Numbers 11:20

20 unto a month of days, till that it come out from your nostrils, and it hath become to you an abomination; because that ye have loathed Jehovah, who [is] in your midst, and weep before Him, saying, Why is this? -- we have come 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 unto the people thou dost say, Sanctify yourselves for to-morrow, and ye have eaten flesh (for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who doth give us flesh? for we [had] good in Egypt) -- and Jehovah hath given to you flesh, and ye have eaten.

19 Ye do not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days; --

20 unto a month of days, till that it come out from your nostrils, and it hath become to you an abomination; because that ye have loathed Jehovah, who [is] in your midst, and weep before Him, saying, Why is this? -- we have come out of Egypt!'

21 And Moses saith, `Six hundred thousand footmen [are] the people in whose midst I [am]; and Thou, Thou hast said, Flesh I give to them, and they have eaten, a month of days!

22 Is flock and herd slaughtered for them, that one hath found for them? -- are all the fishes of the sea gathered for them -- that one hath found for them?'