Numbers 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 unto their fathers? 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 unto their fathers?
The verse belongs to Israel's wilderness complaint over food, when the people wept at the doors of their tents and murmured throughout their families because manna from heaven did not satisfy them and they longed for flesh meat. It was a rejection of God's provision after great evidence of His power and mercy. By asking whether he had conceived or begotten the people, Moses protests being placed over them as a parent and nursing father who must carry and nurture them and make their sufferings his own on the way to the land sworn to their fathers.
The burden he questions is continually witnessing Israel's disobedience and hearing their murmurings against commands and against God Himself, springing from an unsubmissive spirit. The care felt overwhelming and too heavy to bear alone, leaving him displeased and even tempted to distrust God. He confessed he was not able to bear the responsibility alone, and preferred death to watching their perverseness draw God's judgments upon them while God's enemies rejoiced in their destruction. He felt his weakness and the weight of the work more deeply than Aaron and Miriam, who wrongly thought they carried the burden equally, yet his need for help did not mean he lacked God's counsel, for God had always been his counselor.
God granted the craving and gave that vast multitude quails in abundance, but did not work a miracle to preserve life when they reaped the result of transgression. Plague came while the flesh was still between their teeth and destroyed thousands, many dying as they ate, and nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness instead of entering Canaan. The account shows that craving, refusing to be content with God's provision, and letting appetite rule displeases God and contributed to Israel's downfall, while temperance in eating and drinking gives clearer minds to discern what affects the salvation of the soul.