Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 78:27
He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
27. And he rained flesh upon them as the dust,
And winged fowl as the sand of the seas.
The sending of quails is connected, as in Exodus 16, with the sending of the manna; but the language of the Psalm follows the description of the second sending of quails in Numbers 11.
The verbs in Psa 78:26 are the same as those in Psa 78:52. Cp. Exo 10:13; Num 11:31. East and South are separated for the sake of rhythm. A S.E. wind brought up the quails from ‘the sea,’ i.e. the Red Sea. “The period when they were brought to the camp of Israel was in spring, when on their northward migration from Africa. According to their well-known instinct, they would follow up the coast of the Red Sea until they came to its bifurcation by the Sinaitic Peninsula, and then would cross at the narrow part.” Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 231.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He rained flesh also upon them as dust – The flesh of quails, Num 11:31. The word rained means that they seemed to come upon them like a copious shower. The word dust denotes their great abundance.
And feathered fowls – Margin, as in Hebrew, fowl of wing. This is a poetic expression, designed to give beauty to the description by the image of their fluttering wings.
Like as the sand of the sea – An expression also designed to denote their great numbers, Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4; 1Sa 13:5; Rev 20:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Feathered fowls, Heb. winged fowl; which is noted to show that it was a supernatural work, whereby God took away from them the use of their wings, and made them to fall into the hands of the Israelites.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He rained flesh also upon them as dust,…. By “flesh” is meant fowl, as the following clause shows; for there is flesh of birds, as well as of other creatures, see 1Co 15:39 and the quails which are here meant may be very fitly called flesh, since they are, for their size, a very plump, fat, and fleshy bird:
and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea; or “fowl of wing” h: winged fowls, so the Targum; fowl that flies; and therefore it was the more remarkable that these should be rained and fall, and be taken by the Israelites; and which fell in great numbers, as is signified by these phrases, the dust and the sand of the sea; for there fell enough to feed six hundred thousand men, beside women and children, for a month together; they lay in heaps, two cubits high, on one another, and everyone that gathered them brought in ten homers; see
Nu 11:19, which is the history referred to; and quails are used to fly together in large bodies; and sometimes, as Pliny i relates, will light on ships at sea, and sink them with their numbers. Some think one sort of locusts is meant, which were used for food, and was very delicious food; and the circumstances of bringing them with an east or southeast wind, their falling in heaps, and being gathered in bushels, and spread about to be dried in the sun, seem to favour such a sense; [See comments on Nu 11:19],
[See comments on Nu 11:20],
[See comments on Nu 11:21],
[See comments on Nu 11:31],
[See comments on Nu 11:32]. The ancients interpret this mystically of the flesh of Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, delicious food for faith, as the quails were a rich food; and as they were rained down from heaven, so Christ is the bread of life which came down from heaven, and the bread he gave for the life of the world was his flesh: and as these came up, however the first quails, in the evening, Ex 16:13, so Christ came in the flesh, in the evening or end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; to which may be added, that these creatures sit upon their young, and cherish and protect them, as an hen her chickens k with which compare Mt 23:37, but seeing the quails are never called spiritual meat, as the manna is, 1Co 10:3, but were given in wrath and judgment, they are rather an emblem of riches, or worldly goods, things given to carnal men; these are of God, as the quails were, and are by some persons enjoyed without care or trouble, as these were; their meat, as it is sometimes said, falls into their mouth, as these quails did into the mouths of the Israelites, as it were; and are in wrath, their blessings are cursed to them, and, while they have a great affluence of worldly things, have leanness in their souls, as the Israelites now had,
Ps 106:15, moreover, as these were feathered or winged fowl, so riches have wings, and sometimes flee away, and are very uncertain things to trust to, Pr 23:5.
h “volucres alatas”, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius. i Hist. l. 10. c. 23. k Arist. de Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 8.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) No doubt there is poetical hyperbole here, but for the enormous numbers of quails that are now caught, see the article quoted above.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. He rained flesh as dust That is, in profusion. The allusion is to the “dust” of the sirocco. In this same desert, further north, Dr. Robinson says: “At eleven o’clock the wind changed to the south, and blew a perfect tempest. The atmosphere was filled with fine particles of sand, forming a bluish haze; the sun was scarcely visible, his disk exhibiting only a dim and sickly hue. Often we could not see ten rods around us, and our eyes, ears, mouth, and nose were filled with sand.”
Feathered fowls Hebrew, Birds of wing; which refutes the theory that locusts, not quails, are intended.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 78:27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:
Ver. 27. He rained flesh also upon them as dust ] Dapibus illos compluit. This he had done once before for them; see Exo 16:12-13 , with Num 11:18-21 ; Num 11:31-33 ; their unbelief, therefore, and impatience this second time was the more heinous.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
rained. As in Psa 78:24.
as the sand. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
He rained: Exo 16:12, Exo 16:13, Num 11:18, Num 11:19, Num 11:32
feathered fowls: Heb. fowl of wing
Reciprocal: Gen 41:49 – General Num 11:20 – and it 1Co 10:6 – lust