The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 129

deny that manna. only for people who had to the heavy or savoury food which they been accustomed to a rich and varied diet remembered in Egypt. must hal'e been exceedingly trying both to Ver. 9.-Anl whe11. the dew fell,. , . the the palate and the stomach (t:f. eh. ui. 5). m&llJl.a fell upo11. it, We know from Exod. Ver. 7.-The ma.n.na. was as corl.a.nder xvi. 14 that when the dew evaporated in eeed. On the name and the nature of the the morning it left a deposit of manna upon m&nna see Exod. :r:vi. 31. It is commonly the ground ; we learn here that the manna supposed that the brief description here in- fell upon the dew during the night. Now serted was intended to show the unreason- the dew is deposited in the cool of the night ableness of the popular tomplaints. There beneath a clear sky, when radiation of heat is no trace whatever of any such purpose. goes on uninterruptedly from the earth's sur- So far as the description conveys fresh in- face ; it is clear, therefore, that the mann11 formation, it was simply suggested by the was let fall in some way beyond human ex- occurrence of the word "ma.nna," according perience from the upper air. What possible to the artless style of the narrative. If any physical connection there could be between moral purpose must be assigned to this the dew and the manna. we cannot tell. To digression, it would rather be to suggest that the untaught mind, however, the dew seemed the people had some real temptation to com- to come more directly tha.n any other Jri{t of plain. It is often forgotten that, although nature from the clea.r sky which unil.erlay the manna was supernatural, at least as to the throne of God ; and thus the Jew was the a.mount and regularity of its supply, yet led to look upon the manna. too as coming as an article of food it contained no super• to him day by day direct from the storehouse natnral elements. If we had to live upon ofhea.ven (cf. Ps. lxxviii. 23, 24; cv. 40). nothing but ca.kes flavoured with honey or Ver. 10.'-Throughout their families. with olive oil, it is certain tha.t we should Every family weeping by itself. Such was 500n find them pall upon our appetite. To the contagion of evil, that every family was the eye of the Psalmist the manna appeared infected. Com pa.re Zech. xii. 12 for a. de- as angels' food (Ps. lxxviii. 25) ; but then scription of a. weeping similar in character, the Psalmist ha.d not lived on manna every although very different in its cause. Ever, day for a. year. We have to remember, in me.n in the door of his tent. So that hl.8 this as in many other cases, that the Israelites wailing might be heard by all. So public would not be "our ensamples" (r{nro, r,µwv, l!.nd obtrusive a. demonstration of grief must l Cor. JL 6) if they had not succumbed to of course have been pre-arranged. They real temptations. As the colou of bdellium. doubtless acted thus under the impression that See on Gen. ii 12. A.s no one knows anything if they made themselves sufficiently trouble- at all a.bout bdellium, this adds nothing to some and disagreeable they would get all our knowledge of the manna.. The Septu• they wanted ; in this, as in much else, they a.gint has here doo, cpvaralXov, "the ap- behaved exactly like ill-trained children. pearance of ice," or perhaps " of hoar-frost;" Moses a.lso we.a displeased. The word A.s it translates bdellium in Gen. ii. 12 by "also" clearly compares and unites his dis- civ.9-pa( (carbuncle), it is probable that the pleasure with that of God. The murmuring comparison to ice here is due to some tradition indeed of the people was directed against about the manna.. Ta.king this passage in con- God, nnd against Moses as his minister. The nection with Ex.oil xvi. 81, we may reason• invisible King and his visible viceroy could ably conjecture that it wa.s of an opalescent not be separated in the regard of the people, white, the same colour probably which is and their concerted exhibition of misery wns mentioned in coUllection with manna in intended primarily for the eye of the latter. Rev. ii 17. It was, therefore, no wonder that such con- Ver. 8.-And the people· . .. ground it duct roused the wrath of Moses, who had no in mills. This information as to the pre- right to be angry, IUl well as the wrath of paration of the manna is new. It may be God, who had every right to be angry. Moses supposed that a.t first the people ate it in its sinned because he failed to restrain his temper natural state, but that afterwards they found within the exact limits of what befits the out how to prepare it in different wayR for the creature, and to distinguish carefully between sake of variety. Small handmills and morta.re a. righteous indignation for God and nn angry for the preparation of grain they would have impatience with men. But he sinned under brought with them frow their Egyptian very sore pro ,ooation. homes. A.I the taste of fresh oil. In Exod. Ver. 11.-Wherefore hut thou e.ffl.ioted xvi. 31 it is said to have tasted like wafers thy eerva.nt t These pa1111ionate complaints made with honey. Nothinp; is more impos- were clearly wrong, because exaggerate~. sible adequately to describe than a fresh taste. God had not thrown upon Moses the responsi- It is sufficient to note that the two things bility (>f getting the people safely into Canaan, suggested by the ta.ate of the manna, honey or of providing flesh for them ; o.nd e.pnrt and oil, present the greatest possible contrast from these exaggerations, it wns a. Pel.fish imd CH, XI, 4-36.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 109