Numbers 11:34

11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, ¹  because there they buried the people that craved different food. ² 

Numbers 14:40

14:40 And early ³  in the morning they went up to the crest of the hill country, ⁴  saying, “Here we are, and we will go up to the place that the Lord commanded, ⁵  for we have sinned.” ⁶ 

Numbers 20:5

20:5 Why ⁷  have you brought us up from Egypt only to bring us to ⁸  this dreadful place? It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink!”

Numbers 21:3

21:3 The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ⁹  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ¹⁰  Hormah.

¹ 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.

² tn The words “different food” are implied, and are supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn The verb וַיַּשְׁכִּמוּ (vayyashkimu) is often found in a verbal hendiadys construction: “They rose early…and they went up” means “they went up early.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text says literally “the top of the hill,” but judging from the location and the terrain it probably means the heights of the hill country.

⁵ tn The verb is simply “said,” but it means the place that the Lord said to go up to in order to fight.

⁶ sn Their sin was unbelief. They could have gone and conquered the area if they had trusted the Lord for their victory. They did not, and so they were condemned to perish in the wilderness. Now, thinking that by going they can undo all that, they plan to go. But this is also disobedience, for the Lord said they would not now take the land, and yet they think they can. Here is their second sin, presumption.

⁵ tn Heb “and why.”

⁶ tn Here also the infinitive construct (Hiphil) forms the subordinate clause of the preceding interrogative clause.

⁷ tc Smr, Greek, and Syriac add “into his hand.”

⁸ tn In the Hebrew text the verb has no expressed subject, and so here too is made passive. The name “Hormah” is etymologically connected to the verb “utterly destroy,” forming the popular etymology (or paronomasia, a phonetic wordplay capturing the significance of the event).