They murmur for lack of bread. A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. CHAP. XVI. 2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, in the wilderness: e 3 And the children of Israel said unto them, d Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD, in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Flesh and bread promised. A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. An. Exod. Isr. 1. Ijar or Zif. 6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: 7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD and what are we, that ye murmur against us? 8 And Moses said, This shall be when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmuring which ye murmur against him: and what are we? 4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether your murmurings are not against us, but they will walk in my law, or no. 5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. n against the LORD. 9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, • Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings. See ver. 22; Lev. xxv. 21.- k See ver. 12, 13; chapter vi. 7; Num. xvi. 28, 29, 30.- See ver. 10; Isa. xxxv. 2; xl. 15; John xi. 4, 40.- m Numbers xvi. 11. n See 1 Sam. viii. 7; Luke x. 16; Rom. xiii. 2.-0 Num. xvi. 16. Red Sea after they left Elim, of which Moses makes the dew that was the instrument of producing it comdistinct mention Num. xxxiii. 10, 11. mon there, else they must have had this bread for a month before. The fifteenth day of the second month] This was afterwards called Ijar, and they had now left Egypt one month, during which it is probable they lived on the provisions they brought with them from Rameses, though it is possible they might have had a supply from the sea-coast. Concerning Mount Sinai, see the note on chap. xix. 1. Verse 2.. The whole congregation-murmured] This is an additional proof of the degraded state of the minds of this people; see the note on chap. xiii. 17. And this very circumstance affords a convincing argument that a people so stupidly carnal could not have been induced to leave Egypt had they not been persuaded so to do by the most evident and striking miracles. Human nature can never be reduced to a more abject state in this world than that in which the body is enthralled by political slavery, and the soul debased by the influence of sin. These poor Hebrews were both slaves and sinners, and were therefore capable of the meanest and most disgraceful acts. Verse 3. The flesh pots] As the Hebrews were in a state of slavery in Egypt, they were doubtless fed in various companies by their task masters in particular places, where large pots or boilers were fixed for the purpose of cooking their victuals. To these there may be a reference in this place, and the whole speech only goes to prove that they preferred their bondage in Egypt to their present state in the wilderness; for they could not have been in a state of absolute want, as they had brought an abundance of flocks and herds with them out of Egypt. Verse 4. I will rain bread] Therefore this substance was not a production of the desert: nor was Verse 6. Ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out] After all the miracles they had seen they appear still to suppose that their being brought out of Egypt was the work of Moses and Aaron; for though the miracles they had already seen were convincing for the time, yet as soon as they had passed by they relapsed into their former infidelity. God therefore saw it necessary to give them a daily miracle in the fall of the manna, that they might have the proof of his Divine interposition constantly before their eyes. Thus they knew that Jehovah had brought them out, and that it was not the act of Moses and Aaron. Verse 7. Ye shall see the glory of the Lord] Does it not appear that the glory of the Lord is here spoken of as something distinct from the Lord for it is said HE (the glory) heareth your murmurings against the Lord; though the Lord may be here put for himself, the antecedent instead of the relative. This passage may receive some light from Heb. i. 3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, &c. And as St. Paul's words are spoken of the Lord Jesus, is it not likely that the words of Moses refer to him also? "No man hath seen God at any time;" hence we may infer that Christ was the visible agent in all the extraordinary and miraculous interferences which took place both in the patriarchal times and under the law. Verse 8. In the evening flesh to eat] Viz., the quails; and in the morning bread to the full, viz., the manna. And-what are we ?] Only his servants, obeying his commands. The quails come up, A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. them, saying, At even ye shall in the morning ye 10 And it came to pass, as children of Israel: speak unto Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, P Ver. 7; chapter xiii. 21; Num. xvi. 19; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11: Your murmurings are not against us] For we have not brought you up from Egypt; but against the Lord, who, by his own miraculous power and goodness, has brought you out of your slavery. Verse 9. Come near before the Lord] This has been supposed to refer to some particular place, where the Lord manifested his presence. The great tabernacle was not yet built, but there appears to have been a small tabernacle or tent called the Tabernacle of the Congregation, which, after the sin of the golden calf, was always placed without the camp; see chap. xxxiii. 7: And Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it The Tabernacle of the Congregation; and it came to pass that every one that sought the Lord went out unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation, which was without the camp. This could not be that portable temple which is described chap. xxvi., &c., and which was not set up till the first day of the first month of the second year, after their departure from Egypt, (chap. xl.,) which was upwards of ten months after the time mentioned in this chapter; and notwithstanding this, the Israelites are commanded (ver. 34) to lay up an omer of the manna before the testimony, which certainly refers to an ark, tabernacle, or some such portable shrine, already in existence. If the great tabernacle be intended, the whole account of laying up the manna must be introduced here by anticipation, Mo- | ses finishing the account of what was afterwards done, because the commencement of those circumstances which comprehended the reasons of the fact itself took place now. See the note on ver. 34. But from the reasonings in the preceding verses it appears that much infidelity, still reigned in the hearts of the people; and in order to convince them that it was God and not Moses that had brought them out of Egypt, he (Moses) desired them to come near, or pay particular attention to some extraordinary manifestation of the Lord. And we are told in the tenth verse, that "as Aaron spake unto them, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold the glory of the Lord appeared, and the Lord spake unto Moses," &c. Is not this passage explained by chap. xix. 9, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear, when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever?" May we not conclude that Moses invited them to come near before the Lord, and so witness his glory, that they might be convinced it was God and not he that led them out of Egypt, and that they ought to submit to him, and cease from their murmurings? It is said, chap. xix. 17, that Moses camp. A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. An. Exod. Isr. 1. Ijar or Zif. eat flesh, and 13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning "the dew-lay round about the host. Verse 7.- Numbers xi. 31; Psalm lxxviii. 27, 28; cv. 40. u Num. xi. 9. brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God. And in this instance there might have been a similar though less awful manifestation of the Divine presence. Verse 10. As Aaron spake] So he now became the spokesman or minister of Moses to the Hebrews, as he had been before unto Pharaoh; according to what is written, chap. vii. 1, &c. Verse 13. At even the quails came] selav, from 66 salah, to be quiet, easy, or secure; and hence the quail, from their remarkably living at ease and plenty among the corn. "An amazing number of these birds," says Hasselquist, Travels, p. 209, come to Egypt at this time, (March,) for in this month the wheat ripens. They conceal themselves among the corn, but the Egyptians know that they are thieves, and when they imagine the field to be full of them they spread a net over the corn and make a noise, by which the birds, being frightened, and endeavouring to rise, are caught in the net in great numbers, and make a most delicate and agreeable dish." The Abbé Pluche tells us, in his Histoire du Ciel, that the quail was among the ancient Egyptians the emblem of safety and security. sheer, "Several learned men, particularly the famous Ludolf, Bishop Patrick, and Scheuchzer, have supposed that the D selavim eaten by the Israelites were locusts. But not to insist on other arguments against this interpretation, they are expressly called " flesh, Psalm lxxviii. 27, which surely locusts are not; and the Hebrew word is constantly rendered by the Septuagint oprvyounтpa, a large kind of quail, and by the Vulgate coturnices, quails. Compare Wisd. xvi. 2, xix. 12; Num. xi. 31, 32; Psa. cv. 40; and on Num. xi. observe that ' keamathayim should be rendered, not two cubits high, but as Mr. Bate, translates it, two cubits distant, (i. e., one from the other,) for quails do not settle like the locusts one upon another, but-at small distances.' And had the quails lain for a day's journey round the camp, to the great height of two cubits, upwards of three feet, the people could not have been employed two days and a night in gathering them. The spreading them round the camp was in order to dry them in the burning sands for use, which is still practised in Egypt.". See Parkhurst, sub voce salah. The difficulties which encumber the text, supposing these to be quails, led Bishop Patrick to imagine them to be locusts. The difficulties are three: "1. Their coming by a wind. 2. Their immense quantities, covering a circle of thirty or forty miles, two cubits Manna descends upon the A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. CHAP. XVI. 14 And when the dew that lay Was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there face of the wilderness. lay a small round thing, as ▾ Num. xi. 7; Deut. viii. 3; Neh. ix. 15; Psa. lxxviii. 24; cv. 40; Wisd. xvi. 20. thick. 3. Their being spread in the sun for drying, which would have been preposterous had they been quails, for it would have made, them corrupt the sooner; but this is the principal way of preparing locusts to keep for a month or more, when they are boiled or otherwise dressed." This difficulty he thinks interpreters pass over, who suppose quails to be intended in the text. Mr. Harmer takes up the subject, removes the bishop's difficulties, and vindicates the common version. "These difficulties appear pressing, or at least the two last; nevertheless, I have met with several passages in books of travels, which I shall here give an account of, that they may soften them; perhaps my reader may think they do more. A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1. its force, perhaps too forcibly. A circle of forty miles in diameter, all covered with quails to the depth of more than forty-three inches, without doubt is a startling representation of this matter and I would beg leave to add that the like quantity of locusts would have been very extraordinary but then this is not the representation of Scripture; it does not even agree with it; for such a quantity of either quails or locusts would have made the clearing of places for spreading them out, and the passing of Israel up and down in the neighbourhood of the camp, very fatiguing, which is not supposed. "Josephus supposed they were quails, which he says are in greater numbers thereabouts than any other kinds of birds; and that, having crossed the sea to the camp of Israel, they who in common fly nearer the ground than most other birds, flew so low through the fatigue. of their passage as to be within reach of the Israelites. This explains what he thought was meant by the two cubits from the face of the earth-their flying within three or four feet of the ground.. "And when I read Dr. Shaw's account of the way in which the Arabs frequently catch birds that they have tired, that is, by running in upon them and knocking them down with their zerwattys, or bludgeons, as we should call them, I think I almost see the Israelites before me pursuing the poor, fatigued, and languid quails. "This is indeed a laborious method of catching these birds, and not that which is now used in Egypt; for Egmont and Heyman tell us, that in a walk on the shore of Egypt they saw a sandy plain several leagues in extent, and covered with reeds without the least verdure; between which reeds they saw many nets laid for catching quails, which come over in large flights from Europe during the month of September. If the ancient Egyptians made use of the same method of catching quails that they now practise on those shores, yet Israel in the wilderness, without these conveniences, must of course make use of that more inartificial and laborious way of catching them. The Arabs of Barbary, who have not many conveniences, do the same thing still. "No interpreters, the bishop complains, supposing they were quails, account for the spreading them out in the sun. Perhaps they have not. Let me then translate a passage of Maillet, which relates to a little island which covers one of the ports of Alexandria: It is on this island, which lies farther into the sea than the main land of Egypt, that the birds annually alight which come hither for refuge in autumn, in order to avoid the severity of the cold of our winters in Europe. There is so large a quantity of all sorts taken there, that after these little birds have been stripped of their feathers, and buried in the burning sands for about half a quarter of an hour, they are worth but two sols the pound. The crews of those vessels which in that season lie in the harbour of Alexandria, have no other meat allowed them.' Among other refugees of that time, Maillet elsewhere expressly mentions quails, which are, therefore, I suppose, treated after this manner. This passage then does what, according to the bishop, no commentator has done; it explains the design of spreading these creatures, supposing they were quails, round about the camp; it was to dry them in the burning sands in order to preserve them for use. So Maillet tells us of their drying fish in the sun of Egypt, as well as of their preserving others by means of pickle. Other authors speak of the Arabs drying camel's flesh in the sun and wind, which, though it be not at all salted, will if kept dry remain good a long while, and which oftentimes, to save themselves the trouble of dressing, they will eat raw. This is what St. Jerome may be supposed to refer to, when he calls the food of the Arabs carnes semicrudæ. This dry-casion, makes a day's journey but ten miles, which ing then of flesh in the sun is not so preposterous as the bishop imagined. On the other hand, none of the authors that speak of their way of preserving locusts in the east, so far as I at present recollect, give any account of drying them in the sun. They are, according to Pellow, first purged with water and salt, boiled in new pickle, and then laid up in dry salt. So, Dr. Russel says, the Arabs eat these insects when fresh, and also salt them up as a delicacy. Their immense quantities also forbid the bishop's believing they were quails; and in truth he represents this difficulty in all "Bishop Patrick supposes a day's journey to be sixteen or twenty miles, and thence draws his circle with a radius of that length; but Dr. Shaw, on another oc it would make a circle but of twenty miles in diameter: and as the text evidently designs to express invery determinately, as it were a day's journey, it might be much less. "But it does not appear to me at all necessary to suppose the text intended their covering a circular or nearly a circular spot of ground, but only that these creatures appeared on both sides of the camp of Israel, about a day's journey. The same word is used Exod. vii. 24, where round about can mean only on each side of the Nile. And so it may be a little illustrated by The Israelites see the manna, A. M. 2513. An. Exod. Isr. 1, EXODUS. but know not what it is. A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. Ijar or Zif. * John vi. 31, 49, 58; 1 Cor. x. 3. 15 And when the children for they wist not what it was. of Israel saw it, they said And Moses said unto them, An. Exod. Isr. 1. w It is manna: This is the bread which the one to another, Or, What is this? or, it is a portion. what Dr. Shaw tells us of the three flights of storks which he saw, when at anchor under the Mount Carmel, some of which were more scattered, others more compact and close, each of which took up more than three hours in passing, and extended itself more than half a mile in breadth. Had this flight of quails been no greater than these, it might have been thought, like them, to have been accidental; but so unusual a flock as to extend fifteen or twenty miles in breadth, and to be two days and one night in passing, and this, in consequence of the declaration of Moses, plainly determined that the finger of God was there. "A third thing which was a difficulty with the bishop was their being brought with the wind. A hot southerly wind, it is supposed, brings the locusts; and why quails might not be brought by the instrumentality of a like wind, or what difficulty there is in that supposition, I cannot imagine, As soon as the cold is felt in Europe, Maillet tells us, turtles, quails, and other birds come to Egypt in great numbers; but he observed that their numbers were not so large in those years in which the winters were favourable in Europe; from whence he conjectured that it is rather necessity than habit which causes them to change their climate if so, it appears that it is the increasing heat that causes their return, and consequently that the hot sultry winds from the south must have a great effect upon them, to direct their flight northwards. "It is certain that it is about the time that the south wind begins to blow in Egypt, which is in April, that many of these migratory birds return. Maillet, who joins quails and turtles together, and says that they appear in Egypt when the cold begins to be felt in Eu rope, does not indeed tell us when they return: but Thevenot may be said to do it; for after he had told his reader that they catch snipes in Egypt from January to March, he adds that in May they catch turtles, and that the turtles return again in September; now as they go together southward in September, we may believe they return again northward much about the same time. Agreeably to which, Russel tells us that quails appear in abundance about Aleppo in spring and autumn. "If natural history were more perfect we might speak to this point with great distinetness; at present, however, it is so far from being an objection to their being quails that their coming was caused by a wind; that nothing is more natural. The same wind would in course occasion sickness and mortality among the Israelites, at least it does so in Egypt. The miraculousness then in this story does not lie in their dying, but the prophet's foretelling with exactness the coming of that wind, and in the prodigious numbers of the quails that came with it, together with the unusualness of the place, perhaps, where they alighted. "Nothing more remains to be considered but the gathering so large a quantity as ten omers by those that gathered fewest. But till that quantity is more precisely ascertained, it is sufficient to remark that this is only affirmed of those expert sportsmen among the people, who pursued the game two whole days and a whole night without intermission; and of them, and of them only, I presume it is to be understood that he that gathered fewest gathered ten omers. Hasselquist, who frequently expresses himself in the most dubious manner in relation to these animals, at other times is very positive that, if they were birds at all, they were a species of the quail different from ours, which he describes as very much resembling the red partridge, but as not being larger than the turtle-dove.' To this he adds, that the Arabians carry thousands of them to Jerusalem about Whitsuntide, to sell there,' p. 442. In another place he tells us it is found in Judea as well as in Arabia Petræa, and that he found it between Jordan and Jericho,' p. 203. One would imagine that Hasselquist means the scata, which is described by Dr. Russel, vol. ii., p, 194, and which he represents as brought to market at Aleppo in great numbers in May and June, though they are to be met with in all seasons. "A whole ass-load of them, he informs us, has often been taken at once shutting a clasping net, in the abovementioned months, they are in such plenty."-Harmer, vol iv., p. 367. Verse 14.. Behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing] It appears that this small round thing fell with the dew, or rather the dew fell first, and this substance fell on it. The dew might have been intended to cool the ground, that the manna on its fall might not be dissolved; for we find from ver. 21, that the heat of the sun melted it. The ground therefore being sufficiently cooled by the dew, the manna lay unmelted long enough for the Israelites to collect a sufficient quantity for their daily use. Verse 15. They said one to another, It is manna : for they wist not what it was.] This is a most unfortunate translation, because it not only gives no sense, but it contradicts itself. The Hebrew NT 12 man hu, literally signifies, What is this? for, says the text, they wist not what it was, and therefore they could not give it a name. Moses immediately answers the question, and says, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. From ver. 31 we learn that this substance was afterwards called man, probably in commemoration of the question they had asked on its first appearance. Almost all our own ancient versions translate the words, What is this? It was It is What this substance was we know not. nothing that was common to the wilderness. evident the Israelites never saw it before,. for Moses says, Deut. viii. 3, 16: He fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; and it is very likely that nothing of the kind had ever been ́seen before; and by a pot of it being laid up in the ark, it is as likely that nothing of the kind ever appeared more, after the miraculous supply in the wilderness had ceased. It seems to have been created for the present occasion, and, like Him whom it typified, LORD hath given you to eat. An. Exod. Isr. 1. 16 This is the thing which Ijar or Zif. the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. a which some disobey. A. M. 2513. B. C. 1491. An. Exod. Isr. 1 Ijar or Zif. he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto 17 And the children of Israel did so, and Moses; but some of them left of it until the gathered, some more, some less. morning, and it bred worms, and stank 18 And when they did mete it with an omer, Moses was wroth with them. y Ver. 36.- -2 Heb. by the poll, or head. to have been the only thing of the kind, the only bread from heaven, which God ever gave to preserve the life of man, as Christ is the true bread that came down from heaven, and was given for the life of the world. See John vi. 31-58. Verse 16. An omer for every man] I shall here once for all give a short account of the measures of capacity among the Hebrews. OMER, y, from the root amar, to press, squeeze, collect, and bind together; hence a sheaf of corn-a multitude of stalks pressed together. It is supposed that the omer, which contained about three quarts English, had its name from this circumstance; that it was the most contracted or the smallest measure of things dry known to the ancient Hebrews; for the p kab, which was less, was not known till the reign of Jehoram, king of Israel, 2 Kings vi. 25.-Parkhurst. The EPHAH, DN or D eiphah, from 8 aphah, to bake, because this was probably the quantity which was baked at one time.. According to Bishop Cumberland the ephah contained seven gallons, two quarts, and about half a pint, wine measure; and as the omer was the tenth part of the ephah, ver. 36, it must have contained about six pints English. The KAB, P, is said to have contained about the sixth part of a seah, or three pints and one third English. The HOMER, chomer, mentioned Lev. xxvii. 16, was quite a different measure from that above, and is a different word in the Hebrew. The chomer was the largest measure of capacity among the Hebrews, being equal to ten baths or ephahs, amounting to about seventy-five gallons, three pints, English. See Ezek. xlv. 11, 13, 14: Goodwin supposes that this measure derived its name from chamor, an ass, being the ordinary load of that animal. The BATH, л, was the largest measure of capacity next to the homer, of which it was the tenth part. It was the same as the ephah, and consequently contained about seven gallons, two quarts, and half a pint, and is always used in Scripture as a measure of liquids. The SEAH, ND, was a measure of capacity for things dry, equal to about two gallons and a half English. See 2 Kings vii. 1, 16, 18. The HIN,, according to Bishop Cumberland, was the one-sixth part of an ephah, and contained a little more than one gallon and two pints. See Exod. xxix. 40. The LOG,, was the smallest measure of capacity a Heb, souls. b2 Cor. viii. 15. and for liquids among the Hebrews: it contained about three quarters of a pint. See Lev. xiv, 10, 12. Take ye-for them which are in his tents. Some might have been confined in their tents through sickness or infirmity, and charity required that those who were in health should gather a portion for them. For though the psalmist says, Psa. cv. 37, There was not one feeble person among their tribes, this must refer principally to their healthy state when brought out of Egypt; for it appears that there were many infirm among them when attacked by the Amalekites. See the note on chap. xvii. 8. Verse 17. Some more, some less.] According to their respective families, an omer for a man; and according to the number of infirm persons, whose wants they undertook to supply. Probably Verse 18. He that gathered much had nothing over] Because his gathering was in proportion to the number of persons for whom he had to provide. And some having fewer, others more in family, and the gathering being in proportion to the persons who were to eat of it, therefore he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. every man gathered as much as he could; and then. when brought home and measured by an omer, if he had a surplus, it went to supply the wants of some other family, that had not been able to collect a sufficiency, the family being large, and the time in which the inanna might be gathered, before the heat of the day, not being sufficient to collect enough for so numerous a household, several of whom might be so confined as not to be able to collect for themselves. Thus there was an equality, and in this light the words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. viii. 15, lead us to view the passage. Here the 36th verse should come in: Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah. Verse 19. Let no man leave of it till the morning.] For God would have them to take no thought for the morrow, and constantly to depend on him for their daily bread. And is not that petition in our Lord's prayer founded on this very circumstance, Give us day by day our daily bread? Verse 20. It bred worms] Their sinful curiosity and covetousness led them to make the trial; and they had a mass of the most loathsome putrefaction for their pains. How gracious is God! He is continually rendering disobedience and sin irksome to the transgressor; that finding his evil ways to be unprofitable, he may return to his Maker, and trust in God alone. |