NOTES for Num 11:1-35
The story of the quails is interesting in many respects, and first of all because it is a story of God's action. What connection, one might think, is there between quails, the outpouring of God's breath, and people prophesying in the camp? Everything seems mixed together. And Moses himself asks to find helpers for him, directly asking God, "Did I give birth to all this people?" There are many questions, many problems, but God's breath, God's action, sets everything in its place.
Those who were rushing back to Egypt receive meat. Moses receives helpers, and with them criticism and demands from "faithful" supporters to forbid unauthorized prophesying. Everything happens rapidly, one thing after another. God simply acts; He simply breathes with His Spirit. He neither punishes nor rewards anyone; each simply receives what he so wanted, but always together with the consequences.
Some were longing for Egypt precisely because there was plenty of meat there. Those who wanted meat received it, ate their fill, and died of some infection: the birds, judging by everything, turned out to be sick. Is this punishment? Not at all; it is simply the desire of those who craved their own way at any cost carried through to the end. The desired thing has been received, and the fact that one had to die because of it... well, no one asked God about the consequences.
Moses wants helpers, but where can they be found? God solves the problem simply: He blesses those whom Moses and the people choose, lets them feel His breath, and makes them prophets, at least for a time. After that each one uses the opportunity presented to him on his own: out of the seventy, only two become prophets. Divine stinginess? Of course not; rather, human irresolution. One can remain what God has made one, but then one must change completely, and one's life will also change irrevocably; not everyone has enough resolve for that.
Moses receives helpers, such as they turned out to be. God did everything possible, and people made use of the gift according to their own readiness. And envy immediately made itself known as well: why is someone suddenly prophesying without permission? Moses is sincerely glad; he would like the whole people of God to consist of prophets, but those around him... those around him are clearly not ready for this. So, then, the people of God will not consist only of prophets.
God's possibilities are boundless; only the human person is limited, at least where his own capacities are concerned. With desires, however, everything is different: here human potential is truly inexhaustible. Thus flows the life of individuals and of the whole people: between God's possibilities, the limitation of their own aspirations, and the boundlessness of their own desires.