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Numbers 11 · a question people ask

Was Moses wrong to ask God to kill him?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. Moses said, "If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness" (11:15). The LORD's next words are no rebuke but help: "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel" (11:16), "that you don’t bear it yourself alone" (11:17). The LORD does challenge Moses later, over the meat. When Moses asks, "Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?" (11:22), the LORD says, "Has the LORD’s hand grown short?" (11:23). Moses isn't the only one in Scripture to pray this way. Elijah said, "It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life" (1 Kings 19:4), and Jonah, "LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me" (Jonah 4:3).

The verses

“If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.” The LORD said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you don’t bear it yourself alone.”
Numbers 11:15-17 · World English Bible
“Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?” The LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.””
Numbers 11:22-23 · World English Bible
“But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.””
1 Kings 19:4 · World English Bible
“Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.””
Jonah 4:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 11

Numbers 11: The Spirit on the seventy

The Hebrew word for the Spirit the LORD put on the seventy elders (11:25) is the word for the wind that brought the quail (11:31): ruach. And when Joshua said of two men prophesying in the camp, "forbid them!", Moses answered, "I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets" (11:28-29). John once told Jesus, "we forbade him", and Jesus said, "Don’t forbid him" (Mark 9:38-39).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions