"I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God."
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, "What is this?" for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, "This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat."
“…In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,…” I’ve often wondered what flesh the Israelites were eating in the twilight. It seems the “flesh” was quail – a small migratory bird arriving in Palestine and Sinai in March and April in great flocks. Sometimes the entire flock lands where it is easily caught.
In the morning there is bread or manna – the name of bread from heaven. Manna is a honey-like dropping from the tamarisk tree of Palestine and Sinai. Surprisingly (to me certainly) manna is secretions from two kinds of scale lice which suck large quantities of liquid from the twigs in spring in order to collect nitrogen for their grubs. It contains glucose and fructose, but no protein and cannot be harvested in quantity. Manna is miraculous according to the Bible; it is not an everyday occurrence.
So, this is the “bread” the LORD gave the Israelites to eat, according to Moses. I think I’ll stick with the bread of life, we call Jesus. Today’s Gospel ends with: “So they said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." Unlike manna, Jesus is an everyday occurrence so we never hunger or thirst. All we have to do is ask.
Deacon David Pierce
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