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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:1-3
EXPOSITION THE PLACE OF BURNING (Numbers 11:1-3).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:1-3
WRATH AWAKED AND WRATH APPEASED In this short passage we have, in a microcosm, the whole sad history of the Church. For the history of the Church, as it is glorious on the side of God and his faithfulness, so it is sad…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:1-9
MURMURING, LUSTING, AND LOATHING We have here a very painful self-revelation. Through prophets and apostles, and especially through his Son, God has said many humiliating things of the children of men, but nothing more…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:2
And the people cried unto Moses. Fear brought them to their senses, and they knew that their only hope was in their mediator, who had already saved them by his intercession from a worse destruction (Exodus 32:30-34). Th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:3
and he called the name of the place Taberah. Or Taberah ( תַּבְעֵרָה). This name does not occur in the list of stations in Numbers 33:1-56, which mentions nothing between Sinai and Kibroth-Hattaavah. It would seem proba…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:4
THE MIXED MULTITUDE I. How CAME IT THERE? It left Egypt with them (Exodus 12:38). It had been accumulating, one knows not how long, and in how many ways. Egypt had not been a very comfortable place even for the Egyptian…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:4-35
EXPOSITION KIBROTH HATTAAVAH (Numbers 11:4-35).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:4
The mixed multitude. Hebrew, ha-saphsuph, the gathered; the rift-raft, or rabble, which had followed the fortunes of Israel out of Egypt, where they had probably been strangers and slaves themselves. What the nature and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:4-35
THE SIN OF CONCUPISCENCE, AND ITS PUNISHMENT We have in this section a Divine commentary, in dark and terrible characters, on the commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." And we know that the record was given to us "to the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:5
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, i.e; gratis. No doubt this was an exaggeration on the part of the murmurers, but it is attested by classical writers that fish swarmed in the Nile waters, and cost…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:6
Our soul is dried away. This exaggerated statement expressed their craving for the juicy and savoury food of which they had been thinking, and which was obviously unattainable in the wilderness. There is a physical crav…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:7
The manna was as coriander seed. On the name and the nature of the manna see Exodus 16:31. It is commonly supposed that the brief description here inserted was intended to show the unreasonableness of the popular compla…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:8
And the people … ground it in mills. This information as to the preparation of the manna is new. It may be supposed that at first the people ate it in its natural state, but that afterwards they found out how to prepare…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:9
And when the dew fell,… the manna fell upon it. We know from Exodus 16:14 that when the dew evaporated in the morning it left a deposit of manna upon the ground; we learn here that the manna fell upon the dew during the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:10
THE DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF THE SIN OF DISCONTENT Discontent springs from distrust. Distrust is a root-sin from which different kindred evils spring, such as discontent, dissatisfaction, disgust, disobedience, and ot…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:10-15
THE EXPOSTULATION OF MOSES Jehovah and his servant Moses are very differently affected by this universal complaint of the Israelites. "The anger of the Lord was kindled greatly ;" how it was expressed, we see later on.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:10
Throughout their families. Every family weeping by itself. Such was the contagion of evil, that every family was infected. Compare Zechariah 12:12 for a description of a weeping similar in character, although very diffe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:11
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? These passionate complaints were clearly wrong, because exaggerated. God had not thrown upon Moses the responsibility of getting the people safely into Canaan, or of providing…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:11-15
THE SIN OF DESPONDENCY, IN A SERVANT OF GOD Moses is infected by the people s sin of discontent, though in the milder form of despondency. The signs and effects of it are as follows:— I. MOSES FORGETS THAT THE BURDENS O…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:12
Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father. Probably he meant to say that this was the part and the duty of God himself as the Creator and Father of Israel. Compare the reading, which is perhaps the correct one, in Ac…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:14
1 am not able to bear all this people alone. This complaint, while reasonable in itself, shows how unreasonable the rest of his words were. However many he might have had to share his responsibilities, be could not have…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:15
Kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, or "quite." Hebrew, תָרֹג, inf. abs. And let me not see my wretchedness. Let me not live to see the total failure of my hopes and efforts.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 11:16
And the Lord said unto Moses. The Divine dignity and goodness of this answer, if not an absolutely conclusive testimony, are at least a very strong one, to the genuineness of this record. Of what god, except the Father…