Kommentar zu Schemot 16:12

I HAVE HEARD THE MURMURINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. SPEAK UNTO THEM, SAYING: AT DUSK YE SHALL EAT FLESH. This communication [at dusk ye shall eat, etc.], had already been conveyed by Moses to Israel,³⁶⁵Above, Verse 8. but it is repeated here only because of that which He said I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. At first, He had said, Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven to you;³⁶⁶Ibid., Verse 4. He would willingly do it for them as an act of kindness or because of their merits. But now He said that [their murmuring] is accounted to them as sin, and yet because of the very nature of the murmuring, He will do such things for them so that they might know thereby that I am the Eternal your G-d. Until now ye do not believe the Eternal your G-d;³⁶⁷Deuteronomy 1:32. this is why you murmur against His prophets.
It is possible that at first He did not promise them the manna for all the time that they would be in the wilderness. Thus they thought that perhaps it would be for one day or two, as long as they stayed in that place, and that when they would leave it, they would come to a place of food. But now He said to them, “At dusk ye shall eat flesh always, and in every morning ye shall be filled with bread as long as you will be in the wilderness.” And so also is the opinion of our Rabbis,³⁶⁸Arakhin 15 b, Tosafoth. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 366. that the quail were with them from that day on, just like the manna. It is logically so, for they expressed discontent about the two things — [flesh and bread]³⁶⁹Above, Verse 3: … when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full. — and He hearkened to their murmurings on both matters, and He gave them that which they craved.³⁷⁰Psalms 78:29. What would He give them, and what more,³⁷¹See ibid., 120:3. if He supplied them with meat for only one day or two?
The reason that the chapter [of the Torah] speaks at length about the matter of the manna is that everything about it was of a wondrous nature, whereas with reference to the matter of the quail, it just writes briefly, And it came to pass at even, that the quail came up,³⁷²Verse 13. because it came in a natural way.³⁷³See Ramban above, Verse 6, beginning with: “The correct interpretation.” [Although the quail were a daily occurrence], the subject of the second [incident of] quail at Kibroth-hata’avah³⁷⁴Numbers 11:31-34. [is singled out for mention in Scripture] because right now [in the wilderness of Sin], they did not receive of them to the full, just as He always says here, flesh to eat, and bread to the full.³⁷⁵Verse 8. And also in Verse 12 here: At dusk ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread. This clearly indicates that bread they had to the full, but not flesh.
It is possible that only the adults gathered the quail — or it may be that they were marked by chance for the pious ones — while the young craved and hungered for them, since Scripture does not relate concerning the quail, “and they gathered some more, some less,” as it does concerning the manna.³⁷⁶Further, Verse 17. It is for this reason that Scripture says there [in the narrative of the second quail]: And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting,³⁷⁷Numbers 11:4. and it further says, and the children of Israel also wept on their part,³⁷⁷Numbers 11:4. meaning that some of the children of Israel were also weeping for it, but not all. He then gave them in great quantity, as it says, He that gathered least gathered ten heaps,³⁷⁸Ibid., Verse 32. and out of that abundance, they ate for a month’s time³⁷⁹Ibid., Verse 20. and then the quail reverted to their first state.
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, the whole affair with the quail happened only at intervals, but since the manna was their staple food, they always had it, for their chief murmuring concerned it, as it is written, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to put to death this whole assembly by famine.³⁸⁰Above, Verse 3.

וידעתם כי אני ה' אלוקיכם, Who has taken you out of Egypt.

דבר אל בני ישראל לאמור בין הערבים תאכלו בשר, “speak to the Children of Israel, saying that ‘in the evening you will eat meat, etc.’” Nachmanides writes that what Moses is instructed to say here has already been recorded previously. The reason why it has been repeated here once more is because G’d had stated (verse 4) that He would rain bread from the heavens as if this would be the first item of the agenda and as if He would perform an act of kindness for the people, something not related at all to the people’s complaints. Now, the Torah relates that the people’s conduct in complaining was considered sinful, and that Hashem would do what He was going to do only in response to their complaint. He would do so in order to demonstrate how unjustified their complaint against Moses and Aaron had been. It is possible that originally, G’d had not promised that the supply of manna would be for the duration of their journey through the desert, and that the people had believed that this would be a short-term solution of their problems, lasting possibly only for a few days, and that the miracle involved was somehow tied only to that particular location. Now, we hear more details, including the announcement of the meat they would eat in the evening, i.e. as a regular diet every evening, and that in the morning they would receive heavenly bread on a regular basis. It is the opinion of our sages that just as the people had manna every morning so they had the selav every evening. The reason why the Torah gives many more details about the manna than about the selav, is that the former was supernatural, incomparable to phenomena that exist on earth. This leaves us with the question that if the Israelites actually had a meat diet on a daily basis, what brought on the demand for meat in Numbers 11 and the supply of selav there as a result of which thousands of Israelites died due to overindulging, and the location was named קברות התאוה, ”the burial sites due to craving?” Very possibly, the supply of selav prior to what is described as a surfeit in Numbers chapters 11 and 12, was meager, not nearly enough to satisfy large numbers of the people. By mentioning that the supply of bread in the morning would be לשובע, sufficient to satiate, and failing to make a similar comment regarding the selav, the Torah indicated that there would be a quantitative difference between the supply of bread and the supply of meat. Perhaps only the pious Israelites collected selav on a regular basis. It is also noteworthy that when Israelites in Numbers are described as weeping over the absence of meat, the Torah never mentioned that the people at large indulged in weeping over the absence of meat, only some did, i.e. some בני ישראל of the elite, and all of the rabble were the most dissatisfied. (Numbers 11,4) On that occasion, and presumably on that occasion only, G’d supplied meat in such quantities that the whole people were literally swamped by meat. According to the plain meaning of the text, supply of meat on both occasions was on a strictly temporary basis, whereas the supply of heavenly bread became a daily norm. The people’s principal complaint had been that Moses and Aaron had taken them into the desert to die by hunger. It is also possible that Moses had told the people originally that they would be provided for, but that they had not believed him. The reason they did not believe him then was that he had not referred to G’d doing the providing. Only after Moses and Aaron had made it plain by saying נחנו מה that they had not meant to imply that they would do the providing, and had promised the people that they would see the glory of G’d in action, as it were, did the people become convinced that their problems would be solved.

שמעתי את תלונות בני ישראל, “I have heard the complaints of the Children of Israel, etc.” Our sages in Pessikta zutrata on this verse said that G’d refers to the Israelites as “Children of Israel,” a complimentary title, in spite of the fact that they had uttered complaints. What is the meaning of the word לאמור here after the words דבר אל בני ישראל? The message in the repetition is that Moses was to address the Israelites twice; once in a friendly tone, concerning their complaint about not having bread, and in a sterner tone concerning their demands for more than necessities, i.e. meat. Whereas the word וידבר refers to stern talk, the use of the word לאמור, denotes a friendly tone. We have proof of this in Genesis 42,30 דבר האיש אדוני הארץ אתנו קשות, “the man, the ruler of the land spoke with us harsh words.” The Talmud in Makkot 11 states that the word דבר already implies קשות, tough talk.

(Exodus 16:12) "I have heard the cavilings of the children of Israel": The Holy One Blessed be He said to Moses: It is revealed to Me what the congregation of Israel have said and what they are destined to say (viz. Numbers 11:4). "Speak to them, saying: Towards evening you will eat flesh": He said to them: You have asked for two things: You have asked for bread; for it is impossible for flesh and blood (to survive) without bread. And I have granted it to you. And, in addition, you have asked for stomach-filling flesh. I have granted that also to you. Why? So that you not say: He cannot give it to us. I will give it to you, but in the end I will exact punishment of you "and you will know that I am the L rd your G d ("Elokeichem") — I am a Judge to exact punishment of you.

'בין הערבים תאכלו בשר וגו, from this verse we learn that basically, the Israelites were to eat a meal twice daily, in the evening and on the morning following.

ובבוקר תשבעו לחם וידעתם כי אני ה' אלו-היכם, “and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread and you will know that I am the Lord your G’d.” You will bless My name for supplying your food. This is the first indication of the legislation we read about in Deut. 8,10: “you will eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord your G’d.” Our verse prompted our sages (Berachot 48) to conclude that Moses formulated the first benediction in the ברכת המזון prayer after meals at the time when the manna descended. Whereas thanking G’d for the food one has eaten is a Biblical requirement, reciting the benediction prior to eating is a Rabbinical law. The Rabbis arrived at the logic of this by an “a fortiori,” קל וחומר, saying that if one needs to thank the Lord after one has already had one’s fill, how much more must one do so prior to eating for having found food available at a time when one is hungry!