Langsung ke konten utama

Reconciling the Quran with the Bible: A case study - The Quails Story

One of the doublets in the Bible that it is difficult to compromise is the story of quails in Exodus 16: 8, 12-13 and in Numbers 11. Were the quails sent down to the children of Israel at the same time as manna as stated in Exodus 16, or were the manna sent down first and then some time later the children of Israel asked God for meat and then God sent down the quails for them as stated in Numbers 11?

After reading some verses in the Bible and in the Quran, I believe that there were actually three stories of the children of Israel's complaint regarding the bread, the meat, and the cucumbers etc.

At first, the Israelites asked God for bread or meat (Psalms 78:20 - ESV), and then God sent down the manna [only] for them without the quails (Exodus 16: 4-5, 14-35).

Secondly, the Israelites were not satisfied with manna alone, and they asked God for meat (Numbers 11:4), and then God sent down the quails for them for a month (Numbers 11:18-20, 31-32). It seems that when God sent down the quails, the Israelites didn't get the manna anymore as indicated in Numbers 11:31-32 that the Israelites gathered the quails all day long that day and all the next day. And he who gathered the least gathered ten homers, which exceeds the quota of their daily manna. I assume that this time the manna was no longer needed.

At last, it seems that the Israelites were still not satisfied (Psalms 78:30), and they got bored with the only food that they have (Numbers 21:5), that is the quails, not the manna, and they could not stand with it (QS 2:61), and even they became loathsome to them as indicated in Numbers 11: 20 and 21:5, and they were yearning for the cucumbers, the onions, and the garlic (Numbers 11: 6, QS 2:61).
I don't know about the customs in the western countries, but in my country it is very common to eat quail with cucumbers, lentils, onions, and garlic.
It was the time when God got angry with them and punish them (Numbers 11: 33, Psalms 78:31, QS 2:61) since the Israelites were asking for food from the earth of a lesser quality as a substitute for high quality food from the heaven (QS 2:61).

Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

Beda Penekanan Ajaran Injil dengan Quran

Setelah bertahun-tahun membaca Al Quran dan Alkitab, saya mendapatkan kesan bahwa ajaran yang terdapat dalam Injil khususnya Double Tradition (Injil Matius dan Lukas) adalah ajaran untuk level advanced , yaitu untuk orang-orang yang tingkat keimananannya sudah sangat tinggi. Sehingga bagi orang awam, sebagian ajaran Injil tersebut sulit untuk diimplementasikan. Berbeda dengan ajaran Al Quran yang lebih "membumi" dan lebih mudah diterapkan. Namun, sebelum saya membahas mengenai beda penekanan antara ajaran Injil dengan Al Quran, sebelumnya saya ingin menyampaikan terlebih dahulu mengenai asal-asul atau dalil yang menjadi basis bagi ajaran The Noahides atau The Seven Laws of Noah , atau Tujuh Hukum Nabi Nuh, atau mungkin lebih tepatnya Tujuh Hukum Nabi Adam. Beberapa rabbi terdahulu merumuskan the Seven Laws of Noah atau mungkin lebih tepatnya the Six Laws of Adam berdasarkan ayat Genesis 2:16, yang berbunyi: And the Lord God commanded the man saying: Of every Tree ....  ...

Believe in the Scripture Before the Quran

In the Holy Koran, there is a particular verse that command the believers to believe in the Book before the Quran. " O you who believe, believe in Allah and His Messenger, and the Book which He sent down upon His Messenger, and the Book which He sent down earlier . And whoever disbelieves in Allah, and His Angels, and His Books, and His Messengers, and the Last Day, then he has certainly gone far astray ." (the Quran 4:136) “The Book which He sent down earlier ” or “the Scripture which He sent down before” is in singular form, which means that there is “only” one Book that every believer has to believe in other than the Quran. But which one? There are many books that had been sent down before Muhammad. The Torah, Psalms, and the Gospel, to name a few; not to mention the books that were given to the Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, etc. To identify which book that the Quran talked about in the verse above, we have to look in some other verses: 1. “And befor...

Makkiyah vs Madaniyah

Sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu saya sudah mengetahui bahwa ayat-ayat Al Quran dikelompokkan menjadi dua, yaitu ayat-ayat Makkiyah dan ayat-ayat Madaniyah. Pembagian itu berdasarkan kapan ayat tsb diturunkan, apakah sebelum peristiwa Hijrah dan diturunkan di Mekkah, atau setelah Hijrah (dan diturunkan di Madinah). Namun, perbedaan antara ayat Makkiyah dan Madaniyah bukan hanya sekedar kapan ayat tsb diturunkan melainkan masing-masing kelompok memiliki ciri khas sendiri. Ayat-ayat Makkiyah misalnya ayatnya pendek-pendek dan ketika menyeru manusia sering diawali dengan "Yaa ayyuhan naas ...". Selain itu konon katanya ayat-ayat Makkiyah memiliki gaya bahasa sastra yang lebih kuat dibandingkan dengan ayat-ayat Madaniyah. Sebaliknya ayat-ayat Madaniyah, ayatnya lebih panjang dan ketika menyeru biasanya diawali dengan "Yaa ayyuhalladzina aamanu ...". Hal ini sudah saya ketahui sejak dulu. Banyak ulama perpendapat bahwa ayat-ayat yang turun belakangan biasanya menghapus aya...