Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 20:3

"And the people strove with Moses, and spake, saying, Would that we had died when our brethren died before Jehovah!" — Numbers 20:3 (ASV)

If only we had died... — The reference seems to be to the plague that broke out after the insurrection of Korah. The language of the murmurers is very similar to that which is recorded in Numbers 16:14, and the word gava (die, or expire), which is used twice in this verse and occurs in Numbers 16:26 and Numbers 16:28 in connection with the history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, is found in only one other place throughout the last four books of the Pentateuch—namely, Numbers 20:29.

The probability that that plague was of comparatively recent occurrence, and not separated from the present murmuring by a period of nearly forty years, has been inferred from the use of the word brethren in this verse. Some suppose that the generation contemporary with those who perished in the plague that followed the rebellion of Korah was almost extinct at the time to which the events recorded in this chapter are commonly referred. In that case, it is alleged, the word fathers would have been more applicable than brethren to those who perished.

It may be observed, further, that the inquiry, Why have you made us come up out of Egypt? is more natural when regarded as the language of the generation that had come up out of Egypt as adults and looked back to the exodus as a recent event. This view is less fitting if the inquiry is regarded as that of a generation of which a large number had been born in the wilderness, and the rest had left Egypt nearly forty years previously.

These considerations, however, do not appear to carry much weight. The older portion of the congregation, who would naturally be the spokesmen, would speak of those who perished in the insurrection of Korah as their brethren, whether the event itself was of recent occurrence or not. Furthermore, the words rendered Why have you brought up, etc.? may, with equal propriety, be rendered Why did you bring up, etc.? (Compare to Numbers 20:16 and Note).