All that night and all next day Some at the one time, and some at the other, and some, through greediness or diffidence, at both times. Ten homers That is, ten ass-loads: which, if it seem incredible, consider, 1st, That the gatherers here were not all the people, which could not be without great inconvenience, but some on the behalf of all, while the rest were exercised about other necessary things. Therefore, the meaning is not, that every Israelite had so much for his share, but that every collector gathered so much for the family or others by whom he was appointed. 2d, That the people did not gather for their present use only, but for a good while to come; and being distrustful of God's goodness, it is not strange if they gathered much more than they needed. 3d, That the word rendered homers, may signify heaps, as it doth Exodus 8:14; Judges 15:16;
Habakkuk 3:15; and ten is often put for many, and so the sense is, that every one gathered several heaps. If yet the number seem incredible, it must be further known, 4th, That heathen and other authors affirm, in those eastern and southern countries, quails are innumerable, so that in one part of Italy, within the compass of five miles, there were taken about a hundred thousand of them every day for a month together. And Athenæus relates, that in Egypt, a country prodigiously populous, they were in such plenty, that all those vast numbers of people could not consume them, but were forced to salt and keep them for future use. They spread them That so they might dry, salt, and preserve them for future use, according to what they had seen in Egypt.