THE THE WILDERNESS OF SIN - The desert tract, called Debbet er Ramleh, extend nearly across the peninsula from the Wady Nasb in a south-easterly direction, between the limestone district of Et Tih and the granite of Sinai. The journey from the station at Elim, or even from that on the Red Sea, could... [ Continue Reading ]
MURMURED - The want of food was first felt after six weeks from the time of the departure from Egypt, see Exodus 16:1 : we have no notice previously of any deficiency of bread.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE HAND OF THE LORD - This evidently refers to the plagues, especially the last, in Egypt: the death which befell the Egyptians appeared to the people preferable to the sufferings of famine. FLESH POTS, AND ... BREAD - These expressions prove that the servile labors to which they had been subje... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MAY PROVE THEM - The trial consisted in the restriction to the supply of their daily wants.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE TWICE AS MUCH - They should collect and prepare a double quantity.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GLORY OF THE LORD - the visible appearance described in Exodus 16:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
APPEARED IN THE CLOUD - Or, “was seen in a cloud.” The definite article would imply that the cloud was the same which is often mentioned in connection with the tabernacle. The people saw the cloud here spoken of beyond the camp.... [ Continue Reading ]
QUAILS - This bird migrates in immense numbers in spring from the south: it is nowhere more common than in the neighborhood of the Red Sea. In this passage we read of a single flight so dense that it covered the encampment. The miracle consisted in the precise time of the arrival and its coincidence... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS MANNA - “Man” or “man-hut,” i. e. white manna, was the name under which the substance was known to the Egyptians, and therefore to the Israelites. The manna of the Peninsula of Sinai is the sweet juice of the Tarfa, a species of tamarisk. It exudes from the trunk and branches in hot weather, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AN OMER - i. e. the tenth part of an Ephah, see Exodus 16:36. The exact quantity cannot be determined, since the measures varied at different times. Josephus makes the omer equal to six half-pints. The ephah was an Egyptian measure, supposed to be about a bushel or one-third of a hin. The word omer,... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME MORE, SOME LESS - It is evidently implied that the people were in part at least disobedient and failed in this first trial.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAD NOTHING OVER - Whatever quantity each person had gathered, when he measured it in his tent, he found that he had just as many omers as he needed for the consumption of his family.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT BRED WORMS - This result was supernatural: no such tendency to rapid decomposition is recorded of common manna.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT MELTED - This refers to the manna which was not gathered.... [ Continue Reading ]
TWICE AS MUCH BREAD - See Exodus 16:5. From this passage and from Exodus 16:5 it is inferred that the seventh day was previously known to the people as a day separate from all others, and if so, it must have been observed as an ancient and primeval institution.... [ Continue Reading ]
TOMORROW ... - Or, Tomorrow is a rest, a Sabbath holy to Yahweh: i. e. tomorrow must be a day of rest, observed strictly as a Sabbath, or festal rest, holy to Jehovah. BAKE ... - These directions show that the manna thus given differed essentially from the natural product. Here and in Numbers 11:8 i... [ Continue Reading ]
EAT THAT TODAY - The practical observance of the Sabbath was thus formally instituted before the giving of the law. The people were to abstain from the ordinary work of every day life: they were not to collect food, nor, as it would seem, even to prepare it as on other days.... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WENT OUT SOME OF THE PEOPLE - This was an act of willful disobedience. It is remarkable, being the first violation of the express command, that it was not visited by a signal chastisement: the rest and peace of the “holy Sabbath” were not disturbed by a manifestation of wrath.... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG - The reference to Exodus 16:4 is obvious. The prohibition involved a trial of faith, in which as usual the people were found wanting. Every miracle formed some part, so to speak, of an educational process.... [ Continue Reading ]
ABIDE YE EVERY MAN IN HIS PLACE - The expression in Hebrew is unique and seems almost to enjoin a position of complete repose: “in his place” is literally under himself, as the Oriental sits with his legs drawn up under him. The prohibition must however be understood with reference to its immediate... [ Continue Reading ]
MANNA - It was not indeed the common manna, as they then seem to have believed, but the properties which are noted in this passage are common to it and the natural product: in size, form and color it resembled the seed of the white coriander, a small round grain of a whitish or yellowish grey.... [ Continue Reading ]
A POT - The word here used occurs in no other passage. It corresponds in form and use to the Egyptian for a casket or vase in which oblations were presented.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TESTIMONY - See the marginal references.... [ Continue Reading ]
DID EAT MANNA FORTY YEARS - This does not necessarily imply that the Israelites were fed exclusively on manna, or that the supply was continuous during forty years: but that whenever it might be needed, owing to the total or partial failure of other food, it was given until they entered the promised... [ Continue Reading ]