Bemidbar 11:10-15 records that Moshe was very upset by the people's complaint for meat. He complained to G-d that why did G-d put him in charge of the people since he was not their mother nor was he a nurse who carries babies. He ends by asking G-d to kill him! Moshe's use of maternal metaphors is a little surprising but maybe it was because the people had cried and stated "who will feed us," 11:4. This crying and demanding to be fed is acting like young children who cannot get what they want, and hence maybe this prompted Moshe to use maternal metaphors when speaking to G-d.
Even more surprising than Moshe's language is that he does not pray for the people and instead he asked to be killed! N. Leibowitz (1982, pp. 103,104,107,108, apparently quoting R. Isaac Caro, R. Yosef Caro's grandfather) offers two answers for Moshe's response. One, the “previous grumblings were motivated by valid causes, but here there was no excuse.” And, two, their demand for meat was really doubting G-d’s power.
Rav Soloveitchik (lecture on June 10, 1974, partially recorded in Besdin, 1979, pp. 150-159) suggests that Moshe was so upset here because he realized that he was not the type of leader that the people needed. Moshe was an intellectual leader, a teacher, but he realized that he also had to give emotional support to the people, and he felt that he was unqualified for this role.
Another possible reason for Moshe's despondency was the crying of the people, 11:4,10,13. This crying was something new, as the people had not cried when they had complained in the past. They would get meat in a few weeks/ months when they would enter the land of Israel, but they could not wait. They had the mahn and they were not starving, so why were they crying for meat? People might want to eat meat and be upset that they had no meat, but was that a sufficient cause for them to cry? The crying showed that the people were not capable of dealing with the slightest adversity. The significance of this crying was that it demonstrated that the people were not ready to enter the land of Israel, and the people would cry again when they heard the report of the spies, 14:1.
The people had been slaves in Egypt, and at this point they had been free for a little more than year. Was this enough time for them to lose their slave mentality? We see from their crying that the slave mentality remained since they could not cope with problems on their own. Thus, Moshe became depressed because he realized that he was going to fail in his mission to take the people into the land of Israel. This depression overwhelmed Moshe and hence he did not pray for the people.
G-d responded to Moshe's complaint not by killing him, but by telling him that He would provide seventy more prophets and meat for the people, 11:16-20. Moshe responded by questioning G-d's ability to provide so much meat and G-d responded by telling Moshe not to doubt G-d's abilities, 11:21-23. Why would Moshe doubt G-d and why was he not punished for this doubt?
Many of the commentators (see Rashi on 11:22, Ibn Ezra on 11:21, Ramban on 11:22 and Luzzatto on 11:21) offer answers to explain why Moshe doubted G-d's ability to feed the entire population meat, but my guess is Moshe's doubt was because he was so despondent after hearing the people crying, 11:10,13. This state of mind might also explain why G-d only rebuked Moshe. G-d was aware that when people are despondent, they sometimes say things they do not mean.
After G-d rebuked Moshe, Moshe gathered the seventy people around his private tent, which was located outside the camp, and these people became prophets. However, two people, Eldad and Meidad, who were either in addition to the seventy (Rashi on 11:26) or part of the seventy (Luzzatto on 11:26), started to prophesize within the camp, 11:23-26. A messenger told Moshe about their prophesying and Yehoshua who was with Moshe told Moshe to stop them, 11:27,28. Yehoshua was worried that their prophesying was a type of insurrection since the prophets were supposed to be with Moshe outside of the camp, 11:16,17, and not independent of Moshe. However, Moshe responded that their prophesying was good as everybody should become prophets, 11:29. N. Leibowitz (1982, p. 127) quotes R. Yitzhak Arama how "Moshe withstood the test of jealousy and this was a remarkable example of humility." Yet, Yehoshua was correct, and hence maybe Moshe's response was again due to his depression that he did not care if the people rebelled.
Even more surprising than Moshe's language is that he does not pray for the people and instead he asked to be killed! N. Leibowitz (1982, pp. 103,104,107,108, apparently quoting R. Isaac Caro, R. Yosef Caro's grandfather) offers two answers for Moshe's response. One, the “previous grumblings were motivated by valid causes, but here there was no excuse.” And, two, their demand for meat was really doubting G-d’s power.
Rav Soloveitchik (lecture on June 10, 1974, partially recorded in Besdin, 1979, pp. 150-159) suggests that Moshe was so upset here because he realized that he was not the type of leader that the people needed. Moshe was an intellectual leader, a teacher, but he realized that he also had to give emotional support to the people, and he felt that he was unqualified for this role.
Another possible reason for Moshe's despondency was the crying of the people, 11:4,10,13. This crying was something new, as the people had not cried when they had complained in the past. They would get meat in a few weeks/ months when they would enter the land of Israel, but they could not wait. They had the mahn and they were not starving, so why were they crying for meat? People might want to eat meat and be upset that they had no meat, but was that a sufficient cause for them to cry? The crying showed that the people were not capable of dealing with the slightest adversity. The significance of this crying was that it demonstrated that the people were not ready to enter the land of Israel, and the people would cry again when they heard the report of the spies, 14:1.
The people had been slaves in Egypt, and at this point they had been free for a little more than year. Was this enough time for them to lose their slave mentality? We see from their crying that the slave mentality remained since they could not cope with problems on their own. Thus, Moshe became depressed because he realized that he was going to fail in his mission to take the people into the land of Israel. This depression overwhelmed Moshe and hence he did not pray for the people.
G-d responded to Moshe's complaint not by killing him, but by telling him that He would provide seventy more prophets and meat for the people, 11:16-20. Moshe responded by questioning G-d's ability to provide so much meat and G-d responded by telling Moshe not to doubt G-d's abilities, 11:21-23. Why would Moshe doubt G-d and why was he not punished for this doubt?
Many of the commentators (see Rashi on 11:22, Ibn Ezra on 11:21, Ramban on 11:22 and Luzzatto on 11:21) offer answers to explain why Moshe doubted G-d's ability to feed the entire population meat, but my guess is Moshe's doubt was because he was so despondent after hearing the people crying, 11:10,13. This state of mind might also explain why G-d only rebuked Moshe. G-d was aware that when people are despondent, they sometimes say things they do not mean.
After G-d rebuked Moshe, Moshe gathered the seventy people around his private tent, which was located outside the camp, and these people became prophets. However, two people, Eldad and Meidad, who were either in addition to the seventy (Rashi on 11:26) or part of the seventy (Luzzatto on 11:26), started to prophesize within the camp, 11:23-26. A messenger told Moshe about their prophesying and Yehoshua who was with Moshe told Moshe to stop them, 11:27,28. Yehoshua was worried that their prophesying was a type of insurrection since the prophets were supposed to be with Moshe outside of the camp, 11:16,17, and not independent of Moshe. However, Moshe responded that their prophesying was good as everybody should become prophets, 11:29. N. Leibowitz (1982, p. 127) quotes R. Yitzhak Arama how "Moshe withstood the test of jealousy and this was a remarkable example of humility." Yet, Yehoshua was correct, and hence maybe Moshe's response was again due to his depression that he did not care if the people rebelled.
Bibliography:
Besdin, Abraham R., 1979, Reflections of the Rav: Lessons in Jewish thought, Vol. 1, Hoboken NJ: KTAV Publishing House Inc.
Leibowitz, Nehama, 982, Studies in Bemidbar, translated and adapted by Aryeh Newman, Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization.
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