ing and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, the way, and thence to fret and murmur. -¶ And the children of Israel also wept again, and said, etc. Heb. "Returned and wept." The import of "returned" in this connection is undoubtedly that of changed their mind, relapsed. That is, they were wrought upon by the contagious example of the mixed multitude to such a degree as to fall away from a previous state of mind, and involve themselves in the rebellious conduct here spoken of. If we take the expression as it stands in our version, "wept again," the inquiry is very natural, When did they weep before? Nothing is previously said of their weeping. But the interpretation we suggest is abundantly confirmed by the usage of the original term, of which scores of instances could be easily adduced. Let the following serve as a specimen. It will be seen that the true idea is that of a change of mind, which in the present instance is that from a better to a worse. Ps. 78:34, "When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God." Eccl. 4: 1, "So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun," etc. as v. 7, "Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun." Eccl. 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," etc. Is. 19: 22, "And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them." Is. 55: 7, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Mal. 3:18, "Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Judg. 11:35, "And it came to pass when he (Jepthah) saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me; for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back (Heb. return).” Ezek. 14:6, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God: Repent (Heb. return) and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations." Ezek. 18: 30, "Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent (Heb. return) and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin." In all these cases it is obvious that the word return is significant of a mental act. It implies a change of sentiments and views, or in other words a change of state. Although in the letter it is the appropriate term for local removal, yet in a more interior import it unequivocally designates a purely mental process. Viewing the words in this light, we can see the ground on which some commentators have proposed to render them by aversi sunt, defecerunt, turned away in aversion, revolted, i. e. were subjects of a mental alienation from the Lord. Instead of weeping compassionately over the disaffected multitude, they wept perversely with them, and thus contributed to provoke the divine displeasure. "A few factious, discontented, ill-natured people, may do a great deal of mischief in the best societies, if great care be not taken to discountenance it. This Egyptian rabble were the disordered sheep that infected the flock, the leaven that leavened the whole lump."-Henry. There was in reality no lack of food or water for them; but they had become dainty; they had taken a surfeit of the manna; their soul loathed "this light food," as they slightingly call it on another occasion, and they longed for the fish, the flesh, and the vegetables of Egypt. ¶ Who shall give us flesh to eat? That is, O that we had flesh to eat!-the expression of a vehement, impatient desire, mixed with a degree of despair. Compare with this the allusions Ps. 106:14. 78:18-20. A general clamor was started of how hard it was that they should be kept to one kind of diet till they absolutely loathed it, and reproaches were cast upon their leader to the effect that he had decoyed them from a plentiful country, where the sea and the river fed them with a variety of fish, and the soil abounded with the best of herbs, salads, and fruits, all which they had exchanged for a miserable, meagre kind of fare, on which they were in danger of famishing. So grossly does a discontented spirit not only undervalue present comforts, but falsify the truth in regard to one's condition. V. 5. We remember the fish, etc. They stirred up and inflamed their lust by studiously calling to mind the dainties they formerly enjoyed in Egypt. But even in this they imposed upon themselves, for, as Henry remarks, "they did not remember the brick-kilns, and the task-masters, the voice of the oppressor, and the smart of the whip. These are forgotten by the ungrateful people."——¶ For nothing. Heb. hinnom, gratis, i. e. which cost them nothing but the trouble of taking. As to the great use of fish as an article of food by the Egyptians, the fact is repeated 5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egpyt ly affirmed by Herodotus. They ate them either salted or dried in the sun without any other preparation. Indeed, the Egyptians are the first people whom history mentions as curing any kind of meat with salt for preservation. The salt they used was fossil salt, obtained from the African deserts. Sea salt was abhorred by them, probably from some religious consideration, just as the priests abstained entirely from fish, the reason of which is doubtless to be sought from some ancient idea that the spiritual correspondence of fish rendered them unsuitable as an article of diet to the priesthood. The cucum-T bers. Arabia and Egypt produce abun| dance of cucumbers, which, owing to the mellowing effects of the sun's rays, are softer than those with us, and of more easy digestion. It is said by travellers that they are eaten in the East in almost incredible quantities.-T Mel ons. The water-melon is no doubt intended. This fruit grows abundantly in the Levant and Egypt. It is about the size, and somewhat of the appearance of a pumpkin. The interior is a pulp of blooming red, and rich in juice. "A traveller in the East who recollects the intense gratitude which the gift of a slice of melon inspired while journeying over the hot and dry plains—or one who remembers the consciousness of wealth and security which he derived from the possession of a melon while prepared for a day's journey over the same plains-he will readily comprehend the regret with which the Hebrews in the Arabian desert looked back upon the melons of Egypt." The following account of the uses of melons in Egypt is from Hasselquist. "By melons we are probably to understand the freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: they are to be found; but whether or not, there is much difference of opinion as to the translation of the word. water-melon, which the Arabians call batech. It is cultivated on the banks of the Nile, in the rich clayey earth which subsides during the inundation. | D'Oyly and Mant have a quotation to This serves the Egyptians for meat, this effect:-'Whether the following drink, and physic. It is eaten in abun- word, rendered leeks, have that signifidance during the season, even by the cation, may be doubted. Some think it richer sort of people; but the common was the lotus, which is a water plant, people, on whom Providence has bea kind of water-lily, which the Egypstowed nothing but poverty and pa- tians used to eat during the heats of tience, scarely eat any thing but these, summer.' In the Universal History, and account this the best time of the (vol. i. p. 486,) it is said, that those year, as they are obliged to put up with Egyptians who dwelt in the marshes, worse fare at other seasons. This fruit fed on several plants which annually likewise serves them for drink, the juice grow, particularly the lotus, of which refreshing these poor creatures, and they made a sort of bread.' Of the they have less occasion for water than Arabs also, (in the same work,) it is if they were to live on more substan- recorded-‘They make a drink of the tial food in this burning climate." Egyptian lotus, which is very good for ¶ Leeks. The original word occurs six- inward heat.' It has a bulbous root, teen times, but is nowhere rendered and is highly esteemed as an article of "leek" but here. In one instance it is food. As it grows in tanks, it can only translated "herb," in another "hay," be had in the hottest weather, when the and in another "a court;" but in all water is dried up; and in this we see the other instances it is translated a most gracious provision, in allowing "grass." As grass, however, could not it to be taken when most required. Its have been what the Israelites desired, cooling qualities are celebrated all over it is supposed by some commentators India, and the Materia Medica says of that "greens," implying lettuce, suc- it, 'This is an excellent root, and is also cory, endive, or salads in general, is prescribed medicinally, as cooling and what is meant. In the uncertainty that demulcent.' The natives eat it boiled, obtains on this point we give the fol- or in curry, or make it into flour for lowing extract from Roberts. "To an gruels. I am, therefore, of opinion, Englishman the loss of these articles that it was the lotus of Egypt respectwould not give much concern, and he ing which the Israelites were murmuris almost surprised at the Israelites re- ing." In this opinion Mr. Kitto is in| pining at their loss, as at the loss of clined to concur, conceding at the same great delicacies. The people of the time, that the authority of the SeptuaEast do not in general eat flesh, nor gint, which renders it by prasa, leeks, even fish, so that when they can pro- is not easily disposed of. He refers cure it they consider it a delicacy. Cu- to Scheuchzer and others, "who think cumbers are eaten in abundance in hot that the word here denotes a plant of the weather, and melons are most delicious lotus kind, which grows very abundantand plentiful. I have never seen leeks ly in the low lands of Egypt, and which in the East, and I am doubtful whether I was of very delicate taste, and held in 6 But now our soul is dried | beside this manna, before our away: there is nothing at all, eyes. verse. fc. 21. 5. great estimation. They ate its root, the people of Western Asia are remark- it is undoubtedly correctly rendered. V. 6. But now our soul is dried away. 7 And the manna was as coriander-seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium 9. g Gen. 2. 12. 8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, ¶ Bdel their wants. The manna thus furnished the face of the earth," meaning the was a corporeal nourishment represent- visible surface of the earth. Lev. 13: ing that which was spiritual, and thus | 55. Ezek. 1:16. 8:2. 10:9. serving as a type of our Lord himselflium. Heb. "Bedolach," on which see according to his own declaration, John Note on Gen. 2:12, where we have en6:32, 33, confirmed by Paul, 1 Cor. deavored to show that the substance 10:3, who calls the manna "spiritual meant is the pearl. The Gr. however, bread" because it represented such here renders it crystal. bread. The loathing the manna, therefore, and longing for the luxuries of Egypt, denoted the rejection of Christ and the benefits of his salvation, the true substance of these Old Testament symbols. V. 7. And the manna was as coriander-seed. Not in color, but in size and shape. See Notes on Ex. 16:14, 31. The coriander is cultivated mostly in the south of Europe, and in some parts of England, on account of its seeds, which are required in large quantities by confectioners, druggists, and distillers. It is reared also in gardens on account of its leaves, which are used in soups and salads. The seeds are globular, grayish-colored, and about the size of pepper-corn. The taste and smell are both agreeable, depending on the presence of a volatile oil, which is separated by distillation.-This and the two following verses are evidently parenthetical, being designed to give such an account of the various properties and modes of preparation of the manna, as to evince its great value as an article of diet, and thus to rebuke the people for their light esteem of it.- -T And the color thereof. Heb. "And the eye thereof," i. e. the aspect or appearance, as it is rendered by the Chald. and the Gr. For a similar usage in regard to "eye," see Ex. 10:5, with the explanatory Note. It is there rendered "face," V. 8. And the people went about, etc. Heb. "Went to and fro," i. e. in the way of search and espial. The term is applied in some cases to the act of the eyes in looking and exploring on one side and the other, and in Dan. 12: 4, to the perusal of a book, though rendered "run to and fro." But the true idea is probably that of turning over pages back and forth, and thus passing to and fro through a volume. See 2 Chr. 10: 9. Zech. 4:10.- T Ground it in mills, etc. "The eastern mill consists of two circular stones, about eighteen inches in diameter, and three inches thick. The top stone has a handle in it, and works round a pivot, which has a hole connected with it to admit the corn. The mortar also is much used to make rice flour. It is a block of wood, about twenty inches high and ten inches in diameter, having a hole scooped out in the centre. The pestle is a stick of about four feet long, made of iron-wood, having an iron hoop fixed to the end."-Roberts. If the manna, as we are expressly informed, pointed typically to our Lord, we see nothing absurd or unreasonable in the idea that the grinding and beating it, and subjecting it to the various processes here mentioned, shadowed forth the afflictions through which he was called to pass in being prepared to become to us the bread of life, John 6: 48–51. Heb. |