Exodus 16:1-9

Manna and Quail

1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.

2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt,

7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”

8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”

9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ”

Exodus 16:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 16

This chapter begins with an account of the journeying of the children of Israel from Elim to the wilderness of Sin, where they murmured for want of bread, Ex 16:1-3, when the Lord told Moses that he would rain bread from heaven for them, which Moses informed them of; and withal, that the Lord took notice of their murmurings, Ex 16:4-12 which promise the Lord fulfilled; and a description of the bread, and the name of it, are given, Ex 16:13-15, and some instructions are delivered out concerning the quantity of it to be gathered, Ex 16:16-18, the time of gathering and keeping it, Ex 16:19-21, the gathering a double quantity on the sixth day for that and the seventh day, with the reason of it, Ex 16:22-30 and a further description of it, Ex 16:31, and an order to preserve an omer of it in a pot, to be kept for generations to come, that it might be seen by them, Ex 16:32-34, and the chapter is concluded with observing, that this bread was ate by the Israelites forty years, even till they came to the borders of the land of Canaan, and the quantity they ate every day is observed what it was, Ex 16:35,36.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 17:1; Numbers 33:11,12
• 2. S Exodus 6:6; Exodus 12:1-2
• 3. S Exodus 14:11; Exodus 15:24; 1 Corinthians 10:10
• 4. Exodus 17:3; Numbers 14:2; Numbers 20:3
• 5. Numbers 11:4,34; Deuteronomy 12:20; Psalms 78:18; Psalms 106:14; Jeremiah 44:17
• 6. S Genesis 47:15; Deuteronomy 8:3
• 7. ver 14-15; Deuteronomy 8:3; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; Psalms 105:40; S John 6:31*
• 8. S Genesis 22:1
• 9. ver 22; Leviticus 25:21
• 10. S Exodus 6:6
• 11. ver 10; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 29:43; Exodus 33:18,22; Exodus 40:34; Leviticus 9:6; Numbers 16:19,42; Deuteronomy 5:24; 1 Kings 8:11; Psalms 63:2; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 60:1; Isaiah 66:18; Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 10:4; Ezekiel 43:5; Habakkuk 2:14; Haggai 2:7; John 11:40
• 12. ver 12; Numbers 11:1,18; Numbers 14:2,27,28; Numbers 17:5
• 13. Numbers 16:11
• 14. ver 7
• 15. Numbers 23:21; Deuteronomy 33:5; Judges 8:23; 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 12:12; S Matthew 10:40; Romans 13:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:8