals be slaughtered so there will be enough? Or will all the fish in the sea be collected so there can be enough?”
The Existing One replied,
“Is the Existing One’s power limited?
“You’ll see if what I say ends up happening or not.”
(24) God Imparts His Spirit to 70 Israeli Leaders
So Moses went out and told the population what the Existing One has said. He also gathered 70 of the elders and stationed them around the tent. Then the Existing One descended in the cloud and spoke. God took the Spirit who was on Moses and placed Him (the Spirit) on the 70 elders. When the Spirit settled down on them, they prophesied, but didn’t prophesy again after that.
But two men who were supposed to be there stayed in the camp. Their names were Eldad [whose name means “God has loved”] and Medad [meaning “love”]. The Spirit settled down on them too, and they prophesied in the camp. (They were part of the group of people who had been registered, but they hadn't gone out to the tent.) A young man ran out to Moses and told him that they were prophesying in the camp. Joshua (Nun’s son who had been Moses’s attendant since he was young) heard the report and told Moses,
“Sir, you need to silence those guys!”
But Moses said,
“Are you getting jealous that they’re prophesying instead of me? I wish that all of the Existing One’s people were prophets! And I wish He would put His Spirit on all of them!”
Then Moses went back to the camp with Israel’s elders.
(31) God Supplies Unlimited Quail
Then a wind/spirit moved forward from the Existing One and brought quail from the sea, dropping the birds all around the camp. They could be found about one-day’s journey in any direction, and they covered the ground about 3 feet deep. The people stayed up all day, all night, and the entire next day gathering the quail. The people who gathered the least collected about 105 cubic feet of quail. There was so much quail spread out all over the camp. But as soon as everyone started biting into their meat, the Existing One got mad and struck the population with a severe epidemic.
That region became known as Kibroth-hattaavah which means “greedy graves,” because that’s where they buried the people who had been greedy.
From there, they moved out to Hazeroth, where they set up camp.