Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Exodus 16:31-36
The Manna Preserved As a Memorial For the Future (Exodus 16:31).
‘And the house of Israel called its name Manna (Hebrew ‘man'), and it was white like coriander seed, and its taste was like wafers made with honey.'
Note the unusual ‘house of Israel', only found in Exodus here and in Exodus 40:38, but compare ‘house of Jacob' which parallels ‘children of Israel' (Exodus 19:3). It contains an extra emphasis that Israel are one ‘household'.
We may sum up the information about the Manna.
1). It was ‘white', or creamy yellow coloured (like coriander, and bdellium - Numbers 11:7), and, when cooked, tasted like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16:31), and like cakes baked in oil (Numbers 11:7). Different methods may have been fond for cooking them which may have altered the taste somewhat.
2). It was sufficient to replace the bread of Egypt which had filled them to the full (Exodus 16:3; Exodus 16:8). Psalms 78:24 calls it ‘corn from heaven'.
3). It had to be cooked (Exodus 16:23), after being ground in mills, making cakes of it (Numbers 11:8).
4). It was small and flaky (Exodus 16:14).
5). It melted in the sun (Exodus 16:21).
6). It went bad, wormy and smelly if kept raw overnight (Exodus 16:20) but possibly not if cooked (Exodus 16:23).
7). If Exodus 16:4 is to be taken literally it came down like the dew (Exodus 16:4; Exodus 16:13).
8). It continued to provide for them for forty years (Exodus 16:35) (although not necessarily all the time) until they reached Canaan where it was replaced by the corn of the land (Joshua 5:12).
This tends to exclude the popular examples of what it was and where it came from but leaves room for a natural explanation with a miraculous element, which is typical of many Old Testament miracles.
‘And Moses said, “This is what Yahweh has commanded. Let an omerful of it be kept for your generations that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth out of the land of Egypt.”
Moses now explains, presumably to the elders of the people, that Yahweh has commanded that an omerful (a day's provision for one person) be kept as a reminder to future generations so that they might be able to see the food with which Yahweh had fed them in the wilderness when He had brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
Yahweh's Commandment Is Obeyed (Exodus 16:33).
Resulting from Yahweh' previously expressed commandment to lay up an omerful for future generations Moses makes provision accordingly.
‘And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omerful of Manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh to be kept for your generations.”
As Yahweh had commanded, an omerful of the Manna was put by Aaron into a pot to be preserved for the future. This was probably cooked which helped to preserve it and prevent it from melting. If it was placed in an earthenware jar, possibly later replaced by a golden one (Hebrews 9:4), this would also help to keep it cool (or it may have been put in a gold one from the start). It was to be a permanent reminder of God's miraculous provision. It was probably put in the old Tent of Meeting. It was later put in the Ark (Hebrews 9:4), but by the time of Solomon it had disappeared (1 Kings 8:9).
‘As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept.'
“The Testimony” means ‘the record of God's covenant with His people'. So even prior to the covenant of Sinai there is a ‘Testimony' which was kept, presumably in the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:7) which would later be replaced by the Dwellingplace (Tabernacle). At this stage it may well have been a container or containers containing the various covenant documents with respect to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which would make up much of Genesis (which Moses may have been putting in more completed form, along with the history of Joseph), reminders of God's covenant with His people, together with the laws formulated by Moses and backed by Yahweh (Exodus 15:25). Being kept in the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:7), they would provide a focus for worshippers who sought Yahweh, who would know that they were there and represented God's covenants with His people. This would then later be replaced by the Ark of the Covenant which also contained a covenant record, this time the covenant of the ten words (The Ten Commandments). But the old container with its sacred associations would almost certainly be preserved.
By the time of Solomon the pot and any other sacred objects which were kept in the Ark, other than the two tables of stone, had been lost (1 Kings 8:9). But these records may in fact never have been put in the Ark, being preserved in some other way, possibly in their old container. The central focus then being on the Sinai covenant.
Alternately we may see this as saying that Aaron, having preserved the pot containing the Manna, later put it ‘before the Testimony' to be kept. But it seems more probable that there was already something called the Testimony on which the later references were patterned, the new Testimony replacing the old in importance at the time of the founding of the new nation.
“The Testimony” initially means the record of God's covenant with His people. Thus after the making of the covenant at Sinai the ‘ten words' on the tablets of stone are called ‘the Testimony' (Exodus 25:16; Exodus 25:21; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15; Exodus 34:29; Exodus 40:20; Leviticus 16:13; Number 9:15; 10:11). Then the Ark of the covenant which contains them is called the Ark of the Testimony (Exodus 25:22; Exodus 26:34; Exodus 30:6; Exodus 30:26; Exodus 31:7; Exodus 39:35; Exodus 40:3; Exodus 40:5; Exodus 40:21; Numbers 4:5; Numbers 7:89; Joshua 4:16) and then by abbreviation ‘the Testimony' as containing and including the Testimony (Exodus 27:21; Exodus 30:36; Leviticus 24:3; Numbers 17:4). The Tabernacle is also called the Tent or Tabernacle of the Testimony (Exodus 38:21; Numbers 1:50; Numbers 1:53; Numbers 9:15; Numbers 10:11). This demonstrates the supreme importance later given to the Sinai covenant so that it was not felt necessary or important to mention the other records.
It is significant that we know nothing of objects around which worship centred in the centuries prior to the Tabernacle and its contents. Once they were replaced or amalgamated they ceased to be of importance in ancient eyes. But there must have been some central object, on which their worship focused. This may well have been the Tent of Meeting mentioned in Exodus 33:7, which probably contained sacred objects, and would contain among other things the ancient covenant records and the primitive statutes laid down by Moses (Exodus 15:25).
‘And the children of Israel ate the Manna forty years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the Manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.'
The Manna came for forty years and at times the children of Israel got sick of it (Numbers 11:6). But we are not told that it came every day summer and winter alike although that is often the assumption (but see Nehemiah 9:20). The question is, if it did not what other supplies were there? They would, of course, eat meat from sacrificial offerings and they may have traded at various times for other food, especially when at Kadesh. They may well have spent some time at different places in the wilderness, and thus been able to some extent to grow their own crops, both in the more fertile parts of the wilderness, and later when travelling through Transjordan, for we are told so little about the thirty eight years in the wilderness that we do not know how long they remained at the various places visited. But certainly the Manna was there at the end as at the beginning (Joshua 5:12).
Note that the writer knows that they had been able to eat it for forty years up to the border of Canaan, but does not say that it ceased there. He is remembering the past but making no comment about the future, as we would expect if the record was made by Moses and he died shortly after.
The analysis reveals how there is in Moses' mind a connection between the Sabbath rest and the entry into Canaan.
‘Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.'
The omer is only mentioned in this passage. This may therefore be a learned note added by a later scribe when the omer had gone out of use, but the chiasmus suggests that it is an integral part of the narrative. ‘An omer' may have been the name of a standard vessel regularly in use. An ephah was a large cereal measure large enough to hold a person (Zechariah 5:6) and was an exact measure (Leviticus 19:36), being one tenth of a homer (Ezekiel 45:11). Its liquid equivalent the bath could contain about twenty two or so litres.
Note to Christians.
The theme behind this passage appears regularly in the New Testament and is specifically referred to by Jesus Himself in John 6. We would expect this to be so for bread is regularly a symbol of spiritual life and blessing. In John 6 Jesus tells us that He had come as the bread of life, so that those who came to Him would never hunger, and those who believed on Him would never thirst. By receiving Him as the bread of God men receive eternal life through the Spirit. Compare also 1 Corinthians 10:3.
There may be times of drought when that Bread seems far away, but in those times we must remember that He is ever near, and that they are often allowed in order to test us and strengthen our faith. What we must not do is murmur like the Israelites do (although many of us have had times in our lives when we have fully understood them). For we can be sure that just as happened with the Israelites here, He will eventually come to us and show us His glory.
The theme of the Sabbath reminds us that in gratitude for His giving of Himself for us and to us we should ensure that we keep a time as set aside in which to serve Him and glorify Him. For the Sabbath was given for men's benefit (Mark 2:27), although not to do as they liked with. He did not abrogate the Sabbath and we must remember that He, and He alone, is the Lord of the Sabbath. But later in the New Testament Paul stresses that it is not which day we keep that matters, but ensuring that we do have time set aside for Him (Romans 14:5). Whether Sabbath or Sunday (or any other day) Jesus made clear that such a day was for works of compassion as well as for worship. It is especially a day for doing good and remembering those worse off than ourselves.
End of note.