A Help for the Understanding of the Holy Scriptures, Exodus · Chapter 16
CHAP. XVI.
Verſ. 1. ANd all the congregation of the children of Iſrael came unto the wilderneſſe of Sin, &c.]
From Elim they turned back to the red ſea, Numb. 33. 10. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the red ſea (which no doubt the Lord did, that he might try them again) but this remove is not here mentioned, becauſe no memorable matter happened in that place; and ſo he paſſes over it, and onelyonly mentions the next ſtation: for from the red ſea they turned back again to the wilderneſſe of Sin.
Verſ. 3. Would to God we had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we ſat by the fleſh-pots, &c.]
That is, when we had dayly plenty of fleſh, and might peaceably and freely ta…e our fill of it. Doubtleſſe conſidering their hard bondage, we may well think that though they had fleſh in Egypt, yet they had no ſuch plenty, at leaſt that they had no ſuch liberty to …it by it, having ſuch tasks dayly impoſed upon them, that the day ſcarce afforded them time to diſpatch their dayes work. But thus thoſe that are diſcontented at their preſent condition are wont beyond the bounds of truth to extoll what they formerly enjoyed.
For ye have brought us forth into this wilderneſſe, to kill this whole aſſembly with …unger.]
Their proviſion being ſo farre ſpent which they brought out of Egypt, that they ſaw no means to ſuſtain themſelves in this wilderneſſe, where no food could be gotten.
Verſ. 4. And the people ſhall go out, and gather a certain rate every day, &c.]
That is, as verſe 16. an omer for every man: and thus God fed them from hand to mouth, giving them ſtill no more but proviſion for one day, that they might be ſtill kept in dependance upon God; to which alſo agreeth that petition which our Saviour taught us, Matth. 6. 11. Give us this day our dayly bread.
Verſ. 6. At even, then ye ſhall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt.]
When God ſhould give them quails in ſuch abundance, then they ſhould know that the Lord had brought them out from the land of Egypt, and not Moſes and Aaron of their own heads, as was objected by the Iſraelites, verſe 3. For ye have brought us forth, &c.
Verſ. 7. And in the morning then y… ſhall ſee the glory of the Lord.]
That is, the Manna, that glorious work of his (for ſo Moſes expounds himſelf in the next verſe) and glory is oft uſed for glorious works. See Numb. 14. 21. All the earth ſhall be filled with the glory of the Lord. John 11. 40. Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe thou ſhouldst ſee the glory of God?
For that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord.]
Thatis by reaſon of your murmurings this the Lord will do, to juſtifie us his ſervants. Thus he puts them in mind of their ſinne, and wiſheth them to obſerve that this meſſage which God had ſent them concerning the Quails and Manna did ſhew that God had heard their murmurings; and therefore they had need take heed, it may be he would not alway deal with them as he had now.
And what are we that ye murmure againſt us?]
That is, we durſt never of ourſelves have undertaken this great work of bringing you out of Egypt, from the bondage of Pharaoh; nor can you think that we by our own power have done thoſe miraculous works which you have ſeen done in this b…ſineſſe, and which now you ſhall yet further ſee; ſince therefore it is the almighty God that hath done theſe great things for you, and we onelyonly his inſtruments, your murmurings are not againſt us, but againſt the Lord.
Verſ. 10. They looked toward the wilderneſſe, and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.]
Aaron having given charge to the Iſraelites (as is expreſſed in the former verſe) to come near before the Lord, and there being at that time, before the tabernacle was built, no other viſible ſigne of Gods preſence amongſt them but onelyonly the pillar of the cloud; toward that therefore they turned their faces, and perceived that God did in a more glorious manner then ordinarily therein manifeſt the brightneſſe of his preſence. Now becauſe the cloud was in the forefront of their armies, leading them ſtill farther into the wilderneſſe, therefore it is ſaid that they looked toward the wilderneſſe.
Verſ. 11. And the Lord ſpake unto Moſes, &c.]
This the Lord had ſaid to Moſes before: onelyonly here it is repeated, to ſhew that he did nothing without a warrant, and that as God had ſpoken, it came to paſſe.
Verſ. 13. At even the quails came up and covered the camp.]
Being happely brought in by a wind, as thoſe afterwards vvere at Kibroth-hattaavah, Numb. 11. 31. where God again gave them quails to eat, and that for a vvhole mone…h together; vvhereas novv they came in onelyonly this one evening before the Manna vvas given them.
Verſ. 15. And when the children of Iſrael ſaw it, they ſaid one to another, It is Manna.]
Which is all one as if they had ſaid, vvhat is this? (for ſo the Hebrevv vvord may ſignifie) or this is a meat vvhichwhich God hath prepared for us vvithout our labour (for Manna in the Hebrevv ſignifieth prepared) and therefore it is added in the next vvords, For they wist not what it was, that is, they knevv not vvhat more particular name to give it.
Verſ. 16. Gather of it every man according to his eating.]
Proportionably as he hath more or leſſe in his family.
Verſ. 18. And when they did mete with an omer, he that gathered much, &c.]
All were imployed in gathering, and ſome (as more able) gathered more, ſome (as leſſe able) gathered leſſe; but when all was laid together in the common heap (whether of the family, or of the tribe, &c.) and then afterward it was meaſured to every man an omer, …ccording to the Lords direction, there was nothing wanting for which they ſhould pinch him that had gathered leſſe, nor nothing over for him that had gathered much; but every one had his juſt omer. And hence it is that S. Paul by this example of the Iſraelites, one helping another, and conferring what they had gathered in common, exhorts the Chriſtian Corinthians in like manner to ſupply the neceſſities of their brethren, 2. Cor. 8. 13, 14, 15. For I mean not that other men be eaſed, and you burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a ſupply for their want, that their abundance alſo may be a ſupply for your want, that there may be equality. As it is written, He that had gathered much, &c.
Verſ. 19. Let no man leave of it till the morning.]
Though every one in each family had an omer allowed him, whether great or little, men or women, old or young, and none might reſerve any of their portion till the next day, yet it cannot be thought that every man was enjoyned to eat, or did eat the ſame quantity; but what they left, they either burnt it, or caſt it forth, or ſome other way conſumed it, and might not keep any of it to be eaten the next day. See above, ver. 4.
Verſ. 22. On the ſixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moſes.]
To wit, that the people had gathered, as they were appointed, twice as much on that ſixth day as they had on other dayes: and of this they informed Moſes, both as deſiring thereby to glorifie God, in the confeſſion of this wonderfull work, that he had ſent Manna ſo abundantly that day as before he had promiſed ver. 5. And it ſhall be twice as much as they gather daily; and alſo chiefly that they might receive directions from Moſes how to order this their double portion.
Verſ. 23. Bake that which ye will bake to day, and ſeethe that ye will ſeethe, &c.]
It may ſeem queſtionable, whether in theſe words the Iſraelites were enjoyned to bake and ſeethe ſo much of the Manna as they d…ſired to eat ſo dreſſed on the ſixth day, and then to reſerve the reſt unto the morning; or to bake and ſeethe both for that day and the next day which was the Sabbath. But yet this laſt ſeems the moſt probable; and that becauſe it was not likely they onelyonly eat of it undreſſed, as it was gathered, on the Sabbath day▪ and expreſſely afterwards it was enjoyned in the law, that they ſhould kindle no fire throughout their habitations on the Sabbath day, Exod. 35. 3. Yet I make no queſtion but that ſome part of it was reſerved for the Sabbath, not onelyonly becauſe they did ſo eat ſome part of it on the other dayes; but eſpecially alſo that the hand of God herein might be the more evident, ſeeing they could no way keep it, whether baked or ſodden, on other dayes, untill the next morning, but they found it putrified; and which way ſoever they reſerved it, whether dreſſed or undreſſed, for the Sabbath day, it did not corrupt but continued good and ſound.
Verſ. 31. And it was like coriander-ſeed, white, and the taſte of it was like wafers made with hony.]
We muſt not ſo underſtand theſe words, as if the Manna were ſaid, to be like coriander-ſeed, becauſe it was white (for the coriander-ſeed is blackiſh) but that it is compared to coriander-ſeed in regard onelyonly of its quantity and proportion, and then beſides that it was of a whitiſh colour. So that we muſt reade theſe words as expreſſing three qualities of the Manna: 1. That it was little and round like the coriander-ſeed, ver. 4. There lay a ſmall round thing, as ſmall as the hoar froſt; 2. That it was for the colour of it white, like Bdellium, as it is expreſſed, Numb. 11. 7; 3. That it was ſweet like hony-wafers, namely, unbaked: for being baked the taſte of it was as the taſte of freſh oyl, Numb. 11. 8. In that Apocryphall book, called the Wiſdome of Solomon, chap. 16. 20, 21, it is ſaid of this Manna, that it was able to content every mans delight, and agreeing to every taste, and that ſerving to the appetite of the eater, it tempered it ſelf to every mans liking; whence it hath been by ſome conceived and maintained that the Manna relliſhed according to every mans deſire, and had the ſavour of any kind of meat which they had a deſire to eat of. But this is a weak conceit: for firſt there is no evident ground for it, in theſe words; and then beſides though it had been entended by that Author, yet it is directly contrary to this deſcription of the Manna which Moſes gives us; and again, if God had given this miraculous bread ſuch an extraordinary gift to ſatisfie every wanton appetite, that it ſhould taſte like any meat they deſired to taſt of, why did the Iſraelites murmure afterwards againſt Moſes, luſting for fleſh and fiſh, and repining becauſe they had not the cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onyons, and garlick, which they had in Egypt Numb. 11. 4, 5.
Verſ. 33. And Moſes ſaid unto Aaron, Take a pot, &c.]
It was a golden pot: See Hebr. 9. 4. Wherein was the golden pot that had the Manna. Moſes rehearſeth theſe things here to make a full end of the hiſtory of Manna, but they were not done till afterwards, when the Tabernacle was built wherein it was laid up before the Lord.
Verſ. 35. And the children of Iſrael did eat Manna fourty years, untill they came to a land inhabited.]
To wit, till they were gone over Jordan into the land of Canaan, and then it ceaſed. This Manna (called by the Pſalmiſt Angels food, Pſal. 78. 25. Man did eat Angels food, &c.) was a notable type of Chriſt, and is therefore called Spirituall meat, 1. Cor. 10. 3. And did all eat the ſame ſpirituall meat: for Chriſt indeed is the true bread that came down from heaven, Joh. 6. 33. upon whom feeding by faith, our ſouls are nouriſhed unto life everlaſting: White, in regard of his purity and innocency; and ſweeter then the hony to the ſouls of believers: bruiſed for our transgreſſions, and conveyed to us, in the dew of the word, as the Manna lay in the dew upon the ground, and ſo is our ſpirituall nouriſhment all the time of our travelling towards the heavenly Canaan, when there ſhall be no more uſe of this food, but God ſhall be all in all to us.
Verſ. 36. Now an omer is the tenth part of an …phah.]
And ephah, by the judgement of the beſt Writers, was much like to our Engliſh buſhel: Whereby we may conceive how bountifull the allowance of Manna was which God allotted them for their daily food.