Numbers 11 Footnotes

11:4-6 The people’s needs are both physical and spiritual. The Hebrew nephesh refers to both body and soul as in v. 6 (“our appetite is gone,” lit “our soul withers”). They complain that they are tired of the monotonous diet of manna, God’s special provision, and crave the luxury of the produce of Egypt. To have that, they would return to slavery and oppression. Insatiable human craving leads to a life of bondage.

11:31 The geographical description of the quail migration corresponds to events that occur today. Here the miracle involved a divinely ordained wind at the appropriate time, as at the parting of the Red Sea at the exodus, which brought the quail into the Israelite camp in astonishing abundance. Ancient and modern historical documentation provides evidence of the regular migration of birds from Europe and the Mediterranean region across the Sinai region toward central Africa. But the blessing turned to craving, and the craving to disease and death. Hence the location was called “Graves of Craving” (v. 34).