In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 13. Quails. All the Oriental languages express these birds by solaem, though some have asserted, that pheasants or locusts are here meant. Josephus (Ant. 3. 1) informs us, that great flocks of quails are found about the gulph of Arabia. They return to Europe from the warmer regions, about the beginning of May, at which time God directed the course of vast multitudes to the camp of Israel. Hesychius says, the chennion, a smaller species of quails, was salted and dried, as the Hebrews did theirs. Numbers 11:32. See Psalms 77:26. Calmet.—Dew, upon which lay the miraculous bread, around the camp. None fell within, as the place was not sufficiently clean. Menochius.