Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 16:3
And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
3. Would that, &c.] Cf. the similar wish, and similar complaint, in Num 20:3-5; also ch. Exo 14:11-12.
by the flesh pots, &c.] Cf. the picture in Num 11:5.
4, 5 (J). Jehovah promises that He will give the people bread from heaven. The promise here, it is to be noted, relates only to the ‘bread’ (i.e. the manna); the ‘flesh between the two evenings’ (i.e. the quails) is promised only in P ( v. 12).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
By the hand of the Lord – This evidently refers to the plagues, especially the last, in Egypt: the death which befell the Egyptians appeared to the people preferable to the sufferings of famine.
Flesh pots, and … bread – These expressions prove that the servile labors to which they had been subjected did not involve privations: they were fed abundantly, either by the officials of Pharaoh, or more probably by the produce of their own fertile district.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. The flesh pots] As the Hebrews were in a state of slavery in Egypt, they were doubtless fed in various companies by their task masters in particular places, where large pots or boilers were fixed for the purpose of cooking their victuals. To these there may be a reference in this place, and the whole speech only goes to prove that they preferred their bondage in Egypt to their present state in the wilderness; for they could not have been in a state of absolute want, as they had brought an abundance of flocks and herds with them out of Egypt.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By the hand of the Lord; by any of those plagues wherewith God destroyed the Egyptians.
When we did eat bread to the full; which is not probable; but they amplify their former mercies, that they might aggravate their present calamity, as the manner of impatient and ungodly men is.
Quest. What danger was there of dying with hunger, seeing they had their flocks and herds which they brought out of Egypt?
Answ. 1. There was no great danger of it, but they use aggravating expressions, as discontented persons use to do.
2. Their flocks and herds were not so numerous as to suffice them for above a months provision, if they had all been slain and eaten, as it is implied Num 11:21,22. So there was some danger of it, though neither immediate nor great.
3. They were it seems resolved to spare these, partly for increase, and for their future subsistence; and partly for sacrifice, as not knowing how many of them they should be required to offer. See Exo 10:26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Would to God we had died by thehand of the Lord in the land of EgyptHow unreasonable andabsurd the charge against Moses and Aaron! how ungrateful and impiousagainst God! After all their experience of the divine wisdom,goodness, and power, we pause and wonder over the sacred narrative oftheir hardness and unbelief. But the expression of feeling iscontagious in so vast a multitude, and there is a feeling of solitudeand despondency in the desert which numbers cannot dispel; andbesides, we must remember that they were men engrossed with thepresentthat the Comforter was not then givenand thatthey were destitute of all visible means of sustenance and cut offfrom every visible comfort, with only the promises of an unseenGod to look to as the ground of their hope. And though we may lamentthey should tempt God in the wilderness and freely admit their sin inso doing, we can be at no loss for a reason why those who had alltheir lives been accustomed to walk by sight should, incircumstances of unparalleled difficulty and perplexity, find it hardto walk by faith. Do not even we find it difficult towalk by faith through the wilderness of this world, though in thelight of a clearer revelation, and under a nobler leader than Moses?[FISK]. (See 1Co 10:11;1Co 10:12).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the children of Israel said unto them,…. They not only inwardly murmured, and privately complained among themselves, but they spoke out their complaints, and that in a very extravagant manner:
would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt; by one of the plagues, or some such like plague as were inflicted on the Egyptians, which killed many of them, and particularly the hailstorm and plague on the firstborn; suggesting that death, even by the hand of the Lord, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, was more eligible than their present circumstances: when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; which is an exaggeration of their former circumstances, and the happiness of them, in order to aggravate the misery of their present ones; for it can hardly be thought strictly true, that while they were in hard bondage in Egypt, they had often flesh in their pots, and leisure time to sit and attend them, either the boiling of it in them, or the eating of it when served up in dishes at the table; which they seem to boast of, as if they had several dishes of meat at table, and sat in great splendour, and took a great deal of time to regale themselves, and when they indulged themselves to satiety, having fulness of bread and all provisions:
for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger: but there was no danger of that at present, since they had so many flocks and herds with them; though indeed so large a number would soon have ate them up, and which could not so comfortably be fed upon without bread; and, besides, these they did not choose to slay, unless under great necessity, which they reserved for sacrifice, and for an increase.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Would to God we had died.Heb., Would that we had died. There is no mention of God.
By the hand of the Lord.There is, perhaps, an allusion to the last of the plagues, Would that we had not been spared, but had been smitten, as the Egyptians were! A sudden death would have been far better than a long and lingering one. (Comp, Lam. 4:9.)
When we did eat bread to the full.The Israelites had been well fed in Egypt. They had been nourished upon flesh, fish, bread, and abundant vegetables, especially cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlick (Num. 11:5). It was the habit of the Egyptians to feed well those whom they employed in forced labours (Herod. ii. 125), just as slave-owners commonly do their slaves. The remembrance of the past abundance intensified the pain felt at the present want.
To kill this whole assembly with hunger.It is difficult to imagine that there could have been as yet any real danger of starvation. The cattle may have suffered considerably in the passage through the wilderness of Shur, but the bulk of it survived (Exo. 17:3), and there were lambs enough for the whole nation to observe a Passover a few months later at Sinai (Num. 9:1-5). But it may well be that a considerable number of the Israelites had had no cattle; others may have lost what they had, or have consumed them. Want may have stared some in the face, and the nation generally may have come to see that the prospect before them was a dismal one. Even supposing that the desert was anciently four or five times as productive as it is now, it could not possibly have afforded sufficient pasturage to maintain such flocks and herds as would have been requisite to support on their milk and flesh a population of two millions. It may have been brought home to the people that their flocks and herds were rapidly diminishing, and they may have realised the danger that impended of ultimate starvation after the cattle was all gone.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord, in the plagues that destroyed the Egyptians . In the infatuation of their impatience and unbelief they envied the lot of their slain oppressors! Such ingratitude and forgetfulness of God’s grace and strength seem incredible till we look within our own hearts.
When we sat by the flesh pots The abundant beef and poultry and fish of Egypt came up in vivid remembrance, and also the juicy cucumbers and luscious melons of the field of Zoan, (Num 11:4-5,) as they hungered and thirsted in the bare, blazing desert .
The opposite cut shows an Egyptian kitchen of the time of Rameses III, and reveals precisely the scenes that rose in the imaginations of the hungry Israelites.
Ye have brought us forth As if their devoted and self-sacrificing leaders were the cause of all their sufferings! So unreasonable, selfish, and cruel is unbelief.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
What an awful instance of the desperately wicked state of the human heart! Is this the same Israel which so lately sung God’s mercies at the Red sea? Did Israel indeed live in such plenty by the flesh pots in Egypt? And would it have been better to have died in Egypt, and by the hand of the Lord too, in a way of judgment, than merely to suffer a little temporary inconvenience of hungers. Psa_106:7-8; Psa_106:13 . Reader! have you never detected your heart in murmuring? If you have not, I have, But the issue hath always proved the truth of that precious scripture, Neh 9:33 . That’s a charming receipt against repining, under slender provision, Luk 22:35 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 16:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
Ver. 3. To kill this whole assembly. ] Thus discontent will say anything: neither careth it how true the charge be, but how stinging and stabbing.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
bread. Figure of speech Synecdoche (of Part), put for all kinds of food (App-6). not for water, because of Exo 15:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Would: Num 20:3-5, Deu 28:67, Jos 7:7, 2Sa 18:33, Lam 4:9, Act 26:29, 1Co 4:8, 2Co 11:1
we had: Num 11:15, Num 14:2, Job 3:1, Job 3:10, Job 3:20, Jer 20:14-18, Jon 4:8, Jon 4:9
flesh: Exo 2:23, Num 11:4, Num 11:5
to kill: Exo 5:21, Exo 17:3, Num 16:13, Num 16:41
hunger: Deu 8:3, Jer 2:6, Lam 4:9
Reciprocal: Gen 45:23 – good things Exo 13:17 – return Exo 14:11 – Because Exo 16:6 – the Lord Exo 16:7 – what are we Exo 17:2 – the people Exo 18:8 – and all the Exo 32:1 – the man Num 11:18 – ye have wept Num 20:4 – that we Num 21:5 – spake Deu 1:27 – The Lord hated us 1Sa 8:8 – General 2Sa 14:32 – it had been Psa 78:18 – by asking meat Jer 42:14 – nor hear Jer 44:17 – then Mat 4:3 – command Act 7:39 – and in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 16:3. Would to God we had died They so undervalue their deliverance, that they wish they had died in Egypt; nay, and died by the hand of the Lord too. That is, by some of the plagues which cut off the Egyptians; as if it were not the hand of the Lord, but of Moses only, that brought them into this wilderness! It is common for people to say of that pain or sickness of which they see not the second causes, It is what pleaseth God, as if that were not so likewise which comes by the hand of man, or some visible accident. We cannot suppose they had any great plenty in Egypt, how largely soever they now talk of the flesh-pots, nor could they fear dying for want in the wilderness while they had their flocks and herds with them; but discontent magnifies what is past, and vilifies what is present, without regard to truth or reason. None talk more absurdly than murmurers.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh {b} pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
(b) It is a hard thing for the flesh not to complain against God when the stomach is empty.