Numbers 11:22

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?"^[a]

Numbers 11:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:22

Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice
them?
&c.] Suggesting that if all their cattle, their sheep, and oxen were killed, which they and the mixed multitude brought out of Egypt, they would not be sufficient for them to live upon a whole month; and intimating also, that it would be an unwise thing, and very improper, to slay them all, were they sufficient, since then they would have none for sacrifice, or to breed when they came into the land of Canaan; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``shall the sheep that are in Arabia and the oxen that are in Nabatea be slain for them, and be sufficient for them?''

or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to
suffice them?
of the great sea, as Jonathan; which, to gather together, is, humanly speaking, impossible; indeed, if it could be done, they would not suffice such a number of people a month together: Moses takes notice only of the flesh of beasts and of fishes, and seems not to have thought of the flesh of fowls with which, and not the other, the Lord afterwards fed them a whole month.

Numbers 11:22 In-Context

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."

24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought 70 men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent.

Footnotes

• [a]. Mt 15:33; Mk 6:37; 8:4