“They asked, and the quail came …”
(Ps. 105:40, CAB)
The spirit of Elijah will reconcile all things to God (Matt. 17:11), and before we can spell out the collective worth of it for everyone in the Bride, it is important that, as Isa. 40:4 notes, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth …” This means that the path must be made straight in the wilderness, so that we can build a “highway” (KJV) for our God!
This highway can also be translated as ladder or staircase, according to the ancient Hebrew (in the AHLB), but interestingly enough also with quail, and thorn! The former is absolutely revealing, for various reasons. Firstly: manna and quails are a specific binary pair, and need to be interpreted in relief to one another (like cat and mouse, or moon and cheese). As the food that was specifically provided for the desert, there has to be something more important, something typological, attached to quail, that could illuminate the issue of God’s provision, and that eventually led to the terrifying “grave of lust” that caused that a multitude of people who began the trek into the desert, did not emerge from it on the other side. [The term ‘grave of lust’ is the Hebrew meaning of the place where the second incidence of quail provision by the Lord took place, namely Kibroth Hattaavah (Num. 11:35), and where many pilgrims died because of their revolt against the Lord. Take note – it also is known as the plague, or the pest. Remember the word equivalents of logos that we outlined in the previous teaching, which can also mean plague/pest.]
In 1Cor. 10:3 manna and quail are called “spiritual food”. In his book Essays on New Testament Themes (pp. 113-114), Ernst Käsemann refers to it as “food … that convey Spirit”! Selah! Just as the water in the desert did not only satisfy one’s physical thirst, but was a “spiritual drink”, and the Rock was not only a physical rock (1Cor. 10:4), but is also Christ, so the manna and the quail are not only physical food.
According to the AHLB, quail is linked to height in the pictorial Hebrew, and especially to the way in which that height can be reached; typologically certainly then a symbol of a dangerous facet, “the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). The desert or wilderness must become a “highway of holiness” (Isa. 35:8) through the unfolding of revelation. The quail are clearly a symbol of “your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). They are called to fly high, and as migratory bird they need to undertake long journeys to get to their destination. Because they are plump, they run the risk of flying too low when they are very tired, and can easily be caught. This is also what Biblical commentators argue occurred when the Israelites in the desert could so easily catch them (Num. 11:31).
The Hebrew word for quail is שׂלו, according to the ISBE, “to be fat”. By now we know that fat is a symbolic complement for anointing. Fat and glory are explicitly linked (Isa. 17:4), and Lev. 3:16 makes it clear: “all the fat is the Lord’s”. Job 36:16 (KJV) for instance speaks of the table of the Lord that “is full of fatness.” In the next teaching we deepen the symbolic value of this symbol.
- Selah: Try to determine what the symbolic meaning of quails are.
- Read: Lev. 25-27
- Memorise: Lev. 26:6
