Exodus 16:14-31
dew <02919> [the dew.]
frost <03713> [the hoar frost.]
<04478> [It is manna. or, What is this? or, It is a portion.]
bread <03899> [This is.]
omer <06016> [omer.]
per person <01538> [for every man. Heb. by the poll, or head. persons. Heb. souls.]
full ... worms <08438 07311> [bred worms.]
Moses .................... Moses <04872> [and Moses.]
What the substance called manna was, is utterly unknown, but, from the circumstances in the text, it is evident that it was not a natural production, but was miraculously sent by Jehovah. These the learned Abarbinel, a most judicious Jewish interpreter, has thus enumerated: The natural manna was never found in the desert where this fell;--where the common manna does fall, it is only in the spring time, in March and April, whereas this fell throughout all the months in the year; the ordinary manna does not melt in the sun, as this did (ver. 21);--it does not stink and breed worms, as this did, when kept till the morning (ver. 20);--it cannot be ground or beaten in a mortar, so as to make cakes, as this was;--the common manna is medicinal and purgative, and cannot be used for food and nutriment, as this was;--this fell in a double proportion on the sixth day, and not on the sabbath, as it certainly would have done had it fallen naturally;--it followed them in all their journeys, where ever they pitched their tents;--and it ceased at the very time of the year when the other falls, namely, in March, when the Israelites were come to Gilgal. Whatever this substance was, it does not appear to have been common to the wilderness. From De 8:3, 16, it is evident that the Israelites never saw it before; and from a pot of it being preserved, it is certain that nothing of the kind ever appeared again.
cessation from work <07677> [rest.]
bake bake <0644> [bake.]
found <04672> [and they found none.]
given .......... giving <05414> [hath given.]
Each .... stay <03427 0376> [abide ye.]
called ... name <07121 08034> [called the name.]
In consequence of the term manna having been given to a drug which is now much used in England, many persons have ignorantly supposed it to be the same sort of thing as that miraculously sent for the sustenance of the children of Israel in the wilderness. The manna of commerce comes from Calabria and Sicily, where it oozes out of a kind of ash tree, from the end of June to the end of July, and is a thick, clammy, sweet juice, partly drawn from the tree by the rays of the sun, partly by the puncture of insects, and partly by artificial means. The European manna is not so good as the Oriental, which is gathered in Syria, Arabia, and Persia, from the Oriental oak, and from a shrub which is called in Persia {teranjabin.}
coriander <01407> [and it was.]
