Глава 11

Tavera. – Popular discontent over the lack of meat, fish and some types of plant foods. - Moses' confusion. – Election of 70 elders, assistants to the prophet Moses. – Punished lust; Kibrot-Gattaawa. – Movement to Asirof. Numbers 11:1. The people began to murmur out loud to the Lord; and the Lord heard, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord kindled among them, and began to consume the edge of the camp. By “the fire of the Lord” in this case (cf. Numbers 11:3) one can mean an unusually strong lightning sent by God to punish those who grumbled, just as lightning is called “the fire of heaven”, “the fire of God” in the book of Job (Job 1:16) and 4 Kings (2 Kings 1:10, 12). Numbers 11:2. And the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire subsided. In the complete list of camps of Israel (Numbers 33), Taberah is not found. It is believed that this name was confined only to that part of the Jewish camp (in Kibrot-Gattaava, which was subject to fire). Numbers 11:7. The manna was like coriander seed, in appearance like bdellium; According to some, “bdell” (cf. Gen. 2:1) means pearls (which is confirmed by later Jewish understanding); according to others, it is a kind of crystallized fragrant Arabian resin of a light yellowish color (LXX: τὸ εῖδος αὐτοῦ εῖδος κρυστάλλου, glav.: like a type of crystal). Numbers 11:10. Moses heard that the people were weeping among their families, every one at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly kindled, and it was distressing to Moses. Numbers 11:11. And Moses said to the Lord: Why are You tormenting Your servant? and why have I not found mercy in Thy sight, that Thou hast laid upon me the burden of all this people? Numbers 11:12. Did I carry all this people in my womb, and did I give birth to him, that You say to me: carry him in Your arms, as a nanny carries a child, to the land that You promised with an oath to his fathers? Numbers 11:13. where can I get meat to give to all this people? for they weep before me and say, Give us meat to eat. Numbers 11:14. I alone cannot bear all this people, because they are heavy for me; Numbers 11:15. When You do this to me, it is better to kill me, if I have found mercy in Your eyes, so that I do not see my misfortune. The obvious ingratitude and constant murmuring of the people could not help but influence even such a strong-willed person as Moses was: after all, Moses too, notes the blessed one. Theodoret was not only a prophet, but also a man (Interpretation of the Book of Numbers, issue 19). As permanent assistants to the prophet Moses in governing the people in the spirit of the God-given law, the Lord commands the leader to select 70 people from among the elders of Israel and, when they were chosen and, according to His command, brought to the tabernacle, he endows them with the Holy Spirit. According to Christian exegetes, the 70 elders chosen and gifted by the Spirit of God served as the beginning of a special prophetic ministry among the Jewish people and as a model for those prophetic schools that prepared inspired interpreters and inexorable guardians of the law of God throughout Old Testament history. According to Jewish tradition, 70 elders, assistants to Moses, served as the prototype for the creation of the Supreme Sanhedrin. Numbers 11:20. but for a whole month [you will eat] until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes disgusting to you, because you despised the Lord who is among you and wept before Him, saying: “Why did we come out of Egypt?” “Until he becomes disgusting to you”: according to the Greek text (LXX) - “χολέραν”; according to the translation of Symmachus - “indigestion.” Numbers 11:21. And Moses said, There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people among whom I am; and You say: I will give them meat, and they will eat for a whole month! Numbers 11:22. Shall we slaughter all the sheep and oxen so that they may have enough? or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together to satisfy them? Moses is perplexed as to the manner in which the promise of divine omnipotence can be realized. Numbers 11:25. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him and gave it to seventy elder men. And when the Spirit rested on them, they began to prophesy, but then they stopped. “To prophesy” in biblical language does not always mean “to predict.” In this case, as often in the Bible (for example, 1 Samuel 10:5, 6, 10, 13; 1 Samuel 19:20), the expression “prophesy” can be understood in the sense of glorifying God and His wonderful deeds in enthusiastic hymns of praise, which, of course, implies a special rise in a person’s spiritual powers. With the temporary cessation of this rise, the elders stopped “prophesying.” Numbers 11:26. Two of the men remained in the camp, one's name was Eldad, and the other's name was Modad; but the Spirit rested on them [they were from among those who were written down, but they did not go out to the tabernacle], and they prophesied in the camp. Two of the 70 elected elders could not appear at the tabernacle on the occasion of some legal uncleanness or illness, remaining internally worthy of the communication of the Spirit of God to them. Numbers 11:31. And a wind arose from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and threw them near the camp, on the path of the day on one side, and on the path of the day on the other side near the camp, almost two cubits from the ground. Flocks of birds, carried by the wind in such numbers that they eclipsed the sun, were repeatedly observed by travelers. Numbers 11:32. And the people arose, and all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, they gathered quails; and whoever collected little collected ten homers; and they laid them out for themselves around the camp. 10 homers equal approximately 180 fours. Numbers 11:33. The meat was still in their teeth and had not yet been eaten, when the wrath of the Lord kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. “Ulcer”, i.e. some kind of pronounced stomach disease, as a consequence of excessive consumption of meat that has spoiled from lying, and also after a long diet. See note. to Numbers 11:20. Numbers 11:34. And they called the name of this place: Kibrot-Gattaava *, for the capricious people were buried there. Numbers 11:35. From Kibrot-Gattaava the people moved to Asirof, and stopped in Asirof. The camps of Kibrot-Gattaava and Asirof are found in the north-east. from Sinai. In general, it should be noted that most of the geographical assumptions that identify Jewish stopping points with currently known areas are nothing more than assumptions. Only the main direction of movement of the Jewish hordes is known. From the Egyptian assembly point of Raamses, the Jews moved east towards the northern tip of the Gulf of Suez, where the famous transition “across the Red Sea” took place. Upon leaving the sea and entering the Sinai Peninsula, we went south, towards the group of Sinai Mountains, adhering to the western coast of the peninsula. From the group of Sinai mountains we went north-east, towards the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. From here - north, to the southern borders of Canaan (Kadesh-Barnea). After the famous condemnation to a 40-year wandering, he returned to the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula; new arrival at Kadesh-barnea; a detour near the southeast corner of the Promised Land; occupation of eastern Transjordan; location near Jericho; occupation of Canaan. You might be interested in: