Exodus 16 · The Lantern

Manna and Quail from Heaven

And they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their going out of the land of Egypt.

And all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness.

And the sons of Israel said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pot of meat, when we ate bread to the full — for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Since they dared to prefer the bitterest of Egyptian foods to the heavenly food of manna and preferred the succulent meats of their hostile masters to their own freedom, did they deserve anything else than to have their joy in foods curtailed? They truly deserved to bear the brand of the slavery they had longed for, since a better food—the food of the free—displeased them so.

Although this manner of speaking first referred to that people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession.

The Jews ate flesh in the wilderness, and it is written concerning them that, "While the flesh was yet between their teeth the anger of God had dominion over them," not because they had eaten flesh, but because with lust they had asked to eat it.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Look, I am going to rain down bread from the heavens for you. And the people shall go out and gather each day’s portion on its day, so that I may test them — whether they will walk in my instruction or not.

But what was recited after these things? "The Lord said", it says, "to Moses: behold, I will rain for you bread from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather of one day in a day, that I may test them, whether they walk in my law or not.

The rain of manna fed the Jewish people for forty years in the desert. It did not by its customary service cause an increase of sprouts from the earth but streamed on the earth like harvested grains. It took away all the toil of human labor and by its pleasant dew offered and spread out heavenly produce for the hungry.

These incidents are quite well known from our reading of Exodus, for quails rained down like the heaviest shower, and the Jews received manna to get their fill.

And it shall be on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, that it will be double what they gather day by day.”

And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “In the evening you shall know that it is the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD — because he has heard your grumblings against the LORD. And what are we, that you grumble against us?”

And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to the full — because the LORD has heard your grumblings that you grumble against him — what are we? Your grumblings are not against us, but against the LORD.”

And Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel: ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumblings.’”

And it happened, as Aaron spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness — and look, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel. Speak to them: ‘Between the two evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread — and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

And it happened in the evening that the quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

And the layer of dew went up, and look — on the face of the wilderness, something fine and flaky, fine as frost on the ground.

And the sons of Israel saw it, and 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.

WHAT DOES THIS SAYING MEAN, “MAN ATE THE BREAD OF ANGELS”, WHEN ANGELS DO NOT NEED FOOD, SINCE THEY ARE SIMPLE BY NATURE AND ENDOWED WITH SPIRITUAL POWER? — The bread that he calls “of angels” is manna.

"This is the bread that God gave" to you "to eat." Hear who this bread is: "The word," Scripture says, "which God has ordained." This then is the ordination of God; this food nourishes the soul of the wise. It illuminates and it sweetens, resplendent with the gleam of truth and soothing, as if with a honeycomb, by the sweetness of different virtues and the word of wisdom.

Manna is interpreted as "What is this?" See whether the very power of the name does not provoke you to learn it, so that when you hear the law of God read in church you may always ask and say to the teachers: What is this? This it is that the manna indicates.

This is the word that the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each according to what he eats — an omer per head, by the number of your souls — each of you shall take for those in his tent.’”

And the sons of Israel did so; and they gathered, some more and some less.

And they measured it with the omer — and the one who gathered more had nothing over, and the one who gathered less had no lack; each gathered according to what he eats.

And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it until morning.”

But they did not listen to Moses, and some men left part of it until morning — and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

Finally it is thus also written that those who were unfaithful, "kept", it says, "of the manna, and worms bubbled up out of it, and it rotted". But that which was laid up for the sabbath day was not corrupted, nor "did worms bubble up in it", but it remained whole.

But if any endure not what I have said, but still cleave to the poverty of worldly things, snatching at the things which endure diminution: even in respect of those again, let him call to mind the food of manna and tremble at the example of that punishment. For what happened in that instance, this same result may one now also see in the case of covetous men.

And thou must in another way understand that it is lust which is reprehensible, for every day, morning after morning, the people gathered the manna which came down, and so long as they gathered it according to the command they were not reprehended or condemned; but when they lusted to gather it in too great a quantity, it swarmed with worms and stank, to the shame of the lust w…

And they gathered it morning by morning, each according to what he eats; and when the sun grew hot, it melted.

The Sabbath Observed

And it happened on the sixth day that they gathered double bread, two omers for each one; and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses.

And he said to them, “This is what the LORD has spoken: Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil; and all that is left over, set aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.”

And they set it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded — and it did not stink, and there was no worm in it.

And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none.”

And it happened on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather — and they found none.

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

See — the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Stay where you are, each of you; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

And the people rested on the seventh day.

The Jar of Manna

And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like a wafer with honey.

And Moses said, “This is the word that the LORD has commanded: ‘A full omer of it shall 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.’”

And Moses said to Aaron, “Take one jar, and put a full omer of manna in it, and set it before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.”

As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron set it before the testimony, to be kept.

And the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan.

Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.

Exodus16

Manna and Quail from Heaven

The Sabbath Observed

The Jar of Manna