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From: Numbers 11:4b-15

Craving for Egyptian Food

[4b] And the people of Israel also wept again, and said, “O that we had meat to
eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the
melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; [6] but now our strength is dried
up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

[7] Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of
bdellium. [8] The people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills or
beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste
of it was like the taste of cake baked with oil. [9] When the dew fell upon the
camp in the night, the manna fell with it.

Moses’ Prayer

[10] Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at
the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was
displeased. [11] Moses said to the LORD, “Why hast thou dealt ill with thy ser-
vant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou dost lay the burden
of aIl this people upon me? [12] Did I conceive all this people? Did I bring them
forth, that thou shouldst say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse car-
ries the sucking child, to the land which thou didst swear to give their fathers?’
[13] Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me
and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ [14] I am not able to carry all this peo-
ple alone, the burden is too heavy for me. [15] If thou wilt deal thus will me, kill
me at once, if I find favor in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

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Commentary:

11:7-9. The people dream of the sort of food they had in Egypt. The manna was
a sign of the providence of God, who supplied his people with food in the arid de-
sert. Therefore, their lack of appreciation for the manna, and on top of that their
protest against God, show their blindness, their inability to appreciate the gifts
God is giving them. Regarding the manna, cf. the note on Exodus 16:1-36.

[The note on Exodus 16:1-36 states:

16:1-36. The prodigy of the manna and the quails was a very important sign of
God’s special providence towards his people while they were in the desert. It is
recounted here and in Numbers 11, but in both accounts facts are interwoven
with interpretation of same and with things to do with worship and ethics.

Some scholars have argued that the manna is the same thing as a sweet secre-
tion that comes from the tamarisk (”tamarix mannifera”) when punctured by a
particular insect commonly found in the mountains of Sinai. The drops of this re-
sin solidify in the coldness of the night and some fall to the ground. They have
to be gathered up early in the morning because they deteriorate at twenty-four
degrees temperature (almost eighty degrees Celsius). Even today desert Arabs
collect them and use them for sucking and as a sweetener in confectionery.

As we know, quails cross the Sinai peninsula on their migrations back and forth
between Africa and Europe or Asia. In May or June, when they return from Africa
they usually rest in Sinai, exhausted after a long sea crossing; they can be ea-
sily trapped at this point.

Although these phenomenon can show where the manna and the quail come from,
the important thing is that the Israelites saw them as wonders worked by God.
The sacred writer stops to describe the impact the manna had on the sons of Is-
rael. They are puzzled by it, as can be seen from their remarks when it comes for
the first time: “What is it?” they ask, which in Hebrew sounds like “man hu”, that
is, manna (v. 15), which is how the Greek translation puts it. Indeed, the need to
collect it every day gave rise to complaints about some people being greedy (v.
20) and who did not understand the scope of God’s gift (v. 15). And just as man-
na is a divine gift to meet a basic human need (nourishment), so too the divine
precepts, specifically that of the sabbath, are a free gift from the Lord (v. 28). So,
obedience is not a heavy burden but the exercise of a capacity to receive the
good things that God gives to those who obey him.

The prodigy of the manna will resound right through the Bible: in the “Deuterono-
mic” tradition it is a test that God gives his people to show them that “man does
not live by bread alone, but [...] by everything that proceeds from the mouth of the
Lord” (Deut 8:3). The psalmist discovers that manna is “the bread of the strong”
(”of angels”, says the Vulgate and the RSV), which God sent in abundance (Ps
78:23ff; cf. Ps 105:40). The book of Wisdom spells out the features of this bread
from heaven “ready to eat, providing every pleasure and suited to every taste” (Wis
16:20-29). And the New Testament reveals the full depth of this “spiritual” food (1
Cor 10:3), for, as the “Catechism” teaches, “manna in the desert prefigured the
Eucharist, ‘the true bread from heaven’ (Jn 6:32)” (”Catechism of the Catholic
Church”, 1094).]

11:10-15. Despite the tone of complaint, in Moses’ words we can glimpse God’s
relationship to his people: he is their father, he made them into a people. And the
passage also shows the heavy responsibility he put on Moses’ shoulders—to the
point that he feels unable to carry it any longer.

The imagery used here to describe God’s concern for his people will later be used
by St Paul when he speaks of his concern for all the Christian communities which
grew from his preaching and which he has to guide towards Christ (cf. 1 Thess 2:
7-11).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.