John Calvin Commentary Numbers 11:30

"And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel." — Numbers 11:30 (ASV)

And Moses got himself into the camp. Although, after the appointment of the Seventy, all returned to their own stations and dwelling-places, there is no doubt that they were all forewarned of the approaching miracle, so as to be universally attentive to the event, which is soon related.

When it is said that it was a wind of the Lord which brought the quails, there was no other reason for this than that God might openly manifest that all things under heaven are subject to His dominion and are ready to obey Him. He might, indeed, have created the quails at will, just as He rained the manna from heaven. Nor was it natural that by the force of the winds such an abundance of birds should be cast and heaped together in one place.

But by using the aid of the wind, He confirmed what is written in Psalm 104:3-4, that He makes the winds his messengers³⁵ and they bear him on their wings; because in their swiftness they rapidly bear His commandments from the east to the west. Now, although it is true in the abstract that the winds come from Him, so that they are only His breath, and that the air cannot be stirred in the slightest degree except at His will, still an extraordinary miracle is here specified, as before in the passage of the Red Sea. The Prophet in the Psalm goes further:

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he brought in the south wind (Psalms 78:26).

In these words He indicates that the whole air was shaken, since the winds suddenly arose from different quarters, which covered the earth in all directions with an immense multitude of the birds.

When he says that the earth was filled as it were a day’s journey, I do not understand it as if the dead birds lay at so great a distance, but that they occupied such a space of ground in thick heaps, and, in fact, continuously. This we also gather from the Psalm, where the Prophet says that they fell in the midst of their camp, and were carried to their tents round about (Psalms 78:28).

What is added, regarding their being two cubits high, I do not interpret, as some do,³⁶ that they did not fly above two cubits from the ground, so as to be more easily taken with the hand. Instead, I believe there was such a mass of them that everyone might carry away as much as he wanted. For to this also do those magnificent descriptions in the Psalm relate, by which the miracle is extolled:

He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and leathered fowls, like as the sand of the sea (Psalms 78:27).

But how they spread them abroad — round about,³⁷ is not very clear to me; unless, perhaps, they were placed in cages or coops, and daily taken out for food.

³⁵ A.V., “Who maketh his angels spirits.” See , “Who maketh his angels spirits.” See C.’s own translation and comment. — Cal. Soc. Edit., own translation and comment. — Cal. Soc. Edit., vol. 4:144, and , and 147..

³⁶ So the V., “Volabantque in aere duobus cubitis altitudine super terram.” “Sol. Jarchi saith, They flew so high as a man’s heart, that he was not toiled in getting them, either by reaching high, or by stooping low.” — Ainsworth “Volabantque in aere duobus cubitis altitudine super terram.” “Sol. Jarchi saith, They flew so high as a man’s heart, that he was not toiled in getting them, either by reaching high, or by stooping low.” — Ainsworth in loco. Kitto, Illustr. Com. . Kitto, Illustr. Com. in loco, prefers this view.prefers this view.

³⁷ “We are disposed to conclude with Calmer (in his note on this place) that the Hebrews salted their quails before they dried them. We have here, then, the earliest indication of processes, the benefits resulting from which have become so diffused and familiar, that it costs an effort of recollection to recognize them as benefits. Yet many centuries have not elapsed since the Emperor Charles V. thought it became him to erect a statue to the man (G. Bukel) who found the secret of salting and barrelling herrings.” — Illustr. Com. in loco.