The Bible Story Vol 2_w.pdf - Herbert W. Armstrong

and spears and boards, and started beating low-flying birds to the
ground, and striking those exhausted birds which scampered in all directions.
While some excitedly slaughtered birds, oth ers hastily plucked them.
In spite of the strong winds , the camps soon became alive with an
unusually large number of fires over which quails were hastily roasted.
After months of existing mostly on manna, the Israelites were so
excited because of receiving meat that they tore and bit and chewed at
the flesh of the birds as through they had been star ved. They took turns
catching, roasting and eating, but it required many hours for all of them
to get their fill of the roasted quail.
All that day the strong wind persi sted, and flocks of quails passed
over the camps continuously. The excited people flailed away at them,
knocking the birds to the ground, snatching them up to swiftly prepare
them for roasting or to pluck and salt them for eating later.
As sundown approached, it was expected that the wind would die
down and that the birds-if the y continued to pass over-would manage
to fly at higher altitudes. But the strong wind continued all night. And all
night, by the light of bright campfires, the Isra elite s went on batting
down all birds within reach.
Next morning the wind still hadn't abated. Flock after flock of quail s
skimmed over the camps. There were so many fowl th at they were seen
fifteen to twenty miles on both sides of the camp areas. The wind
continued all that day , and hordes of birds with it. There seemed to be no
end to them. By this time many people were still downing them, but not
with the eagerness of the preceding day.
Near sundown the wind finally sta rted to subside. The flocks of
quails became smaller and smaller, until no mor e, even single stragglers,
were seen to pass over.
Thousands of weary quail-catchers slumped up on their beds.
Regardless of th eir obvious desire to get even more fowl than they could
use, the y were relieved when there were no more to try to get. After two
days and one night of bird-bagging, the camps were full of thousands and
th ousands of tons of fowl. Besides the millions of quails already eaten,
th ere were piles of them between tents, countless numbers strung up to
dry and huge am ounts being roasted, boiled, fried or barbecued .
Not everyone had tried his hand at bagging t he qua ils because not all
of the Israelites had lusted for meat. But there were more th an a halfmillion
able-bodied men in the camps, and few of them refrained from
the sport of quail-catching. One can get some idea of the amount of fowl
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