Commentary for Numbers 11:23

עתה תראה היקרך דברי THOU SHALT SEE NOW WHETHER MY WORD SHALL COME TO PASS UNTO THEE [OR NOT]. — R. Gamliel, the son of R. Judah ha-Nasi said, “The dialogue took the following course: Moses said, “One can never understand a babbler! (One can never fathom his meaning.) Since they are merely seeking a pretext You will never satisfy them (the meaning of the text is: If all the cattle in the world were slaughtered for them, ומצא להם, would this suffice them, i. e., would they be satisfied with that?), in the end they will always argue against You. If You give them flesh of large cattle (oxen) they will say ‘We wanted that of small cattle (sheep)’; if You will give them flesh of sheep, they will say We wanted that of oxen’, or, ‘we wanted wild beasts (venison) and fowls’, ‘we wanted fish and locusts!’ Thereupon He said to him, ‘If that be so and I give them nothing at all, they will say that My hand has waxed short!’ “Moses thereupon said, “I will go and appease them”. He answered him: “Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee — for they will not listen to thee”. Moses went to appease them and said to them, “Is the hand of the Lord waxed short? Behold, he continued with the words used later by the Psalmist, (Psalms 78:20): “He smote the rock that the waters gushed out, etc. Surely then he can give bread also [and can provide flesh for His people!]”. But they (the Israelites) said: “This what you have said is only a compromise (a way of satisfying us). He has really no power to grant our request!” This is what Scripture means by: “and Moses went out and spake to the people [the words of the Lord]” (i.e. he told them the words used by the Lord only with a different implication). Since, however, they would not listen to him, he gathered the seventy men of the elders [of the people] etc.” (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 95:1; Tosefta Sota 6:4).

היד ה' תקצר?, from finding a way which will cause them to be revolted at every food which is not for their health but for their gratification only. This is what was meant in verse 20, that “it will come out of your noses.”

היד ה׳ תקצר,….היקרך דברי, "Is the hand of G'd inadequate?….if My word is precious, etc." This verse also lends itself to interpretations in line with the two approaches we have described. According to our first approach any category of meat would not be sufficient to satisfy the various tastes of the Israelites. As a result they would still continue to complain. G'd answered that He was able to supply a category of meat which would satisfy the cravings of all the Israelites. This is what G'd meant when He said היד ה׳ תקצר. G'd added that Moses was about to see that G'd would perform a single act, i.e. issue a directive which would meet all the demands of the Jewish people. He would provide a kind of meat which comprised the combined advantages of all the other existing categories. The meaning of the word יקרך is that Moses was going to experience how precious such a command of G'd would be. He would appreciate the value of G'd's directive. Another meaning of that word could be that G'd told Moses that his own stature as a prophet would be enhanced among the people when they experienced what G'd would provide.

In a dispute. הטפל means dispute.

V. 23. היד ד׳ תקצר, es heißt hier nicht, wie Bereschit 18, 14 היפלא מד׳ דבר, denn Mosche hatte richtig erkannt, dass hier keine Wundertat göttlicher Allmacht bevorstehe, an deren Erfolg er gewiss nicht gezweifelt hätte. Vielmehr hatte er geglaubt auf den Bereich des natürlich Vorhandenen hingewiesen zu sein, und daher um Aufschluss gebeten. Dem wird entgegnet, dass Gottes Macht ausreicht, selbst aus dem Bereiche des natürlich Vorhandenen das zur Erfüllung seines Wortes Erforderliche herbeizuschaffen. היקרך (siehe zu Bereschit 24, 12): ob dir mein Wort, obgleich es so gänzlich außer deiner Berechnung liegt, nicht dennoch entgegen kommen werde. Dieses יקרך bezeichnet ganz das bevorstehende Ereignis als ein freilich ganz außer menschlicher Berechnung liegendes, sich gleichwohl durch natürlich vorhandene, nur von Gott zu dem beabsichtigten Zwecke geleitete Ursachen vollziehendes.

?ויאמר ה' אל משה: היד ה' תקצר, Hashem said to Moses: “is there then a limit to the Lord’s power? You will see presently if My power is inadequate!” G–d implied that just as it was within His power to provide what He had said He would provide, so it was in His power to see to it that they collect it until His word has become fulfilled. This is the meaning of 11,31: ויטש על המחנה בדרך יום כה ובדרך יום כה סביבות המחנה וכאמתים על פני כל הארץ , “and He strewed them over the camp, a distance of a day’s walk in each direction and to the height of two cubits above the face of the earth.” The people did not even need to stretch out their hands and bow down in order to take hold of the quails. An alternate interpretation of Moses’ question if sheep and cattle were to be slaughtered for them, how could there be sufficient for their needs. Moses knew that at that time any meat which was not the result of having been slaughtered as a sacrifice for the Lord was forbidden for the people to eat. There were only a total of three priests available to slaughter the animals required on sacred soil, i.e. Aaron and his two surviving sons. How could they slaughter enough animals in one day to satisfy the craving of all the people? And, even supposing this could be done, seeing there was a strict time limit, maximum two days and a night, during which sacrificial meat was allowed to be eaten, how could they eat meat for thirty days? (verse 21) Moses’ statement regarding fish as an alternative to supplying meat was not meant as a question, but as a comment that such an alternative, not involving ritual killing of the fish which would not require priests, would also have presented great difficulties albeit miracles of a different kind. The people could never have collected enough fish in a day to last them for a month. G–d’s answer to Moses was simply that He would provide birds which did not require ritual slaughter by priests, as did cattle or flocks.

ויאמר ה' אל משה: היד ה' תקצר, The Lord said to Moses: “is the Lord’s power inadequate?” G-d implied that it had not been His intention for one moment to use the seventy helpers Moses would appoint as slaughterers or fishermen. Neither would He have to resort to overt miracles. All He had to do was to direct the flight of a swarm of birds in their direction. He was fully capable to do this within the boundaries of existing laws of nature.

עתה תראה היקרך דברי, you will see with your own eyes that what I said will occur, that they will eat so much of this meat which they chose for reasons of gratification that it will come out of their noses so that they will despise it. I will not have to interfere with their free choice in order to achieve this result. By not interfering with their freedom of choice they will be able to repent not only because they are afraid of punishment, but because they have discovered that whatever I have done was out of love for them so that they in turn will relate to Me with love.

This is a compromise. Meaning “you have come to make a compromise.” Perhaps He sent you because “He does not have…”

According to the second approach we suggested, Moses' surprise was based on his assumption that when G'd was talking about the meat the Israelites would eat, He meant that this meat would be supplied from the existing flocks and herds of the Israelites; he was quite unwilling to believe that G'd would perform a miracle to satisfy an unjustified craving by the Israelites to eat meat. This is why He, G'd, stressed that Moses would see if G'd's hand would be inadequate, i.e. He would perform a miracle. G'd meant that He had to perform the miracle so that He would not be perceived amongst the Israelites as unable to perform such a miracle. In other words, though the Israelites did not deserve a miracle, He, G'd must not be the cause of His name being desecrated by their belief that He was powerless to meet their cravings. When G'd said עתה תראה, "now you will see," He told Moses that he would now receive a lesson in G'd's preparedness to perform miracles לשקר, to prevent the Israelites to lie about His abilities. This caused our sages in Kidushin 40 to say that when it comes to desecration of His Holy Name, i.e. His image, G'd is extremely punctilious. [The story in the Talmud there illustrates how G'd performed miracles to save great scholars from having to either martyr themselves or engage in sexual relations with prominent Gentiles to save themselves from death. Ed.]

Erwägen wir, dass mit der Berufung der siebzig Ältesten zu Mosche Beistand in Leitung der Nation die Institution der Sanhedrin begründet wurde (Sanhedrin 2 a und 16 b), die durch alle kommenden Jahrhunderte der verschiedensten Gottesleitungen ihr Volk führen und in ihm und durch dasselbe das Wort Gottes zur Erfüllung bringen sollten, die somit die Boten des Gotteswortes selbst in Zeiten werden sollten, in welchen Mosche längst heimgegangen sein und keine offenbare Wundermacht der Gottesleitung der Verwirklichung seines Wortes zur Seite treten werde: so dürfte der ganze Charakter dieses Ereignisses, seine Unberechenbarkeit selbst für Mosche in dem Augenblicke des von ihm an das Volk zu richtenden Wortes, seine Erfüllung im Bereiche natürlich vorhandener, nur von Gottes Leitung zu seinem Zwecke gefügter Wirkungen, in tiefem Zusammenhange mit dieser Ältestenwahl sich begreifen lassen, und sich daraus auch der Umstand erklären, dass sie dem Ereignis voranzugehen hatte, das doch die Befriedigung eines augenblicklichen Bedürfnisses zum Zwecke hatte. Wohl konnten und können alle künftigen זקנים des jüdischen Volkes, so oft sie für das Gotteswort in Zeiten aufzutreten hatten und haben, deren Verhältnisse nach aller menschlichen Berechnung der Verwirklichung des von ihnen zu vertretenden Wortes keinen Vorschub zu leisten scheinen, wohl konnten und können sie immer auf diesen ersten Moment der Berufung der ersten jüdischen זקנים zurückschauen und daraus die Zuversicht schöpfen, dass, wenn nur das Wort, das sie vertreten und bringen, wahrhaft Gottes Wort ist, auch ohne dass der Himmel auf Erden niederstiege, sie der unsichtbaren Gottesleitung ruhig vertrauen können, die auch ganz im Bereiche natürlicher Ursächlichkeit, wenngleich der Vorausberechnung menschlicher Kurzsichtigkeit entzogen, die Umstände der Verwirklichung ihres Wortes günstig entsprechend herbeizuführen weiß. Das erste Ereignis, dem sie zu assistieren hatten, gab unseren זקנים den Boden der Zuversicht für ihr ganzes zukünftiges Wirken.

עתה תראה היקרך דברי אם לא, “now you will see if My word will come true or not.” “I will provide, but not as you had thought by employing these seventy men.”