Numbers 11:1-15, Numbers 11:16-17, Numbers 11:31-33

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:5

We remember, etc. - The choice aliments which those murmurers complained of having lost by their leaving Egypt, were the following: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. A European may smile at such delicacies; but delicacies they were in that country. Their fish is excellent; their cucumbers and water melons highly salubrious and refreshing; and their onions, garlic, etc., exquisitely flavoured, differing as much from vegetables of the same species in these northern climes as... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:7

The manna was as coriander seed - Probably this short description is added to show the iniquity of the people in murmuring, while they had so adequate a provision. But the baseness of their minds appears in every part of their conduct. About the bdellium of the ancients the learned are not agreed; and I shall not trouble the reader with conjectures. See the note on Genesis 2:12 . Concerning the manna, see the notes on Exodus 16 (note). Numbers 11:11-15 . The complaint and remonstrance... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:1

Verse 1 1.And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord. (11) The ambiguous signification of the participle (12) causes the translators to twist this passage into a variety of meanings. Since the Hebrew root און,aven, is sometimes trouble and labor, sometimes fatigue, sometimes iniquity, sometimes falsehood, some translate it, “The people were, as it were, complaining or murmuring.” Others (though this seems to be more beside the mark) insert the adverb unjustly; as if Moses said, that... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:4

Verse 4 4.And the mixed multitude that was among them. A new murmuring of the people is here recorded: for we gather from many circumstances that this relation is different from that which precedes: although, as evil begets evil, it is probable that after they had begun to be affected by the disease of impatience, they spitefully invented grounds for increased tedium and annoyance. Yet there was something monstrous in this madness, that, when they had just been so severely chastised, and part... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:5

Verse 5 5.We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt. By this comparison with the former mode of living, they depreciate the present grace of God: and yet they enumerate no delicacies, when they speak of leeks, and onions, and garlic. Some, therefore, thus explain it, When such great abundance and variety was commonly to be met with, how painful and grievous must it be to us to be deprived of greater delicacies! My own opinion is, that these lowly people, who had been used to live on humble... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:6

Verse 6 6.But now our soul is dried away. They complain that they are almost wasted away with famine and hunger, whilst they are abundantly supplied with manna; in the same way as they had just been loudly declaring that they had lived in Egypt for a very little money; as if they were affected by a great dearth of provisions, when, by the pure liberality of God, a kind of food was provided for them, more easy to prepare than any other, and so actually prepared without trouble or cost. But such... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:7

Verse 7 7.And the manna was as coriander seed. Moses had already adverted to this in Exodus 16:0; (18) but he now repeats it, in order more fully to condemn their perverse desire; for what could be more unseemly and intolerable than thus to eschew a food delightful both in appearance and taste v. For the same reason the Prophet, in Psalms 78:0, records that men were not satisfied with “angels’ food,” and “corn from heaven.” Here, instead of saying that it was white, he calls it the color of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:10

Verse 10 10.Then Moses heard the people weep. Wonderful indeed, and almost prodigious was the madness of the people, thus all of them to mourn as if reduced to the extremity of despair. What would they have done in actual famine? what if they had to gnaw bitter roots, almost without any juice in them? What if they had had to live on tasteless and unwholesome bread? We see, therefore, how by the indulgence of their depraved lusts men make themselves wretched in the very midst of prosperity. Let... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 11:13

Verse 13 13.Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? Justly, indeed, does he accuse the people, and deny that he is possessed of flesh wherewith to satisfy so great a multitude; but he is wrong in expostulating with God, as if he were burdened beyond his strength; for, since God knew that he was unequal to so many difficulties, He supported him by the influence of His Spirit. But he sinned most grossly in the conclusion of his complaint, requesting God to kill him. In these words... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 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... read more

Group of Brands