Numbers 11:21

21 And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat 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 Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.

20 But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?

21 And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?

22 Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?

23 And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.