Numbers 11:2

_AND THE PEOPLE CRIED UNTO MOSES; AND WHEN MOSES PRAYED UNTO THE LORD, THE FIRE WAS QUENCHED._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-3 Here is the people's sin; they complained. See the sinfulness of sin, which takes occasion from the commandment to be provoking. The weakness of the law discovered sin, but could not destroy it; checked, but could not conquer it. They complained. Those who are of a discontented spirit, will always find something to quarrel or fret about, though the circumstances of their outward condition be ever so favourable. The Lord heard it, though Moses did not. God knows the secret frettings and murmurings of the heart, though concealed from men. What he noticed, he was much displeased with, and he chastised them for this sin. The fire of their wrath against God burned in their minds; justly did the fire of God's wrath fasten on their bodies; but God's judgments came on them gradually, that they might take warning. It appeared that God delights not in punishing; when he begins, he is soon prev...

Verse Numbers 11:2. _THE FIRE WAS QUENCHED_] Was _sunk_, or swallowed up, as in the margin. The plague, of whatever sort, ceased to act, and the people had respite....

EXPOSITION THE PLACE OF BURNING (Numbers 11:1). NUMBERS 11:1 AND WHEN THE PEOPLE COMPLAINED, it DISPLEASED THE LORD. There is no "when" in the original. It is literally, "And_ _the people were as complainers evil in the ears of the Lord." This may be paraphrased as in the A.V.; or it may be rendered as in the Septuagint, ἧν ὁ λαὸς γογγύζων πονηρὰ_ _ἔυαντι κυρίου_ _(cf. 1 Corinthians 10:10), where πονηρά_ _means the wicked things they uttered in their discontent; or the "evil" may mean the hardships they complained of. The Targums

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, the advocate of his people, an intercessor for transgressors: THE FIRE WAS QUENCHED; it stopped and proceeded no further; as through Christ's mediation God is pacified with his people for all that they have done, and his wrath, and all the effects of it, are turned away from them, and entirely cease with respect to them; or it "sunk down" r into its place, as the Targum of Jonathan, as if it rose out of the earth. This may serve to confirm the notion of its being a burning wind, to which the idea of sinking down and subsiding well agrees. r תשקע "sunk down", so Ainsworth; "compressus est",...

Numbers 11:1. _And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD:_ Interpreters cannot make out what they had to complain of. The curse of labour had been removed; they did not earn their bread with the sweat of their face, for it fell from heaven every day. They were at no expense for clothing; and though they journeyed, their feet did not swell. I suppose that they complained of the weather. It was too cold; it was too hot; it was too wet; it was too dry. They complained when they stood still; they were much too long in a place. They complained when they marched; they moved too often. In fact, they were very like ourselves; they often complained most when they had least to complain of. Discontent is chronic to our humanity; and I do not believe that the poorest are the most discontented. It is often the very reverse. When a man is put in a place where be has nothing to compla

II. THE JOURNEY STARTED: ISRAEL'S UNBELIEF, FAILURE AND PUNISHMENT 1. The Departure and the First Failure CHAPTER 10:11-36 _ 1. The cloud moves (Numbers 10:11)_ 2. The standard of the camp of Judah (Numbers 10:14) 3. The standard of the camp of Reuben (Numbers 10:18) 4. The standard of the camp of Ephraim (Numbers 10:22) 5. The standard of the camp of Dan (Numbers 10:25) 6.The first failure (N

( JE). THE CHASTISEMENT OF THE PEOPLE AT TABERAH. The occasion was discontent at some hardship, the nature of which is not explained. The agency by which the discontent was punished was probably lightning (_cf._ Exodus 9:23; Job 1:16; 2 Kings 1:10). The place is unknown. NUMBERS 11:1. Render, And the people were as mourners at misfortune. Numbers 11:3. Taberah: _ i.e._ Burning, from the Heb. root _ba_-'_ ar_, to burn....

THE FIRE WAS QUENCHED— Εκοπασε, the LXX. _it ceased._ Scheuchzer is of opinion, as also is Le Clerc, that this destruction might be wrought by one of those fiery, blasting winds, which are incident to those countries, and mentioned in Scripture, Ezekiel 17:10; Ezekiel 19:12 and by one of which Thevenot, in his Voyages, (part 1: b. 2 Chronicles 34 :) tells us, 2000 men perished in one night, in the year 1658....

D. COMPLAINT AND PUNISHMENT AT TABERAH (NUMBERS 11:1-3) TEXT Numbers 11:1. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. 2. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched, 3. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them. PARAPHRASE Numbers 11:1. Now the people complained and it displeased the Lord: He heard it and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed those who were in the outer sections of the cam