Exodus 16:34

16:34 Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony ¹  for safekeeping. ² 

Exodus 32:10

32:10 So now, leave me alone ³  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

Exodus 16:24

16:24 So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

Exodus 16:33

16:33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.”

Exodus 16:23

16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ⁴  a holy Sabbath ⁵  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ⁶  bake, bake today; ⁷  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

¹ sn The “Testimony” is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant; so the pot of manna would be placed before Yahweh in the tabernacle. W. C. Kaiser says that this later instruction came from a time after the tabernacle had been built (see Exod 25:10-22; W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:405). This is not a problem since the final part of this chapter had to have been included at the end of the forty years in the desert.

² tn “for keeping.”

³ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

⁵ tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.

⁶ tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.

⁷ tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”

⁸ tn The word “today” is implied from the context.