Ver. 1. And when the people complained.] Or, Were as it were complainers: they did inwardly and secretly repine and mutter at their three days’ march, without intermission; like those horses that digest their choler by biting their bridle. Consumed them that were in the uttermost parts.] There, it seems, the sin began amongst those that were faint and weary with travel, as Deuteronomy 25:18.
Ver. 2. And the people cried to Moses.] That lord chancellor of heaven, as one calleth him, that could rule with God, and overrule. Of Moses it might be said, as once of Luther, Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit, He might have whatsoever he would of God.
Ver. 3. The name of the place Taberah.] So to perpetuate the memory of the people’s sin, and God’s judgment. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio.
Ver. 4. And the mixed multitude.] [See Trapp on “Ex 12:38”] Observe the danger of ill company. Fish retain their sweetness in the salt sea. The river Dee in Merionethshire, running through Pimblemere, remains entire, and mingles not her streams with the waters of the lake. The rivers of Peru, after they have run some miles into the sea, retain their sweetness, as writers report. But to converse with the ungodly, and not to learn their manners, is marvellously rare and difficult. A man may pass through Ethiopia unchanged; but he cannot dwell there and not be discoloured. The children of Israel wept again.] And were punished again. Herein they were like froward children, that, while crying for an apple that is in the father’s hand, will fling away the cake that is in their own; and so get a whipping rather than a pippin, as we say; a lashing rather than their longing.
Ver. 5. We remember the fish.] They forgat their servitude. Discontent is ever harping upon wants, and enjoys nothing: no more than Haman did his honour, or Ahab his kingdom, when he longed for a salad out of Naboth’s garden.
Ver. 6. There is nothing at all besides.] The wheat of heaven was held a light meat, because lightly come by; Cito parta vilescunt. How are many queasy stomachs even nauseated with the bread of life! it makes not to their dainty palates; plain preaching is disrelished.
Ver. 7. And the manna.] [See Trapp on “Ex 16:14”] [See Trapp on “Ex 16:31”] There was therefore no such cause they should so loathe it. Was as coriander seed.] Small, but full of sweetness and nourishment. This might be some cause of Moses’ undecayedness. (Deuteronomy 34:7) As the colour of bdellium.] A kind of transparent and precious gum.
Ver. 8. And the people went about.] Or, “Went to and fro,” as men ought still to “increase knowledge,” (Daniel 12:4) “labouring for the meat that endureth to eternal life.” (John 6:27) God might have saved them this labour, by raining manna into their mouths; but he would not, for the trial of their diligence; and that they might not think that worth nothing, that cost them nothing. And ground it in mills.] So was Jesus Christ ground and pounded with passion, baked and dried up in the oven of his Father’s displeasure, before he became fit food, and a Saviour to his Church. As the taste of fresh oil.] Or, Wafers baked with honey. (Exodus 16:31) The sweet promises of grace are sweeter than honey. (Psalms 19:10) No fresh and sweet oil can so cherish the face, as they do the heart of a believer.
Ver. 9. And when the dew fell.] As manna fell in the dew, so doth the Spirit descend in and by the word preached. (Galatians 3:2) In the night.] Figuring that hidden manna, laid up and prepared for the saints. (Revelation 2:17)
Ver. 10. Weep throughout their families.] Generally and openly they rebelled and murmured, though so lately they had smarted at Taberah. And this they did, not once or twice, but ten times over; whereby it appears that God chose this unthankful people, not for their merits, sed ex mera et mira misericordia. He chose them for his love, and loved them for his choice.
Ver. 11. Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant.] Antoninus the Emperor said often, Imperium oceanum esse malorum, that to be a governor of others is to be plunged into an ocean of miseries. Pope Adrian caused to be engraven upon his own tomb, Faelix si non imperitasset. Melancthon said, the three sorest labours of all were, Docentis, imperantis, parturientis, the labours of ministers, magistrates, and of travailing women.
Ver. 12. As a nursing father beareth, &c.] Lovingly, mildly, gently. A magistrate should carry himself as a pater patriae. Queen Elizabeth would many times say, That she could believe nothing of her people that parents would not believe of their children. Camden’s Elisab.
Ver. 13. Whence should I have flesh.] Lust is unsatisfiable; to go about it, is to go about an endless piece of work; it is to cast oil into the fire to quench it.
Ver. 14. It is too heavy for me.] Crowns have their cares; high seats are uneasy, many a cumber attends honour. Beatus ille qui procul negotiis. Horat.
Ver. 15. And if thou deal thus with me.] Here the word Thou, spoken to God, is of the feminine gender. At, for Atta, -ex magna perturbatione, saith a Rabbin. Moses was so exceedingly moved with anger and grief, these passions did so overcarry him, that he could not complere vocem, utter his whole speech; as he that groaneth or gapeth in the beginning of his sentence cannot make up his breath to speak what he intended.
Ver. 16. Gather unto me seventy men.] Here, say some, began the Sanhedrim, that is, the great council of the Jews, consisting of seventy seniors and one president. It continued till the time of Herod the Great, who took it away, and changed the form of it.
Ver. 17. And I will take of the spirit,] i.e., I will bestow the same spirit upon them as upon thee; and this shall be nothing at all to thy loss or disadvantage. Habet Hispania montem ex sale magnum, de quo quantum demas, tantum accrescit. Shall bear the burden of the people.] Who are in nothing more a burden than in this, t hat with them αει το παρον βαρυ, Praesens imperium semper grave, They are ever grumbling at the present government, though never so gentle. Alleva iugum, Ease the yoke that thy father put upon us, said they to Rehoboam, forgetting the golden age they had lived in under his father Solomon. (1 Kings 12:4) Thucyd.
Ver. 18. Sanctify yourselves.] Ironice dictum; or, Sanctify; that is, Prepare yourselves for the day of slaughter, as in Jeremiah 12:3. For ye have wept in the ears.] Tears, of what sort soever, have a voice in them, (Psalms 39:12) as blood hath. (Genesis 4:10) For it was well with us in Egypt.] Such is the murmuring of those malcontents, that say, It was a merry world before there was so much preaching and teaching. And ye shall eat.] Flesh with a vengeance; which ye shall eat on earth, but digest in hell. In terris manducant quod apud inferos digerant. -August.
Ver. 20. But even a whole month.] Deus saepe dat iratus quod negat propitius. Patientia Dei quo diuturnior, eo minacior— “ Poena venit gravior quo magis sera venit. ” God’s forbearance is no quittance: fatted beasts are but fitted for the slaughter: wicked men are killed with kindnesses: “Ease slayeth the fool.” (Proverbs 1:32)
Ver. 21. Six hundred thousand footmen.] In the conquest of Canaan, there is no mention of horsemen. The adversaries, both Egyptians and Canaanites, had horses and chariots; not so this people of Israel. See Psalms 33:17.
Ver. 22. Or shall all the fish of the sea.] Moses forgat, belike, the fowls of the air, but God sent them such a drift of quails, as Moses dreamed not of: he fed them with meat of kings, bread of angels.
Ver. 23. And the Lord said unto Moses.] God bears with Moses here; which afterwards he did not, (Numbers 20:12) because then he showed his distrust before the people. God will not pass by the scandalous practices of his own people without a sensible check. Is the Lord’s hand shortened.] Moses thought God had made an unadvised promise, and prays him to consider, that the people were so many thousand, and that the flocks and herds would not suffice them. But God answers here, that he is never nonplussed.
Ver. 24. And set them roundabout the tabernacle.] That the fear of the Lord might be upon them, &c., (2 Chronicles 19:6,7) and that they might carry themselves worthy of God, who had set them in places of judicature. To the company of the Areopagites (judges in Athens) none were admitted, but wise, wealthy, and noble men, famous for good life and innoceney. Nay, men whose behaviour was intolerable, after they were chosen into the college of the Areopagites, abhorring and blushing at their former disposition, changed their natures and embraced virtue. δκνουντες τη φυσει χρησθαι.
Ver. 25. Took of the spirit.] [See Trapp on “Nu 11:17”] They prophesied.] Nec praedicendo, nec praedicando; but by uttering grave and wise sentences, apothegms, or counsels, as Moses did, concerning the public affairs of Israel; by political and prudential speaking of things appertaining to government.
Ver. 26. But there remained two of the men.] Being stayed by some lawful occasion, as in 1 Samuel 20:26 Jer 36:5, or haply out of sense of their own insufficiency, as in 1 Samuel 10:22. Howsoever, hereby it appeared to all the people that these seventy seniors were set apart by God for the service. And they prophesied in the camp.] Hermas, in his book called “Pastor” (chap. ii.), mentioneth a book of their prophesy, and citeth these words, “The Lord is near to all those that turn unto him, as it is written in Eldad and Medad, who prophesied in the wilderness to the people.” But this book of Hermas is of small credit.
Ver. 27. And there ran a young man.] Three manner of persons, said Mr Latimer, can make no credible information: (1.) Adversaries and enemies; (2.) Ignorant persons and without judgment; (3.) Whisperers and blowers in men’s ears, that will utter in secret more than they dare avow openly.
Ver. 28. My lord Moses, forbid.] Thus, “the spirit that is in us lusteth to envy.” (James 4:5) Nero omnium erat aemulus, qui quoquo mode animum vulgi moverint, Nero envied every man that excelled.
Ver. 29. That all the Lord’s people.] This is not meant of a sacrifically teaching others, but a political discoursing unto others. [See Trapp on “Nu 11:25”]
Ver. 32. And they spread them.] They fed without fear, (Jude 1:12) though foretold they should pay dear for these murdering morsels; (Numbers 11:20) that which they ate being sauced, and that which they drank being spiced, with the bitter wrath of God. (Job 20:23) They gathered the quails.] Which they might the more easily do, if that be true which some write, that the Arabian Gulf breedeth great store of quails, which fly low usually, so as they may easily be taken up with one’s hand. Drusius.
Ver. 34. They buried the people.] Who, by a hasty testament, bequeathed this new name to the place they lay buried in.