Chapter Sixteen
Bread and Quail from God
16:1 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
The Hebrew word ‘sîn’[1] is transliterated here as ‘sin’, it is not an English word, and it does not refer to sinfulness. Ezekiel locates a city in Egypt by that name (see Ezekiel 30:15-16, some translate it as Pelusium), however since the Israelites had long left Egypt, that would not be this region. The exact location is not known; however, we do know it would be located near Mount Sinai. The etymology of the word Hebrew ‘sîn’ is unknown, some connect the word to the Mesopotamian moon god by the same name.
16:2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Once again, the people of Israel begin to grumble and complain, now they are hungry. Apparently, they were so hungry that they thought God was going to let them die in the wilderness. So they express their unhappiness to Moses and Aaron by favorably recalling how life was like back in Egypt, where they were able to eat as much as they wanted. “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:3, NLT) This was undoubtedly an exaggeration or an out-and-out lie, as their life in Egypt was that of strict slavery, no freedoms. Many believe that some of the non-Israelites that took advantage of the departure, were the instigators of much of the complaining and the motivators of the “high drama” murmurings.
16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”
God’s daily provision begins with bread that will rain down from heaven. This is the second test for the Israelites, the first was to listen to God and do as He commanded them, so they would not receive as the Egyptians did (see Exodus 15:25-26), and now here is one of those commands. The instructions appear to be straightforward enough, they were to go out daily and collect whatever amount of bread they needed for that day, and on the sixth day obtain enough for two days.
Moses and Aaron tell the people that they will know that YHWH brought them out of Egypt each night (referring to the meat that God will provide for them, see verse 12) and in the morning they will see the glory of God as demonstrated by the presence of the bread.
Why do they need more evidence? Have they not seen enough to know that God is leading them? Apparently, their faith and belief in God disappeared the moment they got hungry. True faith will endure testing, although rarely with ease. Daily provision will become part of their test.
16:8 And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD.”
Moses tells the Israelites that God will provide meat in the evening and bread in the morning to their satisfaction, because He had heard them complain. His question regarding, “what are we?” was to get their attention, he tells them that they are not complaining to him or his brother, they are complaining to God. They are doubting YHWH.
16:9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
Moses told Aaron to speak to all the people of Israel to come near before YHWH, for He has heard their grumbling, Aaron did as Moses asked, then when the people looked toward the wilderness the glory of YHWH appeared in the cloud, letting them know that He was indeed there with them.
16:11 And the LORD said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ”
God then tells Moses that He has heard the grumbling and will provide food in the evening and in the morning. Being fed in the wilderness was another indicator for them to see that YHWH was their God.
16:13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people 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, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
The meat that God promised (see verse 12) came to the Israelites in the form of quail (Hebrew ‘śelāw’[2] can refer to any number of short-tailed birds, these are considered to be Old World common or European quail). Even though they are migratory birds and travel in large numbers in this region, the arrival made it clear that God was the provider.
When the morning dew had evaporated, a fine flaky substance that looked like frost on the ground appeared. When the people saw it, they asked, “What is it?” That question is composed of two Hebrew words, ‘mān’[3] (essentially the same as ‘what’), and ‘hû(‘)’[4] (meaning ‘it’), literally meaning “What’s it,” forming the word ‘manna’.[5] Moses tells them that it is the bread that God gave them to eat (see verse 4).
16:16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’ ” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
Moses explained how they were to use the bread from God. They were to gather what they needed using a measure known as an omer. An ‘ō’·měr’[6] is a Hebrew term referring to a sheaf of grain, and as a dry measure it is approximately two quarts or two liters. It is interesting to note that those that gathered more had nothing left over and those that gathered less did not run out, each had plenty to eat.
Moses then told them that they were to eat what they collect each day and not save any for the next morning. Some did not listen to him and attempted to save some and by the next morning the bread had worms and smelled bad. Moses got angry with them, as he knew their obedience was part of the test (see verse four). We are also told that shortly after everyone got as much as they could eat each day, the rest of the bread melted and disappeared.
The Israelites were to learn that God would provide for them on a daily basis. This is reflected in the words Jesus offered as the model prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread,” (Matthew 6:11, see also Luke 11:3).
16:22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ”
Moses continues the instructions given to him from God (see verse five), that on the sixth day (Friday) they are to collect twice the amount of bread. God is introducing Moses and the Israelites the concept of the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week (Saturday). The idea of resting on the seventh day would have been a familiar concept to them from the pattern set by God in the creation process (see Genesis 2:2-3). There will be additional instructions given for the Sabbath later, including being one of the Ten Commandments (see Exodus 20:8-11).
Moses further relays that the Sabbath is a day of rest. This the first appearance of both the words for ‘rest’ (Hebrew word ‘šǎb·bā·ṯôn’)[7] and ‘Sabbath’ (Hebrew word ‘šǎb·bāṯ’).[8] The day was to be considered ‘holy’, something set apart for God.[9] They were to bake or boil what they needed and any left over would keep until the next morning, but only on that day, on any other day it would spoil.
God ordained rest after six days of work beginning with creation and now, He is instituting the Sabbath (a name that means to stop or rest) to be a day of rest on the seventh day.
16:24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”
The Israelites did as Moses had instructed, holding on to the bread from the sixth day overnight and the bread did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. They were to gather the bread for six days and rest on the seventh day, God will not send the bread on the Sabbath.
16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
The Sabbath arrives and some of the Israelites came out to gather their portion of bread. Even though they had plenty of food from the day before, they either did not believe God or did not trust Moses, so they disobeyed, but did not find any bread.
16:28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
Moses receives a rebuke from God regarding their disobedience. Moses once again explains that the Sabbath was given to them as a gift, a time to rest. Moses reiterates that on the sixth day God will give them enough bread for two days, no one is to go out of their place (Hebrew word ‘meqōm’,[10] indicates a location or space, a place to live or a spot where one is standing) during the seventh day.
The regulation “let no one go out of his place,” became the basis of several restrictions later imposed by Jewish leaders.
Moses’ words, “Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out,” intended to restrict manna harvesting on the Sabbath, not to confine people inside their homes. They still needed to milk goats and cows, to feed all their animals, to relieve themselves outside the camp, and so on. In other words, nothing in these verses justifies the later pharisaical insistence on the “Sabbath day’s walk,” a very limited number of steps allowed on the Sabbath.[11]
16:31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
The Israelites, instead of calling God’s bread as bread, chose to call it manna, referring to the question of “what is it?” (see verse 15). It was described as being like coriander seed in color (comparison could also be a reference to size or even flavor, see Numbers 11:7), which is white, and it tasted sweet like honey.
It is interesting to note that this verse refers to the “house” of Israel instead of the people of Israel. The Hebrew word ‘ḇêṯ’,[12] refers to a house, dwelling, family, etc. usually denotes some form of building in which a family lives. However, it can also be used of a clan as it is used here referring to Israel’s family (see also Exodus 40:38; Numbers 20:29).
16:32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so 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 jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
To remind generations of Israelites in the future what He did for them as they journeyed to the Promised Land from Egypt, God told Moses to collect an omer of the bread and put it in a jar to be placed before God. Notice that when Moses told Aaron what to do, he referred to the bread as manna and not bread, using the people’s name for it, God never called it manna. The jar was placed before the ‘testimony’ to be kept. This is the first appearance of the Hebrew word ‘ē·ḏǔṯ’,[13] usually referring to a something that gives evidence of “a testimony,” something tangible, but it can also refer to a person’s testimony. Later, this same jar is to be placed in the Ark of the Covenant (often called the Ark of the Testimony), which contained several objects of testimony (see Hebrews 9:4).
Moses adds a note that the Israelites ate manna for forty years, from that point to the time they came to the border of Canaan, God had faithfully provided for them until they were able to feed themselves. Since written after these events took place, from time to time, Moses adds a statement regarding a future event.
To familiarize his readers with an omer, Moses adds a conversion. Apparently, the measure of an omer was not well known, a concept supported by the fact that this chapter is the only chapter in the Bible that refers to an omer.
Considerations
Everything Including Grumbling
It is interesting to note that reading about murmurings may give evidence to the truthfulness of the narrative. Most non-Judeo-Christian religions do not include in their ‘sacred’ writings anything negative about their gods, goddesses or, for that fact, those that are their human leaders or spokespersons (prophets, etc.). These alternate religions often portray perfect leaders and, if a people group is chosen, they would also be portrayed as perfect. Here we read about murmuring and complaining. A purely ideal picture of God’s “chosen people” would never include them.
So why does the Bible include negative images of God’s people and God’s leaders? The primary reason is that it is the truth, the Bible depicts flawed leaders and despicable behavior of God’s people because there are no perfect people (see commentary under Genesis 9:20 and Considerations under Genesis 9:28). Having both the good and the flawed renders the narrative in Scripture to be more accurate, rather than a well-polished and false image. Reading about the “dirt and all” also helps us understand that if God used less-than-perfect people as leaders, He can use us!
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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 5512.
[2] Strong’s Hebrew 7958.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 4479.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 1931.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew 4478.
[6] Strong’s Hebrew 6016.
[7] Strong’s Hebrew 7677.
[8] Strong’s Hebrew 7676.
[9] See commentary under Genesis 2:1-3 for the definition of ‘holy’.
[10] Strong’s Hebrew 4725.
[11] Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 383). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[12] Strong’s Hebrew 1004.
[13] Strong’s Hebrew 5715.