John Gill Commentary Numbers 11:5

"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:" — Numbers 11:5 (ASV)

We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt freely
Fish was food the Egyptians much lived upon; for though Herodotus says the priests might not taste of fish, the common people ate much; yes, he himself says that some lived upon nothing but fish gutted and dried in the sun; and he observes that the kings of Egypt had a great revenue from this^F23; the river Nile, as Diodorus Siculus^F24 says, abounded with all kinds of fish, and with an incredible number, so that there was plenty of them, and could be bought cheaply; and so Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom interpret the word freely, of a small price, as if they had them for almost nothing; but surely they forgot how dearly they paid for their fish, by their hard toil, labor, 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" signifies hardness, because they are hard to digest. In the Talmud^F25 they are so called because they are as harmful to the body as swords; though it is said in the same text that Antoninus always had them at his table; and Suetonius^F26 and Pliny^F1 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 that the Egyptian cucumbers are very different from our European ones, which in eastern countries serve only to feed hogs, not men; but the Egyptian cucumber, called "chate," differs from the common one in size, color, and softness; and not only its leaves but its fruit are different from ours, being sweeter to the taste, of more easy digestion, and reckoned 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, not pleasant, more insipid, and of a softer pulp.

As for the "leeks, onions, and garlic," that these were commonly and in great plenty eaten by the Egyptians appears from the vast sums of money spent on the men who worked in building one of the pyramids, on radishes, onions, and garlic only, which Herodotus^F4, Diodorus Siculus^F5, and Pliny^F6 mention. Indeed, in later times these were worshipped as gods and not allowed to be eaten, as Pliny^F7 and Juvenal^F8 inform us; but there is little reason to believe that this kind of idolatry obtained as 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 get them; but if that had been the case, it is more reasonable to believe that the Egyptians would not have allowed them to eat them at all; however, these are still in great plenty and much used in Egypt to this day, as Vansleb^F9 relates, who says that for desserts they have fruits such as onions, dried dates, rotten olives, melons, cucumbers, 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 37, 92, 149.
• F24: Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 32.
• F25: T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 11. 1.
• F26: In Vit. August. c. 77.
• F1: Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 5.
• F2: Alpinus de Plant. Aegypt. l. 1. p. 114. apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Saer. vol. 3. p. 369.
• F3: Alpinus ib.
• F4: Ut supra, (Euterpe, sive, l. 2.) c. 125.
• F5: Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 58.)
• F6: Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 12.
• F7: lb. l. 19. c. 6.
• F8: "Porrum et coepe nefas violare" Satyr. 15.
• F9: Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 186.