But Moses replied, “Here I am among 600,000 men on foot, yet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’
21. And Moses said, The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand. Although Moses’ object was right, yet he fell into unbelief, and thus stumbled at the very threshold. His pious solicitude indeed impelled him to doubt; because he feared that God’s holy name would be exposed to derision and contumely, if he should send away empty those to whom he had promised food.
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. I. Provision is made for the redress of the grievances Moses complains of. If he find the weight of government lie too heavy upon him, though he was a little too passionate in his remonstrance, yet he shall be...
Commenting on Numbers 11:16-23
And Moses said,.... By way of objection to what God had promised, distrusting his power to perform: the people amongst whom I am; among whom he dwelt, of whom he was a part, and over whom he was a ruler: are six hundred thousand footmen; that were able to travel on foot, and were fit for war: this was the number of them when they...