Numbers 11:21

21 But Moses said, "Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole 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 They won't eat it just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days,

20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of their ears and they're sick of it. This is because they rejected the LORD who is here among them and cried in front of him, asking, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'"

21 But Moses said, "Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!'

22 Would they have enough if all the flocks and herds were butchered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"

23 The LORD asked Moses, "Is there a limit to the LORD's power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true."