Numbers 11:2

2 The people cried out to Moses for help; he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.

Numbers 11:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:2

And the people cried unto Moses
And entreated him to pray for them, being frightened at the fire which consumed many of them, lest it should spread and become general among them:

and when Moses prayed unto the Lord;
as he did, in which he was a type of Christ, the mediator between God and man, the advocate of his people, an intercessor for transgressors:

the fire was quenched;
it stopped and proceeded no further; as through Christ's mediation God is pacified with his people for all that they have done, and his wrath, and all the effects of it, are turned away from them, and entirely cease with respect to them; or it "sunk down"

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 into its place, as the Targum of Jonathan, as if it rose out of the earth. This may serve to confirm the notion of its being a burning wind, to which the idea of sinking down and subsiding well agrees.

F18 (eqvt) "sunk down", so Ainsworth; "compressus est", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius; "resedit", Tigurine version.

Numbers 11:2 In-Context

1 The people began to complain to the Lord about their troubles. When the Lord heard them, he became angry and sent fire on the people. It burned among them and destroyed one end of the camp.

2 The people cried out to Moses for help; he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.

3 So the place was named Taberah, because there the fire of the Lord burned among them.

4 There were foreigners traveling with the Israelites. They had a strong craving for meat, and even the Israelites themselves began to complain: "If only we could have some meat!

5 In Egypt we used to eat all the fish we wanted, and it cost us nothing. Remember the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic we had?