3 And the children of Israel said to them, It would have been better for the Lord to have put us to death in the land of Egypt, where we were seated by the flesh-pots and had bread enough for our needs; for you have taken us out to this waste of sand, to put all this people to death through need of food.
Those who have been put to the sword are better off than those whose death is caused by need of food; for these come to death slowly, burned up like the fruit of the field.
And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food? Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste:
And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord! Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there? Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.
And all the children of Israel, crying out against Moses and Aaron, said, If only we had come to our death in the land of Egypt, or even in this waste land!
Put up with me if I am a little foolish: but, truly, you do put up with me.
For even now you are full, even now you have wealth, you have been made kings without us: truly, I would be glad if you were kings, so that we might be kings with you.
Then when the sun came up, God sent a burning east wind: and so great was the heat of the sun on his head that Jonah was overcome, and, requesting death for himself, said, Death is better for me than life. And the Lord said to Jonah, Have you any right to be angry about the vine? And he said, I have a right to be truly angry.
A curse on the day of my birth: let there be no blessing on the day when my mother had me. A curse on the man who gave the news to my father, saying, You have a male child; making him very glad. May that man be like the towns overturned by the Lord without mercy: let a cry for help come to his ears in the morning, and the sound of war in the middle of the day; Because he did not put me to death before my birth took place: so my mother's body would have been my last resting-place, and she would have been with child for ever. Why did I come from my mother's body to see pain and sorrow, so that my days might be wasted with shame?
And they never said, Where is the Lord, who took us up out of the land of Egypt; who was our guide through the waste of sand, through an unplanted land full of deep holes, through a dry land of deep shade, which no one went through and where no man was living?
Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
Because it did not keep the doors of my mother's body shut, so that trouble might be veiled from my eyes.
Then the king was much moved, and went up into the room over the door, weeping, and saying, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! if only my life might have been given for yours, O Absalom, my son, my son!
And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan!
And he made low your pride and let you be without food and gave you manna for your food, a thing new to you, which your fathers never saw; so that he might make it clear to you that bread is not man's only need, but his life is in every word which comes out of the mouth of the Lord.
But on the day after, all the children of Israel made an outcry against Moses and against Aaron, saying, You have put to death the Lord's people.
If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 16
Commentary on Exodus 16 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 16
This chapter gives us an account of the victualling of the camp of Israel.
Exd 16:1-12
The host of Israel, it seems, took along with them out of Egypt, when they came thence on the fifteenth day of the first month, a month's provisions, which, by the fifteenth day of the second month, was all spent; and here we have,
Exd 16:13-21
Now they begin to be provided for by the immediate hand of God.
Exd 16:22-31
We have here,
Exd 16:32-36
God having provided manna to be his people's food in the wilderness, and to be to them a continual feast, we are here told,