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Sometime during the three-day journey described in chapter 10, the Israelites began to complain. The LORD heard it and became very angry, and He caused fire to burn at the edge of the camp. Moses intervened and the LORD ceased causing the fire.
Not only did the Israelites complain to the LORD. The "rabble" also voiced their demands and disappointments. The main complaint in this section was about food. The rabble and the Israelites bemoaned the lack of the type of food they had when in Egypt. The only food available to them was the manna which was given to them by the LORD.
Verses 10 – 15 contain what some have called "Moses’ Lament." Moses heard, and probably was the recipient of, the never-ending griping of the people in the camp about having only manna to eat. In verses 11 – 15, Moses took his impassioned complaint to the LORD. Moses’ issue with the LORD involved him being chosen by the LORD to be the leader of these miserable, ungrateful, and demanding people.
Numbers 11:16-25 contains the LORD’s answer to Moses’ question.
Verses 26 – 30 speak of two of the elders that did not meet with Moses and the other elders at the tent of meeting. It turned out that the Holy Spirit came upon them even though they were not at the tabernacle. These two men, Eldad and Medad, prophesied just like the other sixty-eight elders, only they did so in the camp. Moses was notified of this, and Joshua urged Moses to stop the two from prophesying. Moses rejects Joshua’s request, and all of them return to the camp of the Israelites.
After the seventy men had been commissioned, the LORD then met the people’s desire for meat in their diet. He caused a wind to blow countless quail into the Israelite camp to supply this meat. As it turned out, this was both a blessing and a curse because not only did the LORD accommodate the people, He also judged them for their lack of gratefulness by sending a plague upon them through the meat.
Numbers 11 contains events that happened during the Israelites' journey from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea through the Wilderness of Paran. It records how the people complained about the lack of meat. They were not content with the LORD's gracious provision of manna, so they bitterly complained about not having other items (such as meat) to eat.
The LORD heard the complaining and responded by sending fire on a part of the camp. Moses interceded for the people and the LORD stopped the fire.
The LORD also provided seventy men to assist Moses in administering day-to-day tasks in the camp. They were given the Holy Spirit to help them accomplish their tasks of administration. As a result of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them, they prophesied. Two of them also prophesied even though they were not in the LORD's presence at the tabernacle. This bothered Joshua, and Moses had to calm him down.
After the LORD met Moses' need for help in his administration tasks, the LORD miraculously supplied the quail. Though it appeared to the people to be a blessing, the coming of the quail became a plague that caused many Israelites to perish.
Numbers 11 can be outlined as follows:
- The People Complained (Numbers 11:1 – 3)
- The Rabble Complained (Numbers 11:4 – 9)
- Moses Complained (Numbers 11:10 – 15)
- The LORD's Response to Moses' Complaint (Numbers 11:16 – 25)
- Eldad and Medad Prophesy (Numbers 11:26 – 29)
- The LORD Provides Quail (Numbers 11:30 – 35)
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