Numbers 11:5

11:5 We remember ¹  the fish we used to eat ²  freely ³  in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

Numbers 13:31

13:31 But the men ⁴  who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are!”

Numbers 13:33

13:33 We even saw the Nephilim ⁵  there (the descendants of Anak came from the Nephilim), and we seemed liked grasshoppers both to ourselves ⁶  and to them.” ⁷ 

Numbers 21:30

21:30 We have overpowered them; ⁸ 

Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon.

We have shattered them as far as Nophah,

which ⁹  reaches to Medeba.”

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¹ tn The perfect tense here expresses the experience of a state of mind.

sn As with all who complain in such situations, their memory was selective. It was their bitter cries to the Lord from the suffering in bondage that God heard and answered. And now, shortly after being set free, their memory of Egypt is for things they do not now have. It is also somewhat unlikely that they as slaves had such abundant foods in Egypt.

² tn The imperfect tense would here be the customary imperfect, showing continual or incomplete action in past time.

³ tn The adverb “freely” is from the word חָנַן (khanan, “to be gracious”), from which is derived the noun “grace.” The word underscores the idea of “free, without cost, for no reason, gratis.” Here the simple sense is “freely,” without any cost. But there may be more significance in the choice of the words in this passage, showing the ingratitude of the Israelites to God for His deliverance from bondage. To them now the bondage is preferable to the salvation – this is what angered the Lord.

⁴ tn The vav (ו) disjunctive on the noun at the beginning of the clause forms a strong adversative clause here.

⁵ tc The Greek version uses gigantes (“giants”) to translate “the Nephilim,” but it does not retain the clause “the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim.”

sn The Nephilim are the legendary giants of antiquity. They are first discussed in Gen 6:4. This forms part of the pessimism of the spies’ report.

⁶ tn Heb “in our eyes.”

⁷ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

⁸ tc The first verb is difficult. MT has “we shot at them.” The Greek has “their posterity perished” (see GKC 218 §76.f).

⁹ tc The relative pronoun “which” (אֲשֶׁר, ’asher) posed a problem for the ancient scribes here, as indicated by the so-called extraordinary point (punta extraordinaria) over the letter ר (resh) of אֲשֶׁר. Smr and the LXX have “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) here (cf. NAB, NJB, RSV, NRSV). Some modern scholars emend the word to שֹׁאָה (sho’ah, “devastation”).