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Exodus 16

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Israel Murmurs in the Wilderness 1–3

1
And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. ​
2
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness:
3
and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. ​

God Promises Manna and Quail 4–12

4
Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. ​
5
And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
6
And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that Jehovah hath brought you out from the land of Egypt;
7
and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Jehovah; for that he heareth your murmurings against Jehovah: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? ​
8
And Moses said, This shall be, when Jehovah shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that Jehovah heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.
9
And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before Jehovah; 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 Jehovah appeared in the cloud.
11
And Jehovah 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 Jehovah your God. ​

Quail and Manna Provided 13–21

13
And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp. ​
14
And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground. ​
15
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, It is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat. ​
16
This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent. ​
17
And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.
18
And when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. ​
19
And Moses said unto them, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
20
Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was wroth with them. ​
21
And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

Manna and the Institution of the Sabbath 22–30

22
And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. ​
23
And he said unto them, This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto Jehovah: bake that which ye will bake, and boil that which ye will boil; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. ​
24
And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm therein.
25
And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto Jehovah: to-day ye shall not find it in the field.
26
Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none. ​
28
And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? ​
29
See, for that Jehovah hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
30
So the people rested on the seventh day.

A Memorial of God’s Provision 31–36

31
And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. ​
32
And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. ​
33
And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations.
34
As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. ​
35
And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. ​
36
Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Exodus 16

Verse 1

the wilderness of Sin — Sin is a different name from Sinai; the wilderness lies 'between Elim and Sinai'. The date is a month to the day after the departure, since Israel went out 'on the fifteenth day of the first month' (Num 33:3). The 'congregation' (edah) is the whole company; Num 33:11 lists the encampment.

Verse 3

the flesh pots — Sir, a cooking pot. Israel recalls 'bread to the full' in Egypt. It is the third complaint on the way out of Egypt: 'no graves in Egypt' (Ex 14:11), then the bitter water (Ex 15:24). Num 11:5 repeats it with 'the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely'. The LORD answers with flesh and 'bread to the full' (v.8).

Verse 4

I will rain bread from heaven — Matar, to rain: Ps 78:24 says he 'rained down manna upon them to eat'. In John 6:31–32 the crowd cites 'bread from heaven', and Christ answers, 'Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven'. 'Prove' (nasah) is the verb of Ex 15:25.

Verse 7

the glory of the LORD — Kavod, glory or honour. Moses names the morning for it, and the glory 'appeared in the cloud' as Aaron spoke (v.10). 'Murmurings' and 'murmur' share the root luwn of Ex 15:24; Moses says of the complaint, 'your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD' (v.8), and asks 'what are we?'

Verse 12

ye shall know that I am the LORD your God — These are the words of Ex 6:7, now promised through bread and flesh. 'At even' is literally 'between the two evenings' (beyn ha'arbayim), the expression of the Passover lamb 'in the evening' (Ex 12:6). 'Filled' (saba) answers the 'bread to the full' remembered in v.3.

Verse 13

the quails — Selav, quail; in Exodus the word is found only here. A wind from the LORD brought them again in Num 11:31, and Ps 78:27 says 'He rained flesh also upon them as dust'. The 'dew' (tal) lay round the camp; of a later time Num 11:9 says, 'when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it'.

Verse 14

a small round thing — Mechuspas, a word found only here in the Bible. 'Hoar frost' is kephor, as in Ps 147:16, 'He scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes'. The text gives only likenesses: the thing lay on 'the face of the wilderness' when the dew had gone up, and the people's own question names it in v.15.

Verse 15

It is manna — The name rises from not knowing: 'they wist not what it was' (yada, to know). Moses later says the LORD fed them 'with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know' (Deut 8:3). Moses' reply supplies what they lacked: 'This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat'.

Verse 16

an omer for every man — The omer is defined in v.36 as 'the tenth part of an ephah', and in Exodus the word occurs only in this chapter. Each gathers 'according to his eating' and 'according to the number of your persons' (nephesh), taking for those in his tent, so the measure is by household, to the person.

Verse 18

had nothing over — Paul cites the verse for the equality of giving: 'He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack' (2 Cor 8:15). 'No lack' is chasar, the verb of Deut 2:7, 'thou hast lacked nothing', and of 'I shall not want' (Ps 23:1).

Verse 20

it bred worms, and stank — Ba'ash, the verb of the stinking river (Ex 7:18). It followed the command 'Let no man leave of it till the morning' (v.19). Of the portion laid up for the sabbath it is said, 'it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein' (v.24). Moses 'was wroth' (qatsaph).

Verse 22

twice as much bread — The double gathering had been foretold: 'on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily' (v.5). The 'rulers of the congregation' (nasi) bring the matter to Moses, who explains it in v.23 as the sabbath rest.

Verse 23

the rest of the holy sabbath — Shabbaton and shabbath, both first used in Scripture here. The seventh day had been blessed and sanctified at creation (Gen 2:3), and the command follows in Ex 20:8, 'Remember the sabbath day'. Here Israel learns it through the manna: 'the LORD hath given you the sabbath' (v.29).

Verse 27

they found none — The word had been plain: 'on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none' (v.26), and 'let no man go out of his place on the seventh day' (v.29). Some went out (yatsa) to gather, and what they came for was not there. The LORD's rebuke follows in v.28.

Verse 28

How long refuse ye — Ma'en, to refuse, is the verb of Pharaoh's refusal, 'How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?' (Ex 10:3). The charge now concerns Israel's keeping of 'my commandments and my laws' (mitsvah, torah), the testing in view since v.4, 'whether they will walk in my law'.

Verse 31

the house of Israel — This is the first appearance of the phrase in Scripture. 'Coriander seed' is gad, and Num 11:7 repeats the likeness: 'the manna was as coriander seed'. 'Wafers' (tsappichit) is found only here in the Bible, and the taste is 'like wafers made with honey'. The name Manna is given by the people.

Verse 32

Fill an omer of it to be kept — The bread is preserved 'for your generations' so that they may see what the LORD fed them with in the wilderness. Hebrews lists in the ark 'the golden pot that had manna' (Heb 9:4), and Christ promises the overcomer 'the hidden manna' (Rev 2:17).

Verse 34

before the Testimony — The ark is commanded in Ex 25:16 ('put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee') and the testimony is placed in it in Ex 40:20; the verse names the place the pot would stand. Hebrews describes the ark as that 'wherein was the golden pot that had manna' (Heb 9:4).

Verse 35

forty years — The manna lasted 'until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan'; it 'ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land' (Josh 5:12). Nehemiah recalls, 'forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing' (Neh 9:21).