And the children of Israel said unto them
They not only inwardly murmured, and privately complained among
themselves, but they spoke out their complaints, and that in a
very extravagant manner:
would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt;
by one of the plagues, or some such like plague as were inflicted
on the Egyptians, which killed many of them, and particularly the
hailstorm and plague on the firstborn; suggesting that death,
even by the hand of the Lord, whether in an ordinary or
extraordinary way, was more eligible than their present
circumstances: when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat
bread to the full; which is an exaggeration of their former
circumstances, and the happiness of them, in order to aggravate
the misery of their present ones; for it can hardly be thought
strictly true, that while they were in hard bondage in Egypt,
they had often flesh in their pots, and leisure time to sit and
attend them, either the boiling of it in them, or the eating of
it when served up in dishes at the table; which they seem to
boast of, as if they had several dishes of meat at table, and sat
in great splendour, and took a great deal of time to regale
themselves, and when they indulged themselves to satiety, having
fulness of bread and all provisions:
for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill
this whole
assembly with hunger:
but there was no danger of that at present, since they had so
many flocks and herds with them; though indeed so large a number
would soon have ate them up, and which could not so comfortably
be fed upon without bread; and, besides, these they did not
choose to slay, unless under great necessity, which they reserved
for sacrifice, and for an increase.