Exodus 16

Exodus 16 is the chapter in which Israel, having crossed the Red Sea and passed through Marah and Elim (Exodus 15), faces a shortage of food for the first time. In the following chapter, Exodus 17, water becomes the issue at Rephidim.

Outline

• Verses 1–3: On the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt, Israel arrives in the Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. The whole congregation murmurs against Moses and Aaron, saying it would have been better to die by the flesh pots of Egypt.
• Verses 4–12: The LORD promises to rain bread from heaven so that the people may gather it each day, and to give a double portion on the sixth day. Moses tells the people that their murmurings are against the LORD, and the glory of the LORD appears in the cloud.
• Verses 13–21: In the evening, quail cover the camp. In the morning, after the dew has gone, a small round thing like frost lies on the ground. The people gather an omer for each person; those who gather much have nothing left over, and those who gather little have no lack. What is kept until morning breeds worms and stinks.
• Verses 22–30: On the sixth day each person gathers two omers. Moses announces that the next day is the holy Sabbath of the LORD. What is kept for that day does not spoil, and those who go out to gather on the seventh day find nothing.
• Verses 31–36: The people call it manna. Moses has an omer of manna placed in a pot and laid up before the Testimony. Israel eats manna for forty years, until they reach the borders of Canaan.

Key Verses

• Exodus 16:4 "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you" — Presented both as a daily provision of what the people need and as a test of whether they will walk in God's law.
• Exodus 16:18 "He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack" — Paul quotes this in 2 Corinthians 8:15 when urging believers to supply one another's needs through the collection (offering).
• Exodus 16:23 "To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD" — The first occurrence of the word "Sabbath" in the Bible.

People and Places

• Moses and Aaron convey the LORD's words to the people.
• Elim is the place where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees (Exodus 15:27).
• The Wilderness of Sin lies between Elim and Mount Sinai.
• Egypt is the place the people longed for as they complained.

Points for Reflection

• The Sabbath: In this chapter the Sabbath ordinance already appears before the Ten Commandments are given at Mount Sinai. The Seventh-day Adventist Church cites this as evidence that the Sabbath is an ordinance predating the Sinai law. Most denominations that keep Sunday as the Lord's Day hold that the meaning of the Sabbath rest carried over to Sunday with the resurrection of Christ (The Sabbath and the Lord's Day).
• The nature of manna: The name "manna" is commonly explained as deriving from the question "What is it?" Some attempt to explain it as a natural phenomenon, such as a secretion of desert plants, but the text describes it as bread given by the LORD.
• The Testimony in verse 34: The tablets of the Testimony and the ark of the covenant are made later than the events of this chapter. For this reason, many interpreters read this verse as having been written from a later vantage point.
• Connections with the New Testament: In John 6, Jesus contrasts Himself with the manna and calls Himself the bread of life. The "spiritual meat" of 1 Corinthians 10:3, the golden pot that held the manna in Hebrews 9:4, and the "hidden manna" of Revelation 2:17 also draw on this chapter as background. Deuteronomy 8:3 interprets the manna as teaching that "man doth not live by bread only," and Jesus quotes these words during the temptation in the wilderness.

In the Korean Church

• The chapter is frequently used as a sermon text on the "daily bread" of the Lord's Prayer, on God's training of His people in the wilderness, and on complaint and thanksgiving.
• Exodus 16:18 is cited together with 2 Corinthians 8 in sermons on sharing and relief for the needy.
• In Sunday school, it is taught as the story of the manna and the quail.