John Calvin Commentary Numbers 11:7

"And the manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium." — Numbers 11:7 (ASV)

And the manna was as coriander seed. Moses had already referred to this in Exodus 16;¹⁸ but he now repeats it, in order more fully to condemn their perverse desire; for what could be more unbecoming and intolerable than to reject a food delightful both in appearance and taste? For the same reason the Prophet, in Psalm 78, records that people were not satisfied with angels’ food and corn from heaven. Here, instead of saying that it was white, he calls it the color of Bedola,¹⁹ a precious stone, whether a pearl or some other kind. Its very appearance, then, was designed to give them pleasure; and, since without much labor, either by grinding or crushing it, they could make it into various kinds of food, all of a sweet and pleasant taste, their ingratitude in complaining was all the more shameful, as if God treated them with little generosity concerning their food.

¹⁸ See ante, vol. 1:275..

¹⁹ A. V., “bdellium;” Hebrew בדלהbedolach,. “The bdellium of the sacred writer was in all probability the pearl, as the Arabic version has rendered it.” — Illustr. Comment. on “The bdellium of the sacred writer was in all probability the pearl, as the Arabic version has rendered it.” — Illustr. Comment. on Genesis 2:12