Exodus 16:5

16:5 On the sixth day ¹  they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day.” ² 

Exodus 18:22

18:22 They will judge ³  the people under normal circumstances, ⁴  and every difficult case ⁵  they will bring to you, but every small case ⁶  they themselves will judge, so that ⁷  you may make it easier for yourself, ⁸  and they will bear the burden ⁹  with you.

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be on the sixth day.”

[16:5]  ² sn There is a question here concerning the legislation – the people were not told why to gather twice as much on the sixth day. In other words, this instruction seems to presume that they knew about the Sabbath law. That law will be included in this chapter in a number of ways, suggesting to some scholars that this chapter is out of chronological order, placed here for a purpose. Some argue that the manna episode comes after the revelation at Sinai. But it is not necessary to take such a view. God had established the Sabbath in the creation, and if Moses has been expounding the Genesis traditions in his teachings then they would have known about that.

[18:22]  ³ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ⁷ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ⁸ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ⁹ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.