_A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490._ The punishment of the murmurers stopped by the prayer of Moses, Numbers 11:1. The fresh murmuring of the people, Numbers 11:4. The description of manna, Numbers 11:7. The murmuring of Moses, Numbers 11:10. God's answer, Numbers 11:16. The appointment of the seventy elders, N... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people complained_ Hebrew, _as it were, complained;_ that is, they began to mutter some complaints, and for a while, it seems, kept their discontent from coming to Moses's ear. The chief cause of their murmuring is represented (Num 11:5) to be their growing weary of the manna, upon which they h... [ Continue Reading ]
_The people cried unto Moses_ This calamity threw them into such consternation, that they immediately applied to Moses to deprecate the divine displeasure.... [ Continue Reading ]
_He called the place Taberah_ That is, _burning_, because of this fire; and it was called _Kibroth-hattaavah_ on another account. It is no unusual thing in Scripture for persons and places to have two or more names. Both these names were imposed as monuments of the people's sin, and of God's just di... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of Israel also wept again_ That is, they again complained and murmured, that God had so lately visited them with such awful marks of his displeasure; though their special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from any such carriage. Bishop Kidder justly observes, t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fish which we did eat freely_ Either without price, for fish was very plentiful, and fishing there free, or at a very small price. _Our soul_ Either our life, as the term signifies, Genesis 9:5, or our body, which is often intended by the word _soul. Dried-away_ Is withered, and pines away, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_As coriander-seed_ Not for colour, for that is black, but for shape and figure. _Bdellium_ Is either the gum of a tree, of a white and bright colour, or rather a gem or precious stone, as the Hebrew doctors take it; and particularly a pearl, wherewith the manna manifestly agrees both in its colour,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every man in the door of his tent_ To denote they were not ashamed of their sin. _Have I not found favour_ Why didst thou not hear my prayer when I desired thou wouldst excuse me, and commit the care of this unruly people to some other person? _Have I begotten them? _ Are they my children, that I... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou deal thus with me, kill me_ He begs that God would be pleased either to ease him of the burdensome charge, or take him out of the world, and rid him of a life so troublesome and insupportable. _See my wretchedness_ Hebrew, _my evil_, my torment, arising from the difficulty of my office, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_To be elders_ Whom thou by experience discernest to be elders, not only in years and name, but also in wisdom and authority with the people. And according to this constitution, the sanhedrim, or great council of the Jews, which in after ages sat at Jerusalem, and was the highest court of judgment a... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will come down_ By my powerful presence and operation. _I will put it on them_ That is, I will give the same spirit to them which I have given to thee. The _spirit_ is here put for the gifts of the Spirit, and particularly for the spirit of prophecy, whereby they were enabled, as Moses had been a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sanctify yourselves_ Prepare _to meet thy God, O Israel_, in the way of his judgments. Prepare yourselves by true repentance, that you may either obtain some mitigation of the plague, or, while your bodies are destroyed by the flesh you desire and eat, your souls may be saved from the wrath of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Until it come out at your nostrils_ That is, till your impatient appetites be glutted; and by another instance of divine power, you be convinced to your shame how irreligiously, distrustfully, and ungratefully you have acted toward God amidst all his merciful providences toward you. The expression... [ Continue Reading ]
_Six hundred thousand footmen_ Fit for war, besides women and children. That Moses speaks this as distrusting God's word, is evident; and that Moses was not remarkably punished for this as he was afterward for the same sin, (Numbers 20.,) may be imputed to the different circumstances of this and tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is the Lord's hand waxed short?_ Is the divine power diminished? Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 59:1. What has not God done to convince mankind that his power is always unlimited? And yet man is still ready to fall into the weakness of thinking that there are circumstances in which the power of God cannot aff... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses went out_ Either from the sanctuary, into which he had entered to receive God's answers from the mercy-seat, or he went out from his tent to the people. _And gathered the seventy men_ They are called seventy from the stated number, though two of them were lacking, as the apostles are called _... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rested on them_ Not only moved them for a time, but took up his settled abode with them, because the use and end of this gift were perpetual. _They prophesied_ Discoursed of the word and works of God in a marvellous manner, as the prophets did. So this word is used, 1 Samuel 10:5; Joel 2:28; 1 Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the camp_ Not going to the tabernacle, as the rest did, either not having seasonable notice to repair thither, or, being detained in the camp by sickness, or some urgent occasion, not without God's special providence, that so the miracle might be more evident. _They were of them that were writte... [ Continue Reading ]
_There ran a young man and told Moses_ Fearing lest his authority should be diminished by their prophesying, and thereby taking power to themselves without his consent. _Joshua, the servant of Moses_ Who ministered to him as his constant attendant. _One of his young men_ Hebrew, מבחריו, _mibechuraiv... [ Continue Reading ]
_Enviest thou for my sake?_ Art thou grieved because the gifts and graces of God's Spirit are imparted to others besides me? Or rather, _Art thou jealous for my sake?_ Art thou afraid that their exercising these prophetic gifts will be a diminution of my honour? _Would God that all the Lord's people... [ Continue Reading ]
_Moses gat him into the camp_ Among the people; _he and the elders of Israel_ To exercise the gifts and authority they had now received.... [ Continue Reading ]
_There went forth a wind from the Lord_ An extraordinary and miraculous wind, both for its vehemency and for its effects. _And brought quails_ So the Hebrew word, שׂלוים, _salvim_, is interpreted by Josephus, and all the ancient versions; nor does there appear to be any sufficient authority for tran... [ Continue Reading ]
_All that night and all next day_ Some at the one time, and some at the other, and some, through greediness or diffidence, at both times. _Ten homers_ That is, ten ass-loads: which, if it seem incredible, consider, 1st, That the gatherers here were not all the people, which could not be without grea... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord smote the people with a very great plague_ With a pestilence, say some, with a consumption, say others. But it seems more probable that it was by some untimely death, which was the effect of their own gluttony and intemperance. This seems to agree best with the threatening, Numbers 11:20.... [ Continue Reading ]