Chapter Sixteen

1–6. The arrival in the wilderness of Sin. The complaint of the Hebrews. 7–36. The miraculous provision of food to the Israelites: quail and manna.

Exodus 16:1. And they departed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they went forth from the land of Egypt. A month after their departure from Egypt (Num 33:3) the Hebrews came to the wilderness of Sin, not directly from Elim, but from an encampment that had been by the sea (Num 33:10-11).

Exodus 16:2. And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, Exodus 16:3. and the children of Israel said to them: O that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to fullness! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill all this assembly with hunger. The complaint was directed against both brothers – their divine mission: “you have brought us out into the wilderness” (Exod 3:10), and at the same time against the Most High Himself, who called Moses and Aaron. Besides mere whim (Ps 77:18), the foundation for the complaint was fear of death by starvation, more painful than death from the Egyptian plagues in a state of complete material abundance: “we sat by the pots of meat” (Num 11:4-5).

Exodus 16:4. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and let the people go out and gather daily what is needed for the day, so that I may test him, whether he will walk according to My law, or not; Exodus 16:5. And on the sixth day let them prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather on the other days. The sad memory: “we ate bread to fullness” (Exod 16:3) should not be recalled. Bread from heaven—that is, manna (Exod 16:15, Ps 77:24)—will be given in sufficient quantity for each day, and the people will be satisfied with bread to fullness (Exod 16:8, Ps 77:25). The daily gathering of manna reminded the Hebrews of their complete dependence of existence on God (Deut 8:16-17) and at the same time trained them in the exact fulfillment of the requirement not to store it for another day, except on the Sabbath (Exod 16:29). In this respect the gift of manna is a testing of the Hebrew people.

Exodus 16:6. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel: In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out from the land of Egypt, Exodus 16:7. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your complaint against the Lord; but what are we that you complain against us? Exodus 16:8. And Moses said: This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to fullness, because the Lord has heard your complaint which you have made against Him; but what are we? Your complaint is not against us, but against the Lord. Before proclaiming God’s will, Moses and Aaron try to stop the complaint. There is no reason to complain against them, for not they, Moses and Aaron, brought the Hebrews out of Egypt and subjected them to misery: “what are we that you complain against us?” The one responsible for the misery is God Himself, because He brought the people out of Egypt. As responsible for their hardship, the Lord heard the people’s complaint and appeared to Israel. And in this forthcoming manifestation of the One Who Is lies the foundation for ceasing the discontent. God, having brought the Hebrews out of Egypt and now subjecting them to hardship, will Himself remove it: “in the evening He will give meat, and in the morning bread.”

Exodus 16:9. And Moses said to Aaron: Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel: Draw near before the Lord, for He has heard your complaint. Exodus 16:10. And when Aaron spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. The manifestation of the glory of the Lord, which indicated the presence of God among the people (Num 16:19 and others, 1 Sam 8:10), was visible proof of the truth of Moses’ preceding speech.

Exodus 16:11. And the Lord said to Moses, saying: Exodus 16:12. I have heard the complaint of the children of Israel; say to them: In the evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be satisfied with bread – and you shall know that I am the Lord, your God. Exodus 16:13. And in the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp; Exodus 16:14. and when the layer of dew went up, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was something fine, granular, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. Exodus 16:15. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another: What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat; According to the testimony of travelers, in spring on the Sinai peninsula there is such a multitude of migratory birds that they can be caught by hand. This natural phenomenon served as an instrument in the hands of Divine Providence for nourishing the Hebrews. According to the indication Num 11:9, the appearance of dew was accompanied by the appearance of manna. But since dew comes from heaven (Deut 33:13, Zech 8:12), manna, given from heaven, is called “bread from heaven” (Exod 16:4, Ps 77:24, Nehem 9:15, John 6:31). In external appearance it resembled coriander seed, white like hoarfrost, or yellowish-blue in color, was similar to bdellium, and in taste was the same as a cake with honey (Exod 16:31, Num 11:7). The very word “manna” is formed from two Hebrew words: “man”, “ma” – what and “gu” – he, and literally means: what is this? The derivation from “manan” – “to give” has no basis in the text. Like the appearance of quail, the gift of manna is considered from the time of Josephus to be a natural phenomenon. He, like other scholars, identifies biblical manna with tamarisk manna flowing from tamarisks in the form of glue. In liquid form the latter has a dark-dirty color, and in dry form is completely white; it is gathered on the Sinai peninsula in the wadis Feiran and Garandel at the same time when the Hebrews were in the wilderness of Sin – in May, June. But despite the resemblance between biblical and tamarisk manna, there is also a substantial difference. It concerns above all the quantity. The Hebrews gathered manna each at the rate of an omer (Exod 16:16), consequently all in sufficient quantity; meanwhile tamarisk manna yields in a year no more than 500–600 pounds. The Hebrews ate manna during all forty years of their wandering (Exod 16:35), even on the eastern side of the Jordan (Josh 5:12), while tamarisk manna, besides the wilderness of Sin, is nowhere found now. Tamarisk manna is like wax, while biblical manna is like flour or groats, which could be ground in millstones, pounded in a mortar, and cooked in a pot (Num 11:8). Biblical manna was subject to decay (Exod 16:20), while tamarisk manna is not; the first did not appear on the Sabbath (Exod 16:27), the latter was gathered on that day as well.

Exodus 16:16. This is what the Lord has commanded: Gather it so that each one gathers for himself; an omer for each person, according to the number of your households, each of you shall gather for those in his tent. Exodus 16:17. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some much, some little; Exodus 16:18. and when they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who had gathered little had no lack: each had gathered as much as he could eat. The quantity of manna gathered was measured by the omer (Hebrew “omer” – a measure). This term served as the name for an unknown measure of capacity, but denotes “a vessel for drinking, which inhabitants of the East commonly have with them on their travels through the desert for drawing water from springs” (Michaelis). Another exegete, Canne, expresses the same view. And since these household vessels, while relatively equal, could have different capacities, this explains the fact that those who gathered more manna (Exod 16:17) when measured by the omer had nothing left over, and those who gathered less had no lack. Families larger in number had larger omers, thanks to which a greater quantity of gathered manna could fit in them – there was no surplus. Smaller families had smaller omers, and they contained as much manna as was needed for the family – there was no lack. If the understanding of the term “omer” explained thereby sufficiently explains the statement Exod 16:18, it is not contradicted by the remark Exod 16:36, that the omer is 1/10 of an ephah. Given its unequal capacity, it was quite natural to note its relationship to a definite measure.

Exodus 16:19. And Moses said to them: Let no one leave any of it until morning. Exodus 16:20. But they did not listen to Moses, and some of them left part of it until morning – and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. The failure to obey the second command is most likely explained by greed (Num 11:32-33).

Exodus 16:21. And they gathered it early in the morning, each as much as he could eat; and when the sun grew hot, it melted. Exodus 16:22. And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person. And all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. Exodus 16:23. And he said to them: This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a day of rest, the holy Sabbath of the Lord; what you need to bake, bake today, and what you need to cook, cook today; and what is left over, set aside and keep for morning. Exodus 16:24. And they set it aside for morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not become foul, nor were there worms in it. Since the people had not been given an explanation of the meaning of the command to gather double manna on the sixth day (Exod 16:5), it was quite natural that they did not understand it. There is a hint of this in the behavior of the leaders of the congregation. They report to Moses about the carrying out of his command, as though waiting for an indication of what should be done with the double quantity of manna.

Exodus 16:25. And Moses said: Eat it today, for today is the Sabbath of the Lord; today you will not find any in the field; Exodus 16:26. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. Exodus 16:27. But some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather – and they found none. Exodus 16:28. And the Lord said to Moses: How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? Exodus 16:29. See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days: let each of you remain in his place, no one is to go out from his place on the seventh day. Exodus 16:30. So the people rested on the seventh day. Exodus 16:31. And the house of Israel called the name of it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like a cake made with honey. The disobedience that occurred at first from some of the people was subsequently eliminated by a second repetition of the law concerning the Sabbath (Exod 16:28-30).

Exodus 16:32. And Moses said: This is what the Lord has commanded: Fill an omer with it as a store for your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out from the land of Egypt. Exodus 16:33. And Moses said to Aaron: Take a golden vessel, and put into it a full omer of manna, and place it before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. Exodus 16:34. And Aaron placed it before the ark of the testimony, to be kept, as the Lord commanded Moses. Since the construction of the tabernacle of meeting and its furnishings, in particular the ark of the covenant, pertains to a later time, according to the opinion of some exegetes, the events of these verses took place much later than the stay of the Hebrews in the wilderness of Sin. Others, however, on the basis of Exod 33:7 and the subsequent verses of chapter 33 of Exodus, suppose that before the construction of the tabernacle, the Hebrews had a special sanctuary, in which the vessel with manna was placed.

Exodus 16:35. The children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a settled land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. The remark Exod 16:35 belongs to a later time and author. * * * A very interesting remark. The omer – a completely fixed measure of volume (Editor’s Note).