And while the day was coming on - At daybreak. It was before they had sufficient light to discern what they should do.
To take meat - Food. The word “meat” was formerly used to denote “food” of any kind.
That ye have tarried - That you have remained or been fasting.
Having taken nothing - No regular meal. It cannot mean that they had lived entirely without food, but that they had been in so much danger, were so constantly engaged, and had been so anxious about their safety, that they had taken no regular meal, or that what they had taken had been at irregular intervals, and had been a scanty allowance. “Appian speaks of an army which for 20 days together had neither food nor sleep; by which he must mean that they neither made full meals nor slept whole nights together. The same interpretation must be given to this phrase” (Doddridge). The effect of this must have been that they would be exhausted, and little able to endure the fatigues which yet remained.