Numbers 11:8

Num 11:8 [And] the people went about, and gathered [it], and ground [it] in mills, or beat [it] in a mortar, and baked [it] in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

Ver. 8. And the people went about.] Or, "Went to and fro," as men ought still to "increase knowledge," {Dan 12:4} "labouring for the meat that endureth to eternal life." {Joh 6:27} God might have saved them this labour, by raining manna into their mouths; but he would not, for the trial of their diligence; and that they might not think that worth nothing, that cost them nothing.

And ground it in mills.] So was Jesus Christ ground and pounded with passion, baked and dried up in the oven of his Father’s displeasure, before he became fit food, and a Saviour to his Church.

As the taste of fresh oil.] Or, Wafers baked with honey. {Exo 16:31} The sweet promises of grace are sweeter than honey. {Psa 19:10} No fresh and sweet oil can so cherish the face, as they do the heart of a believer.

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.

(8) As the taste of fresh oil.—Or, of a fat cake of oil. In Exo_16:31 the taste of the manna is said to have been “like wafers made with honey.” The ancients used flour cakes mixed with oil and honey.

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

8. fresh oil] a dainty prepared with oil. The word rendered ‘dainty’ denotes something juicy. LXX. has ἐνκρίς, which was a cake made with oil and honey; cf. ‘like wafers made with honey’ (Exod.).

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.

And the people went about and gathered it,.... Went about the camp on all sides, where it fell in plenty; this they did every morning, and this was all the trouble they were at; they had it for gathering, without any expense to them:

and ground it in mills: in hand mills, as Aben Ezra; for though it melted through the heat of the sun, and became a liquid, yet, when gathered in the morning, it was hard like grains of corn, or other seeds, and required to be ground in mills:

or beat it in a mortar; with a pestle, as spices are beaten and bruised:

and baked it in pans; or rather boiled it in a pot, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, since it follows:

and made cakes of it; which were baked on the hearth; all which may denote the sufferings of Christ, who was beaten, and bruised, and broken, that he might become fit food for faith, Isa 53:4,

and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil; which is very grateful and pleasant, as well as very fattening and nourishing; so that the Israelites had no reason to complain of their being dried away by continual eating of it; See Gill on Exo 16:31.

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

Oil; or, when unprepared, like flour and honey, Exodus xvi. 31. (Calmet)

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).

Or, of the most excellent oil; or, of the flour of oil; or, as others, of cakes or paste made with the best oil, the word cakes being easily supplied out of the foregoing member of the verse; or, which is not much differing, like wafers made with honey, as it is said Exo 16:31. The nature and use of manna is here thus particularly described to show the greatness of their sin in despising such excellent food as this was.

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

8. Ground it in mills — These probably differed but little from the Syrian mills of the present time. The mortar is still used by the Arabs to pound wheat for kibby, their national dish.

Pans — R.V., “seethed it in pots.” The same Hebrew word is rendered pot in Jdg_6:19, and 1Sa_2:14.

As the taste of fresh oil — Olive oil. In Exo_16:31, manna is said to have the taste of honey. Olive-oil and honey entered largely into the diet of the Hebrews in Canaan; they are also prominent articles of food to the Easterns at this day.

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

And the people... ground it in mills. This information as to the preparation of the manna is new. It may be supposed that at first the people ate it in its natural state, but that afterwards they found out how to prepare it in different ways for the sake of variety. Small handmills and mortars for the preparation of grain they would have brought with them from their Egyptian homes. As the taste of fresh oil. In Exo_16:31 it is said to have tasted like wafers made with honey. Nothing is more impossible adequately to describe than a fresh taste. It is sufficient to note that the two things suggested by the taste of the manna, honey and oil, present the greatest possible contrast to the heavy or savoury food which they remembered in Egypt.

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

Fresh oil - Or, of the most excellent oil; or of cakes made with the best oil, the word cakes being easily supplied out of the foregoing member of the verse; or, which is not much differing, like wafers made with honey, as it is said Exod. xvi, 31. The nature and use of Manna is here thus particularly described, to shew the greatness of their sin in despising such excellent food.

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

שטו [AND THE PEOPLE] WENT ABOUT — The term שיוט (i. e. any form of the root שוט) denotes strolling about; esbanoyer in O. F., English to walk about leisurely — they got the manna without exertion (cf. however, Yoma 75a and thereon s. v. ירד המן עליו).

וטחנו ברחים וגו׳ AND THE PEOPLE GROUND IT WITH MILL STONES [OR POUNDED IT IN THE MORTAR, AND BAKED IT IN PANS] — As a matter of fact it (the manna) never went into a mill, nor a pot, nor a mortar, but its taste changed, according to one’s desire, into that of ground or pounded or cooked grain (Sifrei Bamidbar 89).

בפרור — means [IN] A POT.

לשד השמן [AND ITS TASTE WAS AS THE TASTE OF] — לשד השמן i. e. moisture of oil. Thus did Dunash ibn Labrat explain it. Similar to it is, (Psalms 32:4) נהפך לשדי בחרבוני קיץ, where the ל in the word לשד is a root-letter, the meaning being: “my sap (לשדי) is turned by the drought of summer”. Our Rabbis (Sifrei Bamidbar 89) explained it as meaning “breasts’ (i. e. just as the suckling imbibes, so to speak, every possible flavor with the mother-milk. so the Israelites found all flavors in the manna; cf. Sifrei), but really the subject of “breasts” has nothing to do with oil. One cannot, however, in order to justify the explanation of our Rabbis say that השמן in לשד השמן has a meaning similar to (Deuteronomy 32:15) וישמן ישורון, “But Jeshurun waxed fat (וישמן)” (when the meaning would be: “And the taste of it was similar to that of a fat breast”), for then the מ ought to be punctuated with Kametz (our Tséré: הַשָּׁמֵן) and the accent ought to be on the last syllable, beneath the מ. Now, however, that the מ is punctuated with Patach Katon (our Segol) and the accent is on the ש, it can only have a sense connected with שמן “oil”. As to the ש which is punctuated with Kametz Gadol (שָׁמן) and not with Segol (since the noun “oil” is שֶׁמן,) this is so because the word is at the end of the verse (and in the pausal form שֶׁמֶן becomes שָׁמֶן). — Another explanation is that לשד is an acrostic of ליש, “kneading”, שמן “oil”, דבש “honey”, i. e. that the manna was like “dough kneaded with oil, and smeared with honey” (קטף literally means “to tear”, and when used of dough it means “to tear a lump of dough into pieces for which purpose the kneader moistens his hands with some liquid; here with honey) (Sifrei Bamidbar 89). The rendering of Onkelos who translates the phrase by דליש במשחא, “[as the taste] of dough with oil”, inclines to the meaning given by Dunash, because dough which is kneaded with oil has in it some moisture of oil.

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.