Quail and the Exodus

There is a verse that is rather surpising in the dramatic story of the "splitting of the Sea of Reeds." 

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “By evening you shall know it was Hashem who brought you out from the land of Egypt."

Only come evening, when a flock of quail came upon the camp, did the Jewish people realize that it was God who had taken them out of Egypt, a very odd statement. 

The miracles having been witnessed, released from bondage where no one had ever met an ancestor that was free - seeing the splitting of the sea, their oppressors drowning before their very eyes, none of this was enough to convince them that Hashem had taken them out of Egypt. A truly stunning statement!

What was truly unique about the quail? 

It would seem that there was something unique about being given a world of plenty, plenty that you could actually benefit from, and not hoard. The Sefer Hachinuch teaches that the reason one was forbidden from breaking a bone in the paschal offering was because those who suffer from penury are stuck in a mindset where they need to always skimp and save, to suck the bone dry. The afikoman, is due to the fact that a person who doesn't have always puts aside a little bread for later. 

Finally, with the quail, they had birds, poultry, that was free - provided by Hashem because he loved them and wanted them to have plenty. That was a powerful message for a nation of slaves, tasting their first breath of freedom.