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Numbers 11:1-12:16

Is the LORD's Hand Short? (Official)

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Is the LORD's Hand Short? (Official)

Numbers 11:1-12:16

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Is the LORD's Hand Short? (Official)

Numbers 11:1-12:16

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About this song

This song belongs to the Numbers collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book
Numbers
Collection
Numbers
Musical styles
World Music
[Intro] I sang at the sea. I remember the song. It was not enough to hold my tongue. [Verse 1] I beat the drum when the sea came down. I led the women dancing on the sand. Now the camp sits weeping in its doorways with the taste of Egypt on its hands. They talk of the fish we ate for nothing, the leeks, the melons, garlic in the pot. The bread of heaven lies there every morning, they grind it and they bake it and they curse the lot. [Pre-Chorus] My brother went in to the LORD and cried, did I give birth to all of these? Where do I find meat for six hundred thousand? Kill me now, and give me peace. [Chorus] Is the LORD's hand short? Can it not reach this far? He can drag the wind across the sea and drop the birds right where you are. We begged for meat. He gave us meat. Go count the graves beneath the stars. [Verse 2] Seventy elders stood round the tent, and the Spirit rested on them all. Then a wind blew in off the sea at dusk, and the quail came down like a wall. A day's walk out on every side, they gathered two days and a night. The meat was still between their teeth. They never took the second bite. [Chorus] Is the LORD's hand short? Can it not reach this far? He can drag the wind across the sea and drop the birds right where you are. We begged for meat. He gave us meat. Go count the graves beneath the stars. [Bridge] They named that ground the graves of craving, and we left them in the sand. At Hazeroth I had my own hunger. I said, does God speak only through that man? The cloud came down at the door of the tent. He named my brother, mouth to mouth. The cloud went up. I looked at my hands. They were white as snow. I was shut out. [Final Chorus] Is the LORD's hand short? Can it not reach this far? He can drag the wind across the sea and drop the birds right where you are. We begged for meat. He gave us meat. Go count the graves beneath the stars. The brother I wounded prayed for me. Seven days outside the camp, nobody marched till I came home.

Named in this songEgypt

About the passage

Numbers 11: A burden shared and a craving buried

The ordered journey almost immediately becomes a chapter of complaint. An unspecified grievance brings fire at the camp's edge; a second complaint turns remembered Egyptian food into an argument against manna. Moses then tells the LORD that carrying the people alone is too heavy, and his burden is answered with seventy elders who receive the spirit and share responsibility. The people's demand for meat receives a very different answer: abundance that becomes judgment. Between those two responses, Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp, and Joshua asks Moses to stop them. Moses refuses to protect his role by shrinking the circle of the Spirit's work. The chapter therefore distinguishes a leader's confessed inability from a congregation's rejection of provision. One burden is shared. One craving is granted until it becomes bitter, and the graves at Kibroth-hattaavah preserve the difference.

Study Numbers 11 in depth

Numbers 12: The disputed servant prays for his accuser

Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses, beginning with his Ethiopian wife and moving quickly to the claim that the LORD has spoken through them as well. The response does not deny other prophetic gifts. It distinguishes Moses' role by the manner of divine communication: visions and dreams for prophets, but direct and plain speech with the servant who is faithful in all the LORD's house. Miriam is then struck with leprosy while Aaron confesses the sin of them both. The sharpest reversal comes when Aaron asks the very man whose authority they challenged to intervene, and Moses immediately prays for Miriam's healing. Her exclusion is real but limited to seven days. The entire camp waits until she is received again. The chapter therefore ends not with Moses celebrating vindication but with the congregation delaying its journey until his accuser can return.

Study Numbers 12 in depth