XVI. THE JOURNEY FROM ELIM. — THE MANNA GIVEN. (1) THEY TOOK THEIR JOURNEY FROM ELIM. The stay at Elim was probably for some days. “Sin” was reached exactly one month after the departure from Egypt, yet there had been only five camping-places between Sin and Rameses, and one journey of three days t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WHOLE CONGREGRATION... MURMURED. — This is the third “murmuring.” The first was at Pi-hahiroth, on the appearance of the host of Pharaoh (Exodus 14:11); the second was at Marah, when the water proved undrinkable (Exodus 15:24); the third, in the wilderness of Sin, was brought about by no special... [ Continue Reading ]
WOULD TO GOD WE HAD DIED. — Heb., _Would that we had died._ There is no mention of “God.” BY THE HAND OF THE LORD. — There is, perhaps, an allusion to the last of the plagues, “Would that we had not been spared, but had been smitten, as the Egyptians were! A sudden death would have been far better... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RAIN BREAD FROM HEAVEN FOR YOU. — This first announcement at once suggests that the supply is to be supernatural. “Bread from heaven” was not simply “food out of the air” (Rosenmüller), but a celestial, that is, a Divine supply of their daily needs. A certain rate every day. — Heb., _a day’s... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE SIXTH DAY — i.e., _the sixth day after the first giving of the manna_ (Kalisch). Although in Babylonia, from a time certainly earlier than the Exodus, a Sabbath was observed on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth day of each month (Sayce: _Records of the Past,_ vol. vii.,... [ Continue Reading ]
AT EVEN, THEN YE SHALL KNOW... — The allusion is to the quails, which came up “at even,” and covered the camp. (See Exodus 16:12.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE MORNING, THEN YE SHALL SEE THE GLORY OF THE LORD. — The reference here is to the manna, which “in the morning lay round about the host” (Exodus 16:13), not to the “appearance” of Exodus 16:10, which preceded the coming of the quails, and was not — as far as we are told — “in the morning.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GLORY OF THE LORD APPEARED IN THE CLOUD. — The Hebrew, as at present pointed, has “in _a_ cloud,” but there can be no reasonable doubt that the “pillar of _the_ cloud” is meant. It was before this that they had been required to appear (Exodus 16:9), and from this almost certainly that some brigh... [ Continue Reading ]
AT EVEN THE QUAILS CAME UP. — The common quail (_Tetrao coturnix_) is very abundant in the East, and regularly migrates from Syria and Arabia in the autumn of the year for the purpose of wintering in Central Africa, whence it returns in immense masses in the spring (Schubert: _Reise,_ vol. ii., p. 3... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS GONE UP — _i.e., was drawn up by the heat of the sun._ A SMALL ROUND THING, AS SMALL AS THE HOAR frost. — What the manna was has been much disputed. There are two natural substances, quite distinct, with which it has been compared, and by some persons identified. One is a deposit from the air, w... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS MANNA. — This is certainly a wrong translation. The words of the original, _man hu,_ must either be rendered, as in the LXX. And the Vulg., “What is this ?” Or, as by Kimchi, Knobel, Gesenius, Kurtz, and others, “This is a gift.” It is against the former rendering that _man_ does not mean “wha... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS EATING. — Comp. Exodus 12:4. Each man was to gather according to his immediate need and that of his family. No one was to seek to accumulate a store. AN OMER-About three pints English. FOR EVERY MAN. — Literally, _for every head._ As families would average four members,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THEY DID METE IT WITH AN OMER. — Each Israelite gathered what he supposed would be about an omer for each member of his family. Some naturally made an over, some an under estimate; but whatever the quantity collected, when it came to be measured in the camp, the result was always the same — the... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NO MAN LEAVE OF IT. — Moses must have been divinely instructed to issue this command. It was doubtless given in order that the Israelites might realise their absolute dependence upon God for food from day to day, and might so be habituated to complete trust and confidence in Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT BRED WORMS. — 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE SIXTH DAY THEY GATHERED TWICE AS MUCH. — See the third Note on Exodus 16:5. THE RULERS... CAME AND TOLD MOSES. — They were evidently surprised, and came to Moses for an explanation. Either he had not communicated to them the Divine announcement of Exodus 16:5, or they had failed to comprehen... [ Continue Reading ]
TO MORROW IS THE REST OF THE HOLY SABBATH UNTO THE LORD. — Heb., _to morrow is a rest of a holy Sabbath to Jehovah._ If the translation of the Authorised Version were correct, the previous institution of the Sabbath, and the knowledge, if not the observance, of it by the Israelites would be necessar... [ Continue Reading ]
TO DAY IS A SABBATH. — That is to say, _a rest_ By these words the Sabbath was either instituted, or re-instituted, and became thenceforth binding on the Israelites. Its essential character of a weekly “rest” was at once assigned to it — (1) by its name; (2) by God’s resting on it from His self-impo... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG REFUSE YE TO KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS ? — The people had already broken one of the positive precepts with respect to the manna (see Exodus 16:20); now they broke another — in the spirit, at any rate — since they would have gathered had they found anything to gather. Thus they provoked God a sec... [ Continue Reading ]
ABIDE YE EVERY MAN IN HIS PLACE. — Some Jews took this direction absolutely literally, and remained all the Sabbath Day in the position in which they found themselves at waking; but this slavish adherence to the letter was in general repudiated, and the command understood as having forbidden persons... [ Continue Reading ]
MANNA. — Rather, _man._ (See Note on Exodus 16:15.) “Manna” is a Greek form, first used by the LXX. translator of Numbers (Exodus 11:6; Exodus 11:9). IT WAS LIKE CORIANDER SEED. — The appearance of the manna is compared above to hoar frost (Exodus 16:14); here, and in Numbers 11:7, to coriander seed... [ Continue Reading ]
(32-35) AND MOSES SAID... FILL AN OMER. — This narrative, which must belong to a later date than any other part of Exodus, since it assumes that the Tabernacle is set up (Exodus 16:34), seems to have been placed here on account of its subject-matter. The writer wishes to conclude the history of the... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY IT UP BEFORE THE LORD. — Comp. Exodus 16:33, where Aaron is said to have “laid it up before the Testimony,” _i.e.,_ the Two Tables. According to the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Ark of the Covenant contained three things only — the tables, the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budd... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EAT MANNA FORTY YEARS. — Moses may have added this verse to the present chapter shortly before his death, when the manna had continued for thirty-nine years and nine months. He does not say that it had ceased to be given. We know that in fact it did not cease till the Jord... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW AN OMER. — The “omer” and the “ephah” were both of them Egyptian measures. One — the latter — continued in use among the Hebrews, at any rate, until the captivity (Ezekiel 45, 46); the other — the omer — fell out of use very early. Hence this parenthetic verse, which is exegetical of the word “o... [ Continue Reading ]