Departure from Sinai
11In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the covenant.a 12Then the Israelites set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. 13They set out for the first time at the command of the LORD by Moses. 14The standard of the camp of Judah set out first, company by company, and over the whole company was Nahshon son of Amminadab. 15Over the company of the tribe of Issachar was Nethanel son of Zuar; 16and over the company of the tribe of Zebulun was Eliab son of Helon.
17Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites, who carried the tabernacle, set out. 18Next the standard of the camp of Reuben set out, company by company; and over the whole company was Elizur son of Shedeur. 19Over the company of the tribe of Simeon was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, 20and over the company of the tribe of Gad was Eliasaph son of Deuel.
21Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, set out; and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival. 22Next the standard of the Ephraimite camp set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Elishama son of Ammihud. 23Over the company of the tribe of Manasseh was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, 24and over the company of the tribe of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.
25Then the standard of the camp of Dan, acting as the rear guard of all the camps, set out, company by company, and over the whole company was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai. 26Over the company of the tribe of Asher was Pagiel son of Ochran, 27and over the company of the tribe of Naphtali was Ahira son of Enan. 28This was the order of march of the Israelites, company by company, when they set out.
29Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you’ come with us, and we will treat you well; for the LORD has promised good to Israel.” 30But he said to him, “I will not go, but I will go back to my own land and to my kindred.” 31He said, “Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. 32Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the LORD does for us, the same we will do for you.”
33So they set out from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the LORD going before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them, 34the cloud of the LORD being over them by day when they set out from the camp.
35Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,
“Arise, O LORD, let your enemies be scattered,
and your foes flee before you.”
36And whenever it came to rest, he would say,
“Return, O LORD of the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”b
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a Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
10.1–10 Moses is to make two silver trumpets to be used during the march from the wilderness of Sinai.
10.2 Several Hebrew words are translated trumpets. The trumpets in this narrative are made of metal, not animal horns, and are used almost entirely for sacred and not secular purposes. They are blown by priests (see v. 8). According to Josephus and as depicted on later coins, they were slender with a wide mouth and about one foot long.
10.4 The leaders…Israel. See 1.16.
10.5–7 Many commentators suggest that an alarm is a series of short blasts, as distinguished from a blow, a long blast (v. 7). The Hebrew word translated alarm here is commonly a battle cry (e.g., v. 9; 31.6; Josh 6.5, 20; 2 Chr 13.12–16), but can also be a shout for joy (e.g., 2 Sam 6.15; Ps 33.3). Presumably an alarm is blown for the tribes on the west and north as well (so the Septuagint).
10.8 On these particular trumpets as instruments of the priests, see note on 10.2.
10.10 Days of rejoicing, e.g., the coronation of King Joash (2 Kings 11.14) or the laying of the foundation of the Second Temple (Ezra 3.10). Appointed festivals. See Num 28–29; Lev 23. Beginnings of your months. See Num 28.11–15.
10.11–22.1 The march from the wilderness of Sinai to Transjordan.
10.11–36 Cf. Deut 1.6–8.
10.11–12 Second year…month. The date is nineteen days after the census in 1.1 and eleven months and nineteen days after the Israelites arrived at the wilderness of Sinai (Ex 19.1). Cloud. See 9.15–23. For the stages of their journey, see also 33.1–49. In the first stage, the people move from the wilderness of Sinai to the wilderness of Paran (see also 11.3, 35; 12.16). Paran seems to refer to the entire area of the northern Sinai between Egypt and Midian (1 Kings 11.18).
10.14–28 For the order of the march, see ch. 2. Positions of the levitical families during the march are not quite symmetrically assigned. Those who are over the company parallel the lists of leaders in 1.5–15; 2.3–31; 7.12–83. For the standard of a tribe (vv. 14, 18, 22, 25), see 1.52. There are three tribes for each standard as there are three tribes for each “regimental encampment” in ch. 2. A regimental encampment consists of the tribes who camp under the same standard. Company by company. See 1.3.
10.17 The Gershonites and Merarites presumably also took down the parts of the tabernacle that they transported on wagons (7.1–9) and put the structure up again when the people camped (see 10.21). The descendants of Aaron pack up the most sacred items of the tabernacle structure for the Kohathites to carry (v. 21 here; 3.31–32; 4.5–20), and the dismantling of the rest is perhaps implied in 4.27–28, 32b–33. For the items that the Gershonites and Merarites transport, see 3.25–26, 36–37; 4.24–26, 31–32a.
10.21 See 10.17.
10.25 Rear guard, lit. “gatherer” see also Josh 6.9, 13; Isa 52.12.
10.29–36 At this point old epic materials return, interrupting the so-called Priestly materials (see Introduction) that have been the source of the narrative since Ex 35.
10.29–32 Hobab…Moses’ father-in-law, is persuaded to accompany the people on their march. Elsewhere called Jethro (Ex 3.1; 4.18; 18.1–12) or even Reuel (Ex 2.18), Hobab is mentioned again in Judg 4.11 and in the Septuagint in Judg 1.16. Moses is frequently associated with Midianites or with the related Kenites, and his father-in-law is a priest of the Lord (Ex 2.16) even before Moses’ encounter with the deity at the burning bush (Ex 3). Moses’ and Israel’s relations with Midianites or Kenites are sometimes described positively (Ex 2.11–22; 3.1–6; 4.18–20; 18; Judg 1.16; 4.11; 1 Sam 15.6; 27.8–12; 30.26–31), but sometimes a tradition of animosity against Midian is evident (Num 22.4, 7; 25; 31; Josh 13.21–23; Judg 6–8; Ps 83.9; Isa 9.4; 10.26).
10.33–34 Mount of the LORD. See Deut 1.6. For the cloud that was over the people by day, see 9.15–23. That the ark went before them three days’ journey makes little sense; the temporal phrase is perhaps repeated mistakenly from earlier in the verse. Cf. Josh 3.1–4.
10.35–36 Two very short pieces that appear to be ancient battle cries. “Arise, O LORD” and “Return, O LORD” imply that the ark represents the presence of the Lord among the people (see 7.89; 14.44; Ex 25.10–22; 1 Sam 4.1–7.2; 2 Sam 6.1–19; 2 Chr 6.41; Pss 68.1; 132.8). In Hebrew manuscripts, this two-verse portion is set off by an inverted Hebrew letter nun at the beginning and end, indicating that ancient Jewish tradition considered these verses special in some way and took pains to mark them as such.
NUMBERS 11
Complaining in the Desert
1Now when the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, the LORD heard it and his anger was kindled. Then the fire of the LORD burned against them, and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. 2But the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. 3So that place was called Taberah,a because the fire of the LORD burned against them.
4The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6but n
ow our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
7Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of gum resin. 8The people went around and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in mortars, then boiled it in pots and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. 9When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna would fall with it.
10Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the LORD became very angry, and Moses was displeased. 11So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors’? 13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. 15If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.”
The Seventy Elders
16So the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. 17I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself. 18And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wailed in the hearing of the LORD, saying, ‘If only we had meat to eat! Surely it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19You shall eat not only one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you—because you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’” 21But Moses said, “The people I am with number six hundred thousand on foot; and you say, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month’! 22Are there enough flocks and herds to slaughter for them? Are there enough fish in the sea to catch for them?” 23The LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s power limited?b Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men,c said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!” 30And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
The Quails
31Then a wind went out from the LORD, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground. 32So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day, gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers; and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. 34So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,d because there they buried the people who had the craving. 35From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth.
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a That is Burning
b Heb LORD ’s hand too short?
c Or of Moses from his youth
d That is Graves of craving
11.1–35 The stories in ch. 11 appear to be a doublet of the set of incidents in Ex 15.22–16.36. In each case there is a three-day march (Ex 15.22; Num 10.33), a set of complaints (Ex 15.24; 16.2–3; Num 11.1, 4, 10), and the provision of manna and quails for the people to eat (Ex 16.4, 13–15, 31–36; Num 11.7–9, 31–32).
11.1–3 A schematic story of complaint. This is the first appearance in Numbers of the common motif of the people’s complaining because of the hardship of their life in the desert. They long for the settled life of Egypt and regret that they left what was familiar to make the dangerous trek through the unknown. Typically they complain and are punished by the Lord. In some of the stories, Moses intercedes with the Lord on behalf of the people, and in some the name of the place where the complaining happens is etymologized with reference to some incident or element within the story. Such stories begin in Ex 14.10; 15.24; 16.2; 17.2; (32.1); Num 11.1; 11.4; 14.1; 16.41; 20.3; 21.4. (See also Pss 78.15–31; 106.13–15.)
11.1 The misfortunes mentioned here are unspecified. Fire of the LORD is probably lightning (see Ex 9.23–24; 19.18; 2 Kings 1.9–14).
11.2 Moses prayed for the people, suggesting the prophet’s role as intercessor. Complaint stories often include some intercession by Moses; see also in vv. 10–15.
11.3 Fire of the LORD. See v. 1. Taberah, presumably a place in the wilderness of Paran (see 10.11–12; Deut 9.22; cf. Num 33.16–17).
11.4–9 Another complaint, this time first voiced by the rabble (v. 4).
11.4 The word for rabble, lit. “a collection,” occurs only here and is often interpreted to mean a mixed group of people, i.e., non-Israelites who were attached to the people (see Ex 12.38; Lev 24.10). This verse is evidence of a tradition that the Israelites did not have animals with them on the march; cf. Ex 10.24–26; 12.32, 38; 17.3; 34.3; Num 14.33; 32.1.
11.5 The foods listed here are typical in Egypt. Note that none is precisely “meat” in fact, most are vegetables.
11.6–9 Manna. See Ex 16.14–21, 31.
11.8 Cakes baked with oil, a loose translation (see Ex 16.31), lit. “cream of oil,” perhaps rich or choice cream.
11.10–15 In a very unusual passage, Moses, like the people, complains of his lot and says he would prefer death to a continuation of the current situation. Moses’ complaint is that the Lord has not been responsible in caring for the Israelites, even though their situation is a result of the Lord’s previous activity and promises; he feels caught in the middle between a complaining throng and an unconcerned deity (see v. 14). Moses’ role as intercessor is not unusual (see v. 3; 14.13–19; 16.22; 21.7; see also Abraham in Gen 18.22–32), but in several instances his pleas are rather extended and in some of these, as here, he is surprisingly indignant about his own role (see Ex 17.2–4; 32.11–14, 30–32; 33.12–16; cf. Ex 14.15–18, which seems to be a response to such an outcry, now lost).
11.12 The use of an extra Hebrew pronoun I twice lends emphasis to Moses’ implication here that it was indeed the Lord who conceived and gave birth to Israel. (It is used again in v. 14.) The female imagery used here of the Lord and of Moses (he has been designated Israel’s wet nurse) is unusual, but not unique (see Deut 32.18; also Isa 42.14; 66.13). Carry them in your bosom, a wet nurse’s activity (see Isa 40.11 for the same image as a description of a shepherd with lambs).
11.14 Cf. Ex 18.17–18.
11.15 See Ex 32.32.
11.16–17 See a similar solution in Ex 18.13–26.
11.16 Seventy of the elders. See also Ex 24.1, 9. In the old epic traditions represented here (see Introduction)
the tent of meeting is outside the camp (see vv. 26, 30), as in Ex 33.7–11 (note Joshua’s role there also); Num 12.4; 19.1–4; it is said to be pitched quite simply, by Moses himself (Ex 33.7). The tradition that reports the tent outside the camp presents it as the site where anyone can obtain an oracle from the Lord (Ex 33.7) as Miriam and Aaron do in 12.4–9.
11.17 I will…there. See 7.89. Leaders and prophets are commonly perceived to possess a special spirit (see, e.g., 24.2–3; Judg 3.10; Ezek 2.2), and that spirit can be passed to others (Num 11.24–29; 1 Sam 10.5–10; 19.18–24; 2 Kings 2.9–15).
11.18 Consecrate yourselves, implying an up-coming encounter with the divine or the sacred.
11.20 See 14.27; 1 Sam 8.7; 10.19.
11.21 The six hundred thousand on foot are the soldiers (see Ex 12.37; cf. Num 1.46).
11.23 LORD ’s power limited. See text note a. See Isa 50.2; 59.1 for the same image.
11.24–30 See 11.17.
11.25 The prophesying was a temporary condition and not a permanent occupation.
11.26, 30 The tent of meeting is outside the camp.
11.31–34 This section returns to the topic of vv. 18–24a; see Ps 105.40.
11.31 Wind provides a verbal connection with the preceding section because “wind” and “spirit” are the same word in Hebrew. Quails. See Ex 16.13. Two cubits, about one yard.
11.32 A homer is between 4 and 5 bushels. They spread out the quails to dry and preserve them.
11.33 On the Lord’s anger resulting in a plague, see Ex 9.15; Lev 26.21; Num 12.9–10; 14.11–12, 36–37; 16.45–46; 21.5–6 (serpents); 25.1–9, 18; Deut 28.15, 27; 1 Sam 4.5–8; 2 Sam 24.10–17; 1 Chr 21.1–17; Jer 14.10–12.
11.34 The mention of craving here forms an inclusio with v. 4, in which the rabble had a strong craving (in an inclusio, the beginning and end repeat each other, thereby signaling a structural unit). Taken literally, the use of this phrase suggests that only the rabble were affected by the plague.
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