Exodus 16:3

_AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO THEM, WOULD TO GOD WE HAD DIED BY THE HAND OF THE LORD IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, WHEN WE SAT BY THE FLESH POTS, AND WHEN WE DID EAT BREAD TO THE FULL; FOR YE HAVE BROUGHT US FORTH INTO THIS WILDERNESS, TO KILL THIS WHOLE ASSEMBLY WITH HUNGER._ Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt - i:e., by the plague which had carried off the first-born of the Egyptians suddenly, rather than by a lingering death from starvation here. How unreasonable and absurd the charge against Moses and Aaron! how ungrateful and impious against God! After all their experience of the divine wisdom, goodness, and power, we pause and wonder over the sacred narrative of their hardness and unbelief. To such a depth of debasement had they sunk, that they seem never to have reflected or reasoned on the course of Providence; and although they had witnessed t...

1-12 The provisions of Israel, brought from Egypt, were spent by the middle of the second month, and they murmured. It is no new thing for the greatest kindness to be basely represented as the greatest injuries. They so far undervalue their deliverance, that they wished they had died in Egypt; and by the hand of the Lord, that is, by the plagues which cut off the Egyptians. We cannot suppose they had plenty in Egypt, nor could they fear dying for want in the wilderness, while they had flocks and herds: none talk more absurdly than murmurers. When we begin to fret, we ought to consider, that God hears all our murmurings. God promises a speedy and constant supply. He tried whether they would trust him, and rest satisfied with the bread of the day in its day. Thus he tried if they would serve him, and it appeared how ungrateful they were. When God plagued the Egyptians, it was to make them...

Verse Exodus 16:3. _THE FLESH POTS_] As the Hebrews were in a state of slavery in Egypt, they were doubtless fed in various companies by their task masters in particular places, where large _pots_ or _boilers_ were fixed for the purpose of cooking their victuals. To these there may be a reference in this place, and the whole speech only goes to prove that they preferred their bondage in Egypt to their present state in the wilderness; for they could not have been in a state of _absolute want_, as they had brought an abundance of flocks and herds with them out of Egypt....

BY THE HAND OF THE LORD - This evidently refers to the plagues, especially the last, in Egypt: the death which befell the Egyptians appeared to the people preferable to the sufferings of famine. FLESH POTS, AND ... BREAD - These expressions prove that the servile labors to which they had been subjected did not involve privations: they were fed abundantly, either by the officials of Pharaoh, or more probably by the produce of their own fertile district....

EXPOSITION THE FIRST MURMURING FOR FOOD. From Elim, or the fertile tract extending from Wady Ghurnndel to Wady Tayibeh, the Israelites, after a time, removed, and ca-camped (as we learn from Numbers 33:10) by the Red Sea, probably along the narrow coast tract extending from the mouth of Tayibeh to the entrance upon the broad plain of El Markha. Hence they entered upon "the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai"—a tract identified by some with the coast plain, El Markha, by others with the inland undulating region known at the present day as the Debbet-er-Ramleh It is difficult to decide between these two views. In favour of El Markha are: 1. The fact that the Egyptian settlements in the Sinaitic peninsula would thus be avoided, as they seem to have been, s

AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SAID UNTO THEM,.... They not only inwardly murmured, and privately complained among themselves, but they spoke out their complaints, and that in a very extravagant manner: WOULD TO GOD WE HAD DIED BY THE HAND OF THE LORD IN THE LAND OF EGYPT; by one of the plagues, or some such like plague as were inflicted on the Egyptians, which killed many of them, and particularly the hailstorm and plague on the firstborn; suggesting that death, even by the hand of the Lord, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, was more eligible than their present circumstances: when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; which is an exaggeration of their former circumstances, and the happiness of them, in order to aggravate the misery of their present ones; for it can hardly be thought strictly true, that while they were in hard bondage in Egypt, they had...

Exodus 16:1. _And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:_ They have been only about six weeks in the wilderness, and already they are up in arms against their leaders. Remember that we have the same kind of people to deal with as Moses and Aaron had. The children of Israel were no better than any other nation; and I do not think they were any worse. We may take them as a fair average of human nature, which is a discontented, rebellious thing in the best of circumstances. Exodus 16:3. A

XVI. MANNA AND QUAILS (Exodus 16:1 P, Exodus 16:4 a(b) - Exodus 16:5 J, (Exodus 16:6 f., Exodus 16:8) Rp, Exodus 16:9 a (morning) P, Exodus 16:13 b - Exodus 16:15 J, Exodus 16:16 P,...

THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. BREAD. Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Part), put for all kinds of food (App-6). not for water, because of Exodus 15:27....

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 16 AND THEY TOOK THEIR JOURNEY FROM E-LIM, AND ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL CAME UNTO THE WILDERNESS OF SIN, WHICH IS BETWEEN E-IIM AND SI-NAI, ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH AFTER THEIR DEPARTING OUT OF THE LAND OF E-GYPT. (2) AND THE WHOLE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL MURMURED AGAINST MO-SES AND AGAINST AAR-ON IN THE WILDERNESS: (3) AND THE CHILDREN OF IS-RA-EL SAID UNTO THEM, WOULD THAT WE DIED BY THE HAND OF JE-HO-VAH IN THE LAND OF E-GYPT, WHEN WE SAT BY THE FLESH-POTS, WHEN WE DID EAT BREAD TO THE FULL; FOR YE HAVE BROUGHT US FORTH INTO THIS WILDERNESS, TO KILL THIS WHOLE ASSEMBLY WITH HUNGER. (4) Then said Je-ho-vah unto Mo-ses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. (5)...