INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 11 This chapter informs us of the complaints of the people of Israel, which brought the fire of the Lord upon them, and consumed many of them; and which, at the intercession of Moses, was quenched, and the place from thence called Taberah, Numbers 11:1; and of the lusting of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND [WHEN] THE PEOPLE COMPLAINED,.... Or "were as complainers" p; not merely like to such, but were truly and really complainers, the כ, "caph", here being not a note of similitude, but of truth and reality, as in Hosea 5:10. This Hebraism is frequent in the New Testament, Matthew 14:5. What they co... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE CRIED UNTO MOSES,.... And entreated him to pray for them, being frightened at the fire which consumed many of them, lest it should spread and become general among them: AND WHEN MOSES PRAYED UNTO THE LORD; as he did, in which he was a type of Christ, the mediator between God and man,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THE PLACE TABERAH,.... That is, "burning": Moses called it so; or it may be rendered impersonally, it was called s so in later times by the people: BECAUSE THE FIRE OF THE LORD BURNT AMONG THEM; to perpetuate the, memory of this kind of punishment for their sins, that it m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MIXED MULTITUDE THAT [WAS] AMONG THEM FELL A LUSTING,.... These came out of Egypt with them, Exodus 12:38; having either contracted affinity with them, or such intimacy of conversation, that they could not part, or being proselyted to the Jewish religion, at least in pretence; these were not... [ Continue Reading ]
WE REMEMBER THE FISH WHICH WE DID EAT IN EGYPT FREELY,.... Fish was food the Egyptians much lived upon; for though Herodotus says the priests might not taste of fish, the common people ate much; yea, he himself says that some lived upon nothing else but fish gutted and dried in the sun; and he obser... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW OUR SOUL IS DRIED AWAY,.... Meaning their bodies, which, for want of flesh food, they pretended had no moisture in them, or they were half starved, and in wasting and consuming circumstances: [THERE IS] NOTHING AT ALL BESIDES THIS MANNA [BEFORE] OUR EYES; which in itself was a truth and mat... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MANNA [WAS] AS CORIANDER SEED,.... Not in colour, for that is black or darkish, whereas the manna was white, as is generally observed; of which Exodus 16:31; however it might be like the coriander, because of its form and figure, being round, and because of its quantity, being small, Exodus... [ Continue Reading ]
[AND] THE PEOPLE WENT ABOUT AND GATHERED [IT],.... Went about the camp on all sides, where it fell in plenty; this they did every morning, and this was all the trouble they were at; they had it for gathering, without any expense to them: AND GROUND [IT] IN MILLS: in hand mills, as Aben Ezra; for th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE DEW FELL UPON THE CAMP IN THE NIGHT,.... As it usually, and even constantly did: THE MANNA FELL UPON IT; as constantly, and had thereby a clean place to fall on; and then another dew fell upon that, which kept it the cleaner still, and from any vermin creeping upon it; see Exodus 16:14... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN MOSES HEARD THE PEOPLE WEEP THROUGHOUT THEIR FAMILIES,.... So general was their lusting after flesh, and their discontent for want of it; and so great their distress and uneasiness about it, that they wept and cried for it, and so loud and clamorous, that Moses heard the noise and outcry they m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE LORD, WHEREFORE HAST THOU AFFLICTED THY SERVANT?.... Or "done evil" m to him, that which was distressing to him, and gave him trouble; namely, setting him at the head of the people of Israel, and laying the government of them on his shoulders; which surely was doing him honou... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE I CONCEIVED ALL THIS PEOPLE? HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEM?.... Conceived them as a mother, or begotten them as a father? am I a parent of either sort to them, in a literal sense, that I should have the like care of them as parents of their children? but though this was not the case, yet, in a civil and... [ Continue Reading ]
WHENCE SHOULD I HAVE FLESH TO GIVE UNTO ALL THIS PEOPLE?.... This seems to countenance the Israelites in their lusting after flesh, as if it was no evil in them, and as if it was but right they should have what they desired, though it was out of his power to give it them: FOR THEY WEEP UNTO ME, SAY... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM NOT ABLE TO BEAR ALL THIS PEOPLE ALONE,.... The burden of government of them, to take care of them and provide sustenance for them; but he was not alone, for, not to take notice of the rulers and officers in the several divisions of the people that assisted and eased him in lighter matters, adv... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THOU DEAL THUS WITH ME,.... Let the whole weight of government lie upon me, and leave the alone to bear it: KILL ME, I PRAY THEE, OUT OF HAND; take me out of the world at once, or "kill me now, in killing" n; dispatch me immediately, and make a thorough end of me directly: IF I HAVE FOUND F... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES,.... Without making any reflection upon him, or upbraiding him with his unbecoming speeches to him, but in a kind and tender manner directs for his assistance and case: GATHER UNTO ME SEVENTY MEN OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL; out from among them, such as were not only men in... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL COME DOWN AND TALK WITH THEE THERE,.... Descend from heaven, by some visible token of his power and presence, and in a friendly manner converse with him face to face; which was an instance of great condescension and grace, and especially when Moses had showed a very froward peevish spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAY THOU UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... For what follows respects them, as what goes before regarded himself: SANCTIFY YOURSELVES AGAINST TOMORROW; or prepare yourselves, as the Targums of Onkelos, and Jonathan, either to receive mercies, or to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments; so Jarchi interpr... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT EAT ONE DAY,.... Only, as in Exodus 16:12; NOR TWO DAYS, NOR FIVE DAYS, NEITHER TEN DAYS, NOR TWENTY DAYS; but even thirty days, a whole month, as in Numbers 11:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
[BUT] EVEN A WHOLE MONTH,.... So long the Israelites continued at Taberah or Kibrothhattaavah, as the Jews o conclude from this clause: UNTIL IT COME OUT AT YOUR NOSTRILS; being vomited up, through a nausea of it, the stomach being overfilled and glutted with it; in which case, it will make its way... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES SAID,.... By way of objection to what God had promised, distrusting his power to perform: THE PEOPLE AMONGST WHOM I [AM]; among whom he dwelt, of whom he was a part, and over whom he was a ruler: [ARE] SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOTMEN; that were able to travel on foot, and were fit for war:... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE FLOCKS AND THE HERDS BE SLAIN FOR THEM, TO SUFFICE THEM?.... Suggesting that if all their cattle, their sheep, and oxen were killed, which they and the mixed multitude brought out of Egypt, they would not be sufficient for them to live upon a whole month; and intimating also, that it would... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES,.... In answer to his objection, without upbraiding him with his sin of unbelief: IS THE LORD'S HAND WAXED SHORT? or his power diminished since the creation, when he formed all things out of nothing, and what is it then he is not able to do? or since he wrought the wond... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES WENT OUT,.... Either out of his own tent, about which the people assembled, complaining and weeping, Numbers 11:10; or rather, as Aben Ezra, out of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the sanctuary where he had been conversing with God, about the affairs complained of both by the peopl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD CAME DOWN IN A CLOUD,.... In a cloud of glory, or a glorious one, as the Targums; either in the same that went before the people in the wilderness, or in one distinct from it, and only used on this occasion, as a visible token of the presence of God: AND SPAKE UNTO HIM; to Moses, talke... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THERE REMAINED TWO [OF THE] MEN IN THE CAMP,.... Of the seventy who were summoned, that came not out of the camp of Israel to the tabernacle when the rest did: THE NAME OF THE ONE [WAS] ELDAD, AND THE NAME OF THE OTHER MEDAD: who, according to the Targum of Jonathan, were brethren of Moses by h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE RAN A YOUNG MAN,.... From the camp to the tabernacle, who had heard Eldad and Medad prophesy; which he thought was not right, being done without the knowledge and approbation of Moses, and in a private tent in the tabernacle, not among the elders, but the common people: who this young than... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN, THE SERVANT OF MOSES,.... That waited upon him, and ministered to him, and executed his orders, especially in civil things, and was to be his successor: [ONE] OF HIS YOUNG MEN; not that Joshua was a young man in age, for he must be now between fifty and sixty years of age... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES SAID UNTO HIM, ENVIEST THOU FOR MY SAKE?.... Lest his authority should be weakened, and his honour lessened, because they began not to prophesy in his presence, and at the tabernacle, and among the rest of the elders, and so seemed not to have received of the Spirit that was upon him, and to b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MOSES GOT HIM INTO THE CAMP,.... From the door of the tabernacle, where he had been settling the elders in their office, and now betook himself to the camp of Israel, perhaps to look more particularly into the affair of Eldad and Medad, and settle that, and put them among the elders; for they we... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE WENT FORTH A WIND FROM THE LORD,.... Both an east wind and a south wind, according to Psalms 78:26; either first one wind, and then another; one to bring the quails, or whatever are meant, to a certain point, and then the other to bring them to the camp of Israel; or a southeast wind, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PEOPLE STOOD UP ALL THAT DAY,.... The day on which they fell in the morning: AND ALL [THAT] NIGHT; the night following: AND ALL THE NEXT DAY; after that, even the space of thirty six hours: AND THEY GATHERED THE QUAILS; not took them flying, as the Jewish writers suggest, before observed,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHILE THE FLESH [WAS] YET BETWEEN THEIR TEETH,.... When they had just got it into their mouths, and were about to bite it: ERE IT WAS CHEWED; or "cut off"; or cut into pieces by the "incisores", or fore teeth, and then ground by the "molares", or grinders, and so became fit to be swallowed. Bot... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE KIBROTHHATTAAVAH,.... That is, Moses called it so, or it was called by the children of Israel, and by others in later times, by this name, which signifies "the graves of lust"; dug by lust, or which lust was the cause and occasion of, and where those that indulge... [ Continue Reading ]
[AND] THE PEOPLE JOURNEYED FROM KIBROTHHATTAAVAH UNTO HAZEROTH,.... After having stayed there a month or more, as is gathered from Numbers 11:20; AND ABODE AT HAZEROTH; at least seven days, as appears from Numbers 12:15; which, according to Bunting g, was eight miles from Kibrothhattaavah, or Tabe... [ Continue Reading ]