Exodus 16:16 Kommentar

This chapter gives us an account of the victualling of the camp of Israel. I. Their complaint for want of bread (Exo 16:1-3). II. The notice God gave them beforehand of the provision he intended to make for them (Exo 16:4-12). III. The sending of the manna (Exo 16:13-15). IV. The laws and orders concerning the manna. 1. That they should gather it daily for their daily bread (Exo 16:16-21). 2. That they should gather a double portion on the sixth day (Exo 16:22-26). 3. That they should expect none on the seventh day (Exo 16:27-31). 4. That they should preserve a pot of it for a memorial (Exo 16:32, etc.).

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, Exo 16:1, 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, Exo 16:4 which promise the Lord fulfilled; and a description of the bread, and the name of it, are given, Exo 16:13, and some instructions are delivered out concerning the quantity of it to be gathered, Exo 16:16, the time of gathering and keeping it, Exo 16:19, the gathering a double quantity on the sixth day for that and the seventh day, with the reason of it, Exo 16:22 and a further description of it, Exo 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, Exo 16:32, 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, Exo 16:35.

This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded,.... Respecting the gathering of it, the rule or rules he would have observed concerning that, as follows: gather of it every man according to his eating; according to his appetite, and according to the appetites of those that were in his family, as much as they can all eat; and that they may have enough, the particular quantity is fixed for each of them. This act of gathering, in the mystical sense, may respect the exercise of faith on Christ, laying hold of him as he is held forth in the word, receiving him, and feeding upon him with a spiritual appetite, and that freely, largely, plentifully, and encouraging others to do the same: an omer for every man; or head, or by poll (p); they were to take the poll of their families, the number of them, and reckon to every head, or assign to every man, such a measure of the manna, and which was sufficient for a man of the keenest appetite; what this measure was; see Gill on Exo 16:36 This must be understood not of sucking infants, and such that were sick and infirm, and of poor appetites, that could not feed upon and digest such sort of food, only of those that could: according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tent: this was to be done after it was gathered and brought in, either by certain overseers of this affair, or heads of families, who, according to the number of those that were in their tents, who were eaters of such sort of food, was to take an omer of it for everyone of them. (p) "ad caput", Montanus; "pro capite", Fagius, Drusius, Cartwright; so Ainsworth.

Nay, verily, the Holy Spirit is not given by measure, but is poured out altogether on the believer. For if the day rises alike to all, and if the sun is diffused with like and equal light over all, how much more does Christ, who is the true sun and the true day, bestow in His Church the light of eternal life with the like equality! Of which equality we see the sacrament celebrated in Exodus, when the manna flowed down from heaven, and, prefiguring the things to come, showed forth the nourishment of the heavenly bread and the food of the coming Christ. For there, without distinction either of sex or of age, an omer was collected equally by each one.33 Whence it appeared that the mercy of Christ, and the heavenly grace that would subsequently follow, was equally divided among all; without difference of sex, without distinction of years, without accepting of persons, upon all the people of God the gift of spiritual grace was shed. Assuredly the same spiritual grace which is equally received in baptism by believers, is subsequently either increased or diminished in our conversation and conduct; as in the Gospel the Lord's seed is equally sown, but, according to the variety of the soil, some is wasted, and some is increased into a large variety of plenty, with an exuberant fruit of either thirty or sixty or a hundred fold. But, once more, when each was called to receive a penny, wherefore should what is distributed equally by God be diminished by human interpretation?

The Israelites journey from Elim, and come to the wilderness of Sin, Exo 16:1. They murmur for lack of bread, Exo 16:2, Exo 16:3. God promises to rain bread from heaven for them, Exo 16:4, of which they were to collect a double portion on the sixth day, Exo 16:5. A miraculous supply of flesh in the evening and bread in the morning, promised, Exo 16:6-9. The glory of the Lord appears in the cloud, Exo 16:10. Flesh and bread promised as a proof of God's care over them, Exo 16:11, Exo 16:12. Quails come and cover the whole camp, Exo 16:13. And a dew fell which left a small round substance on the ground, which Moses tells them was the bread which God had sent, Exo 16:14, Exo 16:15. Directions for gathering it, Exo 16:16. The Israelites gather each an omer, Exo 16:17, Exo 16:18. They are directed to leave none of it till the next day, Exo 16:19; which some neglecting, it become putrid, Exo 16:20. They gather it every morning, because it melted when the sun waxed hot, Exo 16:21. Each person gathers two omers on the sixth day, Exo 16:22. Moses commands them to keep the seventh as a Sabbath to the Lord, Exo 16:23. What was laid up for the Sabbath did not putrefy, Exo 16:24. Nothing of it fell on that day, hence the strict observance of the Sabbath was enjoined, Exo 16:25-30. The Israelites name the substance that fell with the dew manna; its appearance and taste described, Exo 16:31. An omer of the manna is commanded to be laid up for a memorial of Jehovah's kindness, Exo 16:32-34. The manna now sent continued daily for the space of forty years, Exo 16:35. How much an omer contained, Exo 16:36.

An omer for every man - I shall here once for all give a short account of the measures of capacity among the Hebrews. Omer, עמר from the root amar, to press, squeeze, collect, and bind together; hence a sheaf of corn - a multitude of stalks pressed together. It is supposed that the omer, which contained about three quarts English, had its name from this circumstance; that it was the most contracted or the smallest measure of things dry known to the ancient Hebrews; for the קב kab, which was less, was not known till the reign of Jehoram, king of Israel, Kg2 6:25 - Parkhurst. The Ephah, אפה or איפה eiphah, from אפה aphah, to bake, because this was probably the quantity which was baked at one time. According to Bishop Cumberland the ephah contained seven gallons, two quarts, and about half a pint, wine measure; and as the omer was the tenth part of the ephah, Exo 16:36, it must have contained about six pints English. The Kab, קב is said to have contained about the sixth part of a seah, or three pints and one third English. The Homer, חמר chomer, mentioned Lev 27:16, was quite a different measure from that above, and is a different word in the Hebrew. The chomer was the largest measure of capacity among the Hebrews, being equal to ten baths or ephahs, amounting to about seventy-five gallons, three pints, English. See Eze 45:11, Eze 45:13, Eze 45:14. Goodwin supposes that this measure derived its name from חמר chamor, an ass, being the ordinary load of that animal. The Bath, בת, was the largest measure of capacity next to the homer, of which it was the tenth part. It was the same as the ephah, and consequently contained about seven gallons, two quarts, and half a pint, and is always used in Scripture as a measure of liquids. The Seah, סאה, was a measure of capacity for things dry, equal to about two gallons and a half English. See Kg2 7:1, Kg2 7:16, Kg2 7:18. The Hin, הין, according to Bishop Cumberland, was the one-sixth part of an ephah, and contained a little more than one gallon and two pints. See Exo 29:40. The Log, לג, was the smallest measure of capacity for liquids among the Hebrews: it contained about three quarters of a pint. See Lev 14:10, Lev 14:12. Take ye - for them which are in his tents - Some might have been confined in their tents through sickness or infirmity, and charity required that those who were in health should gather a portion for them. For though the psalmist says, Psa 105:37, There was not one feeble person among their tribes, this must refer principally to their healthy state when brought out of Egypt; for it appears that there were many infirm among them when attacked by the Amalekites. See Clarke's note on Exo 17:8.

MURMURS FOR WANT OF BREAD. (Exo. 16:1-36) they took their journey from Elim--where they had remained several days. came unto the wilderness of Sin--It appears from Num. 32:1-42, that several stations are omitted in this historical notice of the journey. This passage represents the Israelites as advanced into the great plain, which, beginning near El-Murkah, extends with a greater or less breadth to almost the extremity of the peninsula. In its broadest part northward of Tur it is called El-Kaa, which is probably the desert of Sin [ROBINSON].

After explaining the object of the manna, Moses made known to them at once the directions of God about gathering it. In the first place, every one was to gather according to the necessities of his family, a bowl a head, which held, according to Exo 16:36, the tenth part of an ephah. Accordingly they gathered, "he that made much, and he that made little," i.e., he that gathered much, and he that gathered little, and measured it with the omer; and he who gathered much had no surplus, and he who gathered little had no lack: "every one according to the measure of his eating had they gathered." These words are generally understood by the Rabbins as meaning, that whether they had gathered much or little, when they measured it in their tents, they had collected just as many omers as they needed for the number in their families, and therefore that no one had either superfluity or deficiency. Calvin, on the other hand, and other Christian commentators, suppose the meaning to be, that all that was gathered was placed in a heap, and then measured out in the quantity that each required. In the former case, the miraculous superintendence of God was manifested in this, that no one was able to gather either more or less than what he needed for the number in his family; in the second case, in the fact that the entire quantity gathered, amounted exactly to what the whole nation required. In both cases, the superintending care of God would be equally wonderful, but the words of the text decidedly favour the old Jewish view.