Numbers 11:16

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Jehovah will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? And Moses said, The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? And Jehovah said unto Moses, Is Jehovah's hand waxed short? now shalt thou see whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not."

This paragraph recounts God's answer to Moses' desperate appeal. Help would be supplied by the commissioning of the seventy. Also, the complaint of the people which had precipitated the crisis would also be met. God would give them flesh.

"I will take of the Spirit that is upon thee, and put it upon them ..." (Numbers 11:17). In one sense, the Holy Spirit is somewhat like a fire in that spreading it to others does not diminish the intensity existing in another, just as a flame kindled from one fire does not put out the first. What a lack of discernment there is in the comment by Wade: "The spirit resting on Moses is regarded as a quasi-physical fluid, capable of being divided and imparted to others."[15] One may only wonder as to where such an idea originated.

Later Jewish leaders traced the origin of their Sanhedrin to this place, but it is significant that on a previous occasion, at the suggestion of Jethro, Moses had also appointed a "Seventy." The two events are not to be understood as supplementary accounts of but one.

"Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow ..." (Numbers 11:18). The blessing promised was not to be unmixed, for it would involve a judgment also.

"Ye shall eat ... for a whole month ... until it come out at your nostrils ..." (Numbers 11:19,20). Moses himself was incredulous that even God could do such a thing, as indicated by his protest. However, Moses had enough faith to command the people as God had said. Despite our conviction that sin must be attributed to Moses for his attitude here, many commentators, including especially the Jewish family of writers, "tend generally to exculpate (exonerate) him."[16]

"Is Jehovah's hand waxed short ...?" (Numbers 11:23). Here is one of the great questions that abound in the O.T. The simple meaning of it: "Is anything too hard for God to do?"

Plaut rendered Numbers 11:20 here, as follows; "Oh why did we ever leave Egypt?"[17] It would be only a short time after this that God would declare that whole generation unfit to enter the Promised Land. The feeding of the people with quails is momentarily shelved at this point to make room for the parenthetical account of the giving of God's Spirit to the Seventy.