Numbers 11:22

22 numquid ovium et boum multitudo caedetur ut possit sufficere ad cibum vel omnes pisces maris in unum congregabuntur ut eos satient

Numbers 11:22 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:22

Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice
them?
&c.] Suggesting that if all their cattle, their sheep, and oxen were killed, which they and the mixed multitude brought out of Egypt, they would not be sufficient for them to live upon a whole month; and intimating also, that it would be an unwise thing, and very improper, to slay them all, were they sufficient, since then they would have none for sacrifice, or to breed when they came into the land of Canaan; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``shall the sheep that are in Arabia and the oxen that are in Nabatea be slain for them, and be sufficient for them?''

or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to
suffice them?
of the great sea, as Jonathan; which, to gather together, is, humanly speaking, impossible; indeed, if it could be done, they would not suffice such a number of people a month together: Moses takes notice only of the flesh of beasts and of fishes, and seems not to have thought of the flesh of fowls with which, and not the other, the Lord afterwards fed them a whole month.

Numbers 11:22 In-Context

20 sed usque ad mensem dierum donec exeat per nares vestras et vertatur in nausiam eo quod reppuleritis Dominum qui in medio vestri est et fleveritis coram eo dicentes quare egressi sumus ex Aegypto

21 et ait Moses sescenta milia peditum huius populi sunt et tu dicis dabo eis esum carnium mense integro

22 numquid ovium et boum multitudo caedetur ut possit sufficere ad cibum vel omnes pisces maris in unum congregabuntur ut eos satient

23 cui respondit Dominus numquid manus Domini invalida est iam nunc videbis utrum meus sermo opere conpleatur

24 venit igitur Moses et narravit populo verba Domini congregans septuaginta viros de senibus Israhel quos stare fecit circa tabernaculum