Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 11:33
And while the flesh [was] yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.
33. ere it was chewed ] ere it came to an end, i.e. before the supply of flesh ran short.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 33. The wrath of the Lord was kindled] In what way, and with what effects, we cannot precisely determine. Some heavy judgment fell upon those murmurers and complainers, but of what kind the sacred writer says nothing.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Chewed, Heb. cut off, to wit, from their mouths, which is here understood, and expressed Joe 1:5, i.e. ere it was taken away, as the flocks are said to be cut off from the fold, Hab 3:17, when they are lost and perished. The sense is, before they had done eating their quails, which lasted for a month, as appears from Num 11:20.
A very great plague; whether it was leanness sent into them, Psa 106:15, whereby the food was deprived of its nourishing power, which it hath only from Gods blessing; or surfeit, a punishment most suitable to their sin, and most likely to follow their intemperate desire and use of this food; or the pestilence; it is not much material: but a great and sore plague unquestionably it was.
Quest. Why did God so sorely punish the peoples murmuring and complaining for lack of flesh here, when he spared them after the same sin, Exo 16?
Answ. Because this sin was a far greater sin than that, and aggravated with worse circumstances; as proceeding not from necessity, as that did, when as yet they had no food, but from mere lust and wantonness, when they had manna constantly given them; as committed after large experience of Gods care and kindness, after God had pardoned their former sins, and after God had in a solemn and terrible manner made known his laws and duty to them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. while the flesh was yet betweentheir teeth, ere it was chewedliterally, “cut off”;that is, before the supply of quails, which lasted a month (Nu11:20), was exhausted. The probability is, that their stomachs,having been long inured to manna (a light food), were not preparedfor so sudden a change of regimena heavy, solid diet of animalfood, of which they seem to have partaken to so intemperate a degreeas to produce a general surfeit, and fatal consequences. On a formeroccasion their murmurings for flesh were raised (Ex16:1-8) because they were in want of food. Here they proceeded,not from necessity, but wanton, lustful desire; and their sin, in therighteous judgment of God, was made to carry its own punishment.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And while the flesh [was] yet between their teeth,…. When they had just got it into their mouths, and were about to bite it:
ere it was chewed; or “cut off”; or cut into pieces by the “incisores”, or fore teeth, and then ground by the “molares”, or grinders, and so became fit to be swallowed. Both quails and locusts were eaten as food; the former is a fat and delicious fowl, and the latter, some sorts of them, at least, were allowed clean food for the Jews, and were fed on by many people:
the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people; for their lusting after flesh, and despising the manna:
and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague; the pestilence, as Aben Ezra; or with fire, as Bochart e, who gives the following reasons why the people were so severely punished now, and not before, when they murmured on a like account; because their sin’s were greater, and more aggravated, they falling again into the same sin which had been forgiven them; and besides, they were before pressed with famine, now they had a plenty of manna every day; and also were better instructed, having received the law, which was not yet given when they were just come out of Egypt. Sulpitius f the historian says, 23,000 perished at this time.
e Ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 15.) col. 109.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But while the flesh was still between their teeth, and before it was ground, i.e., masticated, the wrath of the Lord burned against them, and produced among the people a very great destruction. This catastrophe is not to be regarded as “the effect of the excessive quantity of quails that they had eaten, on account of the quails feeding upon things which are injurious to man, so that eating the flesh of quails produces convulsions and giddiness (for proofs, see Bochart, Hieroz. ii. pp. 657ff.),” as Knobel supposes, but as an extraordinary judgment inflicted by God upon the greedy people, by which a great multitude of people were suddenly swept away.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
33. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth. Moses does not specify any particular day; but only that God did not wait till satiety had produced disgust, but inflicted the punishment in the midst of their greediness. We may, however, conjecture from what precedes, that time was given them to gorge themselves. From whence their insatiable voracity may be gathered, which prevailed for so many continuous days, and could not be appeased by any quantity of food. God, therefore, allowed them time abundantly sufficient for them to gorge themselves, unless their gluttony was prodigious: and yet punished their intemperance, while the meat was yet in their mouths. They were, then, suddenly surprised in the midst of their guttling; and hence it is said in the Psalm, (Psa 78:30,) “they were not yet estranged from their lust;” just as any glutton might choke himself, by devouring more than his throat could hold. Nor is that at variance with their repletion, of which mention was lately made; for, however the belly may swell with the quantity of its contents, the furious lust of eating is never appeased. But, in order that their punishment might be more manifest, God inflicted it in the very act; nor could any better opportunity have been chosen.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(33) With a very great plague.The noun, maccah. plague, is cognate to the verb which is rendered smote. It is frequently used of a stroke inflicted by God, as, e.g., pestilence or any epidemic sickness. A surfeit, such as that in which the Israelites had indulged, especially under the circumstances in which they were placed, would naturally produce a considerable amount of sickness. Here, then, as in the account of the plagues of Egypt and in other parts of the sacred history, the natural and the supernatural are closely combined.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
33. While the flesh teeth Before the flesh was chewed and swallowed, the wrath of Jehovah burned against the people, not as Knobel supposes, as the effect of the excessive quantity of quails eaten, producing giddiness and convulsions, but as a manifest judgment direct from God, by which a great multitude were suddenly swept away.
The wrath of the Lord was kindled This phrase is no sign of a lower conception of God than the Lord Jesus gives. Wrath is an integral part of love, when the lover is perfectly holy and the loved are unholy. The most terrible anger is that of perfect meekness, as expressed in that solemn paradox of the apostle of love, “the wrath of the Lamb.” God was angry with Israel because he loved them, and desired their love for their own good. The fact of his choice of Israel for his own, and the intensity of his love, were shown no less by his anger at their sin than by the blessings which crowned obedience.
Great plague The Hebrew for plague signifies a stroke. It does not here indicate any particular disease, but a sudden and widespread destruction of human life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 11:33. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, &c. It is impossible to determine, as Calmet justly remarks, how many days they used this food, or what was the plague wherewith the Lord smote them. Some say that this plague was a pestilence, others a consumption, others a fire, such as that spoken of at the beginning of the chapter; an opinion, which seems to be supported by Psa 78:21. Calmet conjectures, that the quails themselves might prove destructive to the gluttonous and intemperate Israelites, long unused to flesh; but one may more rationally conceive, that the plague was an immediate punishment from the avenging hand of God. It is most probable, that this plague happened not to them till they had fed upon the quails for a space of a month, promised Num 11:20.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Reader! behold again in this instance the awful consequence in having our carnal, ungovernable appetites gratified. LORD! do thou regulate our inordinate affections, and bring every thought and desire into captivity to the obedience of CHRIST. 2Co 10:5 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
flesh. Compare Psa 78:27-31.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And while: Psa 78:30, Psa 78:31, Psa 106:14, Psa 106:15
smote: Num 16:49, Num 25:9, Deu 28:27
Reciprocal: Num 16:46 – there is wrath Num 20:3 – when Job 20:23 – he is about Psa 99:8 – though Psa 107:17 – because Mar 3:10 – as many Heb 2:2 – every
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 11:33. The Lord smote the people with a very great plague With a pestilence, say some, with a consumption, say others. But it seems more probable that it was by some untimely death, which was the effect of their own gluttony and intemperance. This seems to agree best with the threatening, Num 11:20. God was pleased, in a great measure, to overlook their first murmuring, about a year before, when he sent them the manna, because they were then under great necessity, being really pinched with hunger; whereas now that they were fed with bread from heaven, they cried for meat, not from need, but mere wantonness, and that after much experience of Gods care and kindness, after he had pardoned their former sins, and after he had made known his laws to them in a most solemn and terrible manner. Besides, the longer God exercises forbearance, the more is the offenders guilt aggravated, if he remain impenitent. Reader, remember, the goodness of God leads thee to repentance, and take heed that thou do not, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasure up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath!