Numbers 11:4

Numbers 11:4 . The children of Israel also wept again — That is, they again complained and murmured, that God had so lately visited them with such awful marks of his displeasure; though their special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from any such carriage. Bishop Kidder justly observes, that “their sin was much aggravated on the following accounts: 1st, They declared their distrust of God’s power and providence, of which they had had so great experience. 2d, They despised God and his former mercies. 3d, They covetously desired flesh, when they had much cattle of their own, Exodus 12:32 ; Exodus 12:38 , and Numbers 32:4 .”

(4) And the mixt multitude.— The Authorised Version follows the LXX. and the Vulgate in rendering the word asaph-suph, which occurs only in this place, and which is derived from a verb which means to collect, in the same way as the ereb of Exodus 12:38 , a mixed multitude, vulgus promiscuum —in many cases, probably, the children of Hebrew women by Egyptian fathers. This mixed multitude appears to have been very considerable, and they may have become, as the Gibeonites at a later period, servants to the Israelites, as hewers of wood and drawers of water ( Deuteronomy 29:11 ). It is probable that this mixed multitude may have partaken even more largely than the Israelites of the fish and vegetables of Egypt, and they appear to have instigated the Israelites to repine at the deprivations to which they were exposed in the wilderness. There is no mention in Exodus 16:3 of weeping, but the same craving after the flesh-pots of Egypt was probably manifested in the same manner in both cases. Who shall give us flesh to eat?—The word basar, which is rendered flesh, seems here to include—it may be to have primary reference to—fish. It is used of fish in Leviticus 11:11, and it is obvious from Numbers 11:22 that it was understood by Moses in this general signification. Cp. the use of flesh (1Corinthians 15:39).

4 . The place where the incident occurred is not stated. But in Numbers 11:34 a name is given to the spot in consequence of the event. the mixed multitude ] The Heb. word ’asaphsûph is a reduplicated form from ’âsaph ‘to collect.’ The alliteration may be represented by riff-raff . It is a contemptuous term for non-Israelites who had attached themselves to the camp. They would include Egyptians with whom Israelites may to a small extent have intermarried ( Leviticus 24:10 ), and people of various nationalities who, having been united with the Israelites in the forced building labour in Egypt, would be glad to escape with them. They are mentioned (by a different term) in Exodus 12:38 . fell a lusting ] The words can denote any bodily appetite or desire, legitimate or otherwise. In 1 Corinthians 10:6 Christians are warned by the example of the Israelites. wept again ] No murmuring by the mixed multitude has been previously recorded, and in previous murmurings of the people in general weeping has not been mentioned. But the word need not be pressed. J relates a murmuring in Exodus 15:23-25 . It is not certain, however, that the words are an their original form. The Heb. idiom is ‘and they returned and they wept’; this makes it possible to suppose that ‘and they returned’ was inserted by a compiler in reference to the murmuring in Numbers 11:1-3 . LXX. and Vulg. escape the difficulty by reading ‘they sat down and wept’ ( וַיֵּשְׁבוּ for וַיָּשֻׁבוּ ).

Oh that we could have flesh to eat! ] The necessity for miraculous provision of flesh is evidence that, according to one form of the tradition of the journeys, the Israelites had no flocks and herds. This has been preserved in J together with the contrary tradition that they were richly supplied with them, both at the beginning of the wanderings ( Exodus 12:32 ; Exodus 12:38 ), throughout the course of them ( Numbers 14:33 see note, Exodus 17:3 ; Exodus 19:13 ; Exodus 34:3 ), and at the end ( Numbers 32:1 ). The traditions in P assume an immense wealth in cattle, which made possible the elaborate sacrificial system in force from Sinai and onwards. 4–34 . (I) The Manna and Quails. J . (II) The burden of the people too heavy for Moses. J . (III) The Spirit of ecstasy upon the elders. E . These verses should be studied in the following order: (I) Numbers 11:4-10; Numbers 11:13; Numbers 11:18-24 a (to ‘the words of the Lord’), 31–34. (II) Numbers 11:11-12; Numbers 11:14-15 . (III) Numbers 11:16-17 a, 24b–30. It will be seen that the narratives (II) and (III) have no real connexion with (I). In the process of compilation two sentences were lost. The words ‘And Moses said unto Jehovah’ in Numbers 11:11 a are required for both narratives, and must be added for (I) at the beginning of Numbers 11:13 .

Verse 4. The mixed multitude. Hebrew, ha- saphsuph , the gathered; the rift-raft, or rabble, which had followed the fortunes of Israel out of Egypt, where they had probably been strangers and slaves themselves. What the nature and the number and the fate of this rabble were is a matter of mere conjecture and of some perplexity. There does not seem any room for them in the regulations laid down for Israel, nor are they mentioned in any other place except at Exodus 12:38 . In Leviticus 24:10 we read of the son of an Israelitish woman by an Egyptian father, and this might lead us to conjecture that a great part of the "mixed multitude" was the offspring of such left-handed alliances. These half-breeds, according to the general rule in such cases, would follow their mothers; they would be regarded with contempt by the Jews of pure blood, and would accompany the march as hangers-on of the various tribes with which they were connected. As to their fate, it may be probably concluded, from the reason of things and from the absence of any further notice of them, that they found their way back to the slavery and the indulgences of Egypt; they were bound by no such strong restraints and animated by no such national feelings as the true people of the Lord. And the children of Israel also wept again.

This expression, again (Hebrew, שׁוּב , used adverbially), would seem to point to some former weeping, and this is generally found in the "murmuring" of which they had been guilty in the desert of Sin ( Exodus 16:2, 3 ). This, however, is unsatisfactory for several reasons: first, because that occurrence was too remote, having been more than a year ago; second, because there is no mention of any "weeping" at that time; third, because the matter of complaint on the two occasions was really quite different: then they murmured faithlessly at the blank starvation which apparently stared them in the face; now they weep greedily at the absence of remembered luxuries. It is therefore much more likely that the expression has regard to the "complaining" which had just taken place at Tabeerah. It was indeed wonderful that the punishment then inflicted did not check the sin; wonderful that it burst out again in an aggravated form almost immediately. But such was the obstinacy of this people, that Divine vengeance, which only perhaps affected a few, and only lasted for a brief space, was not sufficient to silence their wicked clamour. Who shall give us flesh to eat? בָּשָׂר - Septuagint, κρέα - means flesh-meat generally. They had flocks and herds it is true, but they were no doubt carefully preserved, and the increase of them would little more than suffice for sacrifice; no one would dream of slaughtering them for ordinary eating. Numbers 11:4

The mixt multitude, consisting of Egyptians or other people, which being affected with God’s miraculous works in Egypt, and thereupon believing the promise of God to carry them to a land of milk and honey, for their own advantage joined themselves to the Israelites, Exodus 12:38 , an now, finding themselves sadly disappointed, they discover their evil minds. The children of Israel, whose special relation and obligation to God should have restrained them from such carriages. Wept again: this word relates either to their former murmuring upon this occasion a twelvemonth before, Exodus 16:2 , or rather to their complaining mentioned Numbers 11:1 , to note the aggravation of their sin, that having just now sinned in the same kind, and sorely smarted for their sin, and being but newly delivered from their fears and dangers caused thereby, they forthwith return to their vomit and murmur again, and that more passionately than before, expressing themselves in tears and bitter words. Flesh: this word is here taken generally, so as to include fish, as the next words show, and as it is used 1 Corinthians 15:39 . They had indeed flesh and cattle which they brought with them out of Egypt, but these were reserved for breed to be carried into Canaan, and were so few that they would scarce have served them for a month, as may be gathered from Numbers 11:20-22 .