Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_000_t.lzh/4_030.TXT

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princely fare; and, indeed, the common people of
Israel ate the same as their princes and nobles did,; they
all fared .alike; but the Septuagint, Vuigate Latin, and
all the Oriental versions, render the w6rd angels, and
so Jarchi interprets it, and who are called mighty
angels, and are creatures that excel in strength, 2 Thess.
i. 7. Psal. ciii. 2O. now the manna may be said to be
their food, as it is in Wisdo.m, ch. xvi. 20. because it
might be prepared in the air by the ministry of angels,
and given by their disposition, as the law was, Acts vii.
,53. or because it came down from heaven, where they
dwell, and so the Targum," the children of men did
"eat food, which came down from the habitation of
"angels ;" or because it was most excellent food, as the
tongue of angels is the most excellent and eloquent,
1 Cor. xiii. 1. or because it was such food, that, if
angels ate any, it was tit for them, and not at all un-
worthy of them. Cocceius thinks, and so Gussetins {},
that by the mighty ones are meant the mighty God,
Father, Son, and Spirit, by whom this food was pre-
pared and given; so the word is used in the singular
number, of Jehovah, who is called the mighty One of Ja-
cob, Gem. xlix. 24. and of the Redeemer, Isa. xlix. 26. he
sent them meat to the full; which may be understood ei t her
of the manna, of which they had great plenty, so that
there was no lack for any man, and this continued with
them till they came to the land of Canaan; or of the
quails, of which in the following verses.
Ver. 26. He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,
&c.3 Iu the airy heaven: or he caused it to gof; to
go forth out of its place, out of the repositories and
treasures of it, from whence he brings the wind, Psal.
cxxxv. 7. the winds are under the power and government
of God, they are his servants that obey him; he says
to one, Go, and it goes; and to another, Come, and it
comes; stormy wind fulrils his word of command, and
obevs its Creator: and by his power he brought in the
sou[h wind; into the heavens, into the air, as before,
and with it he brought the quails; and which made
his power to appear the greater, since they do not fly
w{th the south wind, which is too moist and heavy
for them, as naturalists observes; it looks as if first
one wind blew, and then another was used for the
bringing of them from the place where they were;
perhaps about the Red sea, where. they are said to have
been in great numbers; and that the east wind brought
them to a certain point, and then the south wind blew
to bring them into the camp of Israel, where, by the
moistness of it, they fell; hence fowlers, as the above
naturalists relate, observe the south wind, in order to
take them; though it may be that onIy one wind is
intended, namely, the south-east wind; and so Aben
Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, understand it.
Ver. 27. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, &c.]
By flesh is meant fowl, as the following clause shews;
for there is flesh of birds, as well as of other creatures,
see I Cot. xv. 39. and the quails which are here meant
may be very filly called flesti, since they are, for their
bighess, a very plump, fat, and fleshy bird: and fea-
thered fowls like as the sand of the sea; or fowl of wing {}:
winged fowls, so the Targum; fo. wl that flies; and
therefore it was the more remarkable that these should
be rained and fall, and be taken by the Israelites; and
which fell in great numbers, as is signified by these
phrases, the dust and the sand of the sea; for there fell
enough to feed six hundred thousand men, beside
women and children, for a month together; they lay
in heaps, two cubits high, on one another, and every
one that gathered them brought in ten homers; see
Numb. xi. 19, c2-0, 21, 31, 32. which is the history re-
ferred to; and quails are used to fly together in large
bodies; and sometimes, as Pliny {} relates, will light on
ships at sea, and sink them with their numbers. Some
think one sort of locusts is meant, which were used for
food, and was very delicious food; and the circum-
stances of bringing them with an east or south-east
wind, their falling in heaps, and being gathered in
bushels, and spread about to be dried in the sun, seem
to favour such a sense; see the notes on the place
above mentioned. The ancients interpret this mysti-
cally of the flesh of Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed-,
delicious food for faith, as the quails were a rich food;
and as they were rained down from heaven, so Christ
is the bread of life which came down from heaven,
and the bread he gave for the life of the world was
his flesh: and as these came up, however the first
quails, in the evening, Exod. xvi. 13. so Christ came
in the flesh, in the evening or end of the world, to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself; to which may be
added, that these creatures sit upon their young, and
cherish and protect them, as an hen her chickens {k}
with which compare Matt. xxiii. 37. but seeing the
quails are never called spiritual meat, as the manna is,
1 Cor. x. 3. but were given in wrath and judgment,
they are rather an emblem of riches, or worldly goods,
things given tb carnal men; these are of God, as the
quails were, and are by some persons enjoyed without
care or trouble, as these were; their meat, as it is
sometimes said, falls into their mouth, as these quails
did into the mouths of the Israelites, as it were; and
are in wrath, their blessings are cursed to them, and,
whilst they have a great affluence of worldly things,
have leanhess in their souls, as the Israelites now had,
Psal. cvi. 15. moreover, as these were feathered or
winged fowl, so riches have wings, and sometimes flee
away, and are very uncertain things to trust to, Prov.
XXiii. 5.
Ver. c28. And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,
&c.3 Or, his camps {l}; the tbur camps of Israel; for so
many' there were, Numb. ii. or the camp of God, where
he dwelt, and before which he went as the General,
Leader, andCommander of them; in the midstof this, or
by it, by the side of it, Numb. xi. 31. the flesh or fea-
thered fowl fell, so that they had no trouble to fetch it
in; and here it fell by the order and direction of the.
Lord himself; he caused it to fall, without whose
knowledge and will a sparrow does not fall to the
ground, Matt. x. 29. These creatures fell either, as


{e} Comment. Ebr. p. 14. Vid. Witsium de OEconom. Foeder. l. 4.
c. 10. sect. 99.
{f} \^eoy\^ fecit proficisci, Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus.
{g} Aristot. de Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 12. Plin. Hist. l. 10. c. 23.
{h} \^Pnk Pwe\^ volucres alatas, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Cocceius.
{i} Hist. l. 10. c. 23.
{k} Arist. de Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 8.
{l} \^whnxm\^ castrorum ejus, Pagninus, Vatablus, Gejerus.