A wind from the LORD went out and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 31. Sea; the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The wind blew from the south-west to the west with respect to Moses, or from the south with respect to Jerusalem. Ps 77:26. Many quails are found about Rinocorura, and some have imagined that these had continued during winter at the bottom of the waters, as they say swallows do. Bochart i. 15. God had sent the Hebrews a similar provision for one day, about the same season of the year. Exodus 16:13.—Flew. The Hebrew says simply, “as it were two cubits upon the earth;” whether they were heaped one upon the other to that height, or, as it is more probable, ( C). they flew only so much above the ground, an might easily be killed. Bible.—The Septuagint call them ortygometra, the leader, or the largest sort of quails. Suppose twenty of them filled a bushel, or the thirtieth part of a corus, each person would have at least 6,000 quails; and if there were three million people, they must have had 18,000 million such birds. Menochius.—Philo takes notice, that the Jews were very fond of this food; and Aristotle (Anim. viii. 12,) says, their flesh is as good as that of woodcocks. Tirinus.
A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.