[Those from third world countries view life in first world countries with envy, wishing they could experience convenience (never mind luxuries) that the ‘haves’ mostly take for granted . . . such as . . . water coming out of a faucet right in one’s home, cooking food without having to gather wood for a stove, such realities that the ‘have nots’ experience on a daily basis. And yet when media features life in the USA for instance, whether in news or reality shows or canned TV entertainment or a slice of Americana, the image projected is one of ungratefulness, dissatisfaction, waste of an enviable lifestyle that people of poorer countries could only dream about.
If we think with a judgmental attitude that we could probably have fared better than this generation that left Egypt with no less than the Creator of the universe bringing in miracle after miracle to their lives, appreciating instead of griping about no water, only manna to eat . . . think again. There is something about human nature that has not changed much from those days of old to these days and that is — being content with what one has, particularly if what one has is truly a privileged life, compared with others.
If I only had ‘enough’ . . . how much is ‘enough’? I bought a tea mug because of this reminder: “I come to see the ancient secret of happiness: Wanting what I already have.”
Commentary is from Pentateuch & Haftorahs, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; additional commetnary from Seymour Rossel, The Torah, Portion by Portion. Translation is by EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses. —Admin1.]
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This is commentary by Seymour Rossel from The Torah, Portion by Portion:
Complaining Even Moses complained. He asked Adonai, Why have you burdened me with these people? Where will I find meat for them? I would rather die than suffer from all their whining. Adonai told Moses to gather seventy leaders at the Tent of Meeting. Adonai would remove some of Moses’ spirit and give it to them so that Moses would not have to bear all the burden alone. As for the people, Adonai said to tell them, “Adonai will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall eat . . . for a whole month, until [meat] comes out of your nostrils and you hate it.”
So Moses chose seventy leaders and called them to stand around the Tent of Meeting. Adonai came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses, removing part of Moses’ spirit and putting it on the leaders, “And when the spirit rested on them, they spoke in ecstasy–but only that one time.”
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MURMURINGS AND REBELLIONS
This and the following three chapters deal with the successive rebellions of the People after their departure from Sinai that resulted in their being excluded from the Promised Land.
Numbers/Bamidbar 11
1 Now the people were like those-who-grieve (over) ill-fortune, in the ears of YHVH. When YHVH heard, his anger flared up; there blazed up against them a fire of YHVH and ate up the edge of the camp.as murmurers. Rebellious and complaining, instead of bearing their troubles in a spirit of trustful dependence upon God.
the fire of the LORD. The punishment was swift and terrible. It may either have been lightning (Job I,16), a miraculous outburst of flame (Lev.X,2) or an ordinary conflagration.
The Complainers
2 The people cried out to Moshe and Moshe interceded to YHVH, and the fire abated.unto Moses; and Moses prayed. The Midrash says, ‘It may be likened unto an earthly king who was angry with his son. What did he son do? He went to his father’s friend, saying, Go and seek mercy from my father for me.’
abated. Went out.
3 So they called the name of that place Tav’era/Blaze, for (there) had blazed against them fire of YHVH.Taberah. i.e. ‘Burning’.
4-35 ‘THE GRAVES OF LUST’
Dissatisfaction with the manna
4 Now the gathered-riffraff that were among them had a craving, hunger-craving, and moreover they again wept, the Children of Israel, and said: Who will give us meat to eat?and the mixed multitude. The Heb. form is a contemptuous term denoting a number of people gathered together from all quarters, a rabble, or riff-raff. It is identical with the mixed multitude (Exod. XII,38) of aliens who had attached themselves to the Israelites and accompanied them out of Egypt.
fell a lusting. Began to have a strong craving for flesh food
the children of Israel also wept. Discontent, like sin, is contagious. ‘They were not so much suffering as seeking for some pretext for gambling’ (Sifri).
ArtScroll comment adds this: the rabble (the promiscuous assembly) i.e. the Egyptians who had joined Israel, influenced the Children of Israel to complain again (Rashi) going so far as to say that they preferred Egyptian slavery to the Presence of God (v. 20).
5 We recall the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the green-leeks, the onions, and the garlic!we remember. ‘The natural dainties of Egypt are set forth in this passage with the fullness and relish which bespeak personal experience’ (Speaker’s Bible). These words enable us clearly to see into those slave souls who preferred the garlic of Egypt to the bread of freedom.
for nought. Classical writers attest that in Egypt fish was to be had in abundance and was incredibly cheap.
6 But now, our throats are dry; there is nothing at all except for the mahn (in front of) our eyes! 7 -Now the mahn is like seed of coriander, its aspect like the aspect of bdellium.coriander seed. About the size of a peppercorn; Exod. XVI,31.
as the appearance of bdellium. See Gn.II,12. The manna is said to have been white. The comparison probably turns on the shining or sparkling nature of the bdellium.
8 The people would roam around and collect it, grind it in millstones or crush it in a crusher, boil it in a pot, and make it into cakes, so that its taste was like the taste of (something) rich (made with) oil.as the taste of a cake baked with oil. lit. ‘something juicy made with oil.’ In Exod. XVI,31, it is said to have tasted like wafers made with honey, the ‘oily’ taste no doubt coming to it after it had been ground and beaten.
10-15 MOSES’ DISCOURAGEMENT AND COMPLAINT
10 Moshe heard the people weeping by their clans, each-man at the entrance to his tent. Now YHVH’S anger flared up exceedingly, and in the eyes of Moshe it was ill.family by family. The weeping was general and unconcealed.
Moses’ despair
11 Moshe said to YHVH: For-what have you dealt-ill with your servant, for-what-reason have I not found favor in your eyes, (that you) have placed the burden of this entire people on me?wherefore have I not found favour in Thy sight. ‘This is the language of despair, not the murmuring of unbelief’ (Keil).
12 Did I myself conceive this entire people, or did I myself give-birth to it, that you should say to me, Carry it in your bosom like a nursing-parent carries a suckling-child, to the soil about which you swore to their fathers? 13 Where should I (get) meat to give to this entire people, when they weep on me, saying: Give us meat so that we may eat! 14 I am not able, myself alone, to carry this entire people, for it is too heavy for me! 15 If thus you deal with me, pray kill me, yes, kill me, if I have found favor in your eyes, so that I do not have to see my ill-fortune!my wretchedness. i.e. the failure of his hopes and efforts; the despairing complaint of Elijah in I Kings XIX,4 and of Jeremiah in Jer. XV,10. My wretchedness: his failure to fulfill the task which he cannot abandon because God-given–a feeling of woe that arises whenever a spiritual leader toils vainly and wearily with the dull masses, to whom he is tied by feelings of love and duty’ (Holziner).
16-30 THE SEVENTY ELDERS
16 Then YHVH spoke to Moshe: Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, of whom you know that they are elders of the people and its officers, and take them to the Tent of Appointment, stationing them there with you.whom thou knowest to be the elders. Ripe in years as well as qualified by their wisdom to share the burdens of leadership.
the spirit which is upon thee. Implying no diminution of the spiritual power of Moses, ‘even as a light that kindles other lights is not thereby dimmed’ (Sifri).
with thee. Endowed with a portion of Moses’ prophetic power, their influence in the camp would silence the murmurings and help towards putting an end to dejection and faithlessness.
God responds to the people
18 Now to the people you are to say: Hallow yourselves for the morrow that you may eat meat, for you have wept in the ears of YHVH, saying: Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt! YHVH will give you meat, and you shall eat it:sanctify yourselves. Fit yourselves to receive the promised gift of God.
against tomorrow. In readiness for tomorrow.
will they suffice them? Moses expresses amazement at the Divine promise. His realization of the power of God fails for a moment. Scripture portrays Moses as but human!
23 YHVH said to Moshe: Is the arm of YHVH (too) short? Now you shall see whether my word happens to you or not.is the LORD’s hand waxed short? i.e. is it too weak or powerless?
24 Moshe went out and spoke to the people the words of YHVH. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people, and had-them-stand around the tent.New prophets
25 And YHVH came down in a cloud and spoke to him, and YHVH extended some of the rushing-spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy men, the elders; and it was, when the spirit rested upon them, that they acted-like-prophets, but did not continue.in the cloud. The symbol of His perpetual Presence with them.
they prophesied. A feeling of spiritual ecstasy and exaltation possessed them, causing them to break out into praises of god, and declaring His will and His goodness. By prophecy is here meant, not prediction of the future, but the power of instructing and admonishing the people with an authority that was recognized as having its source in God.
but they did so no more. ‘They prophesied that day but never after’ (Sifri). They were not intended to be permanent sharers with Moses in his task of leadership. Maimonides compares the recipients of Divine revelations to men whose night is illumined by flashes of lightning. ‘To some it is given to behold the lightning flashes in rapid succession; they seem to be in perpetual light, and their night is as clear as day. This was the degree of prophetic flash at long intervals; this is the degree of most of the Prophets. By still others a flash of lightning is perceived only once during the whole night. This is the case of those of whom we are told, “They prophesied, but they did so no more.”‘
26 Now two men remained in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, the name of the second, Meidad, and the spirit rested upon them -they were among those-recorded, but they had not gone out to the Tent- and they acted-like-prophets in the camp.Eldad . . . Medad. Two of the seventy elders had declined the honour and remained in the camp. They were nevertheless seized with the same ecstasy.
of them that were recorded. They belonged to those who were originally registered as being of the 70 elders.
27 A (certain) lad ran and told Moshe, he said: Eldad and Meidad are acting-like-prophets in the camp!a young man. lit. ‘the young man’; some one whose name was known but is not given here; possibly some servant of Moses.
shut them in (forbid them). Restrain them from continuing their prophetic efforts. He feared that the honour and authority of Moses would be diminished by men prophesying who had not received the spirit from Moses.
29 But Moshe said to him: Are you jealous for me? O who would give that all the people of YHVH were prophets, that YHVH would put the rush-of-his spirit upon them!would that all the LORD’s people were prophets. The one saying proves the incomparable greatness of Moses’ character. He loves his people more than himself. When a man is really great and good he longs that all should be as he is, and better. So far from being displeased with Eldad and Medad, he yearned for all Israel, elders or not, without the camp or within, to receive the Divine spirit. ‘Moses expresses the conviction which is true for all time, that the possession of the spirit is not confined to particular persons or classes’ (McNeile).
30 Moshe took himself back to the camp, he and the elders of Israel;31-34 FULFILMENT OF THE DIVINE POWER
The quail
31 and a rush-of-wind moved from YHVH and swept in quails from the sea, they spread out over the camp as far as a day’s journey here and a day’s journey there, all around the camp, and about two cubits upon the face of the ground.from the sea. Across the sea; probably the modern Gulf of Akaba.
and let them fall by the camp. The wind lessened, and the quails exhausted by their long flight across the sea fell down from the heights.
two cubits above the face of the earth. Flying at such a low height, they were easily netted.
32 The people arose all that day and all night, and all the morrow day, gathering the quail, the least gathered ten homers. They spread them, spread them out, all around the camp.gathered. They were arranged in heaps and spread out to be ‘cured’ in the sun.
33 The meat was still between their teeth -(the supply) not yet exhausted, when the anger of YHVH flared up among the people, and YHVH struck down among the people an exceedingly great striking.very great plague. Their passionate lust was gratified, but the surfeit killed them; see Psalm LXXVIII,26-31; CVI,13-15.
34 So they called the name of that place Kivrot Ha-Taava/Burial-places of the Craving, for there they buried the people who had-the-craving. 35 From Kivrot Ha-Taava the people marched to Hatzeirot, and they remained in Hatzeirot.and they abode at Hazeroth. The site has not been identified.