We Remember the Fish
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. 2 The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire abated. 3 The name of that place was called Taberah, because Yahweh’s fire burned among them. 4 The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly; and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at.” 7 The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like bdellium. 8 The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. 10 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. 11 Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why haven’t I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them out, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers’? 13 Where could I get meat to give all these people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15 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.” 16 Yahweh 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. 17 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. 18 “Say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh will give you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it is loathsome to you; because you have rejected Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” 21 Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month.’ 22 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?” 23 Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”
Three days out of Sinai the complaining starts, and the man carrying the nation asks God to kill him.
Three days after leaving the mountain, the people were complaining in the ears of Yahweh Numbers 11:1. No cause is given. The complaint has no content, which is what makes it the purest example of the thing.
Then the second and more specific one, and it begins with the crowd at the edges: the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly Numbers 11:4.
What they want is meat, and what they say about the past is the most quoted sentence in the wilderness narrative.
We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic;
The menu is detailed and the memory is false in one word. For nothing — they were slaves. The fish cost them their sons in the Nile and their backs under the whips, and the recollection has edited out everything except the taste.
That is how the book understands nostalgia: not as an inaccurate account of the food but as an accurate account of the food with the price removed.
And the complaint about the present is delivered with real contempt: there is nothing at all except this manna to look at Numbers 11:6. Bread that arrives daily, without work, has become an insult.
Moses' response is the most desperate speech in the Pentateuch, and it is addressed to God rather than to the people.
11 Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why haven’t I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12 Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them out, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers’?
The figure he reaches for is a wet nurse carrying somebody else's baby, and his objection is that they are not his. Then: I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me Numbers 11:14.
And finally: if you treat me this way, please kill me right now Numbers 11:15.
God does not rebuke him. The answer is seventy men to share the load, and the Spirit that is on Moses put on them Numbers 11:16–17 — the burden is redistributed rather than the man reproved for feeling it.
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