Complaining about the harshness of life during their desert wanderings en route to the Promised Land, the Israelites hankered for the comforts they knew as slaves in Egypt: “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread” (Exodus 16:3). Certainly exaggerated, the biblical term “fleshpots” refers explicitly to large metal cauldrons used for cooking meat; implicitly, it refers to physical comfort that was provided to the Israelites in the land of their bondage. Rather than being grateful for their miraculous […]
