The manna
1 The Israelites left Elim and the entire community reached the desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt.
2 In the desert the whole community of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron
3 and said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of Yahweh in Egypt when we sat down to caldrons of meat and ate all the bread we wanted, whereas you have brought us to this desert to let the whole assembly die of starvation!”
4 Yahweh then said to Moses, “Now I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the peo ple are to gather what is needed for that day. In this way I will test them to see if they will follow my Tea ching or not.
5 On the sixth day when they prepare what they have brought in, they will find that there is twice as much as they gather each day.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron said to the people of Israel, “In the evening you will know that it was Yahweh who brought you out of Egypt,
7 and in the morning you will see the Glory of Yahweh. For he has heard your grumbling against him, be cause: who are we that you should grumble against us?
8 In the evening Yahweh will give you meat to eat and in the morning bread to satisfy your hunger, be cause Yahweh heard your grumbling. You are not grumbling against us but against Yahweh, for who are we?”
9 Then Moses directed Aaron to say to the whole community of Israel, “Draw near to Yahweh for he has heard your complaints.”
10 It happened that as Aaron was speak ing to the full assembly of Israel, they turned towards the desert and saw the Glory of Yahweh in the midst of the cloud.
11 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses,
12 “I have heard the complaints of Israel. Speak to them and say: Between the two evenings you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have bread to your heart’s content; then you shall know that I am Yahweh, your God!”
13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp. And in the morn ing, dew had fallen around the camp.
14 When the dew lifted, there was on the surface of the desert a thin crust like hoarfrost.
15 The people of Israel upon seeing it said to one another, “What is it?” for they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat.”
16 “This is what Yahweh commanded: Gather it according to the amount each one eats, about four liters a piece, and according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.”
17 This is what the people of Israel did. They gathered it, some more, others less.
18 But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered more didn’t have too much while those who gathered less didn’t have too little. Each one had as much as he needed.
Give us our daily bread
19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it till the morning.”
20 But they did not listen to Moses and some of them left it till morning. It bred worms and became foul, and Moses was angry with them.
21 Every morning each one gathered as much as he could eat, and when the sun grew hot it melted.
22 On the sixth day they gathered the double amount of bread, two omers each, and the leader of the people came to tell Moses.
23 He said to them, “This is what Yah weh commanded: Tomorrow you shall rest, for that day is a Rest—or sabbath—sacred to Yahweh.
24 Bake today what you have to bake and boil what you have to boil, and you shall put aside what is left over to be kept till the next day.”
So they put it aside until morning as Moses had ordered and its smell was not foul and it was free of maggots.
25 And Moses said, “Eat it today, for this is a day of Rest—or sabbath—in honor of Yahweh. Today you will not find it in the fields.
26 For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
27 Some of the people went out on the seventh day but found none.
28 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commands and my laws?
29 Yahweh has given you this Resting Day! That is why on the sixth day he gave you bread for two days. Each of youstay where you are, do not leave your place on the seventh day.”
30 And so the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel called this food manna. It was white like coriander seed and it tasted like wafers made with honey.
32 And Moses said, “This is what Yahweh commanded: ‘Take a measure of manna and keep it for future generations to let them see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’”
33 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with a measure of manna and place it before Yahweh for your descendants.”
34 Accordingly Aaron put a full measure of manna in the jar as Yahweh had commanded Moses and placed it before the slabs of divine statement to be kept there.
35 The people of Israel ate the manna until they came to an inhabited land. They ate it for forty years
36 up to the time they reached the border of Canaan.
------------------------------------------------------------
Comments Exodus, Chapter 16
• 16.1 The whole community of Israel grum bled against Moses and Aaron. Later on we shall again meet the grumblers who are afraid to grumble too publicly. They are not satisfied but have no suggestions to make. They criticize the believers but in fact they just do not want problems.
Yahweh will give you meat… God provided food for his people just when they lacked every thing. Numerous flocks of birds, tired from a long flight, fell at the side of the encamp ment. Other unexpected food, the manna, was also found. This manna was probably the resin that at times seeps out abundantly from the brambles of the desert. In a most desperate mo ment, this help was, for Israel, the proof that God had not abandoned them. This event is also related in Numbers 11:4.
By this, we understand that our daily bread is a gift of God. When he invites us to take a difficult path, he is committed to helping us and to first giving us the bread we need.
With time, the narration of this event was amplified. Some biblical texts seem to mean that God sent the manna daily during 40 years: Ex 16:35; Jos 5:12; Ps 78:24; Wis 16:20.
This gift of the bread which came from heaven is mentioned in two different commentaries in later pages of the Bible. In Dt 8:3: “I gave you manna to eat, to show you that man does not live on bread alone but that every word that comes from the mouth of God is life for man.” See commentary on Mark 6:35. Later, in the Gospel, the manna is an image of the true bread from heaven, Christ, which is given as food of life in the Eucharist: see commentaries on John 6.