The "rabble"(v. 4) were the non-Israelites who had come out of Egypt with God's people (Exod. 12:38). It did not take them long to become discontented with conditions in the desert and to complain about their bland diet of manna. Their grumbling quickly infected the Israelites (v. 4). These malcontents despised God's provision of manna for them and longed for the stronger flavors they had enjoyed in Egypt. They failed to take heed to the warning God had given at Taberah.
"To spurn a regularly occurring, abundant and nutritious food only because it is boring is understandably human--a pitiable mark of our tendency toward ingratitude."93
Moses must have felt caught in the middle (vv. 10-15). On the one hand the people seemed to be mutinous, and on the other God was angry because of their attitude (v. 10). The discomfort of desert travel seems to have affected him too. He failed to look to God for His wisdom and provision. Instead he became frustrated. This frustration seems traceable to Moses' taking on more responsibility for the people than was really his.
Moses' use of the mother figure to describe God (v. 12) is unusual but not unique in Scripture (e.g., Exod. 4:22; Isa. 49:15; 66:13; Hos. 11:1; cf. 1 Thess. 2:7). Normally the Bible presents God as a male because He relates to people in traditionally male roles primarily. However, He also deals with us in ways that are more typically female, and in these instances He compares Himself to females.
God again accommodated to Moses' weakness (vv. 16-23; cf. Exod. 4:14) and provided 70 men to share Moses' responsibility of explaining God's will to the people. He did this so their complaining would not grow into mob violence. God's Spirit rested on Moses in a special measure (v. 17). God now gave these elders His Spirit in similar fashion and with Him the ability to prophesy.
"Prophesying here does not refer to prediction or even to proclamation but to giving (in song or speech) praise and similar expressions without prior training (see the comparable experience of Saul in 1 Sam. 10:9-11)."94
The people's discontent with God and His will for them (v. 20) had given them an unrealistic picture of their situation. They claimed to have been well-off in Egypt (vv. 18, 20). They forgot that they had been slaves.
". . . in ancient times meat was eaten in Israel only on special occasions. In the wilderness it would have been very much a luxury. In any event, the offense of the demand for meat was just part of the larger offense of romanticizing the time in Egypt, where there had always been an abundance of fish and fresh vegetables. They were saying in effect that the entire so-called deliverance' from slavery had turned out to be one huge disappointment."95
God's gracious provision of meat was a mixed blessing. He gave them what they requested but kept them where they were for a month (v. 20) and allowed them to get sick from the meat (v. 33; Ps. 106:15). This punishment was not vindictive but disciplinary and designed to teach the people to accept what God sent them as best for them. God permitted their trials in the wilderness to prepare them for the hardships they would face when they entered the land.
"The people were to be broken by the experience because they had despised the gift of God, glorified their stay in Egypt, and characterized their redemption from slavery as a meaningless event."96
God's promise to provide meat stretched Moses' faith to its limit (vv. 21-22). God reminded him that His power was limitless. Even Moses had temporarily forgotten the miracles in Egypt.
Evidently the elders' prophesying was a singular occurrence; it happened only on this one occasion (v. 25). This incident indicates that God's bestowal of the Holy Spirit at this time was temporary. The Spirit had not previously been on these elders. Furthermore it was selective. The Spirit was not on all the Israelites as He was on these elders. Contrast our day when the Spirit indwells all believers permanently (John 14:16-17; 16:7, 13; Acts 2).
"Though the Old Testament does not contain a fully developed theology of the Holy Spirit, it does reveal enough to show that the Spirit was a manifestation of God Himself and not merely a way of referring to some divine attribute (see, for example, Gen. 1:2; 6:3; Exod. 31:3; Num. 24:2; Judg. 3:10; 1 Sam. 10:6, 10; Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1)."97
We have no reason to believe that God withdrew the Spirit from the elders. Evidently only their ability to prophesy ceased (v. 25).98This ability was a divine sign to the people that dampened their rebellious spirits.
Joshua's jealousy for Moses' honor in the nation (v. 28) is understandable (cf. Mark 9:38-39), but he had greater concern for Moses' honor than for the good of the people. Moses realized that Israel would be better off if God had given all the people His Spirit and the gift of prophecy. He has given all Christians His Spirit but not all of us this gift. God may have included this incident involving Joshua in the narrative because of his later role as Israel's leader. He also may have done so to emphasize the value of the gift of the Holy Spirit that God graciously gave the people even in their rebellious condition.
"Behind these words [in v. 29] lay a world of faith. We see that Moses understood that the issue was not for him to decide but for God. If necessary God would act on his servant's behalf."99
The Spirit (Heb. ruah) of Yahweh settled the leadership problem (v. 29), and now the wind (Heb. ruah) from Yahweh would solve the food problem (v. 31). The wind was from the southeast (Ps. 78:26) and apparently blew these quails from the Gulf of Aqabah (vv. 31-34). Normally quails migrated to the northeast, from central Africa, so the direction from which these quails came was an abnormal provision of the Lord.100The NASB interpreted verse 31 as meaning the quails lay three feet deep on the ground, but the NIV translators understood that they flew about three feet above the ground. The latter interpretation seems more probable to me.
The sickness of the people was a judgment for their greed. They wanted something for themselves that God had not chosen for them.101
"The central purpose of the narrative appears to be to show the failure of Moses' office as mediator for the people [v. 14]. . . . The ideal leadership of God's people is shown in the example of the seventy elders. . . . In other words, this narrative shows that Moses longed for a much different type of community than the one formed under the Law at Sinai. He longed for a community led not by a person like himself but a community guided by God's Spirit [v. 29; cf. Deut. 30:6].
"The view expressed by Moses in this narrative is precisely that of the later Israelite prophets in their description of the new covenant [cf. Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 11:20; 36:22-27; Joel 2:28]."102
After their month at Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed on to Hazeroth (lit. "enclosures") where the events recorded in the next chapter took place (cf. 12:16).
