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.
Moses said ... Shall the flocks and the herds be slain? The great leader, struck with a promise so astonishing as that of suddenly furnishing, in the midst of the desert, more than two million people with flesh for a whole month, betrayed an incredulous spirit, surprising in one who had witnessed so many stupendous miracles. Of course, he thought only of its being accomplished in the natural and ordinary course of things. Their flocks and herds, numerous as they were, would soon be diminished and exhausted by the consumpt of so vast a horde. And the problem which was insoluble to Moses was, from what other natural source the supply was to come. Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? This alternative was probably suggested to the mind of Moses by his being then not far from the Red Sea, as we learn that some of the encampments were, (Numbers 33:10-11, etc.) 'Irwin,' says Harmer ('Observ.,' 4:, p. 127), 'explains it by observing, that a little lower down, toward the straits of Babelmandel, he found fish in abundance in the Red Sea; that the Arabs were very expert in catching them; and that great quantities were to be picked up, from time to time, on the sand banks, which are extremely numerous in the Red Sea, If,' continues Harmer, 'the modern Arabs are so dextrous at catching fish now, the ancient Egyptians, we have reason to believe, were so in their time; and the low, oppressed state of Israel in that country will not allow us to believe that they did not exert themselves with equal assiduity and, in consequence of continual use, with equal success. There can be no reason to doubt that, since many of them found fish a diet so grateful to their palates, they would endeavour to make use of every opportunity to gratify themselves. Manna was an additional supply, only intended to make up a sufficiency of food-not designed to be exclusive of every other species of it.'
Verse 23. The Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? If we are surprised at the perplexing doubts of Moses 'this surprise,' as pagan justly remarked (Trench on 'Miracles,' p. 360) 'rises out of our ignorance of man's heart, of our own heart, and of the deep root of unbelief which is there. It is evermore thus in times of difficulty and distress. All former deliverances are in danger of being forgotten; the mighty interpositions of God's hand in former passages of men's lives fall out of their memories; each new difficulty appears insurmountable as one from which there is no extrication; at each recurring necessity, it seems as though the wonders of God's grace are exhausted and have come to an end.
Thus, once already the Lord had covered the camp with quails (Exodus 16:13); yet, for all that, even Moses himself cannot believe that He will provide flesh for all that multitude' But it is probable that it was only a feeling of the moment-at all events, the incredulous doubt was uttered only to himself, and not, as afterward, publicly, and to the scandal of the people (see the note at Numbers 20:10). It was therefore sharply reproved, but not punished.