Numbers 14:2

2 And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!

Numbers 14:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 14:2

And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and
against Aaron
They being the instruments of bringing them out of Egypt, and conducting them hither:

and the whole congregation said unto them;
some of them, the rest assenting to it by their cries and tears and gestures;

would God we had died in the land of Egypt;
and then what they left behind they thought might have come into the hands of their children or relations; but now they concluded it would become a prey to the Canaanites:

or would God we had died in this wilderness;
the wilderness of Paran, at Taberah, where many of them had been destroyed by fire, ( Numbers 11:1-3 ) , and now they wish they had perished with them.

Numbers 14:2 In-Context

1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.

2 And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!

3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?"

4 So they said to one another, "Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt."

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.