Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Kibroth-hattaavah - The graves of lust; and thus their scandalous crime was perpetuated by the name of the place.

1. St. Jude speaks of persons who were murmurers and complainers, walking after their own lusts, Judges 1:16, and seems to have this people particularly in view, whom the sacred text calls μεμψιμοιροι, complainers of their lot. They could never be satisfied; even God himself could not please them, because they were ever preferring their own wisdom to his. God will save us in his own way, or not at all; because that way, being the plan of infinite wisdom, it is impossible that we can be saved in any other. How often have we professed to pray, "Thy will be done!" And how seldom, very seldom, have our hearts and lips corresponded! How careful should we be in all our prayers to ask nothing but what is perfectly consistent with the will of God! Many times our prayers and desires are such that, were they answered, our ruin would be inevitable. "Thy will be done!" is the greatest of all prayers; and he who would pray safely and successfully, must at least have the spirit of these words in all his petitions. The Israelites asked flesh when they should not have asked for it; God yields to their murmuring, and the death of multitudes of these murmurers was the consequence! We hear of such punishments, and yet walk in the same way, presuming on God's mercy, while we continue to provoke his justice. Let us settle it in our minds as an indisputable truth, that God is better acquainted with our wants than we are ourselves; that he knows infinitely better what we need; and that he is ever more ready to hear than we are to pray, and is wont to give more than we can desire or deserve.

2. In no case has God at any time withheld from his meanest followers any of the spiritual or temporal mercies they needed. Were he to call us to travel through a wilderness, he would send us bread from heaven, or cause the wilderness to smile and blossom as the rose. How strange is it that we will neither believe that God has worked, or will work, unless we see him working!

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah,.... That is, Moses called it so, or it was called by the children of Israel, and by others in later times, by this name, which signifies "the graves of lust"; dug by lust, or which lust was the cause and occasion of, and where those that indulged it were buried, as follows:

because there they buried the people that lusted; not all that lusted, for the lusting was pretty general; but all that died through their gluttony and intemperance, and the judgment of God on them; or who were the most inordinate in their lust, and encouraged others in it, and were the ringleaders in the murmur and mutiny.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah — literally, “The graves of lust,” or “Those that lusted”; so that the name of the place proves that the mortality was confined to those who had indulged inordinately.

Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

From this judgment the place of encampment received the name Kibroth-hattaavah, i.e., graves of greediness, because there the people found their graves while giving vent to their greedy desires.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

Kibroth Hattaavah means the graves of lust, 1 Corinthians 10:6.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

Kibroth-hattaavah — Heb. the graves of lust, that is, of the men that lusted, as it here follows. And it notes that the plague did not seize upon all that eat of the quails, for then all had been destroyed, but only upon those who were inordinate both in the desire and use of them.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Numbers 11:34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

Ver. 34. They buried the people.] Who, by a hasty testament, bequeathed this new name to the place they lay buried in.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Numbers 11:34. Kibroth-hattaavah— The reason of which name, as usual, is given in the next clause; because there they buried the people that lusted.

REFLECTIONS.—The people now obtain their desire, and suffer for their lust.

1. God sends them flesh to eat. Now they have enough, and riot in plenty; but when the sinner is most joyous, the sword of vengeance is then descending.

2. God smote them with a very great plague. They who indulge their lusts must pay dear for them. The meat was yet between their teeth, when the wrath of God came upon them. How short-lived is the prosperity of the wicked! when his possession of what he coveted is to appearance most firmly secured, death snatches him away, and all his hopes perish.

3. The name of the place; Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lust. Note; This title may suit every tombstone. By lust sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all, because all have sinned.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Kibroth-hattaavah, Heb. The graves of lust, i.e. of the men that lusted, as it here follows. The abstract for the concrete, which is frequent; as poverty, 2 Kings 24:14, pride, Psalms 36:11, deceit, sins, Proverbs 13:6, &c., dreams, Jeremiah 27:9, are put for men who are poor, or proud, or deceitful, or sinful, or dreamers. And it notes that this plague did not seize upon all that did eat of the quails, for then all had been destroyed, but only upon those who were inordinate both in the desire and use of them.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

34.Kibroth-hattaavah — This word, signifying the graves of lust, is to the dead murmurers an epitaph, and to the living a warning against yielding to the clamours of unbridled appetite. If Huderah is ancient Hazeroth, “the graves of lust” may be a day’s journey thence in the direction of Sinai, and would lie within fifteen miles of the Gulf of Akabah. Here at Erweis el Ebeirig, a piece of elevated ground which forms a watershed, E.H. Palmer recently found the remains of a large encampment miles in extent, such as stone hearths and bits of charcoal found beneath the surface of the ground. “Just outside of the camp were an immense number of stone heaps, which, from their shape and position could be nothing else but graves.” These Professor Palmer identifies with the scene of this dreadful pestilence.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

The graves of lust; or the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew Kibroth Hattaavah. (Challoner) --- 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)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

Kibroth-hattaavah. Hebrew graves of lust.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(34) Kibroth-hattaavah—i.e., the graves of lust ‘or, desire). In Numbers 33:16, Kibroth-hattaavah is mentioned as the first station after the departure from Sinai, whereas it is obvious that there must have been an encampment at Taberah. Taberah may have been the name given to a part of Kibroth-hattaavah, or the two names may have belonged to the same place.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Kibroth-hattaavah

that is, the graves of lust.

33:16; Deuteronomy 9:22; 1 Corinthians 10:6

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

34.And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah. It was requisite that some memorial of so great a sin should exist, that the sons might not imitate their fathers. Heretofore God had sustained them with a food both agreeable and wholesome: by longing for unlawful nourishment they were their own poisoners and murderers. Now, such ingratitude was deservedly to be detested by their posterity; and therefore the name was given to the place, not without the inspiration of the Spirit of God. So Paul reminds us, that in this narrative God’s judgment against corrupt and vicious lusts was portrayed, that we might ourselves learn not to lust. (1 Corinthians 10:6.) I have already briefly explained how far our appetites are to be restrained, and what intemperance, properly speaking, is.