Teks -- Numbers 11:12 (NET)

11:12 Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Num 11:12 - Have I begotten them?

Are they my children, that I should be obliged to provide food and all things for their necessity and desire?

JFB: Num 11:10-15 - Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant, &c.

It is impossible not to sympathize with his feelings although the tone and language of his remonstrances to God cannot be justified. He was in a most distressing situation--having a mighty multitude under his care, with no means of satisfying their clamorous demands. Their conduct shows how deeply they had been debased and demoralized by long oppression: while his reveals a state of mind agonized and almost overwhelmed by a sense of the undivided responsibilities of his office.

TSK: Num 11:12 - Carry them // as a nursing // the land

Carry them : Isa 40:11; Eze 34:23; Joh 10:11

as a nursing : Isa 49:15, Isa 49:23; Gal 4:19; 1Th 2:7

the land : Gen 13:15, Gen 22:16, Gen 22:17, Gen 26:3, Gen 50:24; Exo 13:5

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Num 11:12 - Have I begotten them // As a nursing-father beareth the sucking-child

Have I begotten them are they my children, that I should be obliged to provide food and all things for their necessity and desire?

As a nursing-father beareth the sucking-child which expression shows the tender care and affection that governors by the command of God ought to have towards their people.

Haydock: Num 11:12 - Nurse

Nurse. We often read of men nursing or watching over others. (4 Kings x. 5; Esther ii. 11.) Thus kings shall nurse the Church, Isaias xlix. 23. (Calmet) ---

All who have authority should treat their subjects with love. (Menochius)

Gill: Num 11:12 - Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them // that thou shouldest say unto me // carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child // unto the land which thou swarest to their fathers

Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them?.... Conceived them as a mother, or begotten them as a father? am I a parent of either sort to them, in a literal sense, that I should have the like care of them as parents of their children? but though this was not the case, yet, in a civil and political sense, he was their parent, as every king and governor of a country is, or should be, the father of it, and should have a paternal affection for his subjects, and a tender care of them, and a hearty concern for their good and welfare: this, in a spiritual sense, may denote the weakness of the law of Moses, as Ainsworth observes, which has no concern in the regeneration of the spiritual Israel of God; who are born not of blood, nor of the will of men, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God; he only does and can regenerate men by his Spirit and grace; and though ministers of the word are instruments, yet it is not through the law, but through the Gospel that they beget souls to Christ, even by the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation, by that word which lives and abides for ever; it is not through the doctrine of the law, but through the doctrine of faith, that the Spirit, as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, is received; faith, hope, and love, and every other grace, come the same way; see 1Co 4:15,

that thou shouldest say unto me; as in Exo 32:34; "go, lead the people unto the place", &c. which words, Jarchi thinks, are here referred to:

carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child,

unto the land which thou swarest to their fathers? the land of Canaan: kings should be nursing fathers; civil governors should rule with gentleness and mildness; such are most beloved, and most cheerfully obeyed by their people: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret the word for "nursing father", by "pedagogue", which is the same word the apostle uses of the law, Gal 3:24; that indeed was a severe schoolmaster, that menaced, whipped, and scourged for every fault, and not a tender nursing father; there is not one kind tender word in the law; it accuses of sin, pronounces guilty of it, curses and condemns for it; but the Gospel ministry, and ministers of it, use men gently; the apostles of Christ were gentle, as a nurse cherisheth her children, 1Th 2:7; fed men as they were able to bear it; and when they delivered out their charges, it was in a kind manner, and even their reproofs were in love; and especially Christ himself was so, by whose meekness and gentleness the Apostle Paul beseeches men, 1Co 10:1; who gathers the lambs in his arms, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young; and supplies them with food, and brings them all safely to Canaan's land, the heavenly glory, where the law and the deeds of it will never bring men, Isa 40:11.