Exodus 16: Bread from Heaven
1 And they journeyed 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 departed from the land of Egypt.
"Came into the wilderness of Sin — Not immediately, for there is another stage of their journey by the Red sea, mentioned Numbers 33:10, (in which chapter, it appears, Moses designedly set down all their stations,)...” (Benson Commentary) preparing them for ministry.
2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
“The provisions of Israel, brought from Egypt, were spent by the middle of the second month, and they murmured. It is no new thing for the greatest kindness to be basely represented as the greatest injuries. They so far undervalue their deliverance, that they wished they had died in Egypt; and by the hand of the Lord, that is, by the plagues which cut off the Egyptians.” (Matthew Henry)
4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of Yahweh; for He hears your complaints against Yahweh. But what are we, that you complain against us?” 8 Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when Yahweh gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for Yahweh hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against Yahweh.”
11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’”
"Unbelief has a short memory. The Red Sea is forgotten in a month. The Israelites could strike their timbrels and sing their lyric of praise, but they could not believe that today’s hunger could be satisfied...” (MacLaren)-- that today's Marah would have reprieve. Even still: "The manifestation of God's glory was His regular provision of manna that began the next day and continued for 40 years (Exodus 16:7)." (Constable) Likewise, Christians have a provision from heaven until they reach the Gates thereof.
"Then they said to Him [Jesus], 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?'
Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.'
Therefore they said to Him, 'What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
Then they said to Him, 'Lord, give us this bread always.'
And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.’" (John 6:29-40)
Exodus 16: Daily Meat and Bread
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So 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 Yahweh has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”
17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. 19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
"The manifestation of God's glory was His regular provision of manna that began the next day and continued for 40 years (Exodus 16:7)." (Thomas Constable) What is it?-- Manna. God's spiritual food is like nothing the natural man has seen before. And any extras left until morning bred worms. "This was a supernatural, not a natural result. It served as a sort of punishment of the disobedient, and effectually checked the practice of laying up in store." (Pulpit Commentary) "On the Sabbath it bred no worms (Exodus 16:24), so that we must view the result spoken of as a punishment for disobedience, not as produced naturally. Neither of the natural mannas is subject to any very rapid decomposition." (Ellicott's Commentary)
"We may farther observe, that God’s indulgence to sinful men is very great; he gave manna in the morning, and occasionally quails in the evening to a murmuring people. There is however a difference, a very wide difference, between temporal and spiritual prosperity. He often gives the wicked flesh and abundance in his wrath, but to the righteous he gives special marks of his favour, while their outward condition is distinguished by affliction and want.
We are also instructed by Jesus Christ to regard this manna as a figure of the true bread, which our heavenly Father gives to his children. The Israelites ate manna, and died in the desert. But we have in Christ the bread of heaven, that we may eat and never die. How pure, how incorruptible and reviving is that food with which the Lord sustains his church in the wilderness. It is milk and honey, marrow and fatness. The sacraments and all the ordinances abound with grace, to nourish the soul with the health of eternal life.
The Lord so gave this manna as to connect it with industry; they were every morning employed in collecting the food that fell from heaven during the night. Thus should we also be diligently employed in collecting food and strength from God, by meditation and prayer, and especially in the early part of the day. Devotion in a morning, when so performed as to acquire its genuine spirit, is a pledge of health and strength to the soul throughout the day; and that man who is not diligent in the means of grace is weak and languid. His soul cannot taste the heaven which those enjoy 'who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' This is the hidden manna, reserved in Christ the Ark [of the Covenant], for the faithful and victorious soul [Exodus 16:32].
From this passage our Saviour demonstrated his Godhead and glory, because he declared himself to be the bread of God which came from heaven, and gave life to the world. And being in his own person, the Lord and giver of life, he is able to sustain the soul with heavenly food, that man may eat and never die.” (Sutcliffe Commentary)
Exodus 16: One Omer or Two
22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
Yahweh had told Moses, "And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exo16:5) But Moses did not advise the people of it immediately. He merely instructed: "Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.” (Exo 16:16) On the preparation day, the people gathered two omers, perhaps because of the Sabbath. "The rulers told Moses — either to acquaint him with this increase of the miracle, or to take his direction for their practice, because they found two commands apparently clashing with each other...” (Benson Commentary)--
one Omer or two.
23 Then he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
Some take this is as a sign of disobedience, but I believe that it seems to indicate that the seventh-day sabbath was known by the people at-large and obeyed. They took it upon themselves to gather in preparation for it. For sure it "was known, not only before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, even from the beginning, Ge 2:3. The setting apart one day in seven [particularly the seventh day] for holy work, and, in order to that, for holy rest, was ever since God created man upon the earth, and is the most ancient of the Divine laws. Appointing them to rest on the seventh day, he took care that they should be no losers by it; and none ever will be losers by serving God. On that day they were to fetch in enough for two days, and to make it ready. This directs us to contrive family affairs, so that they may hinder us as little as possible in the work of the sabbath. Works of necessity are to be done on that day; but it is desirable to have as little as may be to do, that we may apply ourselves the more closely to prepare for the life that is to come. When they kept manna against a command, it stank; when they kept it by a command, it was sweet and good; every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." (Matthew Henry)
27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For Yahweh has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
"There will always be some persons in a nation, or in a Church, who will refuse to believe God's ministers, and even God himself. They persuade themselves that they 'know better' - it will not be as announced - it will be as they wish it to be." (Pulpit Commentary) But after the rebuke, they obeyed at least in outward observance- for they looked and behold there was none.
31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna.[Literally What?] And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Manna-- "The taste of it was like wafers made with honey.—In Numbers the taste is compared to that of fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). The wafers or cakes used by the Egyptians, Greeks, and other ancient nations as offerings, were ordinarily composed of fine wheaten flour, oil, and honey. According to a Jewish tradition which finds a place in the Book of Wisdom (Exodus 16:20-21), the taste of the manna varied according to the wish of the eater, and 'tempered itself to every man’s liking.'" (Ellicott's Commentary)
32 Then Moses said, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept for your generations.” 34 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.
"In conclusion, the quantity of the manna collected for the daily supply of each individual, which was preserved in the sanctuary..." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary) "The mere fact of such a multitude being fed for forty years in the wilderness, where no food of any kind is to be obtained, will show the utter impossibility of their subsisting on a natural production of the kind and quantity as this... and, as if for the purpose of removing all such groundless speculations, Aaron was commanded to put a sample of it in a pot—a golden pot (Heb 9:4)—to be laid before the Testimony, to be kept for future generations, that they might see the bread on which the Lord fed their fathers in the wilderness. But we have the bread of which that was merely typical (1Co 10:3; Joh 6:32).” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary)