Chapter 24—The Quails
God continued to feed the Hebrew host with the bread rained from
Heaven; but they were not satisfied. Their depraved appetites craved
meat, which God in his wisdom had withheld, in a great measure, from
them. “And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting;
and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us
flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely,
the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the
garlic. But now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides
this manna before our eyes.” They became weary of the food prepared
for them by angels, and sent them from Heaven. They knew it was just
the food God wished them to have, and that it was healthful for them
and their children. Notwithstanding their hardships in the wilderness,
there was not a feeble one in all their tribes. Satan, the author of
disease and misery, will approach God’s people where he can have
the greatest success. He has controlled the appetite in a great measure
from the time of his successful experiment with Eve, in leading her to
eat the forbidden fruit. He came with his temptations first to the mixed
multitude, the believing Egyptians, and stirred them up to seditious
murmurings. They would not be content with the healthful food which
God had provided for them. Their depraved appetites craved a greater
variety, especially flesh meats.
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This murmuring soon infected nearly the whole body of the people.
At first, God did not gratify their lustful appetites, but caused his
judgments to come upon them, and consumed the most guilty by
lightning from Heaven. Yet this, instead of humbling, only seemed to
increase their murmurings. When Moses heard the people weeping in
the door of their tents, and complaining throughout their families, he
was displeased. He presented before the Lord the difficulties of his
situation, and the unsubmissive spirit of the Israelites, and the position
in which God had placed him to the people, that of a nursing father,
who should make the sufferings of the people his own. He inquired of
the Lord how he could bear this great burden of continually witnessing
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