Numbers 14:27
Context14:27 “How long must I bear 1 with this evil congregation 2 that murmurs against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites that they murmured against me.
Numbers 16:11
Context16:11 Therefore you and all your company have assembled together against the Lord! And Aaron – what is he that you murmur against him?” 3
1 tn The figure is aposiopesis, or sudden silence. The main verb is deleted from the line, “how long…this evil community.” The intensity of the emotion is the reason for the ellipsis.
2 sn It is worth mentioning in passing that this is one of the Rabbinic proof texts for having at least ten men to form a congregation and have prayer. If God called ten men (the bad spies) a “congregation,” then a congregation must have ten men. But here the word “community/congregation” refers in this context to the people of Israel as a whole, not just to the ten spies.
3 sn The question indicates that they had been murmuring against Aaron, that is, expressing disloyalty and challenging his leadership. But it is actually against the