Numbers 11:20

20 but euen a moneth longe ad vntill it come out at the nostrels of you that ye be ready to perbrake: because that ye haue cast ye Lorde a syde which is amonge you and haue wepte before him saynge: why came we out of Egipte.

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 saye vnto ye people: halowe youre selues agenst to morow that ye maye eate flesh for ye haue whyned in the eares of the Lorde saynge: who shall geue vs flesh to eate for we were happie when we were in Egipte? therfore the Lorde will geue you flesh and ye shall eate:
19 Ye shall not eate one daye only ether .ij. or .v. dayes ether .x. or .xx. dayes:
20 but euen a moneth longe ad vntill it come out at the nostrels of you that ye be ready to perbrake: because that ye haue cast ye Lorde a syde which is amonge you and haue wepte before him saynge: why came we out of Egipte.
21 And Moses sayde: sixe hundred thousande fotemen are there of the people amonge which I am. And thou hast sayde: I will geue them flesh and they shall eate a moneth loge
22 Shall the shepe ad the oxen be slayne for them to fynde them ether shall all the fysh of the see be gathered together to serue them?
The Tyndale Bible is in the public domain.