Psalms 78:26

26. East wind This refers to the second supply of quails, Numbers 11:31. For the first supply, see Psalms 105:40. According to the Hebrew text, two “winds,” from the east and south, were called into action jointly, meeting at the Israelitish camp. The history simply says, “a wind from the Lord.” According to Hebrew usage, a south “wind” might come from any point between southeast and southwest. The Septuagint and Vulgate have “southwest wind.” This would bring the quails migrating northward from southern Arabia, and the interior of Africa, directly over the camp, and being weary of wing, and baffled by an easterly “wind,” they would fall at the point required. It is not uncommon for quails to fly thus in large numbers, and, when weary, they are easily killed with a stick by Arab boys. In this case the miracle was in giving strength and direction to the “winds” to assist their flight to the given time and place, and then there to arrest it. The quail is a round and plump bird, about the size of the turtle-dove, (see on Psalms 105:40,) of low and heavy flight, much dependent on favorable “winds” in its migratory passages. In Numbers 11:31, “Upon the face of the earth” refers to their low flight over, or above, “the face of the earth.”