Numbers 11:3 Komentář

Hitherto things had gone pretty well in Israel; little interruption had been given to the methods of God's favour to them since the matter of the golden calf; the people seemed teachable in marshalling and purifying the camp, the princes devout and generous in dedicating the altar, and there was good hope that they would be in Canaan presently. But at this chapter begins a melancholy scene; the measures are all broken, God has turned to be their enemy, and fights against them - and it is sin that makes all this mischief. I. Their murmurings kindled a fire among them, which yet was soon quenched by the prayer of Moses (Num 11:1-3). II. No sooner was the fire of judgment quenched than the fire of sin breaks out again, and God takes occasion from it to magnify both his mercy and his justice. 1. The people fret for want of flesh (Num 11:4-9). 2. Moses frets for want of help (Num 11:10-15). Now, (1.) God promises to gratify them both, to appoint help for Moses (Num 11:16, Num 11:17), and to give the people flesh (Num 11:18-23). And, (2.) He presently makes good both these promises. For, [1.] The Spirit of God qualifies the seventy elders for the government (Num 11:24-30). [2.] The power of God brings quails to feast the people (Num 11:31, Num 11:32). Yet [3.] The justice of God plagued them for their murmurings (Num 11:33, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 11 This chapter informs us of the complaints of the people of Israel, which brought the fire of the Lord upon them, and consumed many of them; and which, at the intercession of Moses, was quenched, and the place from thence called Taberah, Num 11:1; and of the lusting of the mixed multitude after flesh, to increase which, they called to mind their food in Egypt; and to show their folly and ingratitude in so doing, the manna is described, Num 11:4; and of the uneasiness of Moses, and his complaints of the heavy burden of the people upon him, Num 11:10; and to make him easy, it is promised, that seventy of the elders of Israel should partake of his spirit, and assist in bearing the burden, Num 11:16; and that the people should have flesh to serve them a whole month, Num 11:18; at which last Moses expressed some degree of unbelief, Num 11:21; however God fulfilled his promise with respect to both. Some of the spirit of Moses was taken and given to seventy elders, who prophesied, and two men are particularly taken notice of, who did so, Num 11:24; quails in great numbers were brought by a wind to the people; but while they were eating them wrath came upon them, and they were smitten with a plague, whence the place was called Kibrothhattaavah, Num 11:31; and from thence they removed to Hazeroth, Num 11:35.

And he called the name of the place Taberah,.... That is, "burning": Moses called it so; or it may be rendered impersonally, it was called (s) so in later times by the people: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them; to perpetuate the, memory of this kind of punishment for their sins, that it might be a terror and warning to others; and this history is indeed recorded for our caution in these last days, that we murmur not as these Israelites did, and were destroyed of the destroyer, Co1 10:10. (s) "et vocatum est", Tigurine version, Fagius, Piscator.

The people are exhorted to obedience from a consideration of God's goodness to their fathers in Egypt, Deu 11:1-4, and what he did in the wilderness, Deu 11:5, and the judgment on Dathan and Abiram, Deu 11:6, and from the mercies of God in general, Deu 11:7-9. A comparative description of Egypt and Canaan, Deu 11:10-12. Promises to obedience, Deu 11:13-15. Dissuasives from idolatry, Deu 11:16, Deu 11:17. The words of God to be laid up in their hearts, to be for a sign on their hands, foreheads, gates, etc., Deu 11:18, taught to their children, made the subject of frequent conversation, to the end that their days may be multiplied, Deu 11:19-21. If obedient, God shall give them possession of the whole land, and not one of their enemies shall be able to withstand them, Deu 11:22-25. Life and death, a blessing and a curse, are set before them, Deu 11:26-28. The blessings to be put on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal, Deu 11:29, Deu 11:30. The promise that they should pass over Jordan, and observe these statutes in the promised land, Deu 11:31, Deu 11:32.

MANNA LOATHED. (Num. 11:1-35) When the people complained it displeased the Lord, &c.--Unaccustomed to the fatigues of travel and wandering into the depths of a desert, less mountainous but far more gloomy and desolate than that of Sinai, without any near prospect of the rich country that had been promised, they fell into a state of vehement discontent, which was vented at these irksome and fruitless journeyings. The displeasure of God was manifested against the ungrateful complainers by fire sent in an extraordinary manner. It is worthy of notice, however, that the discontent seems to have been confined to the extremities of the camp, where, in all likelihood, "the mixed multitude" [see on Exo 12:38] had their station. At the intercession of Moses, the appalling judgment ceased [Num 11:2], and the name given to the place, "Taberah" (a burning), remained ever after a monument of national sin and punishment. (See on Num 11:34).

From this judgment the place where the fire had burned received the name of "Tabeerah," i.e., burning, or place of burning. Now, as this spot is distinctly described as the end or outermost edge of the camp, this "place of burning" must not be regarded, as it is by Knobel and others, as a different station from the "graves of lust." "Tabeerah was simply the local name give to a distant part of the whole camp, which received soon after the name of Kibroth-Hattaavah, on account of the greater judgment which the people brought upon themselves through their rebellion. This explains not only the omission of the name Tabeerah from the list of encampments in Num 33:16, but also the circumstance, that nothing is said about any removal from Tabeerah to Kibroth-Hattaavah, and that the account of the murmuring of the people, because of the want of those supplies of food to which they had been accustomed in Egypt, is attached, without anything further, to the preceding narrative. There is nothing very surprising either, in the fact that the people should have given utterance to their wish for the luxuries of Egypt, which they had been deprived of so long, immediately after this judgment of God, if we only understand the whole affair as taking place in exact accordance with the words of the texts, viz., that the unbelieving and discontented mass did not discern the chastising hand of God at all in the conflagration which broke out at the end of the camp, because it was not declared to be a punishment from God, and was not preceded by a previous announcement; and therefore that they gave utterance in loud murmurings to the discontent of their hearts respecting the want of flesh, without any regard to what had just befallen them.