Numbers 11:20

20 but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

Numbers 11:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:20

[But] even a whole month
So long the Israelites continued at Taberah or Kibrothhattaavah, as the Jews F15 conclude from this clause:

until it come out at your nostrils;
being vomited up, through a nausea of it, the stomach being overfilled and glutted with it; in which case, it will make its way through the nostrils, as well as out of the mouth:

and it be loathsome unto you;
being surfeited with it; or it shall be for "dispersion" F16, scattered about from the mouth and nostrils:

because that ye have despised the Lord which [is] among you;
who dwelt in the tabernacle that was in the midst of them, whom they despised by treating the manna with contempt he so plentifully spread about their camp, and by distrusting his power to give them flesh, and by murmuring and complaining against him on the account of their having none: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,

``because ye have loathed the Word of the Lord, whose Shechinah (or the glory of whose Shechinah, as Jonathan) dwelleth among you;''

the essential Word, and who was figured by the manna they tasted and despised:

and have wept before him;
complaining of him, and murmuring against him:

saying, why came we forth out of Egypt?
suggesting it would have been better for them if they had stayed there; thus reflecting on the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, displayed in the deliverance of them, and for which they had the utmost reason to be thankful.


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 8. p. 24.
F16 (arzl) "in dispersionem", Munster, Fagius, Montanus: so R. Joseph Kimchi, apud Kimchi Sepher Shorash rad. (hrz) "et Aben dana".

Numbers 11:20 In-Context

18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Jehovah will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days,
20 but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?
21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
22 Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.