The people murmuring are punished with fire. 7. Manna is againe described. 10. Moyses being afflicted with solicitude of trublesome people, 16. God adioyneth seuentie Ancients to sustaine part of his burden. 18. promiseth to geue al the people flesh. 25. The ancients do prophecie. 31. The people haue their sil of flesh. 33. but forthwith manie die of the plague. Wherof the place is called, The sepulchre of concupiscence.
1In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp.Frattanto si levò un mormorio nel popolo, quasi si dolessero del Signore per ragione delle fatiche. La qual cosa avendo udita il Signore, si mosse a sdegno. E il fuoco del Signore acceso contro di essi consumò l'ultima parte degli alloggiamenti.IN the meane time there arose a murmuring of the people, as it were repyning for labour, against our Lord. Which when our Lord had heard, he was angrie. And the fire of our Lord being kinled against them, deuoured the vttermost part of the campe.Interea ortum est murmur populi, quasi dolentium pro labore, contra Dominum. Quod cum audisset Dominus, iratus est. Et accensus in eos ignis Domini, devoravit extremam castrorum partem. 2And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up.E avendo il popolo alzate le strida a Mosè, Mosè fece orazione al Signore, e il fuoco rientrò sotto terra.And when the people had cried to Moyses, Moyses prayed to our Lord, and the fire was quenched.Cumque clamasset populus ad Moysen, oravit Moyses ad Dominum, et absorptus est ignis. 3And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them.E Mosè pose a quel luogo il nome d'Incendio: perché ivi si accese il fuoco del Signore contro di loro.And he called the name of that place, Kindling: for that the fire of our Lord had bene kindled against them.Vocavitque nomen illius, Incensio: eo quod incesus fuisset contra eos ignis Domini. 4For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?Imperocché la plebaglia, che era venuta con essi, arse d'ingorda brama, e stando assisa, e piangendo, unitisi a lei de' figliuoli d'Israele, diceva: Chi ci darà carni da mangiare?For the common vulgar people, that came vp with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel being ioyned together with them, and said: Who shal geue vs flesh to eate?Vulgus quippe promiscuum, quod ascenderat cum eis, flagravit desiderio, sedens et flens, junctis sibi pariter filiis Israël, et ait: Quis dabit nobis ad vescendum carnes ?
5We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.Ci ricordiamo dei pesci, che mangiavamo a ufo in Egitto: tornano in mente a noi i cocomeri, i poponi, i porri, e le cipolle, e gli agli.We remember the fishes that we did eate in Aegypt gratis: the cucumbers come vnto our minde, and the melons, and leekes and onions and garlike.recordamur piscium quos comedebamus in Ægypto gratis: in mentem nobis veniunt cucumeres, et pepones, porrique, et cæpe, et allia. 6Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna.L'anima nostra è languente: gli occhi nostri non veggono altro, che manna.Our soule is drie our eies behold nothing els but Manna.Anima nostra arida est: nihil aliud respiciunt oculi nostri nisi man. 7Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium.Or la manna era simile al seme di coriandoli, del colore del bdellio:And the Manna was as it were the seede of Coriander, of the colour of bdellion.Erat autem man quasi semen coriandri, coloris bdellii. 8And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil.E il popolo andava intorno a raccoglierla, e la riduceva in farina sotto le macine, ovver la pestava nel mortaio, e la cuoceva nella pignatta, e ne faceva delle stiacciate di un sapore quasi di pane fatto coll'olio.And the people went about, & gathering it, grounde it in a milne, or braied it in a morter, boyling it in a potte, and making cakes therof of the taist as it were of oyled bread.Circuibatque populus, et colligens illud, frangebat mola, sive terebat in mortario, coquens in olla, et faciens ex eo tortulas saporis quasi panis oleati. 9And when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it.E caduta che era la notte la rugiada negli accampamenti, cadeva eziandio la manna.And when the dew fel in the night vpon the campe, the Manna also fel withal.Cumque descederet nocte super castra ros, descendebat pariter et man. 10Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.Udì adunque Mosè, come il popolo se ne stava piangendo, ognun colla sua famiglia, e sulla porta della sua tenda. E il Signore si accese di furore: e allo stesso Mosè parve cosa intollerabile.Moyses therfore heard the people weeping by their families, euerie one at the doores of his tent. And the furie of our Lord was exceding wrath: but to Moyses also it semed an intolerable thing.Audivit ergo Moyses flentem populum per familias, singulos per ostia tentorii sui. Iratusque est furor Domini valde: sed et Moysi intoleranda res visa est,
11And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? Wherefore do I not find favour before thee? And why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me?E disse al Signore: Per qual motivo hai tu afflitto il tuo servo? per qual motivo non trovo io grazia dinanzi a te? e perché mi hai tu posto sopra le spalle il peso di tutto questo popolo?and he said to our Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy seruant? wherfore do I not finde grace before thee? and why hast thou laid the weight of al this people vpon me?et ait ad Dominum: Cur afflixisti servum tuum ? quare non invenio gratiam coram te ? et cur imposuisti pondus universi populi hujus super me ? 12Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers?Ho io concepito, o generato tutta questa turba, onde tu abbia a dirmi: Portali sul tuo seno, come suole la nutrice portare un bambinello, e conducili nella terra promessa da me congiuramento a' padri loro?Haue I conceaued al this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldest say to me: Carie them in thy bosome as the nource is wont to carie the litle infant, and beare them into the land, for the which thou hast sworne to their fathers?Numquid ego concepi omnem hanc multitudinem, vel genui eam, ut dicas mihi: Porta eos in sinu tuo sicut portare solet nutrix infantulum, et defer in terram, pro qua jurasti patribus eorum ? 13Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat.Donde trarrò io le carni da dare a si gran turba? Piangono contro di me, e dicono: Da' a noi delle carni da mangiare.Whence shal I haue flesh to geue to so great a multitude? they whine against me, saying: Geue vs flesh that we may eate.Unde mihi carnes ut dem tantæ multitudini ? flent contra me, dicentes: Da nobis carnes ut comedamus. 14I am not able alone to bear all this people, because it is too heavy for me.Non posso io solo sostenere tutto questo popolo, il quale mi pesa.I alone can not sustaine al this people, because it is heauie for me.Non possum solus sustinere omnem hunc populum, quia gravis est mihi. 15But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils.Che se a te pare altrimenti, pregoti di uccidermi, e ch'io trovi grazia negli occhi tuoi, onde non mi resti bersaglio di tanti mali.But if it seme vnto thee otherwise, I beseche thee to kil me, and let me finde grace in thine eies, that I be not molested with so great euils.Sin aliter tibi videtur, obsecro ut interficias me, et inveniam gratiam in oculis tuis, ne tantis afficiar malis.
16And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee,E il Signore disse a Mosè: Radunami settanta uomini de' vecchioni d'Israele, conosciuti date come anziani, e maestri del popolo: e li condurrai alla porta del tabernacolo dell'alleanza, e farai che si fermino ivi con te,And our Lord said to Moyses: Gather me seuentie men of the ancientes of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the ancientes of the people and maisters: and thou shalt bring them to the doore of the tabernacle of couenant, and shalt make them to stand there with thee,Et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Congrega mihi septuaginta viros de senibus Israël, quos tu nosti quod senes populi sint ac magistri: et duces eos ad ostium tabernaculi fœderis, faciesque ibi stare tecum, 17That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.E io scenderò, e ti parlerò: e prenderò del tuo spirito, e lo darò a quegli, affinché teco sostengano il peso del popolo, e non sii tu solo aggravato.that I may descend and speake to thee: and I wil take of thy spirit, and wil deliuer to them, that they may sustaine with thee, the burden of the people, and thou onlie be not burdened.ut descendam et loquar tibi: et auferam de spiritu tuo, tradamque eis, ut sustentent tecum onus populi, et non tu solus graveris. 18And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified: to morrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat:Al popolo parimente dirai: Purificatevi; domane mangerete delle carni, perocché io ho sentito, che dicevate: Chi darà a noi delle carni da nudrirci? Noi stavamo pur bene in Egitto. Onde il Signore darà a voi delle carni, affinché ne mangiate:To the people also thou shalt say: Be sanctified: to morrow you shal eate flesh? for I haue heard you say: Who shal geue vs meates of flesh? it was wel with vs in Aegypt. That the Lord may geue you flesh, and you may eate:Populo quoque dices: Sanctificamini (cras comedetis carnes: ego enim audivi vos dicere: Quis dabit nobis escas carnium ? bene nobis erat in Ægypto), ut det vobis Dominus carnes, et comedatis: 19Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.Non per un giorno, né per due, né per cinque, o dieci, e nemmeno per venti,not one day, nor two, or fiue or ten, no nor twentie,non uno die, nec duobus, vel quinque aut decem, nec viginti quidem,
20But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?Ma per un mese intero, fino a tanto che vi escano per le narici, e vi muovano nausea: perocché voi avete rigettato il Signore, che è in mezzo a voi, e avete pianto al cospetto di lui dicendo: Per qual motivo siam noi usciti dall'Egitto?but euen to a moneth of daies, til it goe out a your nosethrils, and be turned to lothsomenes, because you haue reiected the Lord, who is in the middes of you, and haue whyned before him, saying: Wherfore came we out of Aegypt?sed usque ad mensem dierum, donec exeat per nares vestras, et vertatur in nauseam, eo quod replueritis Dominum, qui in medio vestri est, et fleveritis coram eo, dicentes: Quare egressi sumus ex Ægypto ? 21And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?E Mosè disse: Vi sono secento mila fanti di questo popolo, e tu dici: Io darò loro delle carni da mangiare per un intero mese.And Moyses said: There are six hundred thousand footemen of this people, & sayest thou: I wil geue them flesh to eate a whole moneth?Et ait Moyses: Sexcenta millia peditum hujus populi sunt: et tu dicis: Dabo eis esum carnium mense integro ? 22Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?Si dovrà egli uccidere una moltitudine di pecore, e di bovi, che bastar possa a cibarli? ovvero si rauneranno insieme tutti i pesci del mare per satollarli?Why, shal a multitude of sheepe and oxen be killed, that it may suffise for meate? or shal al the fishes of the sea be gathered togeather, for to fil them?numquid ovium et boum multitudo cædetur, ut possit sufficere ad cibum ? vel omnes pisces maris in unum congregabuntur, ut eos satient ? 23And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.Rispose a lui il Signore: È ella forse spossata la mano del Signore? Tu vedrai or ora, se la parola mia sarà messa ad effetto.To whom our Lord answered: Why, is the hand of the Lord vnable? Now presently thou shalt see whether my word shal be accomplished in deede.Cui respondit Dominus: Numquid manus Domini invalida est ? jam nunc videbis utrum meus sermo opere compleatur. 24Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle.Andò adunque Mosè, e raunati i settanta uomini degli anziani d'Israele (i quali fece stare presso al tabernacolo) riferì al popolo le parole del Signore.Moyses therfore came, and told the people the wordes of our Lord, assembling seuentie men of the ancientes of Israel, whom he caused to stand about the tabernacle.Venit igitur Moyses, et narravit populo verba Domini, congregans septuaginta viros de senibus Israël, quos stare fecit circa tabernaculum.
25And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards.E il Signore discese nella nuvola, e gli parlò, e prese dello spirito, che era in Mosè, e lo diede a' settanta. Ed entrato che fu in essi lo spirito, profetarono, e non finirono mai più.And our Lord descended in a cloude, and spake to him, taking a way of the spirit that was in Moyses, and geuing to the seuentie men. And when the spirit had rested on them, they prophecied, neither ceased they any more.Descenditque Dominus per nubem, et locutus est ad eum, auferens de spiritu qui erat in Moyse, et dans septuaginta viris. Cumque requievisset in eis spiritus, prophetaverunt, nec ultra cessaverunt. 26Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle.Or due di questi erano rimasi negli alloggiamenti, de' quali uno chiamavasi Eldad, e l'altro Medad, e lo spirito si posò sopra di loro: perché anch'essi erano stati messi nel ruolo, ma non erano andati al tabernacolo.And there had remained in the campe two men, of the which one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, vpon whom the spirit rested. for they also had bene enrolled, and were not gone forth to the tabernacle.Remanserat autem in castris duo viri, quorum unus vocabatur Eldad, et alter Medad, super quos requievit spiritus. Nam et ipsi descripti fuerant, et non exierant ad tabernaculum. 27And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.E mentre essi profetavano nel campo, corse un ragazzo, e ne recò la nuova a Mosè, dicendo: Eldad e Medad profetano negli alloggiamenti.And when they prophecied in the campe, there ran a boy, and told Moyses, saying: Eldad and Medad do prophecie in the campe.Cumque prophetarent in castris, cucurrit puer, et nuntiavit Moysi, dicens: Eldad et Medad prophetant in castris. 28Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them.Subitamente Giosuè figliuolo di Nun, ministro di Mosè, eletto tra molti, disse: Signor mio Mosè, non permetter loro tal cosa.Forthwith Iosue the sonne of Nun, the minister of Moyses, and chosen of manie, said: My Lord Moyses forbid them.Statim Josue filius Nun, minister Moysi, et electus e pluribus, ait: Domine mi Moyses, prohibe eos.
29But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!Ma questi disse: Per qual motivo ti prendi tu gelosia per amor mio? Chi mi darà, che profeti tutto il popolo, e che il Signore dia a lui il suo spirito?But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that al the people might prophecie, and that our Lord would geue them his spirit?At ille: Quid, inquit æmularis pro me ? quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet, et det eis Dominus spiritum suum ? 30And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp.E Mosè, e i seniori d'Israele tornarono agli alloggiamenti.And Moyses returned, and the ancientes of Israel into the campe.Reversusque est Moyses, et majores natu Israël in castra. 31And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day’s journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.E un vento mandato dal Signore trasportò seco di là dal mare delle quaglie, e le fe' cadere verso gli alloggiamenti da ogni parte intorno al campo, per lo spazio d'una giornata di cammino, e svolazzavan per l'aria all'altezza di due cubiti sopra la terra.And a winde coming forth from our Lord, taking quailes ouer the sea brought them, and let them fal into the campe the space of one daies iourney, on euerie side of the campe round about, and they did flie in the ayre two cubites high ouer the earth.Ventus autem egrediens a Domino, arreptans trans mare coturnices detulit, et demisit in castra itinere quantum uno die confici potest, ex omni parte castrorum per circuitum, volabantque in aëre duobus cubitis altitudine super terram. 32The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp.Si mosse allora il popolo, e per tutto quel giorno, e la notte, e il dì seguente raunarono quelli che n'ebbero il meno, dieci cori di quaglie: e le seccarono intorno agli alloggiamenti.The people therfore rising vp al that day, and the night, and the next day, gathered togeather a multitude of qualies, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the campe.Surgens ergo populus toto die illo, et nocte, ac die altero, congregavit coturnicum: qui parum, decem coros: et siccaverunt eas per gyrum castrorum. 33As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague.Egli no avean tuttora tra' denti le carni, e non era venuto meno quel cibo, ed ecco che l'ira del Signore accesa contro del popolo, lo percosse con flagello stragrande.As yet the flesh was in their teeth, neither had that kind of meate failed: and behold the furie of our Lord being prouoked against the people, stroke them with an exceding great plague.Adhuc carnes erant in dentibus eorum, nec defecerat hujuscemodi cibus: et ecce furor Domini concitatus in populum, percussit eum plaga magna nimis.
34And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.Donde fu chiamato quel luogo i Sepolcri della concupiscenza: perché qui vi seppellirò la gente d'ingorda brama. Partiti di poi da' sepolcri della concupiscenza, giunsero ad Haserot, e ivi fermaronsi.And that place was called, The Sepulchres of concupiscence: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the Sepulchres of concupiscence, they came vnto Haseroth, and taried there.Vocatusque est ille locus, Sepulchra concupiscentiæ: ibi enim sepelierunt populum qui desideraverat. Egressi autem de Sepulchris concupiscentiæ, venerunt in Haseroth, et manserunt ibi.
11:1
Year of the World 2514.
Calmet
Fatigue. Hebrew simply, "and the people were like those who complain of evil, or who seek pretexts, inwardly, in the ears of the Lord." St. Jerome explains this evil to mean the fatigue of the journey, which lasted for three days together. (Calmet)
Haydock
Hence, some who were ready to lay hold of every pretext, took occasion to murmur, and to contrast their present wearisome life with the false pleasures of Egypt. The people of that country were now desirous of returning, and prevailed upon many of the Hebrews to join with them, ver. 4. (Haydock)
They were chiefly those who were farthest from the ark, the dregs of the people; though some pretend that the uttermost part means the principal men of the camp. See Genesis 48:2. "The fire devoured one part of the camp," Septuagint.
11:2
Up, as rain is by the earth, Amos 9:5.
11:3
Challoner
The burning. Hebrew tabherah. (Challoner)
Calmet uses no reason for confounding this station with that mentioned [in] ver. 34.
11:4
Haydock
For, seems, however, to connect the burning of some with the destruction of many more, who had eaten the quails, as if both judgments took place at the same encampment. Septuagint render the Hebrew, "and a mixt rabble among them, desired greatly; and sitting, cried, as well as the Israelites, and said," etc. (Haydock)
Challoner
A mixt multitude. These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel: who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt; that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world. (Challoner)
Du Hamel
This verse may relate a different history from the preceding ones, as the punishment was of another kind. (Du Hamel)
Haydock
The murmurers were burnt to death. (Haydock)
11:5
Fish. The Nile abounds in fish, which they might catch freely. The fish of the lake Moeris, brought a considerable revenue to the king of Egypt. (Herodotus, 2:149.) The Hebrews had dwelt also near the Mediterranean Sea. Fish was formerly in greater esteem than it is at present. The priests of Egypt abstained from it, (Herodotus, 2:37,) and the people from such as had scales, and from eels, because they believed they were sacred. (Herodotus, 2:72). Porphyrius and Ovid even maintain that they refrained from all fish, as well as the Syrians. But they had not probably carried their superstition so far, in the days of Moses.
Aristophanes
Garlic. These things are much more delicious and wholesome in hot countries. The Greeks fed much on cucumbers and garlic. (Aristophanes)
Calmet
The Turks still delight in them, eating the former raw with sour milk, (which would be very dangerous in our climate), and onions, which are as good as our pears. (Spon. Bellon. 3:18, etc.) The wounded Machaon feasts upon onions, etc. (Homer, Iliad ix.) The Egyptians afterwards scrupled to eat leeks and onions. (Calmet)
Haydock
Porrum et cepe nefas violare....O sanctas gentes! quibus haec nascuntur in hortis---Numina. (Juvenal, Sat. xv.) But in the earlier ages Moses represents them as accustomed to such food. (Haydock)
11:6
Dry, like people quite worn out for want of food. (Psalm101:5, 12; Lamentations 4:8.)
Calmet
Nothing. An exaggeration. We are disgusted with this light food. (Calmet)
Menochius
They wished not only for the taste, but also for the colour, of other meats. (Menochius)
Haydock
How often do we imitate their folly, when we are disgusted with the bread of life! (Haydock)
11:7
Bdellium. Bdellium, according to Pliny, ([Natural History?] lib. XXI. chp. 9,) was of the colour of a man's nail, white and bright; (Challoner) or like wax, ([Natural History?] lib. 12:9,) between white and yellow. It might resemble a tarnished pearl or ivory in colour, and coriander-seed in shape.
11:8
Calmet
Oil; or, when unprepared, like flour and honey, Exodus 16:31. (Calmet)
11:10
By. Hebrew, "for." Jonathan and others endeavour to excuse their ancestors, by saying that they wept because they were forbidden to marry their near relations.
His tent. Some explain the Hebrew of the tent of Moses. But the Israelites more probably staid at home.
11:12
Calmet
Nurse. We often read of men nursing and watching over others. (4 Kings 10:5; Esther 2:11.) Thus kings shall nurse the Church, Isaias 49:23. (Calmet)
Menochius
All who have authority should treat their subjects with love. (Menochius)
11:14
For me. Had he not the judges, whom Jethro advised him to appoint? But all matters of consequence were still brought to Moses. He was made answerable for all things.
11:15
Calmet
Evils. Hebrew, "my misfortune." The Rabbins say their, or thy, was formerly written, but corrected by the scribes. (Calmet)
Haydock
Moses fears the anger of God falling upon the people. (Haydock)
Haydock
It is very wonderful that the Hebrew text here retains the feminine pronoun att, instead of atta; thy, thee; as if Moses were addressing himself to some woman; and this absurd peculiarity is more absurdly accounted for, by saying that Moses was "so exasperated during this his address to the divine Being, as to be incapable of pronouncing both syllables!" The same mistake occurs [in] 1 Kings 24:19. (Kennicott, 1:412.) God does not reprehend Moses as guilty of any disrespect or pusillanimity. (Haydock)
Worthington
The holy man prays with due submission to the will of the most High. (Worthington)
11:16
Challoner
Seventy men. This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrim, consisting of seventy, or seventy-two senators or counselors. (Challoner)
Jarchi
Calmet calls this in question. (Dissert. on the Police, etc.) Moses chose these senators from among the officers, whom he had before set over the people, (Exodus xviii.) or from those who had superintended their affairs in Egypt, according to the Rabbins, (Exodus 3:14,) who say that the traditions explaining the law were entrusted to them. (Jarchi, etc.)
Calmet
Ancients; a title of authority in the East. See Genesis 50:7. It was not so necessary that they should be far advanced in year, as that they should be men of prudence and of consummate virtue. These qualifications received a great increase, when they were filled with the spirit of God. (Calmet)
Menochius
They were thus authorized to decide controversies peremptorily, and to consult God, like Moses, being endued also with a prophetic spirit. (Menochius)
11:17
Thy spirit. St. Augustine (q. 18,) reads "of the spirit which is on thee;" (Septuagint) referring it to the indivisible spirit of God, so that these ancients received what was sufficient for them, while Moses suffered no diminution. Thus one lamp communicates light to another, without being impaired. (Origen, hom. vi.) Theodoret (q. 18,) also adds, that a person confers baptism on thousands, and yet loses no part of the grace himself. Selden (Syn. 2:4,) shews that the Jews explain this spirit of a certain emanation of divine light, or inspiration, which causes the prophets to speak. They have not in general, a distinct belief of the blessed Trinity. "I will make an increase of the spirit, which is upon thee, and will place it upon them." (Chaldean; ver. 25.)
11:18
Onkelos
Sanctified. Prepare yourselves to receive flesh. The word is often used in this sense, Jeremias 6:4, etc. (Onkelos)
Calmet
Cease to murmur, and bewail your sin. (Calmet)
11:20
Of days complete. So two years of days, means two full years. (1 Machabees 1:30.)
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.
11:21
Haydock
People, able to bear arms. (Haydock)
Calmet
In all there were above two millions. (Calmet)
11:22
Calmet
Fishes. Moses does not distinguish them from flesh, no more than St. Paul does, 1 Corinthians 15:39. Fish was not formerly allowed on fasting days. (Calmet)
11:23
Unable: Hebrew, "shortened." Septuagint, "insufficient." Moses had expressed his astonishment, not his doubts; though the words might convey the latter idea to us more than his behaviour in (Numbers 20:10.) But God sees the heart.
Haydock
To pass. Hebrew may be also, "hath called thee;" (Calmet) Septuagint, "shall come upon thee," and execute the thing, as soon as thou shalt promise it. (Haydock)
11:25
Calmet
Afterwards. Some give a contrary meaning to the Hebrew, with the Septuagint, Syriac, etc.: "They prophesied, (on that occasion) but they did not continue" to do so; except when they were favoured with the influence of the spirit. When it was requisite, they were enabled to declare God's will and his praise to the people. (Calmet)
Menochius
Saul is said to have prophesied when he praised God, 1 Kings 10:5, 10. (Menochius)
11:26
St. Jerome
Forth, being lawfully hindered, (Calmet) or out of humility. (St. Jerome, ep. 127.)
11:27
Calmet
Man. The Rabbins say, without proof, that he was Gersom, the son of Moses, and that the two prophets were half-brothers of the lawgiver, and foretold his death and the persecutions of Gog, etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
Hermas (11. 2.) refers to some of their predictions: "The Lord is nigh to those who are converts." See Psalm 33:19. (Haydock)
Calmet
But they prophesied probably, by announcing only as men inspired, the praises of God and sentiments of piety, without diving into futurity. (Calmet)
Cotelier
Theodoret (q. 21,) thinks they were not of the 70 judges, but equal in dignity to them. (Cotelier.)
11:28
Calmet
Chosen among the seventy, and designed, from his youth, to be the general, and successor of Moses; the Hebrew may be understood in all these senses. See Exodus 17:10. (Calmet)
11:30
Haydock
Camp of the people, from the tabernacle, which was in the midst of it. (Haydock)
11:31
Sea; the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The wind blew from the south-west to the west with respect to Moses, or from the south with respect to Jerusalem, Psalm 77:26. Many quails are found about Rinocorura, and some have imagined that these had continued during winter at the bottom of the waters, as they say swallows do. (Bochart, 1:15.) God had sent the Hebrews a similar provision, for one day, about the same season of the year, Exodus 16:13.
Haydock
Flew. The Hebrew says simply, "as it were two cubits upon the earth;" whether they were heaped one upon another to that height, or, as it is more probable, (Calmet) they flew only so much above the ground, and might easily be killed. (Haydock)
Menochius
The Septuagint call them ortygometra, the leader, or the largest sort of quails. Suppose twenty of these filled a bushel, or the thirtieth part of a corus, each person would have at least 6,000 quails; and if there were three million people, they must have had 18,000 million such birds. (Menochius)
11:32
Cores. Hebrew, "Chomarim," each of contained 100 gomers. One gomer was the daily allowance of manna for each person, and of course there must have been sufficient quails for one hundred days. But Moses tells us that each one collected at least ten times that quantity, or as much has he could eat for 1,000 days. Bochart therefore supposes, that only each family, of ten people, gathered so much: or the Hebrew should be rendered heaps, as the core, or chomer, is not a proper measure for birds, but for corn and liquors. The Septuagint, Syriac, etc., have "heaps." We need not have recourse to a new creation of these birds, as their numbers are very surprising. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 10:23.) In Italy above 100,000 have been caught in one day, within the space of 5,000 paces. (Blond.) The Psalmist compares the numbers brought on this occasion, to the dust, or to the sand of the sea-shore, Psalm 77:27.
Athenaeus
Dried them in the sun, having first salted them, as the Egyptians did. (Calmet) (Athenaeus.)
Du Hamel
Many quails are found in Egypt, and around the Arabian Gulf. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] iii.) (Du Hamel)
11:33
Cornelius a Lapide
Plague of fire, ver. 3, Psalm 77:21. (Cornelius a Lapide)
Menochius
Failed, after the month was expired. (Menochius)
Calmet
They had been accustomed to live upon manna, which was a light food, during the space of a year; and now eating greedily of this flesh, their stomachs were overcharged, and they died of an indigestion. (Calmet)
Selden
The Rabbins say, God punished their gluttony by death, and obliged the rest of the Hebrews to abstain from all flesh, except from that of the peace-offerings, till they entered the promised land. (Selden, Syn. 2, 4.)
11:34
Challoner
The graves of lust; or the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew Kibroth Hattaavah. (Challoner)
Du Hamel
Hence St. Augustine observes that, "it is not a matter of so much moment to be heard by God. For some he hears in his wrath, granting their requests, while he refuses to comply with some petitions of his friends." (Du Hamel)
11:3
The burning.... Hebrew, Taberah.
11:4
A mixt multitude.... These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel; who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt, that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world.
11:7
Bdellium.... Bdellium, according to Pliny, 1.21, c. 9. was of the colour of a man’s nail, white and bright.
11:16
Seventy men.... This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy or seventy-two senators or counsellors.
11:34
The graves of lust.... Or, the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew, Kibroth. Hattaavah.
11:4
These were Aegyptians that parted out of their countrie with the Israelites, and now murmuring drawe others by example to the same sinne.
11:15
Prayers of holie men are with submission of their willes to Gods wil, either expressed or implied.
11:17
God imperted of the same spirite to these Ancientes, wherof he had geuē to Moyses, that they might haue so much helpe of grace as pleased God, and Moyses haue neuer thelesse. S. Aug. q. 1•. in Num.
11:26
Gods grace sometimes preuenteth the ordinarie meanes Theodoret. q. 21. in Num.
11:34
By this example and figure S. Paul sheweth that al shal not be saued, which are baptised, & communicate in the same faith & Sacraments, but those only which also please God in their workes. 1. Cor. 10.
11:1
Tertulliano † 220 d.C. On Fasting 5
… “Who shall feed us with flesh? here have come into our mind the fish which in Egypt we were wont to eat freely, and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But now our soul is arid: nought save manna do our eyes see!”
11:4
sant'Ambrogio † 397 d.C. On the Holy Spirit 1.pref.3
… For the flesh of the kid refers to sins of deed, the broth to the enticements of desire as it is written: “For the people lusted an evil lust, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?”
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. The Letters of St. Jerome 128.2
… When they longed for the fleshpots of Egypt He sent them flights of quails and allowed them to gorge themselves until they were sick.
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. Against Jovinianus 2.10
… The people of Israel cast out from Egypt and on their way to the land of promise, the land flowing with milk and honey, longed for the flesh of Egypt, and the melons and garlic, saying: “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots.” And again,
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. On Christian Doctrine 4.21
… For the kid’s flesh refers to the guilt of the outward act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as it is written, ‘And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again and again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?’
11:5
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 6.8
… For if, indeed when they departed after these things had happened, they did again remember Egypt, with their hard slavery, and were urgent to turn back to that former tyranny; what if they had received no such treatment from these barbarians? when would they have ever wished to leave that strange land?
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 10
… But tears come into my eyes, and I groan deeply to think how great religiousness ( φιλοσοφίαν ) Paul requires of us, and what listlessness we have yielded ourselves up to, going back after our baptism to the oldness we before had, and returning to Egypt, and remembering the garlic after the manna. (
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. The Confessions 7.9
15. And therefore also did I read there, that they had changed the glory of Thy incorruptible nature into idols and divers forms,—“into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” namely, into that Egyptian food
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. Expositions on the Book of Psalms 68.8
… because them alone He so fed, not the other nations also: so that what next he saith, “and it was weakened,” is understood of the inheritance being itself weakened; for they murmuring, fastidiously loathed the manna, longing for victuals of flesh, and those things on which they had been accustomed to live in Egypt.
11:12
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 35
… but privately He gives him directions of the opposite tenor. And this, Moses upon constraint revealed afterwards, thus saying, “What? did I conceive them, that thou sayest to me, Carry them, as a nurse would carry the sucking child in her bosom?”
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 3
… v. 11 .) And, “Comfort one another with these words.” ( 1 Thess. iv. 18 .) God knoweth how He should distribute to every man. Art thou better than Moses? hear how he shrinks from the hardship. “Am I,” saith he, “able to bear them? for Thou saidst to me, Bear them up, as a nursing-father would bear up the sucking-child.” (
11:14
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 14
… thus were these also free to undertake long journeys; thus were these put in trust with the word. But the writer does not say this, nor extol them, but that it was “not reason” that they should leave the work given to them. Thus they had been taught by Moses’s example not to undertake the management of everything by themselves. (
11:15
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 4
… and not only then, but afterwards when he entered upon his rule, he would gladly have died to have been set free from it: “Kill me,” saith he, “if thou art going to deal thus with me.”
11:16
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 14
… but nevertheless, they desire the testimony of the people. The fixing the number, and the ordaining them, and for this kind of business, rested with them: but the choice of the men they make over to the people, that they might not seem to act from favor: just as God also leaves it to Moses to choose as elders those whom he knew. (
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. The Letters of St. Jerome 58.1
… Gray hairs are not wisdom; it is wisdom which is as good as gray hairs. At least that is what Solomon says: “wisdom is the gray hair unto men.” Moses too in choosing the seventy elders is told to take those whom he knows to be elders indeed, and to select them not for their years but for their discretion.
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. The Letters of St. Jerome 60.10
… his refusal did but prove him worthy of an office which he was reluctant to assume, and all the more worthy because he declared himself unworthy. We too in our day have our Timothy; we too have seen that wisdom which is as good as gray hairs; our Moses has chosen an elder whom he has known to be an elder indeed.
Pseudo-Clement The Recognitions of Clement 1.40
… so that, but for the Wisdom of God assisting those who love the truth, almost all would have been involved in impious delusion. Therefore He chose us twelve, the first who believed in Him, whom He named apostles; and afterwards other seventy-two most approved disciples, that, at least in this way recognising the pattern of Moses,
11:17
san Giustino † 165 d.C. Dialogue with Trypho 49
To this I replied, “Do you not think that the same thing happened in the case of Joshua the son of Nave (Nun), who succeeded to the command of the people after Moses, when Moses was commanded to lay his hands on Joshua, and God said to him, ‘I will take of the spirit which is in thee, and put it on him?’ ”
Afraate † 346 d.C. Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 6.12
12. Again I will remind thee, my beloved, also of that which is written. For thus it is written, that when it was a grievous burden to Moses to lead the camp alone, the Lord said to him:— Lo! will take away of the Spirit that is upon thee, and will put it upon seventy men, elders of Israel .
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 4
… ( 1 Sam. ix. and xi. 6 .) Even Saul, having first obtained witness that he was good, thereafter received the Spirit. But in the same manner as here did none of them receive. Thus Moses was the greatest of the Prophets, yet he, when others were to receive the Spirit, himself suffered diminution.
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. On the Holy Trinity 5.14
… another, that which we have received that we might be holy. Whence it is also written of John, that he “came in the spirit and power of Elias;” and by the spirit of Elias is meant the Holy Spirit, whom Elias received. And the same thing is to be understood of Moses, when the Lord says to him, “And I will take of thy spirit, and will put it upon them;”
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.10
… For of the same the Lord saith in the Gospel, “for all do live to Him.” Or do we more suitably understand thereby the fathers Moses and Aaron, and the other elders who are related in the same Scripture also to have received the Spirit, of which also Moses received, in order that they might aid him in ruling and bearing the same people?
Anonymous A Treatise on Re-Baptism by an Anonymous Writer 15
… or, moreover, to have sprung of His own will into certain men, or to have invested them, or to have been upon them, even as we observe that it was said by the Lord to Moses, about the seventy elders, “And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them.”
11:18
Giovanni Cassiano † 435 d.C. The Conferences of John Cassian 3.7
… “It was well with us in Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots and ate the onions, and garlic, and cucumbers, and melons:”
11:20
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. The Letters of St. Jerome 54.4
4. What troubles matrimony involves you have learned in the marriage state itself; you have been surfeited with quails’ flesh
11:23
san Giustino † 165 d.C. Dialogue with Trypho 126
… For thus the Scripture says: ‘And the Lord said to Moses, Will the Lord’s hand not be sufficient? thou shalt know now whether my word shall conceal thee or not.’
11:24
san Cirillo di Gerusalemme † 386 d.C. The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.25
… and this I say to thee, that I may now prove, that He knoweth all things, and worketh as He will . The seventy Elders were chosen; And the Lord came down in a cloud, and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and put it upon the seventy Elders
11:25
san Basilio † 379 d.C. De Spiritu Sancto 26
… since He does not abide with those who, on account of the instability of their will, easily reject the grace which they have received. An instance of this is seen in Saul, and the seventy elders of the children of Israel, except Eldad and Medad, with whom alone the Spirit appears to have remained,
sant'Ambrogio † 397 d.C. On the Holy Spirit 3.6
… Lastly, too, the king advanced him because he had the grace of the Spirit. For he speaks thus: “Thou, O Daniel, art able, forasmuch as the Holy Spirit of God is in thee.” And farther on it is written: “And Daniel was set over them, because an excellent Spirit was in him.” And the Spirit of Moses also was distributed to those who were to be judges.
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. The Confessions 13.4
… but not as if Thou wert imperfect, and wert to be perfected in their perfection. For Thy good Spirit was borne over the waters, not borne up by them as if He rested upon them. For those in whom Thy good Spirit is said to rest,
11:26
san Cirillo di Gerusalemme † 386 d.C. The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.25
… Now there were present sixty and eight, and they prophesied; but Eldad and Modad were not present: therefore that it might be shewn that it was not Moses who bestowed the gift, but the Spirit who wrought, Eldad and Modad, who though called, had not as yet presented themselves, did also prophesy
11:28
san Cirillo di Gerusalemme † 386 d.C. The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.26
26. Jesus the Son of Nun, the successor of Moses, was amazed; and came to him and said, “Hast thou heard that Eldad and Modad are prophesying? They were called, and they came not; my lord Moses, forbid them
11:29
san Cirillo di Gerusalemme † 386 d.C. The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.26
… nay, so far am I from forbidding them, that I myself am thankful for it. I think not, however, that thou hast said this in envy; art thou jealous for my sake , because that they prophesy, and thou prophesiest not yet? Wait for the proper season; and oh that all the Lord’s people may be prophets, whenever the Lord shall give His Spirit upon them
san Gregorio Nazianzeno † 389 d.C. Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.8
… In fact they are almost more in number than those whom they govern; pitiable as regards piety, and unfortunate in their dignity; so that, it seems to me, they will not, as time and this evil alike progress, have any one left to rule, when all are teachers, instead of, as the promise says, taught of God, and all prophesy,
san Giovanni Crisostomo † 407 d.C. Homilies on 1 Timothy 3
… i. 18 .). In the same spirit Moses answered, when some would have excited his displeasure against Eldad and Modad, because they prophesied, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” (
11:32
sant'Agostino d'Ippona † 430 d.C. Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 73.1
… Do we not see how the Israelites got to their own hurt what their guilty lusting craved? For while it was raining manna on them from heaven, they desired to have flesh to eat.
11:34
san Girolamo † 420 d.C. Against Jovinianus 2.10
… If God does not desire fasting, how is it that in Leviticus He commands the whole people in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, to fast until the evening, and threatens that he who does not afflict his soul shall die and be cut off from his people? How is it that the
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 3.45
“But that He is not pleased with sacrifices, is shown by this, that those who lusted after flesh were slain as soon as they tasted it, and were consigned to a tomb, so that it was called the grave of lusts.
11:1
1. INTEREA ORTUM EST MURMUR POPULI (Hebr. est, et erat populus murmurans mala. Ita et Septuaginta et Chaldaeus), QUASI DOLENTIUM PRO LABORE, - prae fatigatione itineris, puta quia tres dies continuos cum parvulis, jumentis et sarcinis ambularant. Pro quasi dolentium, hebr. est כמתאננים kemitonenim, id est, quasi causantium laborem et dolorem. Unde patet eos non tam murmurasse ex vera fatigatione (lente enim ambulabant, et Deus confortabat eos), quam eam praetexuisse suae gulae, et ollis Aegypti, ut patet vers. 5. Quocirca Vatablus vertit: Contigit autem, cum populus molestiam et dolorem quemdam causaretur, ut ea res displiceret in auribus Domini. Mitonenim enim, cum est Hitpael, significat actionem reflexam, puta dolentium, id est, causantium dolorem; imo aliqui, ut Forster in Lexico, mitonenim vertunt concupiscentium, scilicet carnes et caepas, ut patet vers. 5. Radix enim און on, et concupiscentiam significat, et dolorem: illa enim hujus est causa, uti culpa causa est poenae. Alii, ut R. David, Pagninus, Mercerius mitonenim vertunt, mentientium, scilicet fatigationem et dolorem, cum revera non tam fatigati essent, quam concupiscerent ollas Aegyptias, more suo. Marinus vertit, perverse agentium. Favet Deut. VIII, 4, ubi dicitur: «Pes tuus non est subtritus, en quadragesimus annus est.» Adde, cum hi murmuratores causam murmuris et doloris sui exprimunt, non nominant fatigationem, sed concupiscentiam carnium et caeparum. «Quis dabit, inquiunt vers. 4, nobis ad vescendum carnes?» etc. Denique alii passim mitonenim vertunt non dolentium, nec fatigatorum, sed murmurantium, hoc est causantium fatigationem, cum revera concupiscerent carnes. Et ita vertunt Septuaginta et noster, Thren. III, 39: «Quid murmuravit (hebr. iitonen) homo vivens vir pro peccatis suis?» q. d. Quid murmurat homo causando et incusando Dei providentiam, quasi illa praedestinarit et decreverit ejus excidium et perditionem, cum incusare debeat peccata sua, quae vera sunt perditionis cujusque causa? Abulensis putat hoc murmur contigisse sub annum quadragesimum ab egressu ex Aegypto: sed longe verius est illud contigisse anno secundo ab egressu. Nam contigit mox ab egressu ex Sinai, in decima tertia mansione: ex Sinai autem egressi sunt Hebraei anno secundo mense secundo. Rursum hoc murmur contigit ob manna; manna autem coepit dari anno primo: ergo paulo post illud, puta anno secundo, murmur hoc accidit, cum ex continuo ejus esu illud fastidire coeperunt.
ET ACCENSUS IN EOS IGNIS DOMINI, - id est a Domino. Ita Septuaginta et Chaldaei. Secundo, «ignis Domini,» id est ignis ingens, vehemens et terribilis; sic enim vocantur cedri Dei, montes Dei, id est cedri magnae, montes excelsi. Est hic hysteron proteron. Haec enim plaga inflicta est post murmur carnium, uti ostendam vers. 4; quare hic versus et sequens juxta historiae ordinem, ponendi fuissent post vers. 33. Nota: Igne puniuntur et cremantur hic murmurantes. Ita Deo displicet murmur et rebellio.
11:3
Vers. 3. Locus hic ab igne vocatus est, Incensio: sed a poena gulae vocatus est, Sepulcra concupiscentiae, ut patet vers. 34. Est enim hic unus idemque locus, uti et murmur. Nota: Haec non in itinere, sed in castris, seu castrorum fixione contigisse, significatur vers. 4: hoc enim significat Hebraeum hammachane, id est, castrorum metatio.
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4. VULGUS QUIPPE PROMISCUUM, etc., FLAGRAVIT DESIDERIO. - Nota τò quippe (licet enim in Hebraeo sit et, tamen et Hebraeis saepe est causale, significans quia, quippe): haec enim vox causalis significat causam praecedentium, cur scilicet Hebraei murmuraverint, et cur puniti sint igne, videlicet quod nonnihil ex labore itineris fatigati, coeperint suspirare ad carnes et ollas Aegypti: unde sequitur unum idemque esse murmur, quod vers. 1 breviter, hic vero fuse enarratur. Voluit enim Moses primo, tam murmur, quam ejus poenam perstringere; deinde fuse et ordinate hoc versu historiam totam rei gestae enarrare. Id ita esse rursum ex eo confirmatur, quod non sit verisimile Hebraeos ob solum murmur, vel querelam fatigationis punitos esse igne, aut post hanc poenam et cladem statim hic iterum murmurasse, ob desiderium carnium. Timuissent enim rursum puniri igne. Tertio, idipsum indicat Psaltes, Psal. LXXVII, vers. 20, cum hoc murmur eorum ita describit: «Numquid et panem (id est cibum, hoc enim hebr. est panis; unde Genebrardus ex R. Kimchi, per panem intelligit carnes) poterit dare, aut parare mensam in deserto?» Deinde poenam subjungit: «Ideo audivit Dominus, et distulit, et ignis accensus est in Jacob, et ira ascendit in Israel.» Vides hic ignis poenam inflictam esse, ob murmur non tam querentium de fatigatione, quam desiderantium cibos et carnes.
Disce hic ingenium vulgi. Quid et quale est vulgus? Primo, Philo, lib. De Josepho: «Sicut coci, ait, omnia esculenta ad suavitatem oris comparant, utilia negligunt: sic ignobile vulgus securum de commodis, praesentem tantum voluptatem venatur. Et sicut cocus nihil aliud curat, quam inutiles ac supervacaneas ventris voluptates: sic et vulgus,» etc. «Vulgus hominum cupiditatibus agitur, non ratione,» inquit Thucydides. «Vulgus est voluptatum cupiens, et, si eo princeps trahit, laetum,» ait Tacitus, lib. XIV. Secundo: «Plebs otio lascivit,» ait Livius, Decad. I, lib. II. Tertio: «Id omni multitudini natura insitum est, ut rerum novitate et immutatione laetetur,» inquit Agathias, lib. III. Quarto: «Omni populo inest malignum quiddam et querulum in imperantes,» inquit Plutarchus in Polit. Quinto: «Multitudo vulgi more magis quam judicio, post alium alius quasi prudentiorem sequitur, sicut ovis ovem,» inquit Sallustius ad Caesarem. Sexto: «Vulgus ingenio mobili, seditiosum atque discordiosum, cupidum rerum novarum, quieti et otio adversum,» inquit idem in Jugurtha. Septimo, Antisthenes apud Laertium, lib. VI: «Vulgus, inquit, hominum tantum probat ea quibus assuevit (ut Hebraei hic ollas Aegyptias), ab exoticis (a manna) abhorret, non quod mala, sed quod peregrina sint.» Octavo, Ovidius, lib. I Trist., eleg. 8, sic canit de vulgo: «Utque comes radios per Solis euntibus umbra est; cum latet hic pressus nubibus, illa fugit: mobile sic sequitur fortunae lumina vulgus, quae simul inducta nube teguntur, abit.» Idem rursus: «Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.» Nono, Polybius, lib. XI Hist.: «Ut mare, inquit, natura sua placabile est; cum vero irruunt venti, tale est quales sunt venti quibus agitatur: ita ignobile vulgus per se placabile est, sed agitatur, et tale redditur, quales habet duces et consiliarios.» Decimo, Plutarchus in Moral.: «Qui captat aves, inquit, earum voces imitatur ut alliciat in laqueos: sic ut multitudinem in tuam adducas sententiam, illius ingenio obsecundes et obsequias oportet.» Undecimo, Themistocles affectus contumelia ab Atheniensibus, quos multis beneficiis affecerat, aiebat, similem se esse platanis, sub quarum umbra ut lateant, accurrunt homines tempestate afflicti, et easdem, mox ut abiit tempestas, vellunt. Sensit vir prudentissimus vulgi mores esse, ut in belli periculis implorent virorum fortium opem: in pace vero contemnant eos, imo vexent et vellicent. Ita Plutarchus in Apophth. Duodecimo, cum Atheniensibus proditum esset oraculum, in ea civitate unum esse virum, qui cunctorum sententiis adversaretur, ac populus vociferans juberet eum inquiri ut occiderent, Phocion in medium procedens: «Ego, inquit, sum ille quem designavit oraculum. Mihi enim omnia ea displicent, quae vulgus dicit et agit.» Quo dicto ostendere voluit inconditam multitudinem, quoniam affectibus regitur, nihil sani agere aut loqui. Ita Plutarchus ibidem. Hinc Antisthenes, quodam die theatrum ingressus, adversus populum nitens progrediebatur. Rogatus cur id faceret: «Hoc, inquit, in omni vita facere studeo.» Sentiens hoc sapientis esse viri, in omnibus a multitudine dissidere. Ita Laertius, lib. VI. Nihil enim praestantius quam ne pecorum ritu sequamur gregem antecedentium, pergentes non quo eundum est, sed quo itur. Decimo tertio, S. Basilius apud Antonium in Melissa, part. I, serm. 18: «Sicut nebulae, ait, juxta mutationes statuum, nunc huc, nunc illuc feruntur: sic vulgus quovis vento nunc in hanc, nunc in illam partem sese flectit.» «Scinditur incertum studia in contraria vulgus:» est enim bellua multorum capitum. Decimo quarto, Joannes XXIII, Pontifex Romanus, interrogatus aliquando: «Quid foret a veritate remotius?» respondit: «Vulgi sententia. Quidquid enim laudat, vituperio dignum est: quidquid cogitat, vanum: quidquid loquitur, falsum: quod improbat, bonum est: quod approbat, malum: et quidquid extollit, infame.»
FLAGRAVIT DESIDERIO - carnium et caeparum Aegypti, patet ex vers. seq. Licet enim oves non comederent Aegyptii, ut patet Genes. XLVI, 34, oves nec caepas, utpote quas ut deos colerent; unde eos ridens Juvenalis, Satyr. penult. ita canit: «Porrum et caepe nefas violare, ac frangere morsu. O sanctas gentes, quibus haec nascuntur in hortis numina! Lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis mensa, nefas illic foetum jugulare capellae.» Tamen alia animalia comedebant: imo oves et caepas alii comedebant, ut patet ex hoc loco, alii ex religione iis abstinebant. Aliquorum enim tantum erat haec religio, vel potius superstitio. Dices: Hebraei habebant sua pecora, quae poterant occidere et comedere; cur ergo hic carnes a Mose poscunt, et murmurant? Respondeo: Illa pecora erant pauca, nec suffecissent ad tot hominum millia, vel pauco tempore alenda. Vide vers. 22. Rursum pecora haec servare volebant ad sobolem, in terra promissa procreandam. Denique, non omnes habebant pecora, praesertim ex illa colluvie, a qua coepit murmur. Ita Abulensis. Addit S. Augustinus eos desiderasse coturnices: hisce enim datis, Deus sedavit eorum murmur. Verum Scriptura hoc non exprimit, sed tantum carnes, porros et caepas: nec vulgus hoc in Aegypto assuetum fuerat coturnicibus. Moraliter S. Bernardus, tract. Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, docet argumentum incultae mentis esse concupiscentiam et sollicitudinem temporalium: «Ut exercitii spiritualis, inquit, et cura cordis indicium evidens est contemptus exteriorum: sic eorumdem sollicitudo, certum nihilominus signum mentis incultae. Scriptum quippe est: In desideriis est omnis otiosus.» Sedens. - Ita et Septuaginta legentes aliis punctis יושבו vaiescebu, id est, et sederunt. Jam Massoretae et moderni Hebraei cum Chaldaeo legunt vaiascubu, id est, et reversi, vel aversi sunt.
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5. IN MENTEM NOBIS VENIUNT CUCUMERES, etc. - Moraliter S. Gregorius, XX Moral. cap. XVI: «Quid, ait, signatur per ollas carnium, nisi carnalia vitae opera in tribulationum doloribus, quasi ignibus excoquenda? Quid per pepones, nisi terrenae dulcedines? Quid per porros et caepas exprimuntur, quae plerumque qui comedunt, lacrymas emittunt, nisi difficultas vitae praesentis, quae a dilectoribus suis et non sine luctus agitur, et tamen cum lacrymis amatur? Manna igitur deserentes, cum peponibus ac carnibus porros caepasque quaesiverunt: quia videlicet perversae mentes dulcia per gratiam quietis dona despiciunt, et pro carnalibus voluptatibus laboriosa hujus vitae itinera etiam lacrymis plena concupiscunt: contemnunt habere, ubi spiritualiter gaudeant: desideranter appetunt, ubi et carnaliter gemant. Horum itaque vecordiam veridica voce Job reprehendat: quia nimirum perversi judicio perturbata tranquillis, dura lenibus, aspera mitibus, transitoria aeternis, suspecta securis anteponunt.» GRATIS, - pretio vili, et quasi nullo.
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6. Anima nostra arida est, - quasi dicant: Appetitus noster languet, nauseat, et quasi exarescit, eo quod sicco, et eodem semper manna vescamur, nihil viride, nil succulentum comedamus. Dices: Manna exhibebat eis omnem saporem, ut dicitur Sap. XVI, 20; ergo etiam saporem carnium et caeparum: cur ergo murmurant? Respondent aliqui, solos justos sensisse varietatem saporis in manna, idque ad libitum: impios autem, qui erant in peccato mortali, in manna non sensisse, nec sapuisse nisi saporem naturalem, qui erat mellis, aut panis oleati, ad quem facile nauseamus. Verum, Exodi XVI, 31, ostendi hoc beneficium tam impiis, quam piis, fuisse commune. Respondeo ergo, nauseam hanc et murmur ortum esse, non ex nativa dulcedine (haec enim si crebro gustetur, nauseam movet) mannae, nec ex taedio ejusdem semper cibi, utpote qui ad libitum eorum saporem variabat: sed quia odor, color, forma, tenuitas, et similes aliae qualitates eaedem semper perseverabant in manna, quarum qualitatum jucunda quaedam diversitas allicit magis gustatum. Unde et gulones, praesertim pueri, saepe non tam os et ventrem, quam oculos, phantasiam et manus cibo saturare et implere cupiunt.
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7. COLORIS BDELLII. - Hebraice, oculus ejus sicut oculus bdellii; oculus, id est color, qui est objectum oculi; est metonymia: vide Can. 30. Bdellium est colore unguis, teste Plinio, lib. XII, cap. IX, et Dioscoride, lib. I, cap. LXIV, puta candidum est et lucidum. Unde Septuaginta vertunt, simile crystallo; hinc et bdellium hebraice vocatur bedolach, quod onychem, sive lapidem onychinum significat. Vide dicta Exodi XVI, 31.
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8. SAPORIS QUASI PANIS OLEATI, - ita et Septuaginta et Chaldaea. Sed recentiores vertunt, saporis quasi recentis, vel humentis olei.
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9. CUMQUE DESCENDERET NOCTE SUPER CASTRA ROS, DESCENDEBAT PARITER ET MAN. - Hebraea, Chaldaea et Septuaginta addunt, super eum, scilicet rorem. Ros ergo hic non significat rorulentum vaporem, sed condensatum et conglaciatum, id est pruinam, quae substernebatur ipsi manna, ne manna terrae tactu faedaretur, uti dixi Exodi XVI, 13.
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10. MOYSI INTOLERANDA RES VISA EST, - quod videlicet omnis populus ulularet, et a Moyse carnes posceret. Unde tantum ipse hic populi sensit onus, ut morte gravius ipsi videretur, optaretque mori. Hoc est ingenium pusillanimitatis: quod pulchre describens Victor Abbas apud Sophronium cap. CLXIV: «Pusillanimitas, ait, passio animae est. Sicut enim capti oculis, quanto magis patiuntur, plus sibi videntur lumen intueri; qui vero sanos habent oculos, modicum: ita et pusillanimes ex modica tentatione cito perturbantur, qui vero anima sani sunt, magis gaudent in tentationibus.» Seleucus, Asiae rex, teste Plutarcho, dicere solebat: «Si sciret vulgus quam laboriosum sit legere ac scribere solum tot epistolas, diadema ne humo quidem tollere dignaretur.» Alfonso, Aragonum regi, in coena importunius quidam instabat; rex nihilo commotior, «asinos tantum regibus beatiores esse» dixit: «illis enim dum comedunt, clitellas auferunt agasones, mihi vero senex iste coenanti imponit.» Meminerunt Belgae Caroli V, qui senescens onerum et curarum reipublicae pertaesus cum Bruxellae principatum Belgii in filium Philippum II transferret, illacrymans dixit: «O fili, magnum tibi onus impono. Ego enim toto tempore principatus mei, nunquam quadrantem horae magnis curis et anxietatibus vacuum habui.» Secedens ergo, quatuor ultimos vitae annos sibi et Deo vixit. Adrianus Papa II, teste Petrarcha, nullum supplicium majus de hoste poscebat, quam ut Papa fieret. Pius V, Pontifex sanctus, dicere solebat: «Cum essem Religiosus, sperabam bene de salute animae meae; Cardinalis factus, extimui; nunc Pontifex creatus, pene despero.» Idem sensit Clemens VIII. Non mirum ergo si S. Gregorius, Nicolaus I, Clemens III, Caelestinus V, et alii adeo papatum fugerint. Lucianus ait Myronis et Praxitelis colossos foris multo nitere ebore et auro, ad haec fulmen aut tridentem dextra tenere, ut Jovem, aut numen aliquod repraesentent; cum intus nihil appareret praeter picem, clavos, araneas, mures et sordes. Atque talem esse principum vitam affirmat, quorum si strepitum et apparatum inspicias, nihil felicius, nihil deorum vitae similius; sin curas, suspiciones, odia contemplere, quibus intus discruciantur, nihil calamitosius. Merito ergo Antigonus rex ad filium insolescentem: «An ignoras, inquit, o fili, regnum nostrum non esse aliud, nisi splendidam servitutem?» Principum ergo sors non ambienda, non invidenda, sed compassione digna est.
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12. UT DICAS MIHI. - Hebraice, quia dicis mihi; ita et Septuaginta. Unde patet Deum dixisse Mosi: «Esto populo huic ut nutrix et mater,» id est diligentissimam, et quasi maternam ei curam exhibe; licet id nusquam alibi expresse scribatur, aut narretur. PORTA EOS IN SINU TUO, - hoc est officium Pastorum, imo Sanctorum omnium. Talis fuit Elias, cui proinde ascendenti in coelum acclamavit Elisaeus: «Pater mi, currus Israel, et auriga ejus.» Hinc rex dicitur βασιλεύς quasi βάσις, et Adonai quasi אדן eden, id est fulcrum populi; hoc est quod ait Paulus: «Alter alterius onera portate.» Vis exempla et documenta Sanctorum? Accipe e Vitis Patrum, lib. V, cap. XVI De Patientia: Quidam, inquit, videns quemdam Religiosum portantem mortuum in lecto, dicit ei: «Mortuos portas? Vade, viventes porta;» quia pacifici filii Dei vocabuntur. Ibidem, cap. XV De Humilit.: Abbas Anuph septem fratres suos docuit modum vivendi concorditer inter se. Nam per totam septimanam faciem statuae cujusdam mane lapidabat; vespere autem dicebat: Ignosce mihi. Rogatus cur id faceret, ait: Propter vos hoc feci. Quando me vidistis lapidantem faciem statuae, num locuta est, num furuit? Et dixerunt: Non. Iterum quando apud eam poenitentiam egi, num turbata est? num dixit: Non ignosco? Et responderunt: Non. Tum ille dixit: Ergo et nos qui sumus septem fratres, si vultis ut maneamus simul, efficiamur sicut statua haec, quae contumeliis affecta non turbatur. Illi autem prostraverunt se dicentes: Quod jubes faciemus; manseruntque simul per totam vitam operantes et facientes juxta verbum Anuph. Constituit autem ipse unum ex eis dispensatorem, qui quodcumque eis apposuisset, comedebant, nec quisquam dicebat: Affer aliquid aliud, aut nolo istud manducare; et sic transegerunt vitam suam cum pace et quiete. Ibidem Abbas Nestero, rogatus quomodo in coenobio pacifice vixisset, atque in quavis turbatione didicisset servare silentium et patientiam, respondit: Quando intravi initio in congregatione, dixi animo meo: Tu et asinus unum estote. Sicut enim asinus vapulat, et non loquitur; injuriam patitur, et non respondet: sic et tu; sicut et in Psalm. legitur: «Ut jumentum factus sum apud te, et ego semper tecum.» Ibidem, lib. VI, cap. IV: Abbas Moyses dixit: Si quis portat peccata sua, non videt peccata proximi sui. Rursum Abbas Agatho dixit: Si habitas cum proximo tuo, esto sicut columna lapidea, quae, si injuriatur, non irascitur, si glorificatur, non extollitur. Ibidem in Sententiis Patrum Aegyptiorum, sent. 107, dicebant de Abbate Macario seniore: quia sicut Deus protegit totum mundum et portat peccata hominum, ita et ille quasi quidam Deus terrenus fuit in fratribus, operiens delicta eorum, et ea quae videbat vel audiebat, quasi non videns, et non audiens.
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15. Sin aliter tibi videtur, obsecro ut INTERFICIAS ME. - Moses hic tantis premebatur angustiis, ut hanc sibi gratiam fieri cupiat, videlicet ut mori sibi liceat; amarissime ergo afflictus, et perturbato animo existens, neque satis sibi praesens haec dixit, mortemque petiit: unde vel nullum, vel leve pusillanimitatis tantum peccatum admisit; quare et a Domino non correptionem, sed consolationem accepit.
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16. ET DIXIT DOMINUS AD MOYSEN: CONGREGA MIHI SEPTUAGINTA VIROS DE SENIBUS ISRAEL, - ut videlicet in eos partiar onus tuum, ut ipsi te sublevent in populi regimine. Licet enim Exodi XVIII ex suggestione Jethro Moses in populo constituisset septuaginta judices Hebraeorum constituti sunt, decanos et tribunos, qui lites populi deciderent, tamen ultima appellatio semper erat ad Mosen. Adhaec, majores causae ad Mosen referebantur. Denique ea quae Deum Deique cultum spectabant, solus Moses decernebat; quare grave ipse sustinebat onus: ad quod levandum Deus hic jubet deligi septuaginta viros, qui haec tria, aeque ut Moses, praestarent: ideoque eos aeque ac Mosen spiritu prophetico insignivit, ut familiariter Deum consulerent in dubiis, et ab eo edocerentur. Nota: Hi septuaginta non fuerunt iidem cum illis septuaginta, qui non tam delectu, quam quasi fortuito occurrentes, vel offerentes se comitati sunt Mosen, euntem ad colloquium Dei in Sinai, Exodi XXIV, 1; sed ex iis et aliis hi septuaginta a Mose delecti, et a Deo confirmati fuerunt. Manserunt hi septuaginta deinceps, et continuos habuere successores, etiam in Chanaan, sed carentes spiritu prophetico. Nam solo consilio suo aderant pontifici, qui Deuter. XVII, 9, summus Hebraeorum statuitur judex, erantque ejus consiliarii.
Unde concilium horum cum pontifice summum erat, et ab Hebraeis vocatum est Sanhedrim, graece συνεδριον, de quo videri potest Josephus, et Galatinus, lib. IV, cap. V. Atque hi seniores fuerunt, qui in magno illo suo συνεδρίω, sive concilio, Christum mortis reum proclamarunt, et Pilato occidendum tradiderunt, de quo Matth. cap. XXVI et XXVII.
Rursum Mosen communicasse hisce 70 senioribus legis sensum, praesertim secretiorem et mysticum posteris tradendum (quem legem spiritualem et archetypum vocat Philo, lib. De Plantat. Noe, et Nazianzenus, orat. 1 Apol.), docent Hebraei, uti refert Genebrardus, lib. II Chronologiae: «Moses, inquit, accepit legem de Sinai, et tradidit eam Josue; ipse vero senioribus, seniores Prophetis; Prophetae vero eam tradiderunt viris magnae Synagogae, qui fuerunt Esdras cum reliquis.» Idem confirmat S. Hilarius in Psalmo II: «Moses, inquit, quamvis veteris Testamenti verba litteris condidisset, tamen separata quaedam et occulta legis secretiora mysteria, septuaginta senioribus, qui Doctores deinceps manerent, intimaverat. Cujus doctrinae etiam Dominus in Evangelio meminit, dicens: Super cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae et Pharisaei; doctrina vero eorum mansit in posterum.» Hisce ergo senioribus videntur successisse Scribae in officio explicandi legem et interpretandi S. Scripturam, qui proinde in Evang. Legisperiti, et Seniores vocantur. Tradunt Hebraei ab hisce celebratam esse magnam synodum 120 hominum, sub Artaxerxe Longimano, in qua constitutus est ordo 22 librorum Canonicorum: cui Synodo, si credimus Eliae, praefation. 3 Massoreth, praefuit Daniel, cum Anania, Misael, et Azaria, Esdra, Nehemia, Mardochaeo, Zorobabele, Aggaeo, Zacharia et Malachia.
QUOS TU NOSTI, QUOD SENES POPULI SINT, AC MAGISTRI. - Hinc patet senes hic intelligi non tam aetate, quam prudentia et moribus, qui «senes populi sint,» id est, qui a populo graves et sapientes habeantur. Nam alii senes, ipsa aetate, non autem Mosis judicio et delectu secernendi fuissent, cum canities eorum omnibus esset conspicua. Ita S. Gregorius, lib. XIX Moral. XIII. Adde parvi interesse an vir quis sit aetate, an senex, modo moribus sit senex. De hac senectute ait Sapiens cap. IV, vers. 8: «Senectus venerabilis est, non diuturna, neque annorum numero computata: cani autem sunt sensus hominis, et aetas senectutis vita immaculata.» E contrario puer dicitur, qui prudentia et vita bona destituitur, id est, qui insipiens est et impius, etiamsi centum sit annorum, de quali dicit Isaias, cap. LXV, vers. 20: «Quoniam puer centum annorum morietur:» puer, id est peccator; posterior enim versus more Hebraeo priorem explicat: ita S. Gregorius, libro XIX Moral. cap. XIII. Notat Abulensis in hisce septuaginta judicibus, et aliis quibusvis tria requiri: primo, prudentiam tum humanam, tum divinam; secundo, justitiam et rectam conversationem; tertio, gravitatem et reverentiam personae. His adde quarto fortitudinem et zelum boni communis, ut nec potentes vereantur, aut iis adulentur, nec sua, sed reipublicae commoda quaerant. Croesus, quia dives, putabat se felicem; cumque rogaret Solonem an non idem sentiret, respondit Solon neminem ante mortem felicem esse dicendum, eo quod opibus ac felicitate spoliari possit. Aegre hoc accepit Croesus, sicque ac indotatum dimisit Solonem. Vidit hoc Aesopus et indoluit, dixitque: «O Solon, cum regibus aut quam minime, aut quam suavissime colloquendum est. Nequaquam vero, ait Solon, sed vel minime vel rectissime.» Captus tandem a Cyro Croesus et rogo adjudicatus, exclamavit: O Solon, nunc experior tuam sententiam esse verissimam. Themistocles, cum esset praetor, Simonidi Ceo petenti aliquid iniquum, respondit: «Neque vero aut tu bonus poeta, si praeter carmen aliquid caneres, aut ipse bonus praetor essem, si praeterquam quod leges permittunt, tibi gratificarer.» Pelopidas in bellum domo exiens, uxori ipsum deducenti, ac oranti cum lacrymis ut saluti suae consuleret: «Privati, ait, o mulier, de hoc monendi sunt; magistratum vero gerens, ut suos incolumes praestet:» ita refert Plutarchus in Solonis, Themistoclis et Pelopidae Vita. Nota secundo, sub hoc idem tempus quo institutos esse apud Graecos judices Areopagitas, qui causas tum criminales, tum civiles judicabant: Areopagum enim institutum esse quinto anno ab egressu Hebraeorum ex Aegypto, docet Eusebius in Chronico.
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17. Descendam, - inclinando columnam nubis, in qua quasi auriga et dux deliteo et resideo.
AUFERAM DE SPIRITU TUO, - non quasi partem tui spiritus diminuam et auferam, atque in hosce septuaginta transferam: hoc enim impossibile est, maxime in accidentibus et actibus vitalibus; hi enim a subjecto uno in aliud, puta ab anima una in aliam, transferri nequeunt; hoc etiam tibi, o Moses, foret incommodum; aeque ac si solus, majori et ingenti spiritu plenus populum regeres: facilius enim mille magno, quam centum parvo et exili spiritu reguntur. Sed «auferam,» id est accipiam, et noviter producam aliquid «de spiritu tuo,» id est, de spiritu qui est in te, ut habent Hebraea et Septuaginta: aliquid, inquam, non idem numero, sed specie, hoc est, aliquid spiritui tuo simile producam, et dabo illis septuaginta senioribus, ita tamen ut tuus spiritus tibi integer maneat: quia aeque ut prius totius populi cura tibi deinceps incumbet, etiamsi hos tibi dem adjutores. Sic accipitur et aufertur lux a lucerna, cum candela in ea accenditur: lux enim candelae in lucerna accensae, nil de lucernae luce diminuit, sed potius eam adauget et propagat. Nam spiritus in Mose erat quasi in lucerna, fonte, capite et exemplari, indeque quasi in alios septuaginta derivatus est. Unde Chaldaeus vertit: Augebo de spiritu qui est super te, et ponam super eos. Ita Theodoretus, Quaest. XVIII, et S. Augustinus hic, Quaest. XVIII, et lib. V De Trinitate, cap. XIV, qui et addit dicens: Sic spiritus Eliae requievit super Elisaeum, IV Reg. II, 15, id est, datus est Elisaeo spiritus Dei, qui per eum talia operaretur, qualia per Eliam operabatur. Utitur vero Deus hac phrasi elegantiae causa, quasi Deus, sicut partem oneris ab humeris Mosis ablatam, in alios septuaginta dispertiit, ita similiter ex spiritu Mosis, ad sustinendum illud onus comparato, aliquid acceperit, similemque spiritui Mosis spiritum in eos dispertierit. Porro spiritus hic propheticus intelligitur, ut satis colligitur ex vers. 25. Ille enim in industria regendi populi primas tenet. Prophetia enim hic et alibi generalis est, multaque complectitur, ut dixi I Corinth. XIV, scilicet: Primo, prudentiam regendi; secundo, doctrinam et consilium, ad dubia tam juris et justitiae, quam caeremoniarum et religionis, aliaque quaelibet resolvenda; tertio, occultorum cognitionem, ad decidendas lites et causas occultas; quarto, proprie futurorum praenotionem, ad ea vel accersenda, vel praecavenda et arcenda a populo; quinto, Dei laudes et hymnos, uti dicam vers. 25.
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18. SANCTIFICAMINI, - id est, ut Chaldaeus, praeparamini, mundando videlicet, et lustrando vos ad epulum coeleste, quasi ad divinas sacrasque coturnicum carnes comedendas, quas cras vobis afflabo. UT DET VOBIS DOMINUS CARNES, - scilicet ob gulam, et murmur vestrum, ideoque dabit ille quidem vobis carnes, sed in vestram perniciem: ita Vatablus et Abulensis. Estque enallage personae: loquitur enim Deus de se in tertia persona, q. d. Itaque ego Deus dabo vobis carnes. 18 et 20. Et comedatis, etc., mensem dierum, - id est mense integro, seu omnibus mensis diebus: ita Vatablus.
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20. DONEC EXEAT PER NARES VESTRAS, ET VERTATUR IN NAUSEAM, - q. d. Donec ex nimia voracitate stomachus vester carnes eructet, naresque vestrae eas efflent, tandemque carnes sint vobis in nauseam et alienationem. Hoc enim proprie significat Hebraeum zara, licet Chaldaeus vertat offendiculum, Septuaginta choleram: sed hi non tam verbi propriam significationem, quam paraphrastice sensum, et rem ipsam interpretantur. Docet Ulysses Aldrovandus, Ornithol. lib. XIII, cap. XXII, coturnices, praesertim pinguiores, si saepius et largius comedantur, generare sanguinem putredinalem, atque crassos, pituitosos et viscosos humores, qui nati sunt epilepsiam, tetanum similesque morbos procreare. Hinc Hebraeis iis se ingurgitantibus nauseam aliosque morbos pepererunt. Ita S. Hieronymus, Fracastorius, lib. II De Morbo Gall., cum ait: «Viteturque gravi coturnix tarda sagina.» Veteres coturnices a mensis removebant, quod veneno alantur, putarentque se pariter veneno inficiendos, si eas ederent. Sed hoc refellit Aldrovandus; ubi et refutat sententiam Galeni et Plinii dicentium se multos observasse, qui ex coturnicum esu musculorum distensionibus et spasmo corriperentur, quoniam veratro, inquiunt, vescuntur aves istae. Est hoc singulare remedium ad aversandam libidinem, gulam et crapulam, si quis intueatur sordes, phlegmata, vomitus, nauseam, et caetera quae ex ea sequuntur. Ita in Vitis Patrum, lib. V, tit. V, num. 22, fecit Eremita ille, qui tentatus spiritu fornicationis circa certam feminam, ubi eam mortuam audivit, adiit et aperuit sepulcrum ejus, atque pallio suo detersit saniem putrefacti cadaveris; mox rediens in eremum, ingruente foeda suggestione, foetorem illius infecti pallii intuitus est dicens: «Ecce habes quod quaerebas, satia te ex eo.» Et ita hoc foetido panno cruciabat se, donec recederet ista libidinosa cogitatio. Si enim corpus gulosum iis sordibus punitur, quibus punietur gulosa anima? Recte ergo dixit Augustinus apud Possidonium in Vita ejus, cap. XXII: «Non ego immunditiem obsonii timeo, sed immunditiem cupiditatis.» Hinc in Vitis Patrum, lib. V, tit. V, num. 23, monacho cuidam, qui carnalem tentationem labore et jejunio superaverat, apparuit daemon carnalis concupiscentiae incentor, specie Aethiopissae turpis et foetidae, ita ut foetorem ejus ferre non posset; porro Aethiopissa haec dicebat ei: «Ego sum quae in cordibus hominum dulcis appareo, sed propter obedientiam tuam, et laborem quem sustines, non permissa sum seducere te, sed innotui tibi foetorem meum.» Ita B. Jacoponus, orexi bubulae carnis tentatus, eam comparavit, ac in cubiculo servavit, donec putresceret, et horrende foeteret per totum ambulacrum, quam ille deinde olfaciebat, et quasi rem odoratissimam basiabatur. Ob hunc foetorem excitatum, a Superiore in locum foetentissimum est dejectus, ubi Deo assidue gratias agebat. Apparuit ei Christus eum consolans, dicensque: «Posce quod optas, et impetrabis.» Tum ille: «Peto, Domine, ut me in locum isto longe foetidiorem conjicias, ut in eo mea expiem peccata; nam hic mihi nimis tolerabilis est.» Mox Christus insolita eum perfudit consolatione, eique gratiam dedit, ut deinceps omnibus malis, aerumnis et tormentis hujus vitae esset superior; atque in assidua quasi Dei contemplatione defixus, et quasi raptus existeret. Idem initio ut gulam domaret, absynthio, quasi sale, ad cibos utebatur, eosque inficiebat, donec eo perveniret, ut saporem cibi in unum Deum referret, ita ut tandem nihil, nisi Deus, illi saperet. Eo quod repuleritis Dominum, - eo quod manna, utpote ingens Domini donum, repulistis, et quia liberationis, qua Dominus ex Aegypto vos eduxit, vos poenitet.
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21. SEXCENTA MILLIA PEDITUM HUJUS POPULI SUNT. - «Peditum,» scilicet armatorum Hebraeorum: nam feminarum, puerorum, servorum et Aegyptiorum numerus facile excrescebat ad trigesies centena millia.
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23. Numquid manus (id est potestas) Domini INVALIDA EST? - Deus hic per omnipotentiae suae oppositionem respondet dubitationi Mosis. Ipse enim perturbatus, motus quosdam dubitationis et diffidentiae in Deum ostendit, licet ob perturbationem et inconsiderationem non graviter peccarit. S. Augustinus tamen putat Mosen non de re promissa, sed de ejus exequendi modo tantum dubitasse, uti dubitavit B. Virgo dicens: «Quomodo fiet istud, quoniam virum non cognosco?»
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25. PROPHETAVERUNT. - Quaeres, quid et quomodo? Respondent Rabbini hos septuaginta seniores prophetasse de morte Mosis in deserto, et de successione Josue in principatu populi; id conjiciunt ex eo quod Josue dixit Mosi: «Prohibe eos.» Sed haec sunt eorum commenta, imo figmenta. Alii verisimilius respondent eos prophetasse aliquid de eo, quod pertinebat ad gubernationem populi. Tertio et optime, Abulensis: Prophetabant, inquit, id est ex Dei instinctu Deum Deique laudes celebrabant. Sic enim Saul dicitur prophetasse, cum quasi enthusiasmo actus Dei laudes cecinit, I Reg. X. Sic et cantores atque psalmistae vocantur Prophetae, dicunturque prophetare in citharis, psalteriis et cymbalis, I Paral. XVI: hic enim spiritus signum erat et pars prophetiae generalis, de qua dixi vers. 17. NEC ULTRA CESSAVERUNT. - Pro cessaverunt, Hebraice tasaphu, id est addiderunt: ita Septuaginta, Theodoretus hic, Quaest. XX, et Vatablus. Unde sequitur hos septuaginta illo die tantum prophetasse, non ultra. Verum noster interpres et Chaldaeus, aliis punctis legerunt iasupu, id est defecerunt, cessaverunt, a radice soph, vel asaph, id est finivit, defecit, cessavit. Idque verius est: nam hoc spiritu (licet non quoad Dei laudes et cantum, tamen quoad alias ejus partes, de quibus dixi vers. 17) continuo indigebant hi septuaginta ad regimen, et ad lites populi decidendas. Semper ergo habuerunt spiritum propheticum, quasi in habitu sibi paratum et assistentem; licet actu non semper prophetarent, sed tunc tantum, cum quaestionibus populi respondere debebant. Tunc enim Deus eis interius loquebatur, et inspirabat quid dicendum vel agendum esset, perinde ut inspirabat Prophetis ea quae dicere vel agere debebant.
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27. ELDAD ET MEDAD PROPHETANT IN CASTRIS. - Fabulantur Judaei hos duos fuisse fratres Mosis, ex eodem patre scilicet Amram, sed ex alia matre. Amram enim post datam legem, Levit. capite XVIII, vers. 12, repudiasse Jochebed uxorem suam, utpote amitam suam, tuncque aliam duxisse, ex eaque genuisse Eldad et Medad. Nam, ut alia taceam, quae hic congerit Abulensis, si id esset verum, Eldad et Medad fuissent hoc tempore infantes unius anni, quomodo ergo prophetassent? nam lex illa, Levitic. cap. XVIII, data est hoc eodem anno qui fuit secundus ab egressu ex Aegypto. Nota τò in castris; alii enim sexaginta octo prophetabant praesente Mose in tabernaculo, idque videbat Josue: unde eis non invidit, quia videbat Mose volente et agente eos prophetare, nec per eos aliquid Mosis honori decedere, utpote qui Mosi conjuncti et subjecti, ab eo hunc spiritum acciperent; alii vero duo in castris prophetantes, a Mose erant disjuncti, eoque absente et inscio, saltem uti putabat Josue, prophetabant: unde timebat Josue ne auctoritati et gloriae Mosis officerent: ita Abulensis. Exstabat olim liber oraculorum Eldad et Medad, ex quo Hermas, Pauli discipulus, in I libro qui dicitur Pastor, cap. II, haec habet: «Prope est Dominus his, qui se ad eum convertunt, sicut scriptum est in Eldad et Medad, qui vaticinati sunt in solitudine populo.»
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28. STATIM JOSUE FILIUS NUN, MINISTER MOYSI, ET ELECTUS E PLURIBUS: - Licet enim Moses plures haberet famulos, nullum tamen fideliorem, familiariorem, magisque strenuum habebat quam Josue, unde et eum sibi successorem designavit. AIT: DOMINE MI MOYSES, PROHIBE EOS. - Aemulatione aliqua vel invidia dixit hoc Josue, timens scilicet ne Mosis gloria et auctoritas minueretur, si alii etiam aeque ut Moses prophetarent, maxime in castris, nescio vel invito Mose, uti putabat Josue. Venialis tamen fuit haec culpa, quia non suam, sed Mosis ducis et domini sui spectabat gloriam, et populi bonum. Patent haec ex responsione Mosis. Chaldaeus vertit, mitte eos in carcerem, et ita ex Hebraeo verti potest.
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29. AT ILLE: QUID, INQUIT, AEMULARIS PRO ME? QUIS TRIBUAT UT OMNIS POPULUS PROPHETET? - Hunc spiritum charitatis imitentur omnes Praelati, Doctores, concionatores, qui non suam, sed Dei unius gloriam quaerunt, petuntque quod Martha petiit a Christo: «Dic sorori ut adjuvet me.» Hic liberalis et regius est animus, qui suos honores cum amicis communicat: ita Alexander, cum Darii uxor captiva salutasset Hephaestionem pro Alexandro, illaque cognito errore pudefieret, dixit: «Non errasti, et ipse Alexander est.» Rursum Mazaei, cujus apud Darium summa fuerat gratia, filio, Satrapiae praefecto, alteram adjecit ampliorem. At ille recusans, ait: «Tunc, o rex, unus erat Darius; nunc tu multos effecisti Alexandros.» Ita Plutarchus in Alexandro. 30. REVERSUSQUE EST MOYSES IN CASTRA, - Scilicet ex tabernaculo, quod erat in medio castrorum, ad ipsa circumjacentia populi castra egressus est.
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31. Ventus autem egrediens a Domino, - q. d. Ventus a Domino recenter, praeter naturae ordinem, productus afflavit coturnices. Similis phrasis est Genes. I, 2; Exod. X, 19. Fuit haec alia missio coturnicum ab ea de qua Exod. XVI, 13. Illa enim paulo post egressum ex Aegypto, primo anno contigit in octava mansione, quae fuit in Sin; haec vero contigit secundo anno, in decima tertia mansione, quae fuit in Sepulcris concupiscentiae. ARREPTANS TRANS MARE (Rubrum, quod jam transierant) COTURNICES DETULIT. - Unde Psalm. LXXVII, 26, ventus hic afflans coturnices dicitur fuisse Africus sive Libycus, qui partim Occidentalis, partim Meridionalis est; nam mare Rubrum tali situ respiciebat desertum. Unde et Josephus has coturnices, non ex Ortygiis insulis, utpote quae longe aberant (erant enim sitae in Graecia), sed ex sinu Arabico, qui iis abundat, afflatas asserit. Hic ergo ventus non tam naturalis fuit quam miraculosus, et opus potentiae Dei. Nam Plinius, lib. X, cap. XXIII, asserit coturnices naturaliter volare flante, non Austro, utpote humido et graviori, sed Aquilone. Nota: Hic ventus, et consequenter hae coturnices afflatae sunt ab angelo, vel potius angelis pluribus: imo Abulensis putat singulas coturnices a singulis angelis esse adductas. Nam unus angelus, inquit, non poterat virtutem suam impulsivam extendere per multas, eo quod essent discontinuae. Verum hoc est falsum; sic enim multa millia, imo milliones angelorum occupari debuissent in hac coturnicum adductione: idem ergo angelus poterat multas adducere, videlicet omnes quae erant intra sphaeram suae activitatis, esto essent discontinuae. Si enim homines simul movere possunt plura, quae sunt discontinua, ergo multo magis angeli.
Coturnices. - Septuaginta vertunt, ortygometram; ita vertit et noster Interpres Sapient. XVI, 2: licet enim Ulysses Aldrovandus ortygometram a coturnice distinguat, tamen Scriptura pro eodem hic et alibi accipit. Quaeres, cur coturnices vocantur ortygometra? Primo, Isidorus, lib. XII Etymolog. cap. VII, et Abulensis hanc dant causam, quod haec avis primum sit visa in insulis Ortygiis, hinc dici ὄρτυγα; sed cur dicitur ortygometra? Secundo, Jansenius in Sap. cap. XVI, respondet ortygometram dici ducem coturnicum, quasi μέτρον ὄρτυγος, eo quod metron, id est mensura et moderatrix, sit coturnicum; verum μέτρον per epsilon, ὄρτυγομάτρα vero per a scribitur. Tertio ergo et genuine, ortygometra dicitur quasi ὀρτύγων, id est coturnicum, μήτηρ, id est mater, vel μήτρα, id est matrix; unde et Aristoteles, lib. VIII Hist. animal. eam absolute μήτηρ vocat. Est enim ortygometra ipse rex coturnicum, qui aliis coturnicibus major et nigrior caeteris praeit, quem ipsae sequuntur ut ducem, non aliter quam apes suum regem. Sub duce ergo totum exercitum coturnicum accipe; ubi enim est dux, ibi est exercitus. Unde Isidorus: «Ortygometra, ait, est coturnix quae gregem ducit;» et Plinius eam «coturnicum ducem» vocat; unde et vulgo gallice eam vocamus: roi ou mère des cailles. Quarto, Hesychius in Lexico, et Petrus Nannius in Sap. cap. XVI: Video, inquit, illud parelcon μήτρα adjungi quibusdam animalibus, quando grandiora in eo genere designantur, ut echinometra est echinus grandior et spinosior, de quo Plinius, lib. IX, cap. 21; leonimetra est leo grandior, de quo Gesnerus in leone; sic ortygometra est coturnix major. Satis enim est verisimile coturnices hasce miraculosas, quasi Dei opus, fuisse aliis majores et excellentiores. Verum sic potius vocarentur ortygometrae in plurali, jam autem vocatur ortygometra in singulari: quare tertia explicatio jam data verior est et solidior.
Quaeres secundo, cur Deus Hebraeis petentibus carnes, potius coturnices dedit quam columbas, oves, anseres, etc.? Respondeo primo, quia coturnices in copia ad manum erant; abundant enim in sinu Arabico, qui Hebraeis vicinus erat, teste Josepho. Secundo, quia coturnicum caro excellens et delicata est, praesertim eo loco; Deum autem decet dare excellentia. Ita Abulensis. Addit Galenus et Aldrovandus coturnices epilepsiae mederi, ideoque Herculem coturnices secum vexisse, quocumque iter faceret, ut per eas epilepsiae suae mederetur; unde Poeta: «Servavit Herculem coturnix strenuum.» Mystice S. Cyrillus, lib. III in Joan. cap. XXXIV, docet coturnices denotasse legem veterem. «Nunquam enim, inquit, avis haec volatu effertur, sed prope terram semper volat. Nam et disciplina legis terrestris quodammodo est, animalium oblationes et purificationes continens judaicas, quibus illi non multum a terra levabantur.» Rursum Beda, in cap. XXIII Exodi, per coturnices intelligit praedicationes divinitus missas, quae transcurrunt per verba sonantia, quasi per aera volatilia pennata, quibus per fidem pascantur hi qui ad patriam regni coelestis pervenire contendunt. Atque subjungit: «Potest, ait, et volucrum esca significare legis eloquia, quae plebem carnalem tanquam carne alebat, per verba divinitus missa quasi volatilia.» Tropologice, coturnicum ex una regione in aliam migratio significat eos qui se hic aestimant peregrinos, et toto corde ad coelum suspirant. Illae enim gregatim volant et ducem eligunt itineris; hi simul degere gaudent, et ducem unum sequentur. Illae Austrum vitant, et Aquilonem quaerunt: hi carnales hujus mundi prosperitates fugiunt, abstinentiam et poenitentiam sectantur. Illae duce gregis ab accipitre occiso, alieni generis alium sibi in ducem adoptant: hi, Adamo parente et duce a diabolo seducto et occiso, ducem alterius generis et naturae, scilicet Christum, eligunt et sequuntur. Ita Aldrovandus, Ornitholog. lib. XIII, cap. XXII. Demisit in Castra, - decidere fecit in castra circumcirca, per spatium unius diaetae.
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Notat Abulensis, non tantum impios murmuratores, sed etiam viros justos ex hisce coturnicibus comedisse. Erat enim hoc Dei beneficium generale omnibus, et vel maxime justis datum ad fruendum. Totus enim populus ex hisce coturnicibus comedit; neque eas comedendo ulli (etiamsi ante murmurassent) peccarunt, nisi forte gulosius eas comedendo, sed tantum peccarunt murmurando, et murmuratorie eas flagitando. Idem fuit in manna, quod pariter ob murmur datum est: illud tamen postea omnes licite comederunt per quadraginta annos, Exod. cap. XVI. Nam, ut ait Abulensis, populus quidem peccavit, per murmur petendo manna et carnes; causa tamen ea a Deo impetrandi, non fuit peccatum (peccatum enim murmuris hujus rei non causa fuit, sed tantum occasio), sed bonitas Dei, et bonitas quorumdam justorum non murmurantium, nec petentium escas, quibus Deus voluit compati, et liberaliter benefacere. Unde Rabanus ait: «Carnalis populus Judaeorum spreto coelesti cibo carnes desideravit, sed Deus ita judicium contemperavit, ut puniret malos, nec fragilibus alimoniam denegaret.» 32. CONGREGAVIT COTURNICUM MULTITUDINEM; QUI PARUM, DECEM COROS. - Corus continebat triginta modios, sive mensuras olim communes; decem ergo cori faciebant 300 modios Romanos: quisque enim collegit tantum quantum ad mensem victui sufficeret; jam si quisque tantum collegerit, cogita quam immensa fuerit coturnicum multitudo: nam colligentes eas erant facile suo milliones hominum. Demus enim in quolibet modio fuisse tantum viginti coturnices, perinde ac modius continet viginti libras frumenti: hinc sequitur quod quisque colligens 300 modios, collegerit sex millia coturnicum, ac consequenter, quod unus hominum millio collegerit sex millia millionum, duo vero milliones hominum collegerint duodecim millia millionum coturnicum. Ecce quam dives in misericordia et liberalis in beneficiis suis est Deus: tales simus et nos in eleemosynis. Deus enim hic Judaeorum non tantum fami et gulae, sed et oculis avaritiae abunde satisfacere volens, tantam copiam coturnicum eis misit, quae non tantum ad mensem, uti promiserat Moses vers. 20, sed et ad multos menses sufficere posset. Divide enim sex millia coturnicum per dies, tribuendo cuique diei viginti et quinque coturnices (quis enim plures voret uno die?), invenies sex millia coturnicum suffecisse cuique ad victum per 240 dies, qui faciunt menses octo. Si enim uno mense absumpsissent sex millia, quolibet die vorare debuisset quisque ducentas coturnices, quod ne Polyphemus quidem vorare potuisset. Mensem ergo statuit esui earum, vers. 20, quia mense exacto statuerat hanc earum gulam et murmur castigare, et morte punire. ET SICCAVERUNT EAS. - Hebraice, expandendo expanderunt eas per gyrum, scilicet siccandi causa, ut eas asservarent in futurum, ne putrescerent; nam per mensem integrum eas comederunt.
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33. ADHUC CARNES ERANT IN DENTIBUS EORUM, NEC DEFECERAT HUJUSCEMODI CIBUS, ET ECCE FUROR DOMINI CONCITATUS IN POPULUM, PERCUSSIT EUM PLAGA MAGNA NIMIS, - q. d. Continuo vescebantur Hebraei carnibus, nec deficiebant, videlicet ad mensem integrum, ut promiserat Dominus vers. 20; voluit enim Deus prius praestare promissum suum, quam punire murmuratores: quos demum in fine mensis, carnibus etiam tunc dentibus suis inhaerentibus, punivit plaga lethifera. Hinc videtur plerosque murmurantes gulose comedisse has coturnices, Deumque tam gulam quam murmur eorum punivisse morte. Plaga magna nimis. - Fuit haec plaga ignis, qui deinde precibus Mosis repressus et absorptus est, uti dictum est vers. 3. Illa enim ad hunc vers. referenda esse, ibidem ostendi: plaga haec non tetigit justos, sed solos murmurantes.
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34. VOCATUSQUE EST ILLE LOCUS, SEPULCRA CONCUPISCENTIAE: IBI ENIM SEPELIERUNT POPULUM, QUI DESIDERAVERAT - carnes. Visent saepe haec Sepulcra concupiscentiae gulosi, et maxime ebriosi, qui uti rationem, ita et animam et corpus vino sepeliunt: quorum proinde animam cum divite epulone mox sepelietur in inferno; caro vero ita saginata sepelietur in ventre vermium et bufonum. Audiant illud Plutarchi: «In victu luxuria mortis supplicio castigatur.» Legant crebro epitaphium Sardanapali, jam sepulti et putidi: «Haec habeo quae edi, quaeque exsatiata libido hausit; opes, et quae quondam nec cuncta beabant, non sunt, sum cinis.» Hic est ergo concupiscentiae fructus, ut scilicet, sicut ait Apostolus, I Tim. VI, 9, emergat homines in interitum et perditionem. Quare recte monet S. Petrus, epist. II, cap. I, 4, fugere concupiscentiam, quae in mundo est, corruptionem; et Eccli. XVIII, 30: «Si praestes, inquit, animae tuae concupiscentias ejus, faciet te in gaudium inimicis tuis.» Carolus Magnus Imperator ebriosum jussit submergi: quia, inquit, hic vini perditor meretur, non vino, sed aqua sepeliri; ut qui vino se mersit, aqua mergatur, et aqua sitim suam expleat. Alexander Magnus vino se sepelivit, et occidit: cum enim poculum ingens (duos congios capiebat) a Protea homine bibacissimo propinatum, bis exhausisset, concidit, decubuit, interiit; testis est Athenaeus, lib. X, cap. XI. Ita gula Israelitas in cultu Beelphegor repentina morte mulctavit, Num. XXV; gula ab Esau jus primogeniturae in Jacob transtulit, Genes. XXV; gula Ela gladio Zambri interficiendum objecit, III Reg. XVI, 9; gula per Judith caput Holofernis abscidit; gula Simonem Machabaeum cum filiis in convivio occidit, I Machab. XVI. Denique Baltasar vino sepultus vidit manum conscribentem mortis et excidii sententiam: Mane, tekel, phares; eademque nocte regno et vita spoliatus est, Daniel. capite V, vers. 25. Nota: Josephus haec subticet, aliaque aliter narrat, uti et alias saepe, quia scribit Gentilibus, quibus suam gentem et religionem commendare cupit. Unde ea quae gentem, vel religionem Judaeorum Gentibus vilem et contemptibilem efficere poterant, vel praeterit, vel palliat et colorat, uti recte advertit Abulensis hic Quaest. ult. VENERUNT IN HASEROTH. - Haec est decima quarta mansio Hebraeorum in deserto.
11:8
MANNA (EBR. MĀN; SETTANTA ΜΆΝΝΑ)
… come la brina, simile a seme di coriandro bianco e di sapore come frittella con miele (Ex. 16, 14, 31). «Il popolo si disperdeva a raccoglierla e, ridottala in farina alla macina o pestandola nel mortaio, la cuoceva nella pentola e ne faceva focacce» (Num. 11, 8). Cadeva la notte e si raccoglieva ogni mattino, eccetto il sabato, per il quale si raccoglieva il giorno precedente. …
11:12
In questo secondo senso « seno » è usato nella lingua babilonese (Cod. di Hammurabi, XL, 49 sgg.: il re porta nel grembo i suoi sudditi) e nella lingua ebraica (Num. 11, 12; I Reg. 3, 20; 17, 19; Lam. 2, 12).
11:16
SINEDRIO (ΣΥΝΈΔΡΙΟΝ « ASSEMBLEA »)
… Sebbene i testi più antichi non siano concordi, si ritiene che i membri assommavano a 71, forse con riferimento a Ex. 24, 1, 9; Num. 11, 16. Con il termine « sommi sacerdoti » (οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς) si comprendevano il sommo sacer-
11:24
MOSÈ (MŌŠEH, ΜΩ[Θ]ΣΗ͂Σ, VOLG. MOYSES, ANTICA LATINA MOSES)
… Si tratta di una religione che non viene dall'uomo, ma da Dio, di cui M. non fu che il «profeta», il portavoce (Ex. 3, 10; 4, 12; Num. 11, 24 sg.; 12, 2; Deut. 18, 15.18; 34, 10; Os. 12, 4; Ps. 103, 7 ecc.). …
11:25
… Mosè ritenne tale manifestazione un dono divino: « Volesse il cielo che tutti fossero partecipi di tal dono » (Num. 11, 25-29). Nel sec. XI, al tempo di Samuele, riappare tale fenomeno di profetismo collettivo (I Sam. 10,5 sg. 9-12; 19, 18-24), che sembra raggiunga il suo culmine sotto Elia ed Eliseo (sec. …
11:26
manifestazione indipendente, quasi sottrazione alla sua autorità, rispose: « Oh, piacesse a Dio che tutti fossero così favoriti dalle più ricche manifestazioni dello spirito divino! » (Num. 11, 26-30). Un libro di profezie di E. e Medad è citato dal Pastore di Erma (Visio II, 3, 4).
11:29
… particolare fiducia, come la guerra contro gli Amaleciti, mentre Mosè pregava sul monte (Ex. 17, 9-13), e l'esplorazione di Canaan (Num. 13); lo condusse con sé sul Sinai quando ricevette le Tavole della Legge (Ex. 24, 13) e lo ebbe sempre affezionato (Num. 11, 29; 14, 6 sgg.). …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · Douay-Rheims originale (Douai 1609-10), trascrizione EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Pubblico dominio.