(21) But Moses said, “The people who are with me number six hundred thousand foot soldiers [alone]; yet You say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a whole month.’ (22) Could enough flocks and herds be slaughtered to suffice them? Or could all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to suffice them?”

(4) Rabbi Akiva expounded (Num. 11:22), "Are there flocks and herds to be slaughtered for them, u'matza (וּמָצָ֥א) for them?" [What is the meaning of "u'matza"?] Would it really suffice for them? "Or are there all the fish of the sea [to be gathered for them u'matza for them]?" [Here too, u'matza means,] would it really suffice for them? For example, as it says (Lev. 12:8), "And if her means do not suffice (tim'tzah) for a sheep[, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons]." And what was worse, this (i.e., "Are there [enough] flocks?") or (Num. 20:10), "Hear now, you rebels!"^*In other words, it appears a more severe transgression for Moses to question whether God could provide enough meat than Moses's castigating the people in the episode with the rock, yet he was punished for the latter but not the former. Certainly this utterance was worse than "Hear now, you rebels!" Rather, when one desecrates the Name of the Heavens privately, they spare him, but [when one desecrates God] in public, they exact punishment upon him. This (i.e., the first episode), which was in private, the Place spared him. Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says, even this [episode] which occurred in private, the Place did not spare him, as it is said (Num. 11:23), "Now you will see whether my word comes to pass, or not." And I say, God forbid that it would enter the mind of that righteous man, that he would say, "The Place does not suffice for us and for our livestock." Is it possible for he about whom it is said (Num. 12:6-7), "Not so my servant, Moses[, in all my house he is trusted]," that it would enter his mind to say, "The Place does not suffice for us and for our livestock"? And moreover, when the Children of Israel were in Egypt, did the Nile River really have [enough] fish to suffice both for them and for the Egyptians (see Num. 11:5), and were there really [enough] livestock in Egypt to suffice both for them and for the Egyptians? Rather, this only refers to the matter, as it is said (Num. 11:19-20), "Not [just] for one day will you eat it, etc., but [rather] for a month of days...." Said Moses before the Holy One Blessed be He, "Master of the Universe, is it fitting that you give [all this] to them and then kill them? Do we say to a person, 'Take this loaf of bread and descend to Sheol?' Do we say to a donkey, 'Take this kor of barley and then we will chop off your head?' For they should not say about me and about you, "The meat did not suffice (motzeit)."^*In other words, that God could not sustain them, so He killed them before the limits of His power were exposed. Alternatively, "No good news goes out (motzeit) from them" (אֵין־בְּשׂוֹרָ֥ה מֹצֵֽאת) (2 Sam. 18:22) (see MS Erfurt, Minchat Bikkurim, Lieberman). He said to him, "And is it fitting for them to say, 'The Place does not have enough to give us and our livestock?' Rather, those [who said this] should perish and a thousand more like them. But do not shorten your hand before me for even an hour, as it is said (Num. 11:23), "And God said to Moses, is the hand of God too short, etc.?" Rabban Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says, "It is impossible to stand against their frivolous ways. If you give them the meat of large livestock, they will say, 'We asked for the meat of small livestock!' If you give them the meat of small livestock, they will say 'We asked for the meat of wild animals and poultry!' If you give them the the meat of a wild animals and poultry, they will say, We asked for the flesh of fish and locusts!'" As it is said, "Are there flocks and herds to be slaughtered for them?" Whereupon the Holy Spirit answered him, "Now you will see whether my word comes to pass, or not." And I prefer my words to the words of Rabbi Akiva.