9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord: for he hath heard your murmurings.

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.

The Lord spoke to Moses, Moses spoke to Aaron, and Aaron spoke to the congregation. This arrangement suggests that in their hierarchy Moses stood as a representative for the Lord and Aaron stood as a representative for the congregation. Heaven and earth were communicating to one another through their diplomats: these two brothers. Viewing Aaron as a representative of Israel may also explain why he would later assist them in the creation of the golden calf. Though he may have personally opposed it, perhaps he saw himself as their representative, bound to carry out their will.

In any case, after the message was conveyed to all of Israel, the Lord came in a cloud that emerged from deeper in the wilderness. There is a reassurance in this, it shows that where they had yet to go, He had already been.

After His manifestation in the cloud, the Lord declared that He had indeed heard all the people’s murmurings and would send them the promised bread, and also meat as well. Later on in this chapter we will learn that the meat would be quail.

This story of Israel receiving manna and quail is very similar to another account that is given later in Numbers, Chapter 11.In fact, they are so similar that I suspect they are actually the same account. It appears to me that this chapter in Exodus is abbreviating the more detailed account that is given in Numbers. If so, we learn from the version in Numbers that after Israel complained for the lack of bread, God gave them the manna. Then, some time later, they complained again for the lack of meat, and God sent them the quail. The Numbers account makes clear, though, that the quail was actually a curse, bringing a plague upon the people as they ate it. They were punished even in the very act of getting exactly what they wanted.

We won’t hear about all of these details in this chapter, but we can keep in mind that this is likely the fuller picture of what transpired.