CRAVING QUAIL
As the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to their destination in Canaan, God provided them with manna to eat for the journey.
The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down. (Numbers 11:7-9)
There would have been no way they could have sustained themselves otherwise through that journey. It was truly an incredible miracle to have manna come down like clockwork every day at dusk. There was just enough for each day and the manna was edible and nutritious. Whereas the sight of the manna every day should have evoked worship for the Lord who was sustaining them, many of them began to crave other food.
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” (Numbers 11:4-6)
What they were saying was that they would not mind the captivity at Egypt, as along as they were able to satisfy theirs sensual cravings. Every day man is faced with the choice to satisfy his cravings and in the process incorporate captivity. Denying those cravings and rejoicing in what God has provided, brings freedom and satisfaction. When man chases worldly cravings, God will relent and provide them but it wont end well as in this story.
Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubit deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. (Numbers 11:31-33)
Migratory quail is edible, but it is considered that continuously eating them can be poisonous to man because of the toxins these birds accumulate. God provided for these quail to descend on the camp for a whole month and those who submitted to their cravings and likely continued to eat them succumbed to a disease. Life is much more than the satisfaction of cravings and as Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”.
