Num 11-12 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Num 11:1-35: 11:1-35 This is one of many occasions in the wilderness when Israel was disobedient to the Lord. 11:1 Soon the people began to complain. ... Then the Lord ’s anger blazed: The link between Israel’s complaints and God’s anger is a major theme of Numbers and throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deut 9:22 ; Ps 78 ). God is holy and just, and he demands obedience from his people. Complaints are equivalent to rejecting him (cp. Num 11:20 ). • their hardship: Mount Sinai had provided a stable residence for a year; the road to Paran provided heat, thirst, and fatigue. • fire ... destroyed some: Cp. Lev 10:2 .

Summary for Num 11:1-35: 11:1-35 ^a This is one of many occasions in the wilderness when Israel was disobedient to the Lord. 11:1 ^b Soon the people began to complain. ... Then the Lord’s anger blazed: The link between Israel’s complaints and God’s anger is a major theme of Numbers and throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Deut 9:22 ^c; Ps 78 ^d). God is holy and just, and he demands obedience from his people. Complaints are equivalent to rejecting him (cp. Num 11:20 ^e).

• their hardship: Mount Sinai had provided a stable residence for a year; the road to Paran provided heat, thirst, and fatigue.

• fire ... destroyed some: Cp. Lev 10:2 ^f.
Summary for Num 11:2-3: 11:2-3 ^g The people sought Moses’ intercession again (cp. Exod 15:25 ^h; 32:11-14 ⁱ), which brought an end to the fire of God’s judgment.

• Taberah: Cp. Num 11:34-35 ^j; see Deut 9:22 ^k.
Summary for Num 11:4-15: 11:4-15 ^l Israel had not relinquished the attitude that brought about the judgment at Taberah (11:1-3 ^m), so they readily joined the foreign rabble in craving the delicacies of Egypt, forgetting the misery of slavery there.
Summary for Num 11:4-6: 11:4-6 ⁿ Oh, for some meat! The Israelites had flocks and herds (e.g., 32:1 ^o; Exod 12:32 ^p, 38 ^q; 17:3 ^r; 34:3 ^s), but the animals were more valuable for their dairy products and other benefits produced while alive and were only butchered for meat on a selective basis. The Hebrews would not have had enough meat to feed such a large population regularly (cp. Num 11:21-22 ^t).
11:6 ^u The Lord had earlier provided manna and quail (Exod 16 ^v).
Summary for Num 11:7-9: 11:7-9 ^w The manna has often been explained as one of various edible substances that occur naturally (but see Deut 8:3 ^x); even so, its quantity and duration were miraculous.
Summary for Num 11:10-15: 11:10-15 ^y The Israelites’ persistent whining led a frustrated Moses to register his own complaints with God. With biting sarcasm, Moses reminded God that he had not wanted this job in the first place (cp. Exod 4:10 ^z). Israel became such a burden that Moses wished that God would do him the favor of killing him (cp. Job 6:9 ^aa).

• Moses’ complaint was acceptable, unlike the complaints of the people, because he was seeking the Lord rather than pining for the delights of Egypt.
Summary for Num 11:16-30: 11:16-30 ^ab When Jethro proposed a judicial hierarchy (Exod 18:13-26 ^ac), he was concerned with practical matters, as were the tribal leaders who helped Moses with the registration (Num 1:5-15 ^ad). By contrast, this group of seventy ... elders would provide Israel with spiritual guidance. They needed a share of God’s Spirit that already rested upon Moses and made him the Lord’s special spokesman. Their capacity as leaders depended on the presence of God’s Spirit (cp. 1 Sam 10:6 ^ae; 19:20 ^af; Joel 2:28 ^ag; Acts 2:16-18 ^ah; 1 Cor 12:10 ^ai; 2 Pet 1:20-21 ^aj).
11:25 ^ak We are not told what happened when the Spirit rested upon them and they prophesied. Whatever happened (possibly ecstatic utterances; cp. Acts 2:4 ^al; 1 Cor 14:2 ^am), it was a unique occurrence.
Summary for Num 11:28-29: 11:28-29 ^an Joshua’s zealous protest was prompted by his jealousy in a worthy but immature desire to safeguard his master’s status. Moses was humble (Num 12:3 ^ao) and was not threatened by Eldad and Medad’s prophecy. Instead, he was magnanimous about sharing the spotlight and happy to learn that God was working through others in such special ways. Moses had leadership qualities that the younger Joshua had not yet acquired (cp. Mark 9:38-40 ^ap).
Summary for Num 11:31-35: 11:31-35 ^aq God responded to the people’s complaints by sending a storm of quail and a plague. God had provided quail along with manna in Exod 16:13 ^ar, but here they expressed God’s judgment in their sickeningly overabundant supply.
Summary for Num 11:34-35: 11:34-35 ^as The precise locations of Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth are unknown.

‏ Numbers 12

Summary for Num 12:1-16: 12:1-16 ^at Rebellion was not restricted to the “foreign rabble” or to the Israelites who were bored with manna (11:4 ^au). Moses’ own brother and sister, Aaron the high priest (Exod 29:30 ^av) and Miriam the prophet (Exod 15:20 ^aw), rebelled against him. Israel was near the nadir of its rebellion against God (Num 13:25–14:12 ^ax).
Summary for Num 12:1-2: 12:1-2 ^ay Miriam and Aaron might have perceived Moses’ marriage as a threat to their status and ambitions. Miriam is named first, which suggests that she instigated this family feud and could explain why God punished her and not Aaron (12:9-10 ^az). 12:1 ^ba Most interpreters understand the Cushite woman to be Moses’ wife Zipporah from Midian (Exod 2:16-22 ^bb), understanding Cush as referring here to Cushan, a region and people near Midian (Hab 3:7 ^bc). Other interpreters, taking Cushite in its usual sense as referring to Kusi (in northern Arabia), Ethiopia, or Sudan, think that she was a different wife. In either case, it is possible that Miriam and Aaron disapproved of his having married a non-Israelite or that they were jealous of her influence over Moses.
12:2 ^bd The challenge to Moses’ authority was, by implication, a rejection of the Lord’s choice of Moses as Israel’s leader.

• the Lord heard: The same phrase in 11:1 ^be foreshadows the Lord’s response.
12:3 ^bf Moses’ incomparable humility contrasts his godly character (see also Prov 3:34 ^bg; Matt 5:5 ^bh) with Miriam and Aaron’s jealousy.

• This parenthetical comment, a simple statement of the truth from God’s perspective, could be the words of Moses or of a later editor.
Summary for Num 12:4-8: 12:4-8 ^bi In response, the Lord reconfirmed Moses’ special status and authority.
Summary for Num 12:6-8: 12:6-8 ^bj The Lord’s trust in Moses resulted in an intimate relationship. God spoke to prophets in visions and dreams, but he spoke to Moses face to face (literally mouth to mouth; see Exod 33:8-11 ^bk, 18-23 ^bl; Deut 34:10 ^bm).
Summary for Num 12:9-16: 12:9-16 ^bn Miriam bore the brunt of God’s wrath (see study note on 12:1-2). Once Aaron saw what had happened to her, he admitted his error and sought Moses’ intercession (cp. 11:2 ^bo). Both Moses and the Lord accepted Aaron’s confession.
12:14 ^bp Miriam was required to follow the normal procedure for achieving ritual purity after a skin disease (5:2-4 ^bq; Lev 13–14 ^br).
12:16 ^bs The camp in the wilderness of Paran was at Kadesh-barnea (13:26 ^bt; Deut 1:19-22 ^bu).