8429. 'Against Jehovah, and what are we, that you grumble against us?' means that they were made against the Divine, not against those who represented Him. This is clear from the consideration that 'Jehovah' is the Divine, at this point the Divine Truth, which Moses and Aaron represented; and from the meaning of 'grumbling' as complaint, as immediately above in 8428. And since it says that they grumbled against Jehovah, and not against Moses and Aaron, the meaning is that the complaints were made against Divine Truth, which Moses and Aaron represented, 8425, and not against those who represented it. This also explains why the next verse says, What are we? your grumblings are not against us. For a person who represents the Divine is nothing in comparison with Him. Furthermore those grumbling against a representative person, when he speaks on behalf of the Divine, are not grumbling against the person but against the Divine.

8428. 'He hears your grumblings' means that there will be an end to complaints. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing', when said of Jehovah, as having pity and bringing help, thus that there will be an end to complaints; and from the meaning of 'grumblings' as grief caused by the bitterness of temptation, and consequent complaints, dealt with in 8351.