פרשת בשלח תשי"ח - תלונת ישראל

and the children of Israel said unto them: ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’

מי יתן מותנו...בשבתנו על סיר הבשר, they did not want to die. What they said was that if it had been G’d’s plan all along to let them die, why had He not arranged for them to die while they were still satiated from their last meal? A similar thought is expressed in Lamentations 4,9טובים היו חללי חרב מחללי רעב, “the ones killed by the sword were better off than the ones who died from hunger.”

and the children of Israel said unto them: ‘Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’

Behold, I will make bread rain. That is, the bread would fall like rain from heaven. The word “bread” (lechem) is used here in a loose sense meaning “food.” Elsewhere the term lechem is applied to meat, as in the phrase, lechem isheh—“it is the food of the fire-offering” (Vayikra 3:11), and fruit, as in the phrase, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit (belachmo)” (Yirmiyahu 11:19).

המטיר גפרית ואש HE RAINED BRIMSTONE AND FIRE — At first it was rain (מטר) to see whether they would repent and this was then turned into brimstone and fire (Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 15).

Behold, I will make bread rain. That is, the bread would fall like rain from heaven. The word “bread” (lechem) is used here in a loose sense meaning “food.” Elsewhere the term lechem is applied to meat, as in the phrase, lechem isheh—“it is the food of the fire-offering” (Vayikra 3:11), and fruit, as in the phrase, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit (belachmo)” (Yirmiyahu 11:19).

and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that He hath heard your murmurings against the LORD; and what are we, that ye murmur against us?’