Numbers 21:5

5 And the people spake against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, that we should die in wilderness? bread faileth, waters be not; our soul loatheth now on this meat most light. (And the people spoke against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, so that we would die here in this wilderness? bread faileth us, waters be not; and our souls now loathe this most light food, yea, this manna!)

Numbers 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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Numbers 21:5 In-Context

3 And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and betook to them the Canaanites; and Israel killed him, and destroyed his cities; and Israel called the name of that place Hormah, that is, cursing. (And the Lord heard the prayers of the Israelites, and delivered the Canaanites unto them; and the Israelites killed them, and destroyed their cities; and the Israelites called the name of that place Hormah, that is, Cursing.)

4 Soothly Israel went forth from the hill of Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, that they would compass the land of Edom; and it began to annoy the people, of the way and [of the] travail. (And the Israelites went forth from Mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to by-pass the land of Edom; and the way, and all the tribulation, began to vex the people.)

5 And the people spake against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, that we should die in wilderness? bread faileth, waters be not; our soul loatheth now on this meat most light. (And the people spoke against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, so that we would die here in this wilderness? bread faileth us, waters be not; and our souls now loathe this most light food, yea, this manna!)

6 Wherefore the Lord sent fired serpents/fiery adders into the people; at the wounds of which serpents, and (after) the deaths of full many men, (And so the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people; and they bit many of them, and after many people had died,)

7 they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we spake against the Lord, and thee; pray thou (the Lord), that he take away from us the serpents (pray thou to the Lord, that he take these snakes away from us). And Moses prayed for the people;