Numbers 11:10 · Bible study
Numbers 11:10 Commentary: Moses' Displeasure at the People's Weeping
Hebrew · 9 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Examines Moses' reaction to the people's weeping and God's burning anger, exploring his displeasure and its meaning for leaders.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Moses hears the people weeping publicly, God's anger burns greatly, and Moses is displeased.
- Key words: weeping (bakah); anger (aph, lit. “nostril”); displeased (ra', “evil in his eyes”).
- Main debate: Was Moses' displeasure righteous indignation or sinful complaint? Calvin and others see excess; Keil and Delitzsch see despair that still prays.
- Theological theme: The holiness of God meets human ingratitude; the burden of godly leadership.
- Best use: Preaching on lament, leadership, and the difference between faithful complaint and grumbling.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Then Moses heard the people of family after family weeping at the entrances to their tents, and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was also displeased.
WEB World English Bible 2000
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent; and Yahweh’s anger burned greatly; and Moses was displeased.
KJV King James Version 1769
Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled greatly; and Moses was displeased.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And Moses heareth the people weeping by its families, each at the opening of his tent, and the anger of Jehovah burneth exceedingly, and in the eyes of Moses it is evil.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every one at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled greatly; it was also evil in the eyes of Moses.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y oyó Moisés al pueblo, que lloraba por sus familias, cada uno á la puerta de su tienda: y el furor de Jehová se encendió en gran manera; también pareció mal á Moisés.
E ouviu Moisés ao povo, que chorava por suas famílias, cada um à porta de sua tenda: e o furor do SENHOR se acendeu em grande maneira; também pareceu mal a Moisés.
Moïse entendit le peuple qui pleurait, chacun dans sa famille et à l’ entrée de sa tente. La colère de l’ Éternel s’ enflamma fortement.
Da nun Mose das Volk hörte weinen unter ihren Geschlechtern, einen jeglichen in seiner Hütte Tür, da ergrimmte der Zorn des HERRN sehr, und Mose ward auch bange.
Toen hoorde Mozes het volk wenen door hun huisgezinnen, een ieder aan de deur zijner hut; en de toorn des HEEREN ontstak zeer; ook was het kwaad in de ogen van Mozes.
E Mosè udì il popolo che piagnucolava, in tutte le famiglie, ognuno all’ingresso della propria tenda; l’ira dell’Eterno si accese gravemente, e la cosa dispiacque anche a Mosè.
Tedy usłyszał Mojżesz, że lud płakał po domach swych, każdy u drzwi namiotu swego; dla czego zapaliła się popędliwość Pańska wielce, i nie podobało się też to Mojżeszowi.
Моисей слышал, что народ плачет в семействах своих, каждый у дверей шатра своего; и сильно воспламенился гнев Господень, и прискорбно было для Моисея.
摩西 聽見 百姓 各 在各家 的帳棚 門口 哭號。耶和華 的怒氣 便大 發作，摩西 就不喜悅。
And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Numbers 11:10
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that Numbers 11:10 captures a crisis point: the people weep openly for meat, God's anger burns, and Moses is deeply troubled. The Hebrew construction va'iḥar af Yahweh, “the anger of Yahweh burned”, uses the same verb (ḥarah) for God's burning anger that appeared at Taberah in Numbers 11:1. Moses' reaction, literally “it was evil in the eyes of Moses” (ra'), registers both his dismay at the people's rebellion and his sense of overwhelming burden.
Calvin argues that Moses' displeasure became excessive; he “unjustly expostulates with God” and fails to trust the sustaining power he had already experienced. Keil and Delitzsch see Moses' complaint as “the language of the discontent of despair,” yet they distinguish it from unbelief because Moses still prays to God rather than turning away. Gill notes that Moses was displeased with both the people and the Lord for laying such a burden on him. Matthew Henry observes that “the people and the prince” were both uneasy, reflecting a shattered community. The consensus, then, is that Moses' displeasure is a compound of righteous indignation and human frailty, a leader caught between a rebellious congregation and a holy God.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Righteous indignation with human weakness: Moses is displeased at sin, but his subsequent complaint to God shows he is also struggling with doubt (Calvin, Gill).
- Despair that still prays: Moses' displeasure leads him to cry out to God rather than turn away, distinguishing his lament from the people's grumbling (Keil & Delitzsch).
- Source-critical reading: The verse belongs to a composite narrative; Moses' displeasure may originally have been part of a separate story about the burden of leadership (Cambridge Bible).
What is clear: Moses was displeased because of the people's sin and his own overwhelming burden, and he brought his complaint directly to God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Nature of Moses' displeasure | Moses was deeply upset by the people's sin and the weight of his leadership. | Some see his displeasure as excessive and sinful (Calvin), while others see it as a raw but faithful cry to God (Keil & Delitzsch). |
| Meaning of 'the anger of the Lord burned greatly' | God's anger is a real, holy response to rebellion against his provision. | Interpreters differ on whether this anger is primarily punitive or corrective; most agree it foreshadows the plague in vv.33-34. |
| The setting at the tent door | The location emphasizes the public and shameless nature of the weeping. | Gill suggests the people gathered at the door of Moses' tent; others take it as their own family tents. Both readings highlight the open display. |
| Source-critical analysis | The chapter combines several narrative traditions about manna, the elders, and the quail. | The Cambridge Bible separates J and E strands; other commentaries treat the passage as a unified narrative. This does not affect the verse's plain meaning. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Numbers 11 sits in the early wilderness period, shortly after Israel's departure from Sinai. The people have been eating manna daily, a miracle that sustained them but which they now despise as “this disgusting food” (Numbers 21:5). In verse 4 a “mixed multitude”, non-Israelites who joined the exodus, stirs up craving, and the weeping spreads “throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent.” The tent door was the most public space in the camp, where families gathered and social life happened. For them to weep there openly meant they were unashamed of their discontent. Wesley calls this a mark of shameless sin; Gill notes they were “not ashamed of their evil behaviour.”
God's anger “burned greatly” (me'od, exceedingly). The Hebrew word aph for anger literally means “nostril” or “face,” evoking the image of a face flushed with heat. This same divine anger had earlier consumed the outskirts of the camp at Taberah (Numbers 11:1). Now it is kindled again by the people's rejection of his provision.
Moses, the humble leader (Numbers 12:3), hears the weeping and is himself displeased. The narrative immediately flows into his desperate prayer (vv. 11, 15), where he asks God why he has been afflicted with this burden. He compares himself to a nursing father forced to carry an infant, an image of total dependency. This passage is part of a broader source tradition; the Cambridge Bible identifies it as a composite of J and E strands, with distinct narratives about manna and the seventy elders interwoven. Culturally, the scene reflects a nomadic camp where leadership meant constant accessibility and the weight of every family's complaint fell on one man.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Numbers 11:10. The Hebrew is stable across manuscripts. The Septuagint (LXX) renders the final phrase as kai enantion Mōusēs ponēron ēn, matching the Hebrew idiom “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”
Reception History
Early Jewish interpretation, reflected in Siphri (cited by Gill), pictured the people waiting outside Moses' tent door to protest. Medieval Jewish commentators like Rashi focused on the people's ingratitude toward manna. During the Reformation, Calvin and the Geneva Bible stressed the wickedness of murmuring and Moses' failure to trust God fully. Wesley's Methodist tradition saw the open weeping as shameless sin. In modern scholarship, attention has turned to the psychological realism of Moses' complaint and the source-critical layering of the chapter. Across traditions, this verse has been used to teach that even godly leaders can be overwhelmed, and that honest lament is safer than silent resentment.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The people's public weeping, Their complaint at the tent door shows unrestrained ingratitude. They weep not for survival but for variety, despising God's daily gift.
- God's burning anger, The Lord's response is not petulant; it is holy fire meeting rebellion. God takes the rejection of his provision personally.
- Moses' displeasure, A leader's heart breaks under the weight of a grumbling congregation. His reaction is honest yet flawed, and it drives him to prayer.
Five-point outline
- The sound of weeping, Moses hears the cries of family after family. It is not isolated but universal.
- The shamelessness of sin, Each man stands at the door of his tent, making his complaint public. Discontent often seeks an audience.
- The kindling of divine wrath, God's anger (aph) burns exceedingly. His holiness cannot overlook contempt for his gifts.
- Moses' conflicted heart, The Hebrew says “and in the eyes of Moses it was evil.” His displeasure includes both righteous sorrow and personal despair.
- The turn to prayer, Moses does not walk away; he brings his complaint to God (vv. 11, 15). This is the hinge: honest lament before the Lord.
Illustration hooks
- A team leader whose employees constantly complain about the benefits provided, even as they depend on them daily.
- A parent who feels overwhelmed by the endless needs of small children, tempted to cry out, “Can I do this alone?”
- A congregation that has grown bored with faithful preaching and longs for something more exciting, forgetting God's past goodness.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Is it wrong to feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities God has given me?
- Does God really get angry at complaints, or is that an old-testament image we can set aside?
- How do I know if my dissatisfaction comes from legitimate need or from ingratitude?
Leading a Discussion
This verse puts us in the middle of raw emotion, the people weeping, God's anger burning, Moses displeased. It invites us to examine how we handle dissatisfaction and how leaders bear the weight of a community's complaints. The surrounding context shows Moses taking his pain directly to God, which models honesty in prayer.
Discussion questions
- What does the phrase “throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent” tell you about the scale and openness of the people's weeping?
- Why do you think God's anger burned greatly? What does this reveal about how he views ingratitude toward his provision?
- The Hebrew for “Moses was displeased” is literally “it was evil in Moses' eyes.” What do you think made this situation feel evil to him?
- Calvin says Moses was wrong to carry his displeasure to excess. Keil says his complaint was “despair” but not unbelief. Which perspective do you find more helpful, and why?
- Read Numbers 11:11, 15. In what ways does Moses' prayer show both faith and weakness? How is his honesty different from the people's grumbling?
- Have you ever felt so burdened by a responsibility that you wanted to give up? How did you respond?
- What do you think God wants to teach us through Moses' displeasure and the events that follow (the seventy elders, the quail)?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Numbers 11:1 | The people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger burned; and Yahweh’s fire burned among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. |
| Numbers 12:3 | Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth. |
| Numbers 14:1 | All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. |
| Numbers 14:2 | All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that we had died in this wilderness! |
| Numbers 16:27 | So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. |
| Numbers 20:10 | Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?” |
| Numbers 20:13 | These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them. |
| Numbers 21:5 | The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!” |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
9 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin points out how absurd it was for the people to weep as if starving while they had plenty, showing that indulging our desires makes us miserable even in prosperity. He then faults Moses for complaining to God about the burden of leadership, since God had always sustained him, calling it ungrateful to treat God's gift as an evil.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible School treats this chapter as three separate stories woven together by a later editor. The manna and quails episode, Moses' complaint about bearing the people alone, and the Spirit falling on the seventy elders each came from different sources and were not originally connected at all.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes highlight that the people's open weeping at their tent doors stirred both the Lord's fierce anger and Moses' personal grief. The commentator observes that divine wrath was kindled while Moses himself was also deeply troubled by the scene.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that the weeping was so widespread and loud that Moses heard it. He suggests the people may have gathered openly around his tent door, mutinous and unashamed. Moses was displeased both with the people's ingratitude and with God for continuing to burden him with their care.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB sympathizes with Moses' distress but holds that his complaining words to God were not justified. Moses faced an overwhelming burden: a huge, clamoring multitude he could not feed, and a people deeply demoralized by long oppression. The pressure of sole responsibility nearly crushed him.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch observe that Moses' displeasure is stirred by both the people's rebellion and God's burning wrath. They note that his complaint differs from the people's murmuring: Moses cries out to God for help, while unbelief complains without prayer. This shows his desperation yet his turn to the Lord.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange identifies the people's longing for Egypt not as ordinary homesickness but as an elegiac retrorsum, a backward-looking heathenism that recurs throughout church history. The discontent spread from the mixed multitude, but all Israel caught the contagion, and their punishment came in the very thing they demanded—flesh that became graves of lust.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry sees this scene as a double breakdown: the people grumble against God himself despite his glorious works, and Moses, their leader, collapses under the burden to the point of begging for death. Both the congregation and the prince are in desperate unrest, and nothing is in order.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that the detail of being at the tent door is meant to show the sin was committed openly and without shame. Their position at the entrance highlights a bold, public display of sin with no sense of guilt or modesty.