18 'And unto the people thou dost say, Sanctify yourselves for to-morrow, and ye have eaten flesh (for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who doth give us flesh? for we 'had' good in Egypt)—and Jehovah hath given to you flesh, and ye have eaten. 19 Ye do not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days;— 20 unto a month of days, till that it come out from your nostrils, and it hath become to you an abomination; because that ye have loathed Jehovah, who 'is' in your midst, and weep before Him, saying, Why is this?—we have come out of Egypt!'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 11:18-20
Commentary on Numbers 11:16-23
(Read Numbers 11:16-23)
Moses is to choose such as he knew to be elders, that is, wise and experienced men. God promises to qualify them. If they were not found fit for the employ, they should be made fit. Even the discontented people shall be gratified too, that every mouth may be stopped. See here, I. The vanity of all the delights of sense; they will cloy, but they will not satisfy. Spiritual pleasures alone will satisfy and last. As the world passes away, so do the lusts of it. 2. What brutish sins gluttony and drunkenness are! they make that to hurt the body which should be its health. Moses objects. Even true and great believers sometimes find it hard to trust God under the discouragements of second causes, and against hope to believe in hope. God here brings Moses to this point, The Lord God is Almighty; and puts the proof upon the issue, Thou shalt see whether my word shall come to pass or not. If he speaks, it is done.