Musar do Liczb 11:12

To be like a father: And Wisdom is also a Father to all that exist, as it is written (Psalms 104:24), "How many are Your creations, Lord; You made all of them with wisdom" - and they are living and survive from There. So [too,] must he be a father to all of the creations of the Holy One, blessed be He, and to Israel, the essence - as they are the holy souls emanated from There. And he [should] always seek mercy and blessing for the world - in the way that the Highest Father is a Merciful One upon His creatures - and always pray about the distress of those in distress, as if they were his actual children and as if he created them. As this is the will of the Holy One, blessed be He - in the way that the faithful shepherd stated (Numbers 11:12), "Did I conceive all this people, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom.'" And in this [way], he [should] carry all of the people of God 'as a nurse carries an infant' - 'with his forearm he gathers the lambs, with his bosom carries, leads the nurse-mothers.' He [should] remember the hidden, seek the young, heal the broken, sustain the needy and return the lost. And he [should] have mercy on Israel and carry their load with a pleasant countenance - like the Highest Merciful One, who tolerates everything and does not wither nor ignore nor get sick [of them], but [rather] leads each one according to his need.

ומשה היה רועה את הצאן. The shepherd displays kindness towards his flock in ensuring they do not eat what is not their master's, by enforcing his will with the staff. Similarly, G–d tends Israel and by the legislation in the Torah He sees to it that we stay on the right path.

Whenever we find Israel quarreling with Moses, such a quarrel can be viewed from two aspects, – negatively, that Israel was either ungrateful or too demanding, – or positively, that the very fact of Israel's constant demands represents a great compliment to Moses, for it showed that they looked upon him as a child does on his father, expecting the father to be able to fulfill every one of the child's wishes. As long as Israel did not refuse to go into battle after they had heard that doing so would hasten Moses' death, there was room to interpret their conduct in either direction. Now that they had refused to undertake a mission that would shorten Moses' life, it became clear that any negative character attributed to them was based only on their excessive expectations of Moses, whom they looked up to as a child would to his father.