Numbers 11:21

21 But Moses replied, "I'm in the middle of a people with 600,000 foot soldiers,^[a] yet You say, 'I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.'

Numbers 11:21 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:21

And Moses said
By way of objection to what God had promised, distrusting his power to perform:

the people amongst whom I [am];
among whom he dwelt, of whom he was a part, and over whom he was a ruler:

[are] six hundred thousand footmen;
that were able to travel on foot, and were fit for war: this was the number of them when they came out of Egypt, ( Exodus 12:37 ) ; they amounted in their last numbering to 3,550 more, which lesser number is here omitted, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi observe, and only the round number given: some say that all above the six hundred thousand were destroyed by the fire at Taberah, ( Numbers 11:1 ) ;

and thou hast said, one will give them flesh, that they may eat a
whole month;
this Moses could not tell how to credit.

Numbers 11:21 In-Context

19 You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days,

20 but for a whole month-until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you-because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and cried to Him: 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?' "

21 But Moses replied, "I'm in the middle of a people with 600,000 foot soldiers, yet You say, 'I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.'

22 If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?"

23 The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's power limited? You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you."

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 1:45-46; 2:32; 26:51; Ex 12:37