SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:5
Nos acordamos del pescado que comíamos en Egipto de balde, de los pepinos, y de los melones, y de los puerros, y de las cebollas, y de los ajos;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Numbers 11:5
Verse 5. We remember, &c.] The choice aliments which those murmurers complained of having lost by their leaving Egypt, were the following: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. A European may smile at such delicacies; but delicacies they were in that country. Their fish is excellent; their cucumbers and water melons highly salubrious and refreshing; and their onions, garlic, &c., exquisitely flavoured, differing as much from vegetables of the same species in these northern climes as a bad turnip does from a good apple. In short, this enumeration takes in almost all the commonly attainable delicacies in those countries.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely , etc.] Fish was food the Egyptians much lived upon; for though Herodotus says the priests might not taste of fish, the common people ate much; yea, he himself says that some lived upon nothing else but fish gutted and dried in the sun; and he observes, that the kings of Egypt had a great revenue from hence f112 ; the river Nile, as Diodorus Siculus says, abounded with all kind of fish, and with an incredible number, so that there was a plenty of them, and to be bought cheap; and so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom interpret the word freely, of a small price, as if they had them for nothing almost; but surely they forgot how dear they paid for their fish, by their hard toil, labour, and service. Now this, with what follows, they call to mind, to increase their lust, and aggravate their present condition and circumstances: the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic ; in the Hebrew language, the word for “cucumbers” has the signification of hardness, because they are hard of digestion In the Talmud they are so called, because they are as harmful to the body as swords; though it is said in the same, that Antoninus always had them at his table; and Suetonius and Pliny say, that they were in great esteem with the emperors Augustus and Tiberias; though some think what they call cucumbers were melons. We are told f117 , that the Egyptian cucumbers are very different from our European ones, which in the eastern countries serve only to feed hogs with, and not men; but the Egyptian cucumber, called “chate”, differs from the common one in size, colour, and softness; and not only its leaves, but its fruit, are different from ours, being sweeter to the taste, and of more easy digestion, and reckoned to be very wholesome to the bodies of men: and so their “melons” are different from ours, which they call “abdellavi”, to distinguish them from others called “chajar”, which are of little use for food, and not pleasant, and more insipid, and of a softer pulp f118 : as for the “leeks, onions, and garlic”, that these were commonly and in great plenty eaten of by the Egyptians appears from the vast sums of money spent upon the men that worked in building one of the pyramids, in radishes, onions, and garlic only, which Herodotus f119 , Diodorus Siculus f120 , and Pliny make mention of. Indeed, in later times these were worshipped as gods, and not suffered to be eaten, as Pliny and Juvenal inform us; but there is little reason to believe that this kind of idolatry obtained so early as the time of Israel’s being in Egypt; though some have thought that these were cheaper because of that, and so the Israelites could more easily come at them; but if that had been the case, it is more reasonable to believe that the Egyptians would not have allowed them to have eat of them at all: however, these are still in great plenty, and much used in Egypt to this day, as Vansleb relates, who says, for desserts they have fruits, as onions, dried dates, rotten olives, melons, or cucumbers, or pompions, or such like fruits as are in season: thus carnal men prefer their sensual lusts and pleasures, and self-righteous men their righteousness, to Christ, the heavenly manna, his grace and righteousness.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 4-9 - Man, having forsaken his proper rest, feels uneasy and wretched, thoug prosperous. They were weary of the provision God had made for them although wholesome food and nourishing. It cost no money or care, an the labour of gathering it was very little indeed; yet they talked of Egypt's cheapness, and the fish they ate there freely; as if that cos them nothing, when they paid dearly for it with hard service! Whil they lived on manna, they seemed exempt from the curse sin has brough on man, that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread; yet the speak of it with scorn. Peevish, discontented minds will find faul with that which has no fault in it, but that it is too good for them Those who might be happy, often make themselves miserable be discontent. They could not be satisfied unless they had flesh to eat It is evidence of the dominion of the carnal mind, when we want to have the delights and satisfaction of sense. We should not indulge in an desire which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we ask meat for our lust. What is lawful of itself becomes evil, when God does not allot it to us, yet we desire it.
Original Hebrew
זכרנו 2142 את 853 הדגה 1710 אשׁר 834 נאכל 398 במצרים 4714 חנם 2600 את 853 הקשׁאים 7180 ואת 853 האבטחים 20 ואת 853 החציר 2682 ואת 853 הבצלים 1211 ואת 853 השׁומים׃ 7762
