Números 11

Números 11

Clarke - They could never be satisfied; even God himself could not please them, because they were ever preferring their own wisdom to his. God will save us in his own way, or not at all; because that way, being the plan of infinite wisdom, it is impossible that we can be saved in any other.” Currid applies this section - Why did they grumble? Verses 4–6 of our passage tell us that they were complaining about deficiencies in their lives. Oh how like them we are! We say, ‘If only I had a different job things would be better,’ or ‘If I had a different spouse things would be better,’ or ‘If we had more money things would be better.’ In that regard, we are like the disobedient Israelites by refusing to accept our lot in life, which God has given to us, and to live our lives to his glory and honour despite our circumstances. (Numbers Evangelical Press Study Commentary) George Bush Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Numbers But now our soul is dried away. The soul is often used for the body, or the whole man, and as denoting that principle which is the seat of the appetite or desire of meat, drink, and other things. See “Bush on the Soul” passim. Comp. Ps. 102:4, where the same original word is rendered “withered.” Also for the soul’s requiring food, etc. Ps. 78:18. “In great hunger or thirst the people say, ‘Our soul is withered.’ ‘More than this, sir, I cannot do; my spirit is withered within me.’ ‘What! when a man’s soul is withered, is he not to complain?’ ”—Roberts. There is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes. Heb. “There is nothing at all; only our eyes are unto the manna.” We see nothing else, we expect nothing else, but this same monotonous manna, of which we have become sick of the sight. For the eyes to “be unto any one” is to cherish hope and expectation, as Ps. 25:15, 141:8. The form of the expression is very peculiar, and evidently carries with it the import of contempt towards the Lord’s kind provision for their wants. The manna thus furnished was a corporeal nourishment representing that which was spiritual, and thus serving as a type of our Lord himself according to his own declaration, John 6:32, 33, confirmed by Paul, 1 Cor. 10:3, who calls the manna “spiritual bread” because it represented such bread. The loathing the manna, therefore, and longing for the luxuries of Egypt, denoted the rejection of Christ and the benefits of his salvation, the true substance of these Old Testament symbols. Numbers 11:6 Boring? Our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes! —Numbers 11:6 Many of our recurring complaints focus not on what we don't have, but on what we do have and find uninteresting. Whether it's our work, our church, our house, or our spouse, boredom grumbles that it's not what we want or need. This frustration with sameness has been true of the human spirit since the beginning. Notice the protest of God's people about their menu in the wilderness. Recalling the variety of food they ate as slaves in Egypt, they despised the monotony of God's current provision: "Our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!" (Numbers 11:6). God provided exactly what they needed each day, but they wanted something more exciting. Are we tempted to do the same? Oswald Chambers said: "Drudgery is the touchstone of character. There are times when there is no illumination and no thrill, but just the daily round, the common task. Routine is God's way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling minutes, but learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God." Steadfast, then, in our endeavor, Heavenly Father, may we be; And forever, and forever, We will give the praise to Thee. —MacKellar Blessing is found along the pathway of duty Numbers 11:7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. BGT Numbers 11:7 τὸ δὲ μαννα ὡσεὶ σπέρμα κορίου ἐστίν καὶ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ εἶδος κρυστάλλου NET Numbers 11:7 (Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. NLT Numbers 11:7 The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. ESV Numbers 11:7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. NIV Numbers 11:7 The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin. KJV Numbers 11:7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. YLT Numbers 11:7 And the manna is as coriander seed, and its aspect as the aspect of bdolach; LXE Numbers 11:7 And the manna is as coriander seed, and the appearance of it the appearance of hoar-frost. ASV Numbers 11:7 And the manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium. CSB Numbers 11:7 The manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium. manna: Ex 16:14,15,31 1Co 1:23,24 Rev 2:17 bdellium: Ge 2:12 Numbers 11 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries REVIEW OF THE CHARACTER OF MANNA Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium - Exodus 16:14-15+ "When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat." LASB - Every morning the Israelites drew back their tent doors and witnessed a miracle. Covering the ground was pale yellow, fluffy manna-food from heaven. But soon that wasn't enough. Feeling it was their right to have more, they forgot what they already had. They didn't ask God to fill their need; instead, they demanded meat, and they stopped trusting God to care for them. "Give us meat to eat!" (Nu 11:13) they complained to Moses as they reminisced about the good food they had in Egypt. God gave them what they asked for, but they paid dearly for it when a plague struck the camp (see Nu 11:18-20, 31-34). When you ask God for something, he may grant your request. But if you approach him with a sinful attitude, getting what you want may prove costly. George Bush Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Numbers And the manna was as coriander-seed. Not in color, but in size and shape. See Notes on Ex. 16:14, 31. The coriander is cultivated mostly in the south of Europe, and in some parts of England, on account of its seeds, which are required in large quantities by confectioners, druggists, and distillers. It is reared also in gardens on account of its leaves, which are used in soups and salads. The seeds are globular, grayish-colored, and about the size of pepper-corn. The taste and smell are both agreeable, depending on the presence of a volatile oil, which is separated by distillation.—This and the two following verses are evidently parenthetical, being designed to give such an account of the various properties and modes of preparation of the manna, as to evince its great value as an article of diet, and thus to rebuke the people for their light esteem of it. And the color thereof. Heb. “And the eye thereof,” i. e. the aspect or appearance, as it is rendered by the Chald. and the Gr. For a similar usage in regard to “eye,” see Ex. 10:5, with the explanatory Note. It is there rendered “face,”—“the face of the earth,” meaning the visible surface of the earth. Lev. 13:55, Ezek. 1:16, 8:2, 10:9. Bdellium. Heb. “Bedolach,” on which see Note on Gen. 2:12, where we have endeavored to show that the substance meant is the pearl. The Gr. however, here renders it crystal. Numbers 11:8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil. BGT Numbers 11:8 καὶ διεπορεύετο ὁ λαὸς καὶ συνέλεγον καὶ ἤληθον αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ μύλῳ καὶ ἔτριβον ἐν τῇ θυίᾳ καὶ ἥψουν αὐτὸ ἐν τῇ χύτρᾳ καὶ ἐποίουν αὐτὸ ἐγκρυφίας καὶ ἦν ἡ ἡδονὴ αὐτοῦ ὡσεὶ γεῦμα ἐγκρὶς ἐξ ἐλαίου NET Numbers 11:8 And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it with mills or pounded it in mortars; they baked it in pans and made cakes of it. It tasted like fresh olive oil. NLT Numbers 11:8 The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. ESV Numbers 11:8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. NIV Numbers 11:8 The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. KJV Numbers 11:8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. YLT Numbers 11:8 the people have turned aside and gathered it, and ground it with millstones, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pan, and made it cakes, and its taste hath been as the taste of the moisture of oil. LXE Numbers 11:8 And the people went through the field, and gathered, and ground it in the mill, or pounded it in a mortar, and baked it in a pan, and made cakes of it; and the sweetness of it was as the taste of wafer made with oil. ASV Numbers 11:8 The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. the people: Ex 16:16-18 Joh 6:27,33-58 boil it: Ex 16:23 Numbers 11 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries MANNA IN THE MORNING! DESCRIPTION OF GATHERING AND COOKING OF MANNA The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil - "Heb “And its taste was like the taste of fresh olive oil.” Mattoon - God was patient with them in the very beginning of their way when they left Egypt. At this time, when they had been under training for a longer period, they were severely punished. This was their first judgment since the golden calf incident. God made merciful allowances in the beginning. He knew they were ignorant and in a difficult situation. He gave them time to mature and grow up. God is longsuffering, yet, He does deal with sin too as this chapter reveals. There is a point where the Lord more or less says, "Enough is enough!" They were complaining about the manna. George Bush Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Numbers And the people went about, etc. Heb. “Went to and fro,” i. e. in the way of search and espial. The term is applied in some cases to the act of the eyes in looking and exploring on one side and the other, and in Dan. 12:4, to the perusal of a book, though rendered “run to and fro.” But the true idea is probably that of turning over pages back and forth, and thus passing to and fro through a volume. See 2 Chr. 10:9, Zech. 4:10. Ground it in mills, etc. “The eastern mill consists of two circular stones, about eighteen inches in diameter, and three inches thick. The top stone has a handle in it, and works round a pivot, which has a hole connected with it to admit the corn. The mortar also is much used to make rice flour. It is a block of wood, about twenty inches high and ten inches in diameter, having a hole scooped out in the centre. The pestle is a stick of about four feet long, made of iron-wood, having an iron hoop fixed to the end.”—Roberts. If the manna, as we are expressly informed, pointed typically to our Lord, we see nothing absurd or unreasonable in the idea that the grinding and beating it, and subjecting it to the various processes here mentioned, shadowed forth the afflictions through which he was called to pass in being prepared to become to us the bread of life, John 6:48–51, Heb. 2:9, 10, 1 Pet. 3:18. Nor is it to be overlooked that the word here rendered “beat”—“beat it in a mortar”—is the same with that which is applied, Is. 53:5, to the sufferings of our Lord when he is said to have been “bruised for our iniquities.” It is remarkable, in regard to the manna, that while it was so hard that it could be ground in a mill, yet it was at the same time of such a consistence that it would melt in the morning rays of the sun if not seasonably gathered. Baked it in pans. Or, boiled or cooked it. The original is used to signify baking in 2 Sam. 13:8, but for the most part it denotes boiling. Made cakes of it. Or, as Geddes and Boothroyd, “made hearth-cakes.” (Rosen, placentas sub cineritias, cakes baked in the ashes.) The taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. Heb. “As the taste of the best moisture of oil.” That is, fresh oil which has no rank savor. The Heb. term leshad denotes the choicest oily humor in man’s body, Ps. 32:4, and so here it implies the best and sweetest moisture of oil. It had also, we learn, the taste of “wafers with honey,” Ex. 16:31. The Gr. here translates it “wafers of oil,” and the Chald. “paste or oil-cakes.” It was therefore pleasant and wholesome food, and the taste of oil and honey points to that sweet spiritual relish which the soul perceives in feeding upon Christ as the true manna from heaven. Norman Geisler - When Critics Ask - NUMBERS 11:8—Did the manna taste like a honey wafer or like fresh oil? PROBLEM: Here the manna’s “taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.” But in Exodus 16:31 asserts that the “taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” SOLUTION: The latter description may have been what the manna tasted like in its natural state; the former, after it was cooked. Notice that in the same verse it speaks of the people who “ground it on millstones” and “cooked it in pans.” But even granting the two passages are speaking about the manna in the same condition, they are not mutually exclusive. Numbers 11:9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it. Ex 16:13,14 De 32:2 Ps 78:23-25 105:40 Numbers 11 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Exodus 16:13; 14 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. Psalm 78:23-25 Yet He commanded the clouds above And opened the doors of heaven; 24 He rained down manna upon them to eat And gave them food from heaven. 25 Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.