Exodus 16:4-5

THE MANNA. -- Exodus 16:4-12.

GOLDEN TEXT. -- Jesus said unto them,. am the Bread of Life. -- John 6:35. TIME. --B. C. 1491. The spring of the year. PLACES. --The Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. CONNECTING LINKS. --1. The Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-21); 2. The Bitter Waters of Marah (Exodus 15:22-26); 3. The Encampment at Elim (Exodus 15:27); 4. The Murmurs of the People (Exodus 16:1-3). HELPFUL READINGS. -- Exodus 15:20-27; Exodus 16:1-3; Exodus 13:22; Psalms 105:40; John 6:26-41. LESSON ANALYSIS --1. Bread from Heaven Promised; 2. Murmurs Rebuked; 3. The Glory in the Cloud.

INTRODUCTION.

The subsection, containing this chapter and the following two, records the important particulars of the journey from Elim to Sinai. In Numbers 33:10-15 are enumerated five stations between these points, of which only the second, the Wilderness of Sin, and the last, Rephidim, are mentioned here. The present object of the historian is to notice the provision, protection, and government of the people in their wanderings. They were provided with quails, manna, and water from the rock; they were protected from the enemy in the victory they gained over Amalek; and they were governed by Moses, with the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law. The mixture of evil with good which is displayed in the conduct of the people, is what might be expected from. tribe of fallen men, long corrupted by the habits of bondage under. nation ignorant of God or the law of truth, when they are but recently brought under the influence of the spirit of truth, freedom and holiness.-- Murphy.

I. THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN PROMISED.

4.. will rain bread from heaven for you.

Without. miracle this great host of two millions could never have subsisted in the desert for forty years. Yet they were not entirely dependent upon the manna. They got milk from their flocks and herds; probably traded the products of their cattle with the desert tribes; and perhaps in this forty years' sojourn some halted long enough in some of the fertile wadies to lay them under cultivation. They shifted their camping-grounds with the seasons, as do the Bedouins to-day, in order to find the best pasturage for their cattle. Yet this manna-supply was an important part of the national education of Israel for their great mission to mankind. The national history and poetry, as found in the songs and prophets, especially show how deeply this event stamped itself upon the soul of Israel.-- F. H. Newhall. There is. substance called manna by the Bedouins of the desert, now produced in the peninsula of Sinai, and gathered from the twigs of the tamarisk, or tarfa tree, which has been supposed by many, as Lepsius, Ritter, etc., after Josephus, to be the same as the manna which was to Israel "bread from heaven." This substance exudes in transparent drops from the outermost tender twigs of the tamarisk, and soon hardens into. reddish-yellow gum, or waxy substance, which the Bedouins use and sell for. condiment with bread. It has been lately shown that "man," or manhut, i. e., white manna, was the name under which the substance was known to the Egyptians, and therefore to the Israelites. When they saw it on the ground they would of course at once recognize it. They wist not what it was; for in fact it was not natural manna, but. heavenly gift. Our version should therefore be retained, and the passage may be thus explained: When the Israelites saw the small round thing they said at once, "This is manna," but with an exclamation of surprise at finding it on the open plain in such immense quantities, under circumstances so unlike what they could have expected. In fact, they did not know what it really was, only what it resembled.-- Canon Cook. While there are some points of resemblance, there are many more of irreconcilable diversity, between this substance and the manna of the Israelites. From this chapter and from Numbers 11:7-9, we find that the manna of Israel fell with the dew, and was found on the surface of the open wilderness after "the dew had gone up," not on and under the branches of the tamarisk. It had the nutritious properties of bread, while the tamarisk manna is. mere condiment. It could be ground in mills; pounded or bruised in mortars like grain; cooked by baking and boiling; all of which are impossible processes of the tamarisk manna, as much as for gum or wax. It was found all through the wilderness, in regions where, now at least, the tamarisk does not and cannot grow; while the tamarisk manna is confined to. small district of the Sinai wilderness; and, even if it were the same substance, the whole peninsula does not now produce enough to sustain. single man. It was produced through the whole year, while the tamarisk manna exudes only in the summer; and, most decisive of all, there was. double supply of this manna on the sixth day, and none at all on the seventh. It is certain, then, that the inspired author intends to describe the supernatural production of daily bread for the Hebrew host.-- Newhall.

A certain rate every day.

Literally, as in the margin, "The portion of. day in its day;" i. e., the quantity sufficient for one day's consumption; this may be better expressed, "a day's portion each day." It was but another form of enjoining on them the Saviour's rule: "Take no thought for to-morrow, what ye shall eat or drink." God would school them to simple-hearted dependence on his daily providence.

That. may prove them.

As the abundance of Egypt vanished away before the indignation of the Lord, so the very barrenness of the wilderness gave way to the bountiful hand of the Lord supplying their daily wants. In all this he was continuing their probation, education and discipline.

They shall prepare.

Measure, pound or grind the whole quantity gathered (Numbers 11:8). It may also extend to the cooking.

It shall be twice as much.

The meaning evidently is that they should collect and prepare. double quantity, not (as has been assumed, in order to make. contradiction with verse 22), that the quantity collected would be miraculously increased afterward. Thus it is seen that the Sabbath, soon to be given at Sinai, was to be observed in anticipation, and no manna fell or could be gathered on the seventh day.