Bilangan 11:4

Complaints about Food

11:4 ¹ Now the mixed multitude ²  who were among them craved more desirable foods, ³  and so the Israelites wept again ⁴  and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ 

Bilangan 11:34

11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, ⁶  because there they buried the people that craved different food. ⁷ 

Mazmur 78:18

78:18 They willfully challenged God ⁸ 

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

Mazmur 106:14

106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving ⁹  for meat; ¹⁰ 

they challenged God ¹¹  in the desert.

Mazmur 106:1

Psalm 106 ¹² 

106:1 Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures! ¹³ 

Kolose 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹⁴  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁵  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Yakobus 4:2

4:2 You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

Yakobus 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ¹⁶  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ¹⁷  from your passions that battle inside you? ¹⁸ 

Yohanes 2:16-17

2:16 To those who sold the doves he said, “Take these things away from here! Do not make ¹⁹  my Father’s house a marketplace!” ²⁰  2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal ²¹  for your house will devour me.” ²² 

[11:4]  ¹ sn The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the Lord for salvation, but now they forget, as they remember things they used to have. God will give them what they crave, but it will not do for them what they desire. For more information on this story, see B. J. Malina, The Palestinian Manna Tradition. For the attempt to explain manna and the other foods by natural phenomena, see F. W. Bodenheimer, “The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 (1947): 1-6.

[11:4]  ² tn The mixed multitude (or “rabble,” so NASB, NIV, NRSV; NLT “foreign rabble”) is the translation of an unusual word, הֲָאסַפְסֻף (ha’safsuf). It occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here. It may mean “a gathering of people” from the verb אָסַף (’asaf), yielding the idea of a mixed multitude (in line with Exod 12:38). But the root is different, and so no clear connection can be established. Many commentators therefore think the word is stronger, showing contempt through a word that would be equivalent to “riff-raff.”

[11:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew simply uses the cognate accusative, saying “they craved a craving” (הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה, hit’avvu ta’vah), but the context shows that they had this strong craving for food. The verb describes a strong desire, which is not always negative (Ps 132:13-14). But the word is a significant one in the Torah; it was used in the garden story for Eve’s desire for the tree, and it is used in the Decalogue in the warning against coveting (Deut 5:21).

[11:4]  ⁴ tc The Greek and the Latin versions read “and they sat down” for “and they returned,” involving just a change in vocalization (which they did not have). This may reflect the same expression in Judg 20:26. But the change does not improve this verse.

[11:4]  tn The Hebrew text uses a verbal hendiadys here, one word serving as an adverb for the other. It literally reads “and they returned and they wept,” which means they wept again. Here the weeping is put for the complaint, showing how emotionally stirred up the people had become by the craving. The words throughout here are metonymies. The craving is a metonymy of cause, for it would have then led to expressions (otherwise the desires would not have been known). And the weeping is either a metonymy of effect, or of adjunct, for the actual complaints follow.

[11:4]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew expresses the strong wish or longing idiomatically: “Who will give us flesh to eat?” It is a rhetorical expression not intended to be taken literally, but merely to give expression to the longing they had. See GKC 476 §151.a.1.

[11:34]  ⁶ sn The name “the graves of the ones who craved” is again explained by a wordplay, a popular etymology. In Hebrew קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה (qivrot hatta’avah) is the technical name. It is the place that the people craved the meat, longing for the meat of Egypt, and basically rebelled against God. The naming marks another station in the wilderness where the people failed to accept God’s good gifts with grace and to pray for their other needs to be met.

[11:34]  ⁷ tn The words “different food” are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[78:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they tested God in their heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the center of their volition.

[106:14]  ⁹ sn They had an insatiable craving. This is described in Num 11:4-35.

[106:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they craved [with] a craving.”

[106:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they tested God.”

[106:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 106. The psalmist recalls Israel’s long history of rebellion against God, despite his mighty saving deeds on their behalf.

[106:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “for forever [is] his loyal love.”

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[4:1]  ¹⁶ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[2:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or (perhaps) “Stop making.”

[2:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “a house of merchants” (an allusion to Zech 14:21).

[2:16]  sn A marketplace. Zech 14:20-21, in context, is clearly a picture of the messianic kingdom. The Hebrew word translated “Canaanite” may also be translated “merchant” or “trader.” Read in this light, Zech 14:21 states that there will be no merchant in the house of the Lord in that day (the day of the Lord, at the establishment of the messianic kingdom). And what would Jesus’ words (and actions) in cleansing the temple have suggested to the observers? That Jesus was fulfilling messianic expectations would have been obvious – especially to the disciples, who had just seen the miracle at Cana with all its messianic implications.

[2:17]  ²¹ tn Or “Fervent devotion to your house.”

[2:17]  ²² sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.