139 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Though he had commanded the clouds from above,.... Which were round about him, his chariots, and the dust of his feet; and which were at his command to go here and there, and carry and let down provisions for his people, as they did: and opened the doors of heaven; as a large granary, from whence the manna, afterwards called the corn of heaven,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, and had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And had rained down manna upon them to eat,.... So called, either from מנה, "manah", which signifies to prepare, appoint, and distribute, because this was food prepared of God for the Israelites without them, and was their provision, their appointed portion, and which was daily distributed to them in measure; or from the words מן הו, "man hu",...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven : and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: and he let it fall in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Man did eat angels' food,.... Or, "the bread of the mighty" (d); such as Moses and Elijah ate of; so Arama; but Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it of the clouds, or skies, said to be strong, Job 37:18 in which the manna was prepared, and let down: but rather the words may be read, "every man did eat the bread of the mighty ones"; of princes and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,.... In the airy heaven: or "he caused it to go" (f); to go forth out of its place, out of the repositories and treasures of it, from whence he brings the wind, Psalms 130:7 the winds are under the power and government of God, they are his servants that obey him; he says to one, Go, and it goes; and to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He rained flesh also upon them as dust,.... By "flesh" is meant fowl, as the following clause shows; for there is flesh of birds, as well as of other creatures, see 1 Corinthians 15:39 and the quails which are here meant may be very fitly called flesh, since they are, for their size, a very plump, fat, and fleshy bird: and feathered fowls like as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,.... Or, "his camps" (l); the four camps of Israel; for so many there were, Numbers 2:1 or the camp of God, where he dwelt, and before which he went as the General, Leader, and Commander of them; in the midst of this, or by it, by the side of it, Numbers 11:31, the flesh or feathered fowl fell, so that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So they did eat, and were well filled,..... Or "exceedingly filled" (m), or too much, as some versions render it; they eat to excess, not merely to satisfy nature, but to gratify their sensual appetite: gluttony is a sin; it is an abuse of the creatures; it hurts the body by filling it with gross humours, and bringing diseases on it; it is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They were not estranged from their lust,.... By the goodness and liberality of God unto them, they were not brought to repentance for their sin of lusting; nor did they abstain from their fleshly lusts, or deny themselves of them, which the grace of God teaches to do; or else the sense is, what they lusted after, flesh, was not withheld from them,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
They were not estranged from their lust. For the more last gets, the more lust wants. It is like the daughter of the horse-leech, that always cries, “Give! Give!” God can satisfy the longing soul, but all the world cannot satisfy the cravings of lust.
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. They received what they pined for, but they had a curse with it. Affliction with a blessing is far better than prosperity with a curse.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The wrath of God came upon them,.... Either by causing fire to come down from heaven, or by suffering them to be surfeited by excessive eating, or by sending a plague among them; see Numbers 11:33, and slew the fattest of them; such perhaps who had been most guilty of the sin of gluttony, and had fed the most inordinately upon the flesh that was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For all this they sinned still,.... Those that survived, not being brought to repentance by mercies, nor by judgments; not by mercies, such as before mentioned, though they were great and many, and some of them continued, and of which they were very unworthy; the goodness of God should, but it does not always, lead persons to repentance; mercies,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. They were dyed ingrain with unbelief, so that it seemed as if it could not be washed out of them.
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And believed not for his wondrous works. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God. Perhaps some of them fought him even while they were dying; and the remnant that survived trembled, and “returned and enquired early after God.”
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore their days did he consume in vanity,.... They were not immediately cut off by the hand of God, though some were; but the greatest part spent their time, for about eight and thirty years together, in fruitless marches to and fro in the wilderness, and never entered into the land of Canaan, where they were gradually wasted and consumed,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. A great part of our trouble is the fruit of our own unbelief. It is like hemlock in the furrows of the field. They who distrust God are making a rod for their own back; and before they have done with it, they will have to rue the day in which they thought themselves wiser...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he slew them,.... Some of them, the spies particularly; or when he threatened to slay them, or was about to do it: then they sought him; that is, those who either survived the slain, or were threatened with destruction; these sought the Lord by prayer and supplication, that he would not destroy them; the Targum is, "they repented and sought...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
When he slew them, then they sought him : and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. Some men are like dull animals that will not go without the whip. Many of us cannot be...