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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 105

1 Give thanks to the Lord. Call on his name. Make known his accomplishments among the nations. 2 Sing to him. Make music to him. Tell about all his miraculous deeds. 3 Boast about his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives. Seek his presence continually. 5 Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed, 6 O children of Abraham, God’s servant, you descendants of Jacob, God’s chosen ones. 7 He is the Lord our God; he carries out judgment throughout the earth. 8 He always remembers his covenantal decree, the promise he made to a thousand generations— 9 the promise he made to Abraham, the promise he made by oath to Isaac. 10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as a lasting promise, 11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.”⁠ 12 When they were few in number, just a very few, and resident foreigners within it, 13 they wandered from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another. 14 He let no one oppress them; he disciplined kings for their sake, 15 saying, “Don’t touch my chosen ones. Don’t harm my prophets.”⁠ 16 He called down a famine upon the earth; he cut off all the food supply. 17 He sent a man ahead of them—Joseph was sold as a servant.⁠ 18 The shackles hurt his feet; his neck was placed in an iron collar, 19 until the time when his prediction came true. The Lord’s word proved him right. 20 The king authorized his release; the ruler of nations set him free. 21 He put him in charge of his palace, and made him manager of all his property, 22 giving him authority to imprison his officials and to teach his advisers. 23 Israel moved to Egypt; Jacob lived for a time in the land of Ham. 24 The Lord made his people very fruitful and made them more numerous than their enemies. 25 He caused the Egyptians to hate his people and to mistreat his servants. 26 He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27 They executed his miraculous signs among them and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham. 28 He made it dark; Moses and Aaron did not disobey his orders. 29 He turned the Egyptians’ water into blood and killed their fish. 30 Their land was overrun by frogs, which even got into the rooms of their kings.⁠ 31 He ordered flies to come; gnats invaded their whole territory. 32 He sent hail along with the rain; there was lightning in their land. 33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees and broke the trees throughout their territory. 34 He ordered locusts to come, innumerable grasshoppers. 35 They ate all the vegetation in their land and devoured the crops of their fields. 36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of their reproductive power. 37 He brought his people out enriched with silver and gold; none of his tribes stumbled. 38 Egypt was happy when they left, for they were afraid of them. 39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, and provided a fire to light up the night. 40 They asked for food, and he sent quail; he satisfied them with food from the sky.⁠ 41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out; a river ran through dry regions. 42 Yes, he remembered the sacred promise he made to Abraham his servant.⁠ 43 When he led his people out, they rejoiced; his chosen ones shouted with joy. 44 He handed the territory of nations over to them, and they took possession of what other peoples had produced, 45 so that they might keep his commands and obey his laws. Praise the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 16:11 and Numbers 11:19 and Psalm 105:40

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 105 and Exodus describe the quails as a welcome gift with the manna that fed Israel in the wilderness. Numbers tells the story differently and says the quails were given because the people complained, describing them as a punishment.

Passages

Exodus 16:11

Hebrew Bible
10 As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the wilderness, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, 11 and the Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Numbers 11:19

Hebrew Bible
18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the ears* of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Psalm 105:40

Hebrew Bible
38 Egypt was happy when they left, for they were afraid of them. 39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, and provided a fire to light up the night. 40 They asked for food, and he sent quail; he satisfied them with food from the sky. 41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out; a river ran through dry regions. 42 Yes, he remembered the sacred promise he made to Abraham his servant.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The quails that God sent down for the complaining rabble seemed like a well-deserved punishment. After all, He had miraculously supplied them with manna in the desert, but instead of appreciating this munificence, these people actually dared to belittle it (Numbers 11:6). No wonder God spoke of the quails as of a threat ... In fact, what happened was still worse: no sooner had the people picked up the quails and started to eat them than God's anger turned against them in a great plague that struck "while the meat was yet between their teeth" (Numbers 11:33). The quails thus seemed to be part of this divine punishment for unbelief, and the fact that the site was called Kibroth-hattaavah (roughly, 'Gourmets Graveyard' only seemed to confirm that the quails and the plague came together to teach the Israelites to control their appetites. Yet some interpreters were inclined to think otherwise. To begin with, it seemed a little strange that God should at the same time give the complainers what they asked for and also punish them for asking. If their request for meat was unjustified, then why had He bothered to send the quails at all? And there was another good reason to doubt that the quails were part of any divine punishment. For this was not the first time that quails had been mentioned in connection with the Israelites' wanderings. Earlier, just after the crossing of the Red Sea, the Bible had briefly alluded to the provision of quails along with the manna ... Elsewhere as well, the quails were presented alongside the manna as twin manifestations of God's goodness ..."
James L. Kugel, The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 463–464.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Exodus 16:11 and Numbers 11:19 and Psalm 105:40

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