Numbers 11:4

Complaints about Food

11:4 ¹ Now the mixed multitude ²  who were among them craved more desirable foods, ³  and so the Israelites wept again ⁴  and said, “If only we had meat to eat! ⁵ 

Numbers 11:34

11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, ⁶  because there they buried the people that craved different food. ⁷ 

Psalms 78:18

78:18 They willfully challenged God ⁸ 

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

Psalms 106:14

106:14 In the wilderness they had an insatiable craving ⁹  for meat; ¹⁰ 

they challenged God ¹¹  in the desert.

Psalms 106:1

Psalm 106 ¹² 

106:1 Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures! ¹³ 

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹⁴  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁵  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

James 4:2

4:2 You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ¹⁶  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ¹⁷  from your passions that battle inside you? ¹⁸ 

James 2:16-17

2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, ¹⁹  what good is it? 2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

¹ sn The story of the sending of the quail is a good example of poetic justice, or talionic justice. God had provided for the people, but even in that provision they were not satisfied, for they remembered other foods they had in Egypt. No doubt there was not the variety of foods in the Sinai that might have been available in Egypt, but their life had been bitter bondage there as well. They had cried to the Lord for salvation, but now they forget, as they remember things they used to have. God will give them what they crave, but it will not do for them what they desire. For more information on this story, see B. J. Malina, The Palestinian Manna Tradition. For the attempt to explain manna and the other foods by natural phenomena, see F. W. Bodenheimer, “The Manna of Sinai,” BA 10 (1947): 1-6.

² tn The mixed multitude (or “rabble,” so NASB, NIV, NRSV; NLT “foreign rabble”) is the translation of an unusual word, הֲָאסַפְסֻף (ha’safsuf). It occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here. It may mean “a gathering of people” from the verb אָסַף (’asaf), yielding the idea of a mixed multitude (in line with Exod 12:38). But the root is different, and so no clear connection can be established. Many commentators therefore think the word is stronger, showing contempt through a word that would be equivalent to “riff-raff.”

³ tn The Hebrew simply uses the cognate accusative, saying “they craved a craving” (הִתְאַוּוּ תַּאֲוָה, hit’avvu ta’vah), but the context shows that they had this strong craving for food. The verb describes a strong desire, which is not always negative (Ps 132:13-14). But the word is a significant one in the Torah; it was used in the garden story for Eve’s desire for the tree, and it is used in the Decalogue in the warning against coveting (Deut 5:21).

⁴ tc The Greek and the Latin versions read “and they sat down” for “and they returned,” involving just a change in vocalization (which they did not have). This may reflect the same expression in Judg 20:26. But the change does not improve this verse.

⁵ tn The Hebrew expresses the strong wish or longing idiomatically: “Who will give us flesh to eat?” It is a rhetorical expression not intended to be taken literally, but merely to give expression to the longing they had. See GKC 476 §151.a.1.

⁶ sn The name “the graves of the ones who craved” is again explained by a wordplay, a popular etymology. In Hebrew קִבְרוֹת הַתַּאֲוָה (qivrot hatta’avah) is the technical name. It is the place that the people craved the meat, longing for the meat of Egypt, and basically rebelled against God. The naming marks another station in the wilderness where the people failed to accept God’s good gifts with grace and to pray for their other needs to be met.

⁷ tn The words “different food” are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “and they tested God in their heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the center of their volition.

⁹ sn They had an insatiable craving. This is described in Num 11:4-35.

¹⁰ tn Heb “they craved [with] a craving.”

¹¹ tn Heb “they tested God.”

¹² sn Psalm 106. The psalmist recalls Israel’s long history of rebellion against God, despite his mighty saving deeds on their behalf.

¹³ tn Heb “for forever [is] his loyal love.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

¹⁶ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

¹⁷ tn Grk “from here.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

¹⁹ tn Grk “what is necessary for the body.”