Six hundred thousand footmen, fit for war, Exodus 12:37, besides women, children, &c. That Moses speaks this as doubting or distrusting God's words is evident enough from Numbers 11:22,23. And that Moses was not remarkably punished for this as he was afterward for the same sin, Num 20 next to God's good pleasure may be imputed to the different circumstances of this and that sin: this was the first great offence of this kind, and therefore more easily passed by; that was after warning, and against more light and experience. This seems to have been spoken secretly in Moses's breast; that openly and publicly before the people, and to their scandal, and therefore it was fit to be openly and severely punished to prevent the contagion of that example.
Related Commentaries of Numbers 11:21
Numbers 11:21
21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.