Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 11:3

And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

Taberah – i. e. burning: not the name of a station, and accordingly not found in the list given in Num. 33, but the name of the spot where the fire broke out. This incident might seem (compare Num 11:34) to have occurred at the station called, from another still more terrible event which shortly followed, Kibroth-hattaavah.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Tabera, from this fire; as it was called Kibroth-hattaa-vah from another occasion, Num 11:34,35; 33:16; as it is no new thing in Scripture for persons and places to have two names. Both these names were imposed as monuments of the peoples sin, and of Gods just judgment. See Deu 9:7,22,24.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And he called the name of the place Taberah,…. That is, “burning”: Moses called it so; or it may be rendered impersonally, it was called s so in later times by the people:

because the fire of the Lord burnt among them; to perpetuate the, memory of this kind of punishment for their sins, that it might be a terror and warning to others; and this history is indeed recorded for our caution in these last days, that we murmur not as these Israelites did, and were destroyed of the destroyer, 1Co 10:10.

s “et vocatum est”, Tigurine version, Fagius, Piscator.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

From this judgment the place where the fire had burned received the name of “ Tabeerah,” i.e., burning, or place of burning. Now, as this spot is distinctly described as the end or outermost edge of the camp, this “place of burning” must not be regarded, as it is by Knobel and others, as a different station from the “graves of lust.” “ Tabeerah was simply the local name give to a distant part of the whole camp, which received soon after the name of Kibroth-Hattaavah, on account of the greater judgment which the people brought upon themselves through their rebellion. This explains not only the omission of the name Tabeerah from the list of encampments in Num 33:16, but also the circumstance, that nothing is said about any removal from Tabeerah to Kibroth-Hattaavah, and that the account of the murmuring of the people, because of the want of those supplies of food to which they had been accustomed in Egypt, is attached, without anything further, to the preceding narrative. There is nothing very surprising either, in the fact that the people should have given utterance to their wish for the luxuries of Egypt, which they had been deprived of so long, immediately after this judgment of God, if we only understand the whole affair as taking place in exact accordance with the words of the texts, viz., that the unbelieving and discontented mass did not discern the chastising hand of God at all in the conflagration which broke out at the end of the camp, because it was not declared to be a punishment from God, and was not preceded by a previous announcement; and therefore that they gave utterance in loud murmurings to the discontent of their hearts respecting the want of flesh, without any regard to what had just befallen them.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(3) Taberahi.e., burning, a word cognate to the verb which is rendered burnt in Num. 11:1 and in this verse.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Taberah is simply a local designation of the spot in the end of the camp where the burning occurred. The entire camp took the name of Kibroth-hattaavah the graves of lust, caused by divine justice avenging the rebellion of Israel. Hence Taberah is not in the list of stations in Num 33:16, nor is there any mention of a removal from Taberah to Kibroth-hattaavah.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The People Lust for Flesh

v. 4. And the mixed multitude that was among them, the camp-followers, the rabble that had joined the host of Israel when the Lord led His people forth, fell a-lusting, was seized with a violent longing for some of the sensual delights that lay behind them; and the children of Israel, to whom the dissatisfied feeling soon spread, also wept again, remarked with reference to Exo 16:3, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? They still had their herds and flocks, but the consumption of meat from these animals had to be reduced in the wilderness; moreover, their appetite was whetted for other delicacies.

v. 5. We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, for nothing, as they state in dissatisfied exaggeration; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic, the form of the enumeration showing with what a longing they thought of these delights of the stomach;

v. 6. but now our soul is dried away, an expression intended to convey the utmost disgust and loathing; there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Their lustful desire demanded rich and appetizing foods and a more frequent change in the bill of fare.

v. 7. And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium.

v. 8. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, in the small hand-mills such as were in use in the Orient, Mat 24:41, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil, like choice pastry made with oil.

v. 9. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Cf Exo 16:14-15; Exo 16:31. This notice concerning the manna as a very acceptable, delicious food is here inserted by Moses to show the base ingratitude of the people. It is equally base and damnable ingratitude, if Christians become tired of the food of the Gospel and express their loathing by word or deed.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Num 11:3. Name of the place Taberah The reason of the name Taberah, or burning, is given, as usual, in the next clause; because the fire of the Lord burnt among them: see 1Co 10:11-12 where the apostle applies this part of the sacred history for the instruction of Christians.

REFLECTIONS.From the mercies they had experienced, and their promising beginnings, we might have expected a gracious issue to their journey; but, alas! what a change is here!

1. A spirit of murmuring is among them; why or wherefore it is hard to guess. They had every blessing their hearts could reasonably desire; and such extraordinary instances of God’s love to them, as should have made them rejoice with joy unspeakable. But a discontented spirit will never be without cause of murmuring, even in the midst of mercies. God heard their repinings; for to him our most secret thoughts are fully known; and justly angry at their ingratitude, as he must ever be with those complainers who find fault with his provision for them, 2. He sends a fire of wrath among them, most probably by strokes of lightning from heaven. It burnt in the uttermost part of the camp; in the tribe of Dan probably, where the chief seat of the murmurers lay. God will not spare, if sinners provoke him; and happy for us if we take warning by others, and repent of the like sins, that we be not consumed with their plagues. 3. Thus did the people; they cried unto Moses; for in distress of soul God’s slighted ministers will be the first to be applied to; and Moses kindly interceded for them, and the fire was stayed. The prayers of a righteous man avail much. It is a great blessing to have an interest in them. 4. The name given the place, Taberah, Burning. The place of the sinner’s torment shortly will be everlasting burnings. Let us fear to murmur, lest we should likewise perish.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Taberah means a burning.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Num 11:3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

Ver. 3. The name of the place Taberah. ] So to perpetuate the memory of the people’s sin, and God’s judgment. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)