Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Hebrews murmur and demand flesh and onions of Egypt; hence at verse 10, Moses is troubled and complains to God; but God, at verse 25, divides his burden among seventy elders, who all prophesy. Finally, at verse 31, God blows quails to the people, but inflicts a plague on them for their murmuring; whence the place was called the Graves of Craving.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 11:1-34
1. Meanwhile a murmuring of the people arose, as of those complaining of their toil, against the Lord. When the Lord heard it, He was angered. And the fire of the Lord, kindled against them, devoured the outermost part of the camp. 2. And when the people cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was absorbed. 3. And he called the name of that place, Burning, because the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them. 4. Now the mixed multitude that had come up with them was inflamed with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel likewise joining them, and said: Who will give us meat to eat? 5. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge; the cucumbers come to mind, and the melons, and the leeks and onions and garlic. 6. Our soul is dried up; our eyes see nothing but manna. 7. Now the manna was like coriander seed, the color of bdellium. 8. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground it in a mill, or crushed it in a mortar, cooking it in a pot and making cakes of it with a taste like bread made with oil. 9. And when the dew fell upon the camp at night, the manna fell with it. 10. Moses therefore heard the people weeping throughout their families, each one at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was very great; and the thing seemed intolerable also to Moses, 11. and he said to the Lord: Why have You afflicted Your servant? Why do I not find favor before You? And why have You laid the burden of all this people upon me? 12. Did I conceive all this multitude, or beget them, that You should say to me: Carry them in your bosom as a nurse is accustomed to carry an infant, and bring them to the land which You swore to their fathers? 13. Where shall I get meat to give to so great a multitude? They weep before me, saying: Give us meat to eat. 14. I alone cannot bear all this people, because they are too heavy for me. 15. But if it seems otherwise to You, I beseech You to kill me, and let me find favor in Your eyes, lest I be afflicted with such great evils. 16. And the Lord said to Moses: Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders and teachers of the people; and you shall bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and you shall make them stand there with you, 17. that I may come down and speak to you; and I will take some of your spirit and give it to them, that they may bear with you the burden of the people, and that you alone may not be weighed down. 18. And to the people you shall say: Sanctify yourselves; tomorrow you shall eat meat, for I have heard you saying: Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you meat, and you may eat, 19. not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, nor even twenty, 20. but for a whole month of days, until it comes out through your nostrils and turns to nausea, because you have rejected the Lord, who is in your midst, and have wept before Him, saying: Why did we come out of Egypt? 21. And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand foot soldiers of this people, and You say: I will give them meat to eat for a whole month; 22. shall a multitude of sheep and cattle be slaughtered so as to suffice for food? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together to satisfy them? 23. And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord too weak? Now you shall see whether My word will be fulfilled in deed. 24. Moses therefore came and told the people the words of the Lord, gathering seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom he caused to stand around the tabernacle. 25. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, taking some of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving it to the seventy men. And when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and they did not cease thereafter. 26. Now two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad, upon whom the Spirit rested; for they too had been enrolled, but had not gone out to the tabernacle. 27. And when they prophesied in the camp, a young man ran and reported to Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. 28. At once Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses and chosen from among many, said: My lord Moses, forbid them. 29. But he said: Why are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them His Spirit! 30. And Moses returned, with the elders of Israel, to the camp. 31. And a wind going out from the Lord, snatching quails from across the sea, brought them and let them fall upon the camp, a day's journey on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits above the ground. 32. So the people rose up all that day, and all night, and all the next day, and gathered quails; he who gathered least had ten homers. And they spread them out around the camp. 33. The meat was still between their teeth, nor had this kind of food yet failed, and behold the fury of the Lord was aroused against the people, and He struck them with a very great plague. 34. And that place was called the Graves of Craving; for there they buried the people who had craved. And departing from the Graves of Craving, they came to Hazeroth, and stayed there.
Verse 1: The murmuring of the people
1. MEANWHILE A MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE AROSE (the Hebrew is: and the people were murmuring evil things. So also the Septuagint and the Chaldean), AS OF THOSE COMPLAINING OF THEIR TOIL -- from the fatigue of the journey, namely because they had walked for three continuous days with their little ones, beasts, and baggage. For "as of those complaining," the Hebrew is kemitonenim, that is, as of those pretending to suffer toil and pain. Whence it is evident that they did not murmur so much from real fatigue (for they walked slowly, and God strengthened them), as they used it as a pretext for their gluttony, and for the cooking pots of Egypt, as is evident from verse 5. Therefore Vatablus translates: It happened that, when the people were pretending some annoyance and pain, the matter was displeasing in the ears of the Lord. For mitonenim, when it is Hitpael, it signifies a reflexive action, namely of those suffering, that is, of those causing or pretending pain; indeed some, such as Forster in his Lexicon, translate mitonenim as craving, namely for meat and onions, as is evident from verse 5. For the root on signifies both craving and pain: for the former is the cause of the latter, just as guilt is the cause of punishment. Others, such as R. David, Pagninus, Mercerius, translate mitonenim as pretending, namely fatigue and pain, when in reality they were not so much tired as they craved the cooking pots of Egypt, as was their custom. Marinus translates it as acting perversely. Deuteronomy 8:4 supports this, where it says: "Your foot has not been worn down; behold, it is the fortieth year."
Furthermore, when these murmurers express the cause of their murmuring and pain, they do not name fatigue, but the craving for meat and onions. "Who will give us," they say at verse 4, "meat to eat?" etc. Finally, others everywhere translate mitonenim not as of those suffering or those fatigued, but of those murmuring, that is, pretending fatigue when in reality they craved meat. And so the Septuagint and our translator render Lamentations 3:39: "Why does a living man murmur (Hebrew: iitonen), a man, for his sins?" As if to say: Why does a man murmur, accusing God's providence, as if it had predestined and decreed his ruin and destruction, when he ought to accuse his own sins, which are the true cause of anyone's destruction?
Abulensis thinks this murmuring occurred around the fortieth year from the departure from Egypt; but it is far truer that it occurred in the second year from the departure. For it happened immediately after the departure from Sinai, at the thirteenth encampment; and the Hebrews departed from Sinai in the second year, second month. Furthermore, this murmuring occurred on account of the manna; but the manna began to be given in the first year: therefore shortly after that, namely in the second year, this murmuring occurred, when from continuous eating of it they began to grow weary of it.
The fire of the Lord kindled against them
AND THE FIRE OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED AGAINST THEM -- that is, from the Lord. So the Septuagint and the Chaldeans. Secondly, "fire of the Lord," that is, a fire immense, fierce, and terrible; for thus are called the cedars of God, the mountains of God, that is, great cedars, lofty mountains. There is here a hysteron proteron. For this plague was inflicted after the murmuring for meat, as I shall show at verse 4; therefore this verse and the following, according to the order of the narrative, should have been placed after verse 33.
Note: The murmurers are here punished and burned with fire. So greatly does God abhor murmuring and rebellion.
Verse 3: The place called Burning
Verse 3. This place was called Burning from the fire; but from the punishment for gluttony it was called the Graves of Craving, as is evident from verse 34. For this is one and the same place, just as the murmuring is one and the same. Note: That these events occurred not on the march, but in the camp, that is, at the pitching of the camp, is indicated by verse 4; for this is what the Hebrew hammachane signifies, that is, the encampment of the camp.
Verse 4: The mixed multitude inflamed with desire
4. NOW THE MIXED MULTITUDE, etc., WAS INFLAMED WITH DESIRE. -- Note the word "quippe" (for although in the Hebrew it is "and," yet among the Hebrews "and" is often causal, meaning "because, indeed"): for this causal word signifies the cause of what preceded, namely why the Hebrews murmured, and why they were punished with fire, namely that, somewhat fatigued from the toil of the journey, they began to sigh for the meat and the cooking pots of Egypt; whence it follows that it is one and the same murmuring, which at verse 1 is briefly, and here fully, narrated. For Moses wished first to touch briefly on both the murmuring and its punishment; then to narrate fully and in order at this verse the whole history of the event. That this is so is further confirmed from the fact that it is not likely that the Hebrews were punished with fire for murmuring or complaining of fatigue alone, or that after this punishment and disaster they murmured again here immediately, from desire for meat. For they would have feared being punished with fire again. Thirdly, the Psalmist himself indicates the same thing, Psalm 77, verse 20, when he describes this murmuring of theirs thus: "Can He also give bread (that is, food, for in Hebrew this is bread; whence Genebrardus, from R. Kimchi, understands by bread 'meat') or prepare a table in the desert?" Then he adds the punishment: "Therefore the Lord heard and was indignant, and fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath rose up against Israel." You see that the punishment of fire was inflicted on account of murmuring not so much of those complaining of fatigue, as of those craving food and meat.
On the character of the mob
Learn here the character of the common people. What and of what kind is the mob?
First, Philo, in his book On Joseph: "Just as cooks," he says, "prepare all foods for the pleasure of the palate and neglect what is useful, so the ignoble mob, indifferent to real advantages, pursues only present pleasure. And just as the cook cares for nothing else than useless and superfluous pleasures of the belly, so also the mob," etc.
"The common crowd is driven by desires, not by reason," says Thucydides. "The mob is desirous of pleasures, and happy if its prince leads it in that direction," says Tacitus, book 14.
Secondly: "The populace grows wanton in idleness," says Livy, Decade 1, book 2.
Thirdly: "It is implanted by nature in every multitude to rejoice in novelty and change," says Agathias, book 3.
Fourth: "In every people there is something malignant and querulous against its rulers," says Plutarch in the Politics.
Fifth: "The multitude of the mob follows one after another as if he were wiser, by custom more than by judgment, as sheep follow sheep," says Sallust to Caesar.
Sixth: "The mob, fickle in character, seditious and quarrelsome, eager for novelties, averse to quiet and leisure," says the same in the Jugurthine War.
Seventh, Antisthenes in Laertius, book 6: "The mob," he says, "approves only what it is accustomed to (as the Hebrews here the cooking pots of Egypt), and shrinks from the exotic (from the manna), not because it is bad, but because it is foreign."
Eighth, Ovid, book 1 of the Tristia, elegy 8, sings thus of the mob:
"As the shadow is companion to those walking in the sun's rays; when it hides, pressed by clouds, the shadow flees: so the fickle mob follows fortune's light, which, as soon as a cloud is drawn over, it departs."
The same again: "The mob judges friendships by utility."
Ninth, Polybius, book 11 of the History: "As the sea," he says, "is calm by its nature; but when winds rush in, it becomes such as the winds that stir it: so the ignoble mob is calm in itself, but is stirred up and rendered such as its leaders and counselors are."
Tenth, Plutarch in the Moralia: "He who catches birds," he says, "imitates their voices to lure them into snares; so to bring the multitude over to your opinion, you must humor and comply with its character."
Eleventh, Themistocles, treated with insult by the Athenians, whom he had benefited with many services, used to say that he was like plane trees, under whose shade people run when afflicted by a storm, and then tear them down as soon as the storm passes. The very wise man perceived that the ways of the mob are such that in the dangers of war they implore the help of brave men, but in peace they despise them, indeed harass and vex them. So Plutarch in the Apophthegms.
Twelfth, when an oracle had been delivered to the Athenians that in their city there was one man who opposed the opinions of all, and the people, shouting, ordered that he be sought out to be killed, Phocion came forward into the midst: "I," he said, "am the one the oracle designated. For everything that the mob says and does displeases me." By this saying he wished to show that the undisciplined multitude, since it is ruled by passions, does nothing and says nothing sound. So Plutarch in the same place. Hence Antisthenes, entering the theater one day, advanced pushing against the crowd. When asked why he did this: "This," he said, "I strive to do in all of life." Meaning that it is the mark of a wise man in all things to differ from the multitude. So Laertius, book 6. For nothing is more excellent than that we should not follow in the manner of sheep the flock going before us, proceeding not where one ought to go, but where others go.
Thirteenth, St. Basil as quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, part 1, sermon 18: "Just as clouds," he says, "are carried now here, now there, according to changes in conditions, so the mob bends itself now to this side, now to that, with every wind."
"The uncertain mob is split into opposing factions:" for it is a beast of many heads.
Fourteenth, Pope John XXIII, Pontiff of Rome, being once asked: "What is farthest from the truth?" answered: "The opinion of the mob. For whatever it praises is worthy of blame; whatever it thinks is vain; whatever it says is false; what it disapproves is good; what it approves is evil; and whatever it exalts is infamous."
Was inflamed with desire
WAS INFLAMED WITH DESIRE -- for the meat and onions of Egypt, as is evident from the following verse. For although the Egyptians did not eat sheep, as is evident from Genesis 46:34, nor sheep nor onions, since they worshipped them as gods; whence Juvenal, mocking them, in his next-to-last Satire, sings thus:
"It is a sin to violate leek and onion, or crush them with a bite. O holy nations, in whose gardens such gods are born! Every table abstains from wooly animals; there it is a crime to slaughter the offspring of a she-goat."
Nevertheless they ate other animals; indeed some ate sheep and onions, as is evident from this passage, while others abstained from them for religious reasons. For only among certain of them was this religion, or rather superstition.
You will say: The Hebrews had their own livestock, which they could kill and eat; why then do they here demand meat from Moses, and murmur?
I respond: Those livestock were few and would not have sufficed to feed so many thousands of people, even for a short time. See verse 22. Furthermore, they wished to preserve this livestock for breeding in the promised land. Finally, not all had livestock, especially from that rabble from which the murmuring began. So Abulensis. St. Augustine adds that they desired quails, for when these were given, God quieted their murmuring. But Scripture does not express this, but only meat, leeks, and onions; nor was this rabble accustomed to quails in Egypt.
Morally, St. Bernard, in his tract "Behold, we have left all things," teaches that craving and solicitude for temporal things is the sign of an uncultivated mind: "As the contempt of external things," he says, "is the evident sign of spiritual exercise and care of the heart, so solicitude for those same things is an equally certain sign of an uncultivated mind. For it is written: 'In desires is every idle man.'"
Sitting. -- So also the Septuagint, reading with different vowel points yeshvu, that is, "and they sat down." But the Masoretes and modern Hebrews with the Chaldean read vayashuvu, that is, "and they returned," or "they turned back."
Verse 5: The cucumbers come to mind
5. THE CUCUMBERS COME TO MIND, etc. --
Morally, St. Gregory, book 20 of the Moralia, chapter 16: "What," he says, "is signified by the pots of flesh, if not the carnal works of life, to be purged by the pains of tribulations, as if by fires? What by the melons, if not earthly sweetnesses? What is expressed by the leeks and onions, which those who eat them generally shed tears over, if not the difficulty of the present life, which is carried on by its lovers not without grief, and yet is loved with tears? Therefore abandoning the manna, with melons and flesh they sought leeks and onions: because indeed perverse minds despise the sweet gifts of grace and rest, and for carnal pleasures they crave the toilsome journeys of this life, even those full of tears: they scorn to have what brings spiritual joy; they eagerly desire what brings carnal groaning. Let Job therefore rebuke with his truthful voice the madness of such people: because indeed the perverse in judgment prefer the disturbed to the peaceful, the hard to the gentle, the rough to the mild, the transitory to the eternal, the uncertain to the secure."
FREE OF CHARGE -- at a cheap price, and virtually no cost.
Verse 6: Our soul is dried up -- the variety of manna's flavor
6. Our soul is dried up -- as if to say: Our appetite languishes, feels nausea, and virtually dries up, because we eat manna, which is dry and always the same, and nothing green, nothing juicy.
You will say: The manna offered them every flavor, as it says in Wisdom 16:20; therefore also the flavor of meat and onions: why then do they murmur?
Some respond that only the just perceived the variety of flavor in the manna, and that at will; but the impious, who were in mortal sin, perceived in the manna nothing, nor tasted anything except its natural flavor, which was that of honey or bread made with oil, at which we easily grow nauseated. But at Exodus 16:31, I showed that this benefit was common to the impious as well as the pious.
I respond therefore that this nausea and murmuring arose not from the natural sweetness of the manna (for this, if tasted frequently, causes nausea), nor from weariness of always the same food, since it varied its flavor at their will; but because the smell, color, form, thinness, and other similar qualities always remained the same in the manna, and a certain pleasant variety of these qualities attracts the taste more. Whence also gluttons, especially children, often desire to satisfy and fill not so much the mouth and stomach, as the eyes, the imagination, and the hands with food.
Verse 7: The color of bdellium
7. THE COLOR OF BDELLIUM. -- In Hebrew, its eye was like the eye of bdellium; eye, that is color, which is the object of the eye; it is a metonymy: see Canon 30. Bdellium is the color of a fingernail, according to Pliny, book 12, chapter 9, and Dioscorides, book 1, chapter 64, namely it is white and translucent. Whence the Septuagint translate it as similar to crystal; hence also bdellium is called in Hebrew bedolach, which signifies onyx, or the onyx stone. See what was said at Exodus 16:31.
Verse 8: A taste like bread made with oil
8. WITH A TASTE LIKE BREAD MADE WITH OIL -- so also the Septuagint and the Chaldean. But more recent translators render it: with the taste of fresh, or moist, oil.
Verse 9: The dew and the manna
9. AND WHEN DEW FELL UPON THE CAMP AT NIGHT, THE MANNA FELL WITH IT. -- The Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint add: upon it, namely upon the dew. Therefore the dew here does not signify a dewy vapor, but one that is condensed and frozen, that is, frost, which was spread beneath the manna itself, lest the manna be defiled by contact with the earth, as I said at Exodus 16:13.
Verse 10: The thing seemed intolerable to Moses
10. THE THING SEEMED INTOLERABLE TO MOSES -- namely that the whole people was wailing and demanding meat from Moses. Whence he so greatly felt the burden of the people here that it seemed worse to him than death, and he wished to die. This is the nature of faintheartedness, which Victor the Abbot beautifully describes in Sophronius, chapter 164: "Faintheartedness," he says, "is a passion of the soul. For just as those with impaired eyes, the more they suffer, the more they seem to themselves to see light; but those who have healthy eyes, only a little: so also the fainthearted are quickly disturbed by a small temptation, but those who are healthy in soul rejoice more in temptations."
Seleucus, king of Asia, according to Plutarch, used to say: "If the mob knew how laborious it is merely to read and write so many letters, it would not deign to pick up the diadem even from the ground."
When a certain person was pestering Alfonso, king of Aragon, rather importunately at dinner, the king, not at all disturbed, said that "donkeys alone are more blessed than kings; for while they eat, the muleteers take off their pack-saddles, but this old man puts his on me while I dine."
The Belgians remember Charles V, who, growing old and weary of the burdens and cares of government, when at Brussels he was transferring the sovereignty of Belgium to his son Philip II, said with tears: "O son, I impose a great burden on you. For in the entire time of my reign, I never had a quarter of an hour free from great cares and anxieties." Withdrawing therefore, he lived the last four years of his life for himself and for God.
Pope Adrian II, according to Petrarch, asked no greater punishment of an enemy than that he should become Pope.
Pius V, the holy Pontiff, used to say: "When I was a religious, I had good hope for the salvation of my soul; made Cardinal, I trembled; now created Pontiff, I almost despair." Clement VIII felt the same way.
It is no wonder, therefore, that St. Gregory, Nicholas I, Clement III, Celestine V, and others so fled the papacy.
Lucian says that the colossi of Myron and Praxiteles gleamed outwardly with much ivory and gold, and held a thunderbolt or trident in their right hand, to represent Jupiter or some divinity; while inside nothing appeared but pitch, nails, spiderwebs, mice, and filth. And he affirms that such is the life of princes, whose outward pomp and display, if you look at it, seems the most blessed of all, most like the life of gods; but if you consider the cares, suspicions, and hatreds by which they are inwardly tormented, nothing is more wretched. Rightly therefore did King Antigonus say to his insolent son: "Do you not know, O son, that our kingdom is nothing other than a splendid servitude?" Therefore the lot of princes is not to be sought, not to be envied, but is worthy of compassion.
Verse 12: Carry them in your bosom
12. THAT YOU SAY TO ME. -- In Hebrew, because You say to me; so also the Septuagint. Whence it is evident that God had said to Moses: "Be to this people as a nurse and mother," that is, show the most diligent and, as it were, maternal care for them; although this is nowhere else expressly written or narrated.
CARRY THEM IN YOUR BOSOM -- this is the duty of Pastors, indeed of all Saints. Such was Elijah, to whom accordingly Elisha, as he ascended into heaven, cried out: "My father, the chariot of Israel, and its charioteer." Hence the king is called basileus as if basis, and Adonai as if eden, that is, the support of the people; this is what Paul says: "Bear one another's burdens."
Do you want examples and teachings of the Saints? Take them from the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, chapter 16, On Patience: A certain man, seeing a religious carrying a dead person on a bed, says to him: "You carry the dead? Go, carry the living;" because the peacemakers shall be called children of God.
In the same place, chapter 15, On Humility: Abbot Anuph taught his seven brothers the way of living in harmony with one another. For throughout the whole week he stoned the face of a certain statue in the morning; but in the evening he would say: Forgive me. Asked why he did this, he said: I did this for your sake. When you saw me stoning the face of the statue, did it speak? Did it rage? And they said: No. Again, when I did penance before it, was it disturbed? Did it say: I do not forgive? And they answered: No. Then he said: Therefore we also who are seven brothers, if you want us to remain together, let us become like this statue, which is not disturbed when affronted with insults. And they prostrated themselves saying: Whatever you command we shall do; and they remained together their entire lives working and acting according to the word of Anuph. He himself appointed one of them as steward, and whatever he set before them, they ate, and no one said: Bring something else, or I do not want to eat that; and so they passed their life in peace and quiet.
In the same place, Abbot Nesteros, asked how he had lived peacefully in the monastery and how in any disturbance he had learned to keep silence and patience, answered: When I first entered the community, I said to my soul: You and the donkey, be one. For just as the donkey is beaten and does not speak, suffers injury and does not respond, so also you; as it also reads in the Psalm: "I have become as a beast of burden before You, and I am always with You."
In the same place, book 6, chapter 4: Abbot Moses said: If one bears his own sins, he does not see the sins of his neighbor. Again, Abbot Agatho said: If you live with your neighbor, be as a stone pillar, which if it is insulted, does not become angry, and if it is honored, is not puffed up. In the same place, in the Sayings of the Egyptian Fathers, saying 107, they said of Abbot Macarius the Elder: that just as God protects the whole world and bears the sins of men, so he too was like a kind of earthly God among the brothers, covering their faults, and what he saw or heard, as if not seeing and not hearing.
Verse 15: Kill me -- Moses' anguish
15. But if it seems otherwise to You, I beseech You to KILL ME. -- Moses here was oppressed by such great anguish that he desired this favor for himself, namely to be allowed to die; therefore, being most bitterly afflicted and in a disturbed state of mind, and not fully present to himself, he said these things and asked for death; whence he committed either no sin at all, or only a slight sin of faintheartedness; and therefore from the Lord he received not a rebuke, but consolation.
Verse 16: Gather for Me seventy men
16. AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES: GATHER FOR ME SEVENTY MEN FROM THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL -- so that He might divide your burden among them, that they might relieve you in governing the people. For although at Exodus 18, at the suggestion of Jethro, Moses had appointed in the people seventy judges of the Hebrews, deacons and tribunes, who would decide the disputes of the people, nevertheless the final appeal was always to Moses. Moreover, the greater cases were referred to Moses. Finally, those matters which concerned God and the worship of God, Moses alone decided; therefore he bore a heavy burden: to lighten it, God here commands seventy men to be chosen, who would perform these three functions equally with Moses; and therefore He marked them equally with Moses with the prophetic spirit, so that they might familiarly consult God in doubtful matters, and be instructed by Him.
Note: These seventy were not the same as those seventy who, not so much by selection as by chance encounter, or offering themselves, accompanied Moses going to his conference with God on Sinai, Exodus 24:1; but from those and others these seventy were selected by Moses and confirmed by God. These seventy continued thenceforth, and had continuous successors, even in Canaan, but lacking the prophetic spirit. For by their counsel alone they assisted the high priest, who in Deuteronomy 17:9 is established as the supreme judge of the Hebrews, and they were his counselors.
The seventy elders and the Sanhedrin
Hence the council of these men with the high priest was the supreme council, and was called by the Hebrews Sanhedrin, in Greek synedrion, about which Josephus may be consulted, and Galatinus, book 4, chapter 5. And these were the elders who in that great synedrion, or council of theirs, proclaimed Christ guilty of death, and handed Him over to Pilate to be killed, as recounted in Matthew chapters 26 and 27.
The oral tradition from Moses to the elders
Furthermore, that Moses communicated to these 70 elders the meaning of the law, especially the more secret and mystical sense to be handed down to posterity (which Philo calls the spiritual and archetypal law, in his book On the Planting of Noah, and Nazianzen in his first Apology), the Hebrews teach, as Genebrardus reports, in book 2 of the Chronology: "Moses," he says, "received the law from Sinai and handed it to Joshua; he in turn to the elders, the elders to the Prophets; and the Prophets handed it to the men of the Great Synagogue, who were Ezra and the rest." St. Hilary confirms the same in his commentary on Psalm 2: "Moses," he says, "although he had committed the words of the Old Testament to writing, nevertheless had entrusted certain separate and hidden deeper mysteries of the law to the seventy elders, who would thereafter remain as Doctors. The Lord also recalls this teaching in the Gospel, saying: Upon the seat of Moses the Scribes and Pharisees have sat; and their teaching continued into the future." Therefore the Scribes seem to have succeeded these elders in the office of explaining the law and interpreting Holy Scripture, who accordingly in the Gospel are called Lawyers and Elders. The Hebrews report that by these elders a great synod of 120 men was held under Artaxerxes Longimanus, in which the order of the 22 Canonical books was established; which Synod, if we believe Elias, preface 3 of the Masorah, was presided over by Daniel, with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Zerubbabel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
Qualifications of the seventy judges
WHOM YOU KNOW TO BE ELDERS AND TEACHERS OF THE PEOPLE. -- Hence it is evident that by elders here are understood not so much those advanced in age, as those advanced in prudence and character, who "are elders of the people," that is, who are regarded by the people as grave and wise. For other elders, simply by their age, would not have needed to be distinguished by Moses' judgment and selection, since their grey hairs were conspicuous to all. So St. Gregory, book 19 of the Moralia, chapter 13. Add that it matters little whether a man is young in age or old, provided he is old in character. Concerning this old age the Wise Man says in chapter 4, verse 8: "Old age is venerable, not by its length, nor measured by the number of years; but wisdom is grey hair for a man, and an unblemished life is the age of old age." Conversely, he is called a boy who is destitute of prudence and a good life, that is, who is foolish and impious, even if he be a hundred years old, of whom Isaiah says, chapter 65, verse 20: "For the boy of a hundred years shall die;" boy, that is, sinner; for the latter verse in the Hebrew manner explains the former: so St. Gregory, book 19 of the Moralia, chapter 13.
Abulensis notes that in these seventy judges, and in all others whatsoever, three things are required: first, prudence both human and divine; second, justice and upright conduct; third, gravity and dignity of person. To these add a fourth: fortitude and zeal for the common good, so that they neither fear the powerful nor flatter them, and seek not their own interests but the commonwealth's. Croesus, because he was rich, thought himself happy; and when he asked Solon whether he did not agree, Solon replied that no one should be called happy before his death, because he could be stripped of his wealth and happiness. Croesus took this badly, and dismissed Solon curtly and without a gift. Aesop saw this and was grieved, and said: "O Solon, one must speak with kings either as little as possible, or as agreeably as possible." "Not at all," said Solon, "but either as little as possible, or as honestly as possible."
When Croesus was finally captured by Cyrus and condemned to the pyre, he cried out: "O Solon, now I find by experience that your judgment was most true."
Themistocles, when he was general, replied to Simonides of Ceos who was asking something unjust: "Neither would you be a good poet if you sang something other than poetry, nor would I be a good general if I did favors for you beyond what the laws permit."
Pelopidas, going out from home to war, said to his wife who was escorting him and praying with tears that he look to his safety: "Private citizens, O wife, should be advised about this; but one holding public office should look to keeping his people safe;" so Plutarch reports in the Lives of Solon, Themistocles, and Pelopidas.
Note secondly that at this same time when the Areopagite judges were established among the Greeks, who judged both criminal and civil cases: for that the Areopagus was established in the fifth year after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, Eusebius teaches in the Chronicle.
Verse 17: I will come down -- the prophetic spirit
17. I WILL COME DOWN -- by inclining the pillar of cloud, in which I hide and reside as charioteer and guide.
I will take some of your spirit
I WILL TAKE SOME OF YOUR SPIRIT -- not as if I would diminish and take away a part of your spirit and transfer it to these seventy: for this is impossible, especially with accidents and vital acts; for these cannot be transferred from one subject to another, that is, from one soul to another. This would also be disadvantageous to you, O Moses, just as if you alone, filled with a greater and mighty spirit, were governing the people: for a thousand are more easily governed by a great spirit than a hundred by a small and feeble one. But "I will take," that is, I will receive and newly produce something "of your spirit," that is, of the spirit that is in you, as the Hebrew and the Septuagint have; something, I say, not the same in number but in kind, that is, I will produce something similar to your spirit, and I will give it to those seventy elders, yet in such a way that your spirit remains whole for you: because equally as before, the care of the whole people will henceforth rest upon you, even though I give you these helpers. Thus light is taken and borrowed from a lamp when a candle is lit from it: for the light of the candle lit from the lamp diminishes nothing of the lamp's light, but rather increases and spreads it. For the spirit in Moses was as if in a lamp, a fountain, a head, and an exemplar, and from there it was derived, as it were, into the other seventy. Whence the Chaldean translates: I will increase from the spirit that is upon you, and I will place it upon them. So Theodoret, Question 18, and St. Augustine here, Question 18, and in book 5 of On the Trinity, chapter 14, who also adds saying: Thus the spirit of Elijah rested upon Elisha, 2 Kings 2:15, that is, the Spirit of God was given to Elisha, who would work through him such things as He worked through Elijah.
God uses this expression for the sake of elegance, as if God, just as He distributed a part of the burden taken from the shoulders of Moses to the other seventy, similarly took something from the spirit of Moses, which had been given to bear that burden, and distributed a similar spirit to them.
Furthermore, this spirit is understood as the prophetic spirit, as is sufficiently gathered from verse 25. For it holds the first place in the task of governing the people. For prophecy here and elsewhere is general and embraces many things, as I said at 1 Corinthians 14, namely: First, prudence in governing; second, teaching and counsel, for resolving doubts both of law and justice, and of ceremonies and religion, and all other matters; third, knowledge of hidden things, for deciding disputes and hidden cases; fourth, properly speaking, foreknowledge of the future, for either seeking or guarding against and averting things from the people; fifth, praises and hymns to God, as I shall say at verse 25.
Verse 18: Sanctify yourselves
18. SANCTIFY YOURSELVES -- that is, as the Chaldean says, prepare yourselves, namely by cleansing and purifying yourselves for a heavenly banquet, as for eating the divine and sacred flesh of quails, which I will blow to you tomorrow.
THAT THE LORD MAY GIVE YOU MEAT -- namely on account of your gluttony and your murmuring, and therefore He will indeed give you meat, but to your ruin: so Vatablus and Abulensis. And there is an enallage of person: for God speaks of Himself in the third person, as if to say: Therefore I, God, will give you meat.
18 and 20. And you shall eat, etc., a month of days -- that is, for a whole month, or all the days of a month: so Vatablus.
Verse 20: Until it comes out through your nostrils
20. UNTIL IT COMES OUT THROUGH YOUR NOSTRILS AND TURNS TO NAUSEA -- that is, until from excessive gluttony your stomach belches up the meat, and your nostrils breathe it out, and finally the meat becomes for you a source of nausea and revulsion. For this is properly what the Hebrew zara signifies, although the Chaldean translates it as a stumbling block, the Septuagint as choler; but these interpret not so much the proper signification of the word, as the sense paraphrastically, and the thing itself.
Ulysses Aldrovandus teaches, in Ornithology book 13, chapter 22, that quails, especially the fattier ones, if eaten too frequently and abundantly, generate putrid blood and thick, phlegmatic, and viscous humors, which are prone to produce epilepsy, tetanus, and similar diseases. Hence they caused nausea and other diseases in the Hebrews who gorged themselves on them. So St. Jerome, and Fracastorius, in book 2 of On the French Disease, when he says:
"And let the sluggish quail be avoided with its heavy fattening."
The ancients removed quails from their tables because they feed on poison, and they thought they would be equally poisoned if they ate them. But Aldrovandus refutes this; and he also refutes the opinion of Galen and Pliny who said they had observed many people who, from eating quails, were seized with muscular spasms and convulsions, because, they say, these birds feed on hellebore.
This is a singular remedy for averting lust, gluttony, and drunkenness: if one contemplates the filth, phlegm, vomiting, nausea, and other things that follow from it. Thus in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, title 5, number 22, that hermit did this, who, tempted by the spirit of fornication regarding a certain woman, when he heard she had died, went and opened her tomb and wiped the pus of the putrefied corpse with his cloak; then returning to the desert, when the foul suggestion assailed him, he looked at the stench of that infected cloak and said: "Behold, you have what you were seeking; satisfy yourself with it." And thus he tormented himself with this foul cloth until that lustful thought departed. For if the gluttonous body is punished with such filth, with what filth will the gluttonous soul be punished? Rightly therefore Augustine said, as reported by Possidius in his Life, chapter 22: "I do not fear the uncleanness of food, but the uncleanness of desire."
Hence in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, title 5, number 23, to a certain monk who had overcome carnal temptation by labor and fasting, the demon who incites carnal concupiscence appeared in the form of an Ethiopian woman, ugly and foul-smelling, so that he could not bear her stench; and this Ethiopian woman said to him: "I am she who appears sweet in the hearts of men, but because of your obedience and the toil which you endure, I have not been permitted to seduce you, but I have shown you my foulness."
Thus Blessed Jacopone, tempted by a craving for beef, bought some and kept it in his room until it rotted and stank horribly throughout the whole corridor; then he would smell it and kiss it as if it were the most fragrant thing. On account of this stench he had stirred up, he was cast by his Superior into the foulest place, where he continually gave thanks to God. Christ appeared to him consoling him and saying: "Ask what you wish, and you shall obtain it." Then he said: "I ask, Lord, that You cast me into a place far fouler than this, that I may expiate my sins there; for this one is too tolerable for me." Immediately Christ poured upon him an extraordinary consolation, and gave him the grace to be henceforth superior to all evils, afflictions, and torments of this life; and to remain fixed in a kind of continuous contemplation of God, and to exist as if in rapture. The same man, at the beginning, in order to tame his gluttony, used wormwood as a kind of salt for his food, and spoiled it thereby, until he reached the point of referring the taste of food to God alone, so that finally nothing but God was pleasing to him.
BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE LORD -- because you have rejected the manna, which was a great gift of the Lord, and because you regret the deliverance by which the Lord led you out of Egypt.
Verse 21: Six hundred thousand foot soldiers
21. THERE ARE SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOT SOLDIERS OF THIS PEOPLE. -- "Foot soldiers," namely armed Hebrew men; for the number of women, children, servants, and Egyptians easily grew to three million.
Verse 23: Is the hand of the Lord too weak?
23. Is the hand (that is, the power) of the Lord TOO WEAK? -- God here responds to Moses' doubt by opposing His own omnipotence. For Moses, being disturbed, showed certain movements of doubt and distrust toward God, although on account of his disturbance and thoughtlessness he did not sin gravely. St. Augustine, however, thinks Moses doubted not about the thing promised, but only about the manner of carrying it out, just as the Blessed Virgin doubted when she said: "How shall this be done, since I know not man?"
Verse 25: They prophesied
25. THEY PROPHESIED. -- You ask, what and how? The Rabbis respond that these seventy elders prophesied about the death of Moses in the desert and about the succession of Joshua to the leadership of the people; they conjecture this from the fact that Joshua said to Moses: "Forbid them." But these are their inventions, indeed fabrications.
Others more plausibly respond that they prophesied something pertaining to the governance of the people. Thirdly and best, Abulensis: They prophesied, he says, that is, by God's impulse they celebrated God and the praises of God. For thus Saul is said to have prophesied when, carried away as if by divine enthusiasm, he sang the praises of God, 1 Samuel 10. Likewise the singers and psalmists are called Prophets, and are said to prophesy with harps, psalteries, and cymbals, 1 Chronicles 16; for this spirit was the sign and part of the general prophecy, of which I spoke at verse 17.
NOR DID THEY CEASE THEREAFTER. -- For "they ceased," in Hebrew tasaphu, that is, "they added": so the Septuagint, Theodoret here, Question 20, and Vatablus. Whence it follows that these seventy prophesied on that day only, and no more. But our translator and the Chaldean, reading with different vowel points yasupu, that is, "they failed, they ceased," from the root soph or asaph, that is, "he finished, failed, ceased." And this is truer: for of this spirit (though not as regards the praises and singing of God, yet as regards its other parts, of which I spoke at verse 17) these seventy had continual need for governing and for deciding the disputes of the people. Therefore they always had the prophetic spirit, as it were in a habitual disposition prepared and assisting them; although they did not always actually prophesy, but only when they had to respond to the questions of the people. For then God spoke to them inwardly, and inspired what was to be said or done, just as He inspired the Prophets regarding what they were to say or do.
Verse 27: Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp
27. ELDAD AND MEDAD ARE PROPHESYING IN THE CAMP. -- The Jews fable that these two were brothers of Moses, by the same father, namely Amram, but by a different mother. For Amram, after the law was given (Leviticus chapter 18, verse 12), allegedly divorced Jochebed his wife, since she was his aunt, and then married another woman, from whom he begot Eldad and Medad. But, to pass over other arguments that Abulensis piles up here, if this were true, Eldad and Medad would have been at this time infants of one year: how then could they have prophesied? For that law of Leviticus chapter 18 was given in this very year, which was the second from the departure from Egypt.
Note the phrase "in the camp"; for the other sixty-eight were prophesying in the presence of Moses at the tabernacle, and Joshua saw this: whence he did not envy them, because he saw that they were prophesying at Moses' will and action, and that nothing was taken from Moses' honor through them, since, joined and subject to Moses, they received this spirit from him. But the other two, prophesying in the camp, were separated from Moses, and in his absence and without his knowledge -- at least as Joshua supposed -- they prophesied: whence Joshua feared they might injure Moses' authority and glory. So Abulensis.
There once existed a book of the oracles of Eldad and Medad, from which Hermas, a disciple of Paul, in the first book called The Shepherd, chapter 2, has this: "The Lord is near to those who turn to Him, as it is written in Eldad and Medad, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness."
Verse 28: Joshua said: Forbid them
28. AT ONCE JOSHUA SON OF NUN, THE MINISTER OF MOSES, AND CHOSEN FROM AMONG MANY: -- For although Moses had many servants, yet he had none more faithful, more intimate, or more vigorous than Joshua, whence he also designated him as his successor.
HE SAID: MY LORD MOSES, FORBID THEM. -- Joshua said this from a certain jealousy or envy, fearing namely that Moses' glory and authority would be diminished if others also prophesied as much as Moses, especially in the camp, without the knowledge or against the will of Moses, as Joshua supposed. However, this fault was venial, because he had in view not his own glory but that of Moses, his leader and lord, and the good of the people. This is evident from Moses' response. The Chaldean translates: throw them in prison, and so it can be rendered from the Hebrew.
Verse 29: Would that all the people might prophesy
29. BUT HE SAID: WHY ARE YOU JEALOUS FOR MY SAKE? WHO WOULD GRANT THAT ALL THE PEOPLE MIGHT PROPHESY? -- Let all Prelates, Doctors, and preachers imitate this spirit of charity, who seek not their own glory but that of God alone, and ask what Martha asked of Christ: "Tell my sister to help me."
This is a liberal and kingly spirit, which shares its honors with friends: thus Alexander, when the captive wife of Darius had greeted Hephaestion instead of Alexander, and she, recognizing her error, was ashamed, said: "You were not mistaken; he too is Alexander." Again, to the son of Mazaeus, who had enjoyed the highest favor with Darius and had been appointed satrap, he added another, larger province. But he, declining, said: "Then, O king, there was one Darius; now you have made many Alexanders." So Plutarch in his Life of Alexander.
30. AND MOSES RETURNED TO THE CAMP -- that is, from the tabernacle, which was in the middle of the camp, he went out to the surrounding encampments of the people.
Verse 31: The wind and the quails
31. And a wind going out from the Lord -- that is, a wind recently produced by the Lord, beyond the order of nature, blew in quails. A similar expression is found at Genesis 1:2; Exodus 10:19. This was a different sending of quails from that at Exodus 16:13. For that one occurred shortly after the departure from Egypt, in the first year at the eighth encampment, which was in Sin; but this one occurred in the second year, at the thirteenth encampment, which was at the Graves of Craving.
SNATCHING QUAILS FROM ACROSS THE SEA (the Red Sea, which they had already crossed) IT BROUGHT THEM. -- Whence at Psalm 77:26 the wind blowing the quails is said to have been the African or Libyan wind, which is partly Western, partly Southern; for the Red Sea faced the desert in that orientation. Whence also Josephus asserts that these quails were blown not from the Ortygian islands, since those were far away (for they were situated in Greece), but from the Arabian Gulf, which abounds in them. This wind therefore was not so much natural as miraculous, and the work of God's power. For Pliny, book 10, chapter 23, asserts that quails naturally fly when the North wind blows, not the South wind, as it is humid and heavier.
Note: This wind, and consequently these quails, were driven by an angel, or rather by several angels; indeed Abulensis thinks each individual quail was brought by an individual angel. For one angel, he says, could not extend his impulsive power to many, since they were discontinuous. But this is false; for thus many thousands, indeed millions of angels would have had to be employed in bringing these quails. Therefore the same angel could bring many, namely all that were within the sphere of his activity, even if they were discontinuous. For if men can simultaneously move several things that are discontinuous, then much more so can angels.
Why quails are called ortygometra
Quails. -- The Septuagint translates ortygometra; so also our Translator at Wisdom 16:2; for although Ulysses Aldrovandus distinguishes the ortygometra from the quail, nevertheless Scripture takes them as the same here and elsewhere.
You ask, why are quails called ortygometra? First, Isidore, book 12 of the Etymologies, chapter 7, and Abulensis give this reason: that this bird was first seen on the Ortygian islands, hence it is called ortyga; but why is it called ortygometra?
Second, Jansenius on Wisdom chapter 16 responds that ortygometra means the leader of the quails, as if metron ortygos, because metron, that is, measure and moderator, it is of the quails; but metron is written with an epsilon, while ortygomatra is written with an alpha.
Third therefore, and genuinely, ortygometra is said as if ortygon, that is, "of the quails," meter, that is, "mother," or metra, that is, "matrix"; whence also Aristotle, in book 8 of the History of Animals, calls it simply meter. For the ortygometra is the king of the quails itself, which being larger and blacker than the other quails goes before the rest, and they follow it as a leader, no differently than bees follow their king. Under one leader therefore understand the whole army of quails; for where the leader is, there is the army. Whence Isidore: "The ortygometra," he says, "is the quail that leads the flock;" and Pliny calls it "the leader of the quails"; whence also commonly in French we call it: roi ou mere des cailles [king or mother of the quails].
Fourth, Hesychius in the Lexicon, and Peter Nannius on Wisdom chapter 16: I see, he says, that the augmentative suffix metra is attached to certain animals when larger ones of that kind are designated, as echinometra is a larger and more spiny sea urchin, about which Pliny, book 9, chapter 21; leonimetra is a larger lion, about which Gesner in his entry on the lion; so ortygometra is a larger quail. For it is plausible enough that these miraculous quails, being as it were the work of God, were larger and more excellent than others. But in that case they would rather be called ortygometrai in the plural, whereas it is called ortygometra in the singular: therefore the third explanation already given is truer and more solid.
Why God gave quails rather than other meat
You ask secondly, why God, when the Hebrews demanded meat, gave them quails rather than doves, sheep, geese, etc.? I respond first, because quails were at hand in abundance; for they abound in the Arabian Gulf, which was near to the Hebrews, according to Josephus. Secondly, because the flesh of quails is excellent and delicate, especially in that region; and it befits God to give excellent things. So Abulensis.
Galen and Aldrovandus add that quails cure epilepsy, and that therefore Hercules carried quails with him wherever he traveled, so that through them he might cure his epilepsy; whence the Poet:
"The quail preserved vigorous Hercules."
Mystically, St. Cyril, in book 3 on John, chapter 34, teaches that the quails signified the Old Law. "For never," he says, "does this bird soar in flight, but it always flies near the ground. For the discipline of the Law is in a certain way earthly, containing the offerings of animals and Jewish purifications, by which they were not lifted far from the earth."
Again Bede, on chapter 23 of Exodus, understands by quails the divinely sent preachings, which pass through sounding words as feathered birds flying through the air, by which those who strive to reach the homeland of the heavenly kingdom are fed through faith. And he adds: "The food of birds can also signify," he says, "the utterances of the Law, which nourished the carnal people as if with flesh, through words divinely sent as if birds."
Tropologically, the migration of quails from one region to another signifies those who regard themselves as pilgrims here, and sigh with their whole heart for heaven. For they fly in flocks and choose a leader for the journey; these likewise rejoice in living together, and follow one leader. They avoid the South wind and seek the North: these flee the carnal prosperities of this world and pursue abstinence and penance. When the leader of the flock is killed by a hawk, they adopt another of a different kind as their leader: these, when Adam their parent and leader was seduced and slain by the devil, choose and follow a leader of another kind and nature, namely Christ. So Aldrovandus, Ornithology, book 13, chapter 22.
HE LET THEM FALL UPON THE CAMP -- He caused them to fall into the camp all around, over the space of one day's journey.
Verse 32: Ten homers -- the immense quantity
Abulensis notes that not only the impious murmurers, but also just men ate from these quails. For this was a benefit from God, general to all, and given especially to the just for their enjoyment. For the whole people ate from these quails; nor did anyone sin by eating them (even if they had murmured before), except perhaps by eating them too gluttonously, but they sinned only by murmuring and by demanding them in a murmuring manner. The same was true of the manna, which was likewise given on account of murmuring: yet afterward all lawfully ate it for forty years, Exodus chapter 16. For, as Abulensis says, the people indeed sinned by demanding manna and meat through murmuring; yet the cause of obtaining them from God was not sin (for the sin of murmuring was not the cause of this thing, but only its occasion), but the goodness of God and the goodness of certain just people who were not murmuring or demanding food, with whom God wished to sympathize and generously do good. Whence Rabanus says: "The carnal people of the Jews, having despised heavenly food, desired flesh; but God so tempered His judgment that He punished the wicked while not denying sustenance to the weak."
32. HE GATHERED A MULTITUDE OF QUAILS; HE WHO HAD LEAST, TEN HOMERS. -- A homer contained thirty modii, or measures that were formerly common; ten homers therefore made 300 Roman modii. For each person gathered as much as would suffice for a month's sustenance; now if each gathered that much, consider how immense the multitude of quails must have been: for those collecting them were easily their own millions of people. For let us suppose that in each modius there were only twenty quails, just as a modius contains twenty pounds of grain: hence it follows that each person collecting 300 modii gathered six thousand quails, and consequently that one million people gathered six thousand million, and two million people gathered twelve thousand million quails. See how rich in mercy and liberal in His benefits God is: let us be the same in our almsgiving. For God here, wishing to satisfy abundantly not only the hunger and gluttony of the Jews, but also their eyes and greed, sent them such an abundance of quails that it could suffice not only for a month, as Moses had promised at verse 20, but for many months. For divide six thousand quails by the days, allotting twenty-five quails to each day (for who would devour more in one day?), you will find that six thousand quails sufficed for each person's sustenance for 240 days, which make eight months. For if they had consumed six thousand in one month, each person would have had to devour two hundred quails every day, which not even Polyphemus could have devoured. Therefore He set a month for eating them, at verse 20, because at the end of the month He had determined to punish their gluttony and murmuring, and to punish with death.
AND THEY DRIED THEM. -- In Hebrew, spreading they spread them out around about, namely for the purpose of drying, so that they might preserve them for the future, lest they rot; for they ate them for a whole month.
Verse 33: The plague -- a very great plague
33. THE MEAT WAS STILL BETWEEN THEIR TEETH, NOR HAD THIS KIND OF FOOD YET FAILED, AND BEHOLD THE FURY OF THE LORD WAS AROUSED AGAINST THE PEOPLE, AND HE STRUCK THEM WITH A PLAGUE VERY GREAT -- that is, the Hebrews were continuously eating meat, and it did not fail, namely for a whole month, as the Lord had promised at verse 20; for God wished first to fulfill His promise before punishing the murmurers, whom finally at the end of the month, while the meat was still clinging to their teeth, He struck with a lethal plague. Hence it appears that most of the murmurers ate these quails gluttonously, and that God punished both their gluttony and their murmuring with death.
A very great plague. -- This plague was fire, which was then suppressed and absorbed by the prayers of Moses, as was said at verse 3. For that passage is to be referred to this verse, as I showed there: this plague did not touch the just, but only the murmurers.
Verse 34: The Graves of Craving
34. AND THAT PLACE WAS CALLED THE GRAVES OF CRAVING: FOR THERE THEY BURIED THE PEOPLE WHO HAD CRAVED -- meat. Let gluttons, and especially drunkards, frequently visit these Graves of Craving, who bury not only reason, but also soul and body in wine: whose soul therefore will soon be buried in hell with the rich man who feasted; and whose flesh, so fattened, will be buried in the belly of worms and toads.
Let them hear that saying of Plutarch: "Luxury in food is punished with the penalty of death." Let them frequently read the epitaph of Sardanapalus, now buried and rotting:
"These things I have, which I ate, and which sated lust drank up; the riches, and all things that once made me blessed, are no more; I am ashes."
This then is the fruit of craving: namely that, as the Apostle says, 1 Timothy 6:9, it plunges men into ruin and destruction. Therefore rightly does St. Peter, in his second epistle, chapter 1:4, advise fleeing the corruption that is in the world through concupiscence; and Sirach 18:30: "If you satisfy," he says, "your soul's cravings, it will make you a joy to your enemies."
Charlemagne the Emperor ordered a drunkard to be drowned, saying: this destroyer of wine deserves to be buried not with wine but with water; so that he who drowned himself in wine may be drowned in water, and with water may quench his thirst.
Alexander the Great buried himself in wine and killed himself: for when he had twice drained a huge cup (it held two congii) offered by Proteas, the most bibulous of men, he collapsed, took to his bed, and died; Athenaeus is the witness, book 10, chapter 11.
Thus gluttony struck the Israelites with sudden death in the worship of Baal-peor, Numbers 25; gluttony transferred the birthright from Esau to Jacob, Genesis 25; gluttony exposed Elah to be killed by the sword of Zimri, 1 Kings 16:9; gluttony through Judith cut off the head of Holofernes; gluttony killed Simon Maccabeus with his sons at a banquet, 1 Maccabees 16. Finally, Belshazzar, buried in wine, saw the hand writing the sentence of death and destruction: Mene, Tekel, Peres; and that same night he was stripped of kingdom and life, Daniel chapter 5, verse 25.
Note: Josephus passes over these things in silence and narrates other things differently, as he also often does elsewhere, because he writes for Gentiles, to whom he wishes to commend his nation and religion. Whence those things which could make the Jewish nation or religion appear cheap and contemptible to the Gentiles, he either passes over, or mitigates and colors, as Abulensis rightly observes here, final Question.
THEY CAME TO HAZEROTH. -- This is the fourteenth encampment of the Hebrews in the desert.