That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. The quail arriving at twilight is a natural phenomenon — quail migrate across the Sinai Peninsula — but the timing and scale are supernatural. The dew that surrounds the camp in the morning will be explained in the next verse as the manna's delivery system. Numbers 11:31–32 records another quail provision with a different outcome: the greed with which the people gathered the quail that time brought judgment. Here the first quail provision is simply given. The same provision given in response to need is given again in response to greed — the problem is not the quail but the heart that receives it. Every gift from God is also a test of what we do with what we are given.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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