Numbers 11:23

Now you will see if My words will occur. Raban Gamliel, son of R’ Yehudah Hanasi said: (Moshe said:) “It is impossible to maintain one’s position in [such] a dispute. Since they only seek a pretext, You cannot satisfy them, in the end they will judge You critically. If You give them beef, they will say ‘we wanted mutton,’ if You give them mutton, they will say ‘we wanted beef, we wanted wild game or fowl, we wanted fish or locusts.’ He (God) said to him: ‘If so, they will say My power is limited.’ He (Moshe) said before Him: ‘Here, I will go and appease them.’ He (God) said: ‘Now you will see if My word occurs — they will not listen to you.’ Moshe went to appease them. He said to them: ‘Is God’s power limited? Behold, He struck the rock and water flowed, etc., then He can also provide bread.’ They said: ‘This is a compromise — He does not have the power to fulfill our request.”’ This is what is meant when it says, “Moshe went out and spoke to the people.” When they didn’t listen to him — “He gathered seventy men, etc.”

And the Lord said to Mosheh, Can any thing fail before the Lord? Now shalt thou see whether what I have said to thee shall come to pass or not.

היד ה' תקצר?, from finding a way which will cause them to be revolted at every food which is not for their health but for their gratification only. This is what was meant in verse 20, that “it will come out of your noses.”

עתה תראה היקרך דברי, you will see with your own eyes that what I said will occur, that they will eat so much of this meat which they chose for reasons of gratification that it will come out of their noses so that they will despise it. I will not have to interfere with their free choice in order to achieve this result. By not interfering with their freedom of choice they will be able to repent not only because they are afraid of punishment, but because they have discovered that whatever I have done was out of love for them so that they in turn will relate to Me with love.

?ויאמר ה' אל משה: היד ה' תקצר, Hashem said to Moses: “is there then a limit to the Lord’s power? You will see presently if My power is inadequate!” G–d implied that just as it was within His power to provide what He had said He would provide, so it was in His power to see to it that they collect it until His word has become fulfilled. This is the meaning of 11,31: ויטש על המחנה בדרך יום כה ובדרך יום כה סביבות המחנה וכאמתים על פני כל הארץ , “and He strewed them over the camp, a distance of a day’s walk in each direction and to the height of two cubits above the face of the earth.” The people did not even need to stretch out their hands and bow down in order to take hold of the quails. An alternate interpretation of Moses’ question if sheep and cattle were to be slaughtered for them, how could there be sufficient for their needs. Moses knew that at that time any meat which was not the result of having been slaughtered as a sacrifice for the Lord was forbidden for the people to eat. There were only a total of three priests available to slaughter the animals required on sacred soil, i.e. Aaron and his two surviving sons. How could they slaughter enough animals in one day to satisfy the craving of all the people? And, even supposing this could be done, seeing there was a strict time limit, maximum two days and a night, during which sacrificial meat was allowed to be eaten, how could they eat meat for thirty days? (verse 21) Moses’ statement regarding fish as an alternative to supplying meat was not meant as a question, but as a comment that such an alternative, not involving ritual killing of the fish which would not require priests, would also have presented great difficulties albeit miracles of a different kind. The people could never have collected enough fish in a day to last them for a month. G–d’s answer to Moses was simply that He would provide birds which did not require ritual slaughter by priests, as did cattle or flocks.