When depressed Moshe pulled back from brink

One of the disturbing episodes in the parsha concerns the people who are complaining about the manna, bemoaning a lack of meat as they remember the fish, fruits and vegetables (cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic) they enjoyed in Egypt. Now, it is one thing to complain. It is an entirely other thing to whine and kick and scream, crying hunger, when hunger was not the problem. After all, while they may have been tired of it, the manna was bread from heaven that allowed them to survive for 40 years in the wilderness, beyond the simple grace of G-d.

Nevertheless, Moshe’s reaction seems so out of character that we begin to wonder if he has snapped.

Moshe says to G-d, “Why have you been bad to Your servant, and why have I not found favor in Your eyes, that You put the burden of this people upon me? Did I conceive this nation, did I give birth to it, that you expect me to carry it as a nursing mother carries its babe? From where am I to find meat for everyone, as they cry out to me for meat? I can’t carry this nation by myself! If this is what you are going to do to me, then kill me now, lest I see the evil that befalls me.” (11:11-15)

I won’t jump so far to say that Moshe was suicidal – were that the case, this might have ended differently – but there is strong evidence from the things he says here that he was ready to surrender his role as leader simply on account of the complaints of the people.

There are a number of components to Moshe’s complaint. Let’s focus our attention on two of them: 1: Moshe complains that he hasn’t found favor in G-d’s eyes. 2: He wonders if he is to carry the nation by himself, without help.

Some of the commentaries (Ibn Ezra, Seforno, etc.) claim that Moshe is referencing how he has not found favor in G-d’s eyes since the burning bush, when he asked for G-d to send someone else to be the Redeemer. It is hard to reconcile this claim, considering all the good that has been bestowed upon him. Could Moshe be exaggerating?