11 And Moses said to Jehovah, Why hast thou done evil to thy servant, and why have I not found favour in thine eyes, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
How can I myself alone sustain your wear, and your burden, and your strife?
And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Lord, why hast thou done evil to this people? why now hast thou sent me?
And if thou deal thus with me, slay me, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, that I may not behold my wretchedness.
I will say unto +God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.
And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.
Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land! I have not lent on usury, nor have they lent to me on usury; [yet] every one of them doth curse me.
Jehovah, thou hast enticed me, and I was enticed; thou hast laid hold of me, and hast prevailed; I am become a derision the whole day: every one mocketh me. For as oft as I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and spoil; for the word of Jehovah is become unto me a reproach and a derision all the day. And I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name: but it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I became wearied with holding in, and I could not.
Cursed be the day wherein I was born; let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad! And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and repented not; and let him hear a cry in the morning, and a shouting at noonday, because he slew me not from the womb. Or would that my mother had been my grave, and her womb always great [with me]! Wherefore came I forth from the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed in shame?
Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah.
Ye say, It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we keep his charge, and that we walk mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 11
Commentary on Numbers 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
Hitherto things had gone pretty well in Israel; little interruption had been given to the methods of God's favour to them since the matter of the golden calf; the people seemed teachable in marshalling and purifying the camp, the princes devout and generous in dedicating the altar, and there was good hope that they would be in Canaan presently. But at this chapter begins a melancholy scene; the measures are all broken, God has turned to be their enemy, and fights against them-and it is sin that makes all this mischief.
Num 11:1-3
Here is,
Num 11:4-15
These verses represent things sadly unhinged and out of order in Israel, both the people and the prince uneasy.
Num 11:16-23
We have here God's gracious answer to both the foregoing complaints, wherein his goodness takes occasion from man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious.
Num 11:24-30
We have here the performance of God's word to Moses, that he should have help in the government of Israel.
Num 11:31-35
God, having performed his promise to Moses by giving him assessors in the government, thereby proving the power he has over the spirits of men by his Spirit, he here performs his promise to the people by giving them flesh, proving thereby his power over the inferior creatures and his dominion in the kingdom of nature. Observe,