Numbers 11:6

Num 11:6 But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes.

Ver. 6. There is nothing at all besides.] The wheat of heaven was held a light meat, because lightly come by; Cito parta vilescunt. How are many queasy stomachs even nauseated with the bread of life! it makes not to their dainty palates; plain preaching is disrelished.

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.

11:6 The Lord had earlier provided manna and quail (Exod 16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For the greedy lust of flesh.

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

But now . . . there is nothing . . . beside this manna--Daily familiarity had disgusted them with the sight and taste of the monotonous food; and, ungrateful for the heavenly gift, they longed for a change of fare. It may be noticed that the resemblance of the manna to coriander seed was not in the color, but in the size and figure; and from its comparison to bdellium, which is either a drop of white gum or a white pearl, we are enabled to form a better idea of it. Moreover, it is evident, from the process of baking into cakes, that it could not have been the natural manna of the Arabian desert, for that is too gummy or unctuous to admit of being ground into meal. In taste it is said to have been like "wafers made with honey" (Exo 16:31), and here to have the taste of fresh oil. The discrepancy in these statements is only apparent; for in the latter the manna is described in its raw state; in the former, after it was ground and baked. The minute description given here of its nature and use was designed to show the great sinfulness of the people, in being dissatisfied with such excellent food, furnished so plentifully and gratuitously.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(6) There is nothing at all . . . —Better, there is nothing, except that our eyes (look) upon, the manna.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. this manna] No account has been given in this chapter of the sending of the manna; and it is possible that the writer means to describe not a miraculous food from heaven but a natural phenomenon of the district. Different substances which have been suggested, such as a gum from the tamarisk or târfâ tree, oak honey, or an edible lichen, are described in art. ‘Manna’ in DB. and EBib. If the numbers of the people were really 600,000 (Num_11:21), the only miraculous feature in the present case would be the enormous supply required for them. But their numbers were, in all probability, much smaller (see on Num_1:46). When the time of D was reached, the manna had come to be considered a mysterious unknown food (Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16), and the same idea is seen in P (Exodus 16), who relates (Num_11:33 f.) that a pot containing one omer of it was laid up in front of the ark in the Holy of Holies (cf. Heb_9:4, Rev_2:17). The manna as a type of the spiritual ‘Bread that came down from heaven’ forms the subject of our Lord’s discourse to the Jews in Joh_6:30-35; Joh_6:41-58.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But now our soul is dried away,.... Meaning their bodies, which, for want of flesh food, they pretended had no moisture in them, or they were half starved, and in wasting and consuming circumstances:

there is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes; which in itself was a truth and matter of fact; they had nothing to look to, and live upon but the manna, and that was enough, and with which, no doubt, many of them were contented, and satisfied and thankful for it, though the greater part were not; and therefore this, though a truth, was foolishly and wickedly spoken, being said in disdain and contempt of the manna: so Christ, the heavenly manna, the antitype of this, of which See Gill on Exo 16:14; See Gill on Exo 16:15; See Gill on Exo 16:16; See Gill on Exo 16:17; See Gill on Exo 16:18; is indeed the only food that is set before us in the Gospel to feed and live upon; nor is there anything at all besides him, nor do true believers in him desire any other, but pray that evermore this bread may be given them; but carnal men and carnal professors slight the Gospel feast, of which Christ is the sum and substance; and at least would have something besides him, something along with him, something of their own in justification for him, or to give them a right unto him, or to trust in along with him; they cannot bear to have nothing at all but Christ; or that he, and he alone, should be exalted, and be all in all, as he is justification and salvation, and in the Gospel provision, in which nothing is set before us but him.

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

Dry, like people quite worn out for want of food. (Psalm ci. 5, 12; Lamentations iv. 8.) --- Nothing. An exaggeration. We are disgusted with this light food. (Calmet) --- They wished not only for the taste, but also for the colour, of other meats. (Menochius) --- How often do we imitate their folly, when we are disgusted with the bread of life! (Haydock)

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).

Our soul; either,

1. Our life, as the soul signifies, Gen 9:5; Psa 33:19; Job 36:14; or,

2. Our body, which is oft signified by the soul, as Psa 16:10; Psa 35:12; 105:18. So Lev 19:28; 21:1; Num 5:2.

Is dried away; is withered, and pines away; which possibly might be true through envy and discontent, and inordinate appetite, as 2Sa 13:4; Pro 14:30.

Before our eyes;

Heb. our eyes see or look to nothing but this manna. They speak as if the manna were only useful to please their eyes with its fine colour and shape, but not to satisfy their appetites, or sustain their natures.

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

6. Our soul is dried away — Our animal life faints for want of strong and refreshing food. Such a use of the term soul is still common in the East, where, hungry or thirsty, the people say, “Our soul is withered.”

Nothing at all, besides this manna — The skilful reader will not fail, by correct intonation, to bring out the contempt here poured upon the bread of heaven, which prefigures our Lord Jesus according to his own words in Joh_6:32-33, and to St. Paul’s in 1Co_10:3. We know of nothing in the conduct of these Israelites that more strikingly exhibits their low moral character than this complaint. The animal appetites have completely subverted their intellectual and spiritual tastes, if they ever had any, and they here exhibit a disgusting sensuality. The carnal mind to-day treats the glorious Antitype with no more respect than these sensual Israelites treated the type. Sin is the same in all ages.

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

Our soul is dried away. This exaggerated statement expressed their craving for the juicy and savoury food of which they had been thinking, and which was obviously unattainable in the wilderness. There is a physical craving in man for variety of diet, and especially for such condiments and flavours as he has been used to all his life, which makes the lack of them a real hardship. It is not necessary to condemn the Israelites for feeling very keenly the loss of their accustomed food, which is notoriously the one thing which the poorest classes are least able to bear; it is only necessary to condemn them for making this one loss of more account than all their gain. There is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Rather, "we have nothing (lKo yae) except that our eye (falls) upon this manna." These graphic words speak of the longing looks which turned in every direction after the accustomed dainties, only to fall with disgust upon the inevitable manna. It was very ungrateful of them to speak disparagingly of the manna, which was good and wholesome food, and sufficient to keep them in health and strength; but it is useless to deny that manna only for people who had been accustomed to a rich and varied diet must have been exceedingly trying both to the palate and the stomach. (cf. Num_21:5)

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

Our soul - Either our life, as the soul signifies, Gen. ix, 5, or our body, which is often signified by the soul. Dried away - Is withered and pines away; which possibly might be true, through envy and discontent, and inordinate appetite.

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

manna

(See Scofield "Exo 16:35").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

אל המן עינינו OUR EYES ARE ON THIS MANNA (i. e. we see nothing but this manna) — “manna in the morning, manna in the evening!” (Sifrei Bamidbar 87)

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.

BUT NOW OUR SOUL IS DRIED AWAY. This means that because of their many desires their temperaments had become heated and then dried up, as Onkelos translates it [“but now our soul is lusting”]. Or it may be that [they meant that] our soul is dried away because there is nothing with which to moisten it, since food produces [essential] liquids in the body which satisfy the soul. And they said, we have nought save this manna ‘to look to,’ meaning that even the food [i.e., the manna] on which we live is not in our possession so that our soul can be nourished and satisfied with it; but we desire it and look to it [i.e., we are dependent upon it] at all times, in anticipation that it will come to us; thus we have nothing at all save our hope for the manna. They thus gave expression to the known proverb: “One cannot compare a person who has bread in his basket with one who does not have bread in his basket.”, Verse 20), they were therefore in constant worry for their next day’s food. Therefore Scripture tells how many qualities the manna had, stating that its taste was as the taste of a cake baked with oil, thus declaring that the souls of those who ate it did not dry up, for it [the manna] supplied the body with the [essential] liquids and kept it satisfied, and the souls of those who ate it were like a watered garden and like a spring of water.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.