From Commentaries of
Adam Clarke
Matthew Henry
Charles Spurgeon
Henry - They have bread enough and to spare and yet they complain there is no bread, because, though they eat angels' food, yet they are weary of it manna itself is loathed, and called light bread, fit for children, not for men and soldiers. What will those be pleased with whom manna will not please?
Spurgeon - ....but they wanted something more substantial, something that had a coarser flavor about it, more of earth and less of heaven. There is no satisfying an unregenerate heart.
Henry - They in their pride had lifted themselves up against God and Moses, and now God humbled and mortified them, by making these despicable animals a plague to them. That artillery is now turned against them which had formerly been made use of in their defence against the Egyptians. He that brought quails to feast them let them know that he could bring serpents to bite them the whole creation is at war with those that are in arms against God.
*That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God healed the people,
*so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men.
Henry - *The devil is the old serpent, a fiery serpent, hence he appears as a great red dragon.
*Sin is the biting of this fiery serpent it is painful to the startled conscience, and poisonous to the seared conscience.
*Satan's temptations are called his fiery darts. Lust and passion inflame the soul, so do the terrors of the Almighty, when they set themselves in array.
--At the last, sin bites like a serpent and stings like an adder and even its sweets are turned into the gall of asps.
It was God himself that devised and prescribed this antidote against the fiery serpents so our salvation by Christ was the contrivance of Infinite Wisdom God himself has found the ransom.
--It was a very unlikely method of cure so our salvation by the death of Christ is to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness.
--It was Moses that lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and Moses wrote of him.
Spurgeon - The fervent prayer of a righteous man may not prevail in the particular direction in which it is offered, but it “availeth much” in some direction or other.
Just as when the mists ascend they may not fall upon the very spot from which they rose, but they fall somewhere, and true prayer is never lost, it cometh back in blessing, if not according to our mind, yet according to another mind that is kinder and wiser than our own.
Adam Clarke
Matthew Henry
Charles Spurgeon
And the people spake against God, and against Moses,
Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
for there is no bread, neither is there any water;
and our soul loatheth this light bread.
Numbers 21:5
Clarke - This light bread - הקלקל hakkelokel, a word of excessive scorn; as if they had said, This innutritive, unsubstantial, cheat - stomach stuff.Henry - They have bread enough and to spare and yet they complain there is no bread, because, though they eat angels' food, yet they are weary of it manna itself is loathed, and called light bread, fit for children, not for men and soldiers. What will those be pleased with whom manna will not please?
Spurgeon - ....but they wanted something more substantial, something that had a coarser flavor about it, more of earth and less of heaven. There is no satisfying an unregenerate heart.
*
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Numbers 21:6
Clarke - The animals mentioned here by Moses may have been called fiery because of the heat, violent inflammation, and thirst, occasioned by their bite; Henry - They in their pride had lifted themselves up against God and Moses, and now God humbled and mortified them, by making these despicable animals a plague to them. That artillery is now turned against them which had formerly been made use of in their defence against the Egyptians. He that brought quails to feast them let them know that he could bring serpents to bite them the whole creation is at war with those that are in arms against God.
*
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned,
for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee;
pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.
And Moses prayed for the people.
Numbers 21:7
Spurgeon - Like a true mediator, he was always ready — even when they had most insulted him, and grieved his meek and quiet spirit, — still to bow the knee, and intercede with the Lord on their behalf.
*
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole:
and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten,
when he looketh upon it, shall live.
when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole,
and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man,
when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
Numbers 21:8,9
Clarke - And Moses made a serpent of brass - נחשת נחש nechash nechosheth . Hence we find that the word for brass or copper comes from the same root with nachash, which here signifies a serpent, probably on account of the color; ...*That as neither the serpent, nor looking at it, but the invisible power of God healed the people,
*so neither the cross of Christ, nor his merely being crucified, but the pardon he has bought by his blood, communicated by the powerful energy of his Spirit, saves the souls of men.
Henry - *The devil is the old serpent, a fiery serpent, hence he appears as a great red dragon.
*Sin is the biting of this fiery serpent it is painful to the startled conscience, and poisonous to the seared conscience.
*Satan's temptations are called his fiery darts. Lust and passion inflame the soul, so do the terrors of the Almighty, when they set themselves in array.
--At the last, sin bites like a serpent and stings like an adder and even its sweets are turned into the gall of asps.
It was God himself that devised and prescribed this antidote against the fiery serpents so our salvation by Christ was the contrivance of Infinite Wisdom God himself has found the ransom.
--It was a very unlikely method of cure so our salvation by the death of Christ is to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness.
--It was Moses that lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and Moses wrote of him.
Spurgeon - The fervent prayer of a righteous man may not prevail in the particular direction in which it is offered, but it “availeth much” in some direction or other.
Just as when the mists ascend they may not fall upon the very spot from which they rose, but they fall somewhere, and true prayer is never lost, it cometh back in blessing, if not according to our mind, yet according to another mind that is kinder and wiser than our own.