The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger"...The Lord spoke to Moses, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. (Exodus 16:2-3,11-14,NRSVue)
Japanese Printmaker Sadao Watanabe is, without question, the most devoted birdwatcher among the artists in my collection. He kept a caged bird in his studio and included plumed bantam roosters, ring-necked pheasant, finches and all manner of fowl in his stencil print biblical illustrations. He was especially fond of this story in the Hebrew Scriptures, where God provided for the needs of the Children of Israel in the wilderness by sending a covey of quail for them to eat, recreating the scene in at least five variations, including this 1972 momigami wrinkled paper stencil print in yellow. There is a flip side to this quail narrative of divine goodness in the Book of Numbers, when the Israelites complain once more about having nothing good to eat. This time, the quails come bringing a punishing plague to God's ungrateful people. (John Kohan)