Numbers 11:1

Numbers 11:1. And when the people complained— The when inserted here much flattens the sense, and leads the mind to wrong ideas respecting this event. Read it thus, exactly conformable to the Hebrew, and the spirit of the passage will appear. Now the people greatly murmured: it was evil in the ears of the Lord: He heard it, and his anger was kindled, &c. Houbigant renders it, In the mean time the people murmured wickedly in the ears of the Lord, &c. following the Greek, which has it, γογγυζων πονηρα . We are not told what was the cause of these murmurs; but it is evident from Num 11:3 compared with Num 11:34 that it was something different from that mentioned in the 4th and following verses. The fire of the Lord means lightning. See 2 Kings 1:12.Job 1:16; Job 1:16. As the mixed multitude were in the uttermost parts of the camp, it is probable that this murmuring began with them, and that they were the persons now punished.