Numbers 14:2

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

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 Therefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.

2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:

3 Would God that we had died in Egypt: and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?

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

5 And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.