Exodus 16:13

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT AT EVEN THE QUAILS CAME UP, AND COVERED THE CAMP: AND IN THE MORNING THE DEW LAY ROUND ABOUT THE HOST._ At even the quails came up, х_ HASªLAAW_ (H7958); Septuagint, ortugomeetra] - i:e., mother-quails, being sacred to Latona, in Ortygia, the original name of Delos, from the abundance of its quails. Though the word Selav has been taken to mean various animals, as the locust, by Ludolf and others, and the flying-fish by Rudbeck, Ehrenberg, and Michaelis (but the latter afterward changed his opinion), there can be no doubt that it was a bird (Psalms 78:27). Foster ('Voice of Israel'), doubtingly supported by Stanley ('Sinai and Palestine,' p. 82, note), supposes that 'the feathered fowl' meant was the large red-legged crane, three feet in height, which periodically visits that desert in large flocks.

13._And it came to pass. _We shall afterwards see, that, when from weariness of the manna they began to desire meat, quails were again given them; but, while they were yet in their mouths, a terrible punishment was inflicted upon their gluttony. When here they had only complained of their want of food, God for once satiated them with flesh, that He might show them that He has in His hand all kinds and quantity of meats. Yet, it was His will that they should be content with one single sort; for, although they had complained that they were deprived of flesh, at the pots of which they had formerly sat, yet it was not reasonable that He should comply altogether with their unholy desires. Besides, it was profitable for them that certain bounds should be set, that they might learn dependence on His will....

13-21 At evening the quails came up, and the people caught with ease as many as they needed. The manna came down in dew. They called it "Manna, Manhu," which means, "What is this?" "It is a portion; it is that which our God has allotted us, and we will take it, and be thankful." It was pleasant food; it was wholesome food. The manna was rained from heaven; it appeared, when the dew was gone, as a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost, like coriander seed, in colour like pearls. The manna fell only six days in the week, and in double quantity on the sixth day; it bred worms and became offensive if kept more than one day, excepting on the sabbath. The people had never seen it before. It could be ground in a mill, or beaten in a mortar, and was then made into cakes and baked. It continued the forty years the Israelites were in the wilderness, wherever they went, and ceased when the...

Verse Exodus 16:13. _AT EVEN THE QUAILS CAME_] שלו _selav_, from שלה _salah_, to be _quiet, easy_, or _secure_; and hence the _quail_, from their remarkably living at _ease_ and _plenty_ among the corn. "An amazing number of these birds," says Hasselquist, Travels, p. 209, "come to Egypt at this time, (March,) for in this month the wheat ripens. They conceal themselves among the corn, but the Egyptians know that they are thieves, and when they imagine the field to be full of them they spread a net over the corn and make a noise, by which the birds, being frightened, and endeavouring to rise, are caught in the net in great numbers, and make a most delicate and agreeable dish." The _Abbé Pluche_ tells us, in his _Histoire du Ciel_, that the quail was among the ancient Egyptians the emblem of _safety_ and _security_....

QUAILS - This bird migrates in immense numbers in spring from the south: it is nowhere more common than in the neighborhood of the Red Sea. In this passage we read of a single flight so dense that it covered the encampment. The miracle consisted in the precise time of the arrival and its coincidence with the announcement....

EXPOSITION THE PROMISE FULFILLED. Moses had made a double promise to the Israelites in God's name. "The Lord shall give you," he had said," in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full" (Exodus 16:8). And now the time for the fulfilment of the double promise approached. First, however, before they received the blessings, he required them to present themselves before the Lord. As they had rebelled in murmuring, an act of homage was proper; and as they had called in question the conduct of Moses and Aaron. some token that God approved the action of these his faithful servants, and would support them, was needed. Hence the appearance of the Lord to the congregation in the cloud (Exodus 16:10). After this, when evening approached

AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT AT EVEN THE QUAILS CAME UP,.... From the coasts of Egypt, from the Red sea, over which they flew; and being evening, and weary with flying so long, lighted and settled where the Israelites encamped. Josephus l says, about the Arabian gulf there are more of this sort of birds than any other, which flying over the sea, and being weary, and coming nearer the ground than other birds, and lighting among the Hebrews, they took them with their hands as food prepared for them of God. The Targum of Jonathan calls them pheasants; some think they were locusts; but of this Numbers 11:31. These here seem to have come up one evening only, whereas, in the place referred to, they had them a whole month together: AND COVERED THE CAMP: their numbers were so many, as indeed such a prodigious company of people as those were required a great number to s

Exodus 16:1. _And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:_ They have been only about six weeks in the wilderness, and already they are up in arms against their leaders. Remember that we have the same kind of people to deal with as Moses and Aaron had. The children of Israel were no better than any other nation; and I do not think they were any worse. We may take them as a fair average of human nature, which is a discontented, rebellious thing in the best of circumstances. Exodus 16:3. A

XVI. MANNA AND QUAILS (Exodus 16:1 P, Exodus 16:4 a(b) - Exodus 16:5 J, (Exodus 16:6 f., Exodus 16:8) Rp, Exodus 16:9 a (morning) P, Exodus 16:13 b - Exodus 16:15 J, Exodus 16:16 P,...

HOST. camp....