2. again at Kibroth-hattaavah (q.v.),
(Numbers 11:31)
God "rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the
sand of the sea"
(Psalms 78:27) The words in
(Numbers 11:31) according to
the Authorized Version, appear to denote that the quails lay one above
another to the thickness of two cubits above the ground. The Revised
Version, however, reads, "about two cubits above the face of the
earth", i.e., the quails flew at this height, and were easily killed
or caught by the hand. Being thus secured in vast numbers by the
people, they "spread them all abroad"
(Numbers 11:32) in order to salt
and dry them. These birds (the Coturnix vulgaris of naturalists) are
found in countless numbers on the shores of the Mediterranean, and
their annual migration is an event causing great excitement.
