Numbers 11:21

21 But Moses responded to the LORD, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat 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 And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty.

20 You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the LORD, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”

21 But Moses responded to the LORD, “There are 600,000 foot soldiers here with me, and yet you say, ‘I will give them meat for a whole month!’

22 Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them? Even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough?”

23 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true!”