Numbers 11:20

Num 11:20 [But] even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which [is] among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

Ver. 20. But even a whole month.] Deus saepe dat iratus quod negat propitius. Patientia Dei quo diuturnior, eo minacior -

“ Poena venit gravior quo magis sera venit. ”

God’s forbearance is no quittance: fatted beasts are but fitted for the slaughter: wicked men are killed with kindnesses: "Ease slayeth the fool." {Pro 1:32}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 11:20. Until it come out at your nostrils — That is, till your impatient appetites be glutted; and by another instance of divine power, you be convinced to your shame how irreligiously, distrustfully, and ungratefully you have acted toward God amidst all his merciful providences toward you. The expression presents a very strong, though disagreeable idea of satiety and surfeit, when the overloaded stomach disburdens itself at the mouth and nostrils. Ye have despised the Lord — You have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings; you have slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large experience of it. The Lord who is among you — Who is present and resident with you, to observe all your carriage, and to punish your offences. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin in the presence of the judge. Why came we forth out of Egypt? — Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly obey him in coming forth?

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or, cast him off, because ye refused Manna, which he appointed as most meet for you.

Who leadeth and governeth you.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

But even a whole month,.... So long the Israelites continued at Taberah or Kibrothhattaavah, as the Jews (o) conclude from this clause:

until it come out at your nostrils; being vomited up, through a nausea of it, the stomach being overfilled and glutted with it; in which case, it will make its way through the nostrils, as well as out of the mouth:

and it be loathsome unto you; being surfeited with it; or it shall be for "dispersion" (p), scattered about from the mouth and nostrils:

because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you; who dwelt in the tabernacle that was in the midst of them, whom they despised by treating the manna with contempt he so plentifully spread about their camp, and by distrusting his power to give them flesh, and by murmuring and complaining against him on the account of their having none: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,"because ye have loathed the Word of the Lord, whose Shechinah (or the glory of whose Shechinah, as Jonathan) dwelleth among you;''the essential Word, and who was figured by the manna they tasted and despised:

and have wept before him; complaining of him, and murmuring against him:

saying, why came we forth out of Egypt? suggesting it would have been better for them if they had stayed there; thus reflecting on the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, displayed in the deliverance of them, and for which they had the utmost reason to be thankful.

(o) Seder Olam Rabba, c. 8. p. 24. (p) "in dispersionem", Munster, Fagius, Montanus: so R. Joseph Kimchi, apud Kimchi Sepher Shorash rad. "et Aben dana".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of days complete. So two years of days, means two full years. (1 Machabees i. 30.) --- Loathsome to you. "Indigestible," Symmachus. "Bilious," Septuagint. "Till it become loathsome to you, and a source of scandal, (Chaldean) or of dispersion, as some translate the Hebrew.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Till it come out at your nostrils; which meat loathed and violently vomited up frequently doth;

and it be loathsome unto you, being glutted with the abundance of it. Thus God destroys them by granting their desires, and turns even their blessings into curses; whilst he deals much more favourably with Moses, though he also fell into the same sin with the people, i.e. impatience and murmuring. But God will make a great difference between persons and persons, and between Moses’s sins of infirmity and the people’s presumptuous and oft-repeated provocations.

Ye have despised the Lord, i.e. you have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings in manna and other things, and have preferred the leeks, onions, &c. of Egypt before them all; you have slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large experience of it.

Which is among you; who is present and resident with you to observe all your carriages, and to punish your offences. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin in the presence of the Judge.

Why came we forth out of Egypt? Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly follow and obey him in coming forth?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. Until it come out at your nostrils — We cannot agree with Bishop Patrick that this is a prediction of copious vomiting, but rather that so great a quantity would be eaten day after day that the digestive power would fail, and the stench of the foul stomach would pour forth through the nose.

Says the Targum of Palestine, “Until the smell of it come forth from your nostrils.”

Loathsome — Offensive even to themselves. Because ye…

despised the Lord — Complaining of providential allotments may include contempt of God. Great is the guilt of grumblers!

Which is among you — The Chaldee elucidates the heinousness of the sin: “whose divine majesty dwells among you,” in the shekinah. Under Tiberius the offence of majestas (treason) was extended to all acts and words which might appear to be disrespectful to the emperor.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But even a whole month. There is some little difficulty about these words, because the Israelites do not seem to have made a long stay at Kibroth-Hattaavah, and the miraculous supply does not seem to have followed them. The words are words of stern irony and displeasure, and need not be literally pressed: it was enough that animal food was given them in quantity sufficient to have gorged the whole nation for a month, if they had eared to go on eating it (see below on verse 33).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At your nostrils - Which meat violently vomited up frequently doth. Thus God destroys them by granting their desires, and turns even their blessings into curses. Ye have despised the Lord - You have lightly esteemed his bounty and manifold blessings, you have slighted and distrusted his promises and providence after so long and large experience of it. Who is among you - Who is present and resident with you to observe all your carriage, and to punish your offenses. This is added as a great aggravation of the crime, to sin in the presence of the judge. Why came we forth out of Egypt? - Why did God do us such an injury? Why did we so foolishly obey him in coming forth?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

עד חדש ימים BUT EVEN A WHOLE MONTH [SHALL YE EAT] — This was said in reference to the comparatively virtuous, who languish on their beds and only afterwards their soul departs from them; in reference to the wicked, however, it states, (v. 33) “and while the flesh was yet between their teeth [the wrath of the Lord glowed against the people]”. Thus is it taught in the Sifrei Bamidbar 94. But in the Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 16:13:1 (on Exodus 16:13) just the opposite is taught: the wicked ate the flesh and were in agony thirty days, while as for the comparatively virtuous, “the flesh was yet between their teeth, etc.” (they suffered no prolonged agony, but died immediately).

עד אשר יצא מאפכם UNTIL IT COME OUT AT YOUR NOSTRILS — Understand this as the Targum does: until that you feel a loathing for it; i.e. it will seem to you that you have eaten more than enough of it, so that it will come out and be ejected by way of the nose.

והיה לכם לזרא AND BECOME SOMETHING STRANGE UNTO YOU — This means, that you will cast it away from you even more readily than you previously welcomed it (Sifrei Bamidbar 94). But in the work of Rabbi Moses the Preacher, I have seen it stated that there exists a language in which they call a sword "זרא".

את ה’ אשר בקרבכם [BECAUSE THAT YE HAVE SCORNED] THE LORD WHO IS AMONG YOU — The latter words appear superfluous, but they are taken to suggest: Unless I had planted my Shechinah among you your heart would not have become so arrogant as to engage in all these matters (Sifrei Bamidbar 94).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.