Numbers 11:18

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.

Numbers 11:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:18

And say thou unto the people
For what follows respects them, as what goes before regarded himself:

sanctify yourselves against tomorrow;
or prepare yourselves, as the Targums of Onkelos, and Jonathan, either to receive mercies, or to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments; so Jarchi interprets it,

``prepare for punishments,''

for what is said should be, and what they had, was not as a blessing, but in a way of punishment:

and ye shall eat flesh;
which they lusted after, wept for, and could not be easy without:

for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord;
complaining of him, and which he has taken notice of:

saying, who shall give us flesh to eat?
for though they so earnestly desired it, they despaired of it, and even called in question the power of God to give it:

for [it was] well with us in Egypt;
where they had their fleshpots, as well as their cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, ( Exodus 16:3 ) ; but they forgot how ill it went with them by reason of their hard bondage, when their lives were made bitter by it, notwithstanding their fleshpots, and of which there is not much reason to believe any great share came to them: like to them were their posterity in later times, ( Jeremiah 44:17 Jeremiah 44:18 ) ;

therefore the Lord will give you flesh;
to show his power:

and ye shall eat;
to your shame and confusion, not for pleasure or profit.

Numbers 11:18 In-Context

16 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou hast known that they are elders of the people, and its authorities; and thou hast taken them unto the tent of meeting, and they have stationed themselves there with thee,

17 and I have come down and spoken with thee there, and have kept back of the Spirit which [is] upon thee, and have put on them, and they have borne with thee some of the burden of the people, and thou dost not bear [it] thyself alone.

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!'