Exodus 16

16:1-36 God demonstrated care for his people by providing manna and quail as food for them.

16:2 complained: The people were developing a pattern of faithlessness manifested in complaining.

16:3 all the bread we wanted: The Israelites had been oppressed slaves in Egypt! One of the great dangers of complaining is that it blinds us to reality. Faith is grateful for what is, and believes the best is yet to come. Complaining focuses on what is wrong with the present and glorifies an unreal past.

16:4-5 These are the Lord’s instructions for gathering the food that he would provide in the wilderness. Enough was provided for each day, with a double amount provided on the sixth day so that the people would not have to gather any on the Sabbath (see 16:21-30). The Israelites thus observed the Sabbath even before it was codified in the Decalogue. We instinctively resist a style of life in which it is necessary to depend on God each day to supply our needs. We wish to have supplies in advance so that we can feel independent. God was training the people for a life of faith (cp. Matt 6:11).

16:7 The Hebrew word translated glory connotes weightiness, substance, and reality. It is not the flimsy, ephemeral quality we often associate with the English term glory. It is more the idea of royal grandeur.

16:15 The Hebrew man hu’ (What is it?) came to be the name of the miraculous food (“manna,” see 16:31). For forty years, the people ate what is it? Jesus referred to himself as the fulfillment of the meaning of this miracle. He was the “true bread from heaven” that gives life (John 6:32-35, 48, 51, 63).

16:19-20 Regarding these instructions, see study note on 16:4-5.

16:21-30 Although the Sabbath was a day set apart for the Lord (16:23), it was also the Lord’s gift to his people (16:29). Rest and worship are not meant to be an obligation, but a privilege. However, given the human determination to meet our needs in our own way, rest and worship are given as commands (16:28).

16:32-36 The container of manna was to be preserved as a reminder of God’s providential care for his people. He is powerful and deeply caring. Not only can he supply our needs, he wants to do so.

16:35 until they arrived at the land: God’s care for us is normally demonstrated in ordinary ways, as it would usually be for Israel after they arrived in Canaan (see Josh 5:10-12). That care is just as real as when it comes in extraordinary ways, as it did while Israel was in the wilderness.