Numbers 14:2

2 And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, Oh, that we might die in the land of Egypt or that we might die 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 lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept that night.

2 And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole congregation said unto them, Oh, that we might die in the land of Egypt or that we might die in this wilderness!

3 And why has the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Would it not be better for us to return into Egypt?

4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

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