Numeri 21:5

5 E il popolo parlò contro Dio e contro Mosè, dicendo: "Perché ci avete fatti salire fuori d’Egitto per farci morire in questo deserto? Poiché qui non c’è né pane né acqua, e l’anima nostra è nauseata di questo cibo tanto leggero".

Numeri 21:5 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 21:5

And the people spake against God
Who went before them in the pillar of cloud and fire, for leading them in such a way; that is, against Christ, as the apostle has taught us to interpret it, ( 1 Corinthians 10:9 ) , and is no inconsiderable proof of the deity of Christ; and so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,

``and the people thought in their heart, and spake against the Word of the Lord,''

the essential Word and Son of God:

and against Moses;
his servant, for obeying the orders of the Lord, and leading and guiding the people as he directed him:

wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
ascribing this equally to God and to Moses; using a strange word, as Aben Ezra calls it, being in a great passion, and not considering well what they said; showing great ingratitude for such a mercy, and representing it in a wrong light, as if the intent of bringing them from thence was to slay them in the wilderness:

for [there] is no bread;
no bread corn, nothing in the wilderness to make bread of; nothing that they called and accounted bread, otherwise they had manna, as is presently owned:

neither [is there] any water;
any fresh water fit to drink, otherwise they were near the sea; what they had from the rock, lately, perhaps was now spent, and it did not follow them as the other rock had:

and our soul loatheth this light bread;
the manna; this very light, this exceeding light bread, the radicals of the word F17 used being doubled, which increases the signification: if to be understood of light and easy digestion, it was the more to be valued; but perhaps they meant, it had but little substance and virtue in it, and was not filling and satisfying; or rather that it was exceeding vile, mean, and despicable; so they called the bread of heaven, angel's food, this wonderful gift of Providence; in like manner is Christ, the hidden manna, treated, and his Gospel, and the precious truths of it, by unregenerate men and carnal professors, ( 1 Corinthians 1:23 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (lqlqh) "levissime", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Fagius, Vatablus; "vilissimi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Numeri 21:5 In-Context

3 L’Eterno porse ascolto alla voce d’Israele e gli diede nelle mani i Cananei; e Israele votò allo sterminio i Cananei e le loro città, e a quel luogo fu posto nome Horma.
4 Poi gl’Israeliti si partirono dal monte Hor, movendo verso il mar Rosso per fare il giro del paese di Edom; e il popolo si fe’ impaziente nel viaggio.
5 E il popolo parlò contro Dio e contro Mosè, dicendo: "Perché ci avete fatti salire fuori d’Egitto per farci morire in questo deserto? Poiché qui non c’è né pane né acqua, e l’anima nostra è nauseata di questo cibo tanto leggero".
6 Allora l’Eterno mandò fra il popolo de’ serpenti ardenti i quali mordevano la gente, e gran numero d’Israeliti morirono.
7 Allora il popolo venne a Mosè e disse: "Abbiamo peccato, perché abbiam parlato contro l’Eterno e contro te; prega l’Eterno che allontani da noi questi serpenti". E Mosè pregò per il popolo.
The Riveduta Bible is in the public domain.