This and the following three chapters recount the successive rebellions of the Israelites after their departure from Sinai; culminating in that by which they brought upon themselves the sentence of personal exclusion from the land of promise.... [ Continue Reading ]
See the marginal rendering. They murmured against the privations of the march. THE FIRE OF THE LORD - Probably lightning; compare Psalms 78:21. IN THE UTTERMOST PARTS - Rather, in the end. The fire did not reach far into the camp. It was quickly quenched at the intercession of Moses.... [ Continue Reading ]
TABERAH - i. e. “burning:” not the name of a station, and accordingly not found in the list given in Numbers 33, but the name of the spot where the fire broke out. This incident might seem (compare Numbers 11:34) to have occurred at the station called, from another still more terrible event which sh... [ Continue Reading ]
Occurrences at Kibroth-hattavah. Numbers 11:4 THE MIXT MULTITUDE - The word in the original resembles our “riff-raff,” and denotes a mob of people scraped together. It refers here to the multitude of strangers (see Exodus 12:38) who had followed the Israelites from Egypt. Numbers 11:5 The natura... [ Continue Reading ]