Numbers 11:5

5. The fish… freely Hebrew, for nothing. So abundant were the fish in the Nile that they were very cheap. Herodotus repeatedly speaks of the great use of fish as an article of food in Egypt. Not only man, but myriads of waterfowl, which swarm in Lower Egypt more than in any other country in the world, depend on fish, and yet the supply is as inexhaustible as ever. They were eaten either dried in the sun or salted.

The Egyptians are the first people mentioned in history as curing any kind of meat with salt.

Cucumbers These differ from the ordinary kind both in size, colour, softness, and sweetness of flavour. They are described by Forskal as “the most common of all the fruits in Egypt, being planted in whole fields.” Enormous quantities of them are eaten in the East. They are eaten with the rind on, without any condiment. They are the commonest and cheapest summer vegetable, and are never complained of as indigestible. “I remember seeing dinner served out to an Arab school in Jerusalem, which consisted of a thin barley-cake, and a raw cucumber to each boy.” Tristram.

Melons These are mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. In modern Egypt water-melons in immense numbers are sold so cheaply that the poor share their cooling properties. The very Hebrew name is retained slightly changed. “A traveller in the East who recollects the intense gratitude which the gift of a slice of melon inspired while journeying over the hot and dry plains, or one who remembers the consciousness of wealth and security which he derived from the possession of a melon while preparing for a day’s journey over the same plains he will readily comprehend the regret with which the Hebrews in the Arabian desert looked back upon the melons of Egypt.” “Nothing could be more regretted in the burning desert than these delicious melons, whose exuberant juice is so refreshing to the thirsty pilgrim.” W.M. Thomson.

Leeks The Hebrew word occurs twenty-two times, once rendered court, seventeen times grass, once herb, twice hay, and once leek. It is evident that leek, which is found only here, is a mistaken translation for grass. Hengstenberg and Kitto strongly contend for grass as the correct rendering. Says the latter, “Among the wonders of the natural history of Egypt, it is mentioned by travelers that the common people there eat with special relish a kind of grass similar to clover.” Mayer says of this plant, whose scientific name is Trigonella foenum Graecum, that its leaves are more pointed than clover, and that great quantities of it are eaten by the people. In Cairo it is a garden-plant called halbeh. In November it is sold in large bunches in the streets, and is eaten with incredible greediness without any kind of seasoning. The Targum of Onkelos for leeks has “cresses,” one species of which is the pepper-grass. But all the old versions and commentators insist that leeks is the proper translation. They were a favourite vegetable with the Egyptians indeed they were reverenced by them as sacred. Hence a Roman satirist ridicules the Egyptians for growing their gods in their gardens. Onions of a mild and pleasant taste flourish in Egypt better than elsewhere. According to Herodotus they were the ordinary food of the workmen at the pyramids. They are still almost the only food of the poor, eaten roasted, cut into four pieces, with some bits of meat. With this dish the Turks in Egypt are so delighted that they wish they may enjoy it in paradise. Garlic is the Allium sativum of Linnaeus, which abounds in Egypt, and is akin to the onion. Herodotus states that the allowance of this vegetable to the workman was inscribed on the great pyramid. Not one of all these refreshing vegetables could be found in the desert, and yet they are those after which there would be the most intense craving under the wilting heat of the desert. There was therefore some ground for the complaint of the people. But their culpability lay in their forgetfulness of the providential compensations: manna, emancipation from servitude, the written law of God, Jehovah visibly guiding them, and the inspiring hope of a home in Canaan. All the miseries of Egypt, the toil, the taskmaster, the contumely, and the degradation of bondage are forgotten in the discomforts of the present moment, and only the gross animal pleasures now come into mind. “Thus when once the heart loses its freshness in the divine life, and heavenly things begin to lose their savour, and first love declines, and Christ ceases to be a satisfying and altogether precious portion, and the Bible and communion with God lose their charm, and become dull and mechanical; then the eye wanders back to the world, the heart follows the eye, and the feet follow the heart. We forget, at such moments, what the world was to us when we were in it and of it.”