Why Were the Israelites Struck by a Plague Even After Eating Meat in Numbers 11?

The Israelites were struck by a plague after eating meat not simply because they wanted meat, but because they despised the manna already given to them and complained about having left Egypt. Numbers 11 recounts, in sequence, the people’s repeated grumbling, the heavy burden Moses carried, the appointment of the seventy elders, and the coming of the quail. Following this progression reveals how their request grew into craving and words that treated the LORD with contempt.

Their Grumbling Returned as Fire That Burned the Outskirts of the Camp

Numbers 11 begins with the people complaining in a way that was evil in the hearing of the LORD. When the LORD heard them, his anger was aroused, and fire burned along the outskirts of the camp. The people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the LORD, the fire died down. The place was named Taberah so that what had happened there would be remembered.

But the grumbling did not stop. When the rabble among them gave in to intense craving, the Israelites also began to weep again. They demanded meat and remembered the fish and various vegetables they had eaten in Egypt. They complained that now they saw nothing but manna.

The passage then describes in detail what manna was like and how it was prepared. It came down with the dew at night. The people gathered it, ground it in mills or crushed it in mortars, boiled it in pots, and made it into cakes. They were not left with nothing. Yet even though they gathered manna every day and prepared it in several ways, they still wept that they had “nothing but this manna.”

The People’s Weeping Became a Complaint About Leaving Egypt

The people stood weeping at the entrances to their tents. The LORD heard not only their demand, “Who will give us meat to eat?” but also their cries that life had been better in Egypt. Verse 20 makes the deeper issue clear: they had rejected the LORD who was among them and asked, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”

Therefore, the meat they would receive for an entire month was not merely a sign that their request had been granted. The warning that they would eat it until it came out of their nostrils and became loathsome to them showed that judgment was bound up with the fulfillment of their craving. Receiving an abundance of what they wanted did not make their demand right.

Moses’ Heavy Burden Was Shared with Seventy Elders

After hearing the people weep, Moses told the LORD that the responsibility placed on him was too heavy. He asked where he could find enough meat for all the people and said that he could not carry them by himself.

The LORD instructed Moses to gather seventy elders and leaders. He placed on them the Spirit who rested on Moses so that they could help carry the burden of the people. The Spirit also rested on Eldad and Medad, who had remained in the camp instead of going out to the tent of meeting. Joshua wanted Moses to stop them, but Moses replied that he wished all the LORD’s people would receive his Spirit.

The people belittled the manna they had already received and complained about leaving Egypt. Moses, by contrast, spoke honestly and specifically to the LORD about the burden he could not bear. Judgment followed the people’s craving, while people were appointed to help Moses carry his heavy responsibility.

The Quail Came Just as the LORD Had Said His Arm Was Not Too Short

Moses asked how it could be possible to provide meat for a month to a people who numbered six hundred thousand men on foot. The LORD replied, “Is the LORD’s arm too short?” A wind then drove quail in from the sea and scattered them all around the camp. The people gathered quail all that day, throughout the night, and all the next day.

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it could be chewed, the LORD’s anger burned against them. A severe plague struck those who had given themselves over to craving, and the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah. Taberah remained as a reminder of their grumbling, and Kibroth Hattaavah as a reminder of their craving. These two place names marked the Israelites’ journey with a record of their repeated complaints and their consequences.

Today, read Numbers 11:4–6 again in the Bible. Then identify something you have dismissed by saying, “I have nothing,” and rewrite that thought in one sentence. This is a practical way to examine the very words the Israelites used to belittle the manna that was already with them.