He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

And he rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowl as the sand of the seas,

He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, and winged fowl as the sand of the seas:

And He raineth on them flesh as dust, And as sand of the seas, winged fowl,

He sent down meat on them like dust, and feathered birds like the sand of the sea,

He caused flesh also to rain upon them as the dust, And winged fowl as the sand of the seas;

He rained flesh also upon them as dust - The flesh of quails, Numbers 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, Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12; Genesis 41:49; Joshua 11:4; 1-Samuel 13:5; Revelation 20:8.

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 1-Corinthians 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 Numbers 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 Gill on Numbers 11:19; see Gill on Numbers 11:20; see Gill on Numbers 11:21; see Gill on Numbers 11:31; see Gill on Numbers 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, Exodus 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 Matthew 23:37, but seeing the quails are never called spiritual meat, as the manna is, 1-Corinthians 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, Psalm 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, Proverbs 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.

Fowl - But God took away from them the use of their wings, and made them to fall into the hands of the Israelites.