Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Sforno · Torah

Sforno on Exodus 16:6/ספורנו על שמות ט״ז:ו׳

אעֶרֶב וִידַעְתֶּם. יְהִי רָצוֹן שֶׁמָּה שֶׁאָמַר לִי שֶׁיִּתֵּן לָכֶם מָזוֹן, יִהְיֶה בְּאֹפֶן זֶה שֶׁיִּתֵּן לָכֶם בָּעֶרֶב צָרְכֵי הָעֶרֶב, בְּעִנְיָן שֶׁתֵּדְעוּ שֶׁהָאֵל יִתְבָּרַךְ הוֹצִיא אֶתְכֶם לְגַמְרֵי מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, כִּי יוֹצִיאֲכֶם גַּם מִמִּנְהָגֶיהָ, שֶׁהֱיִיתֶם יוֹשְׁבִים שָׁם עַל סִיר הַבָּשָׂר, בִּלְתִי זְמַן סְעוּדָה קְבוּעָה כִּבְהֵמוֹת, כְּאָמְרָם זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה בִּתְחִלָּה הָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּתַרְנְגוֹלִים הַמְנַקְּרִים בָּאַשְׁפָּה, עַד שֶׁבָּא מֹשֶׁה וְקָבַע לָהֶם זְמַן סְעוּדָה.
1ערב וידעתם, may it be G’d’s will that what He said about giving you food will be such that in the evening you will receive enough for that evening so that you will all know that He has taken you out of Egypt, totally and irrevocably. You have also exited from the political leaders of that country. True, you had been sitting near the fleshpots there, but you had never been given enough time to enjoy any of the meat in these pots. You had been treated like animals which have no fixed times when they eat. This is the meaning of the passage in Yuma 75 in which we are told that at the beginning of your history (of the enslavement) you were like hens that are only able to hastily pick at the kernels given them as food. They even had to look for it in the refuse heaps. Only after Moses, their redeemer, took over their affairs did they begin to enjoy regular meals at regular times.