This chapter records another crisis in the experience of the Israelites as they journeyed from Goshen to Mt. Sinai that God permitted and used to teach them important lessons.
16:1-3 The wilderness of Sin evidently lay in the southwestern part of the Sinai peninsula (v. 1).266Its name obviously relates to Sinai, the name of the mountain range located on its eastern edge.
This was Israel's third occasion of grumbling (v. 2; cf. 14:11-12; 15:24). The reason this time was not fear of the Egyptian army or lack of water but lack of food (v. 3).
"A pattern is thus established here that continues throughout the narratives of Israel's sojourn in the wilderness. As the people's trust in the Lord and in Moses waned in the wilderness, the need grew for stricter lessons."267
16:4-12 The manifestation of God's glory was His regular provision of manna that began the next day and continued for 40 years (v. 7).
The glory of the Lord here was the evidence of His presence in the cloudy pillar (v. 10). This was probably a flash of light and possibly thunder, both of which later emanated from the cloud at Sinai (cf. 19:18).
16:13-21 "These [quail still] fly in such dense masses that the Arab boys often kill two or three at a time, by merely striking at them with a stick as they fly. . . . But in spring the quails also come northwards in immense masses from the interior of Africa, and return in autumn, when they sometimes arrive so exhausted, that they can be caught with the hand. . . ."268
The Hebrew word man, translated into Greek mannaand transliterated from Greek into the English word "manna,"is an interrogative particle that means "What?"The Greek word mannameans "grain"or "bread."From this has come the idea that the manna was similar to bread. An omer is about two quarts dry measure (v. 16).
Students of Exodus have explained verse 18 in various ways. The old Jewish commentators, the Rabbins, said it describes what happened when each family had finished collecting the manna and had gathered in their tent to pool their individual amounts. Then they discovered that they had collected just the right quantity for their needs. Some Christian commentators have suggested that the Israelites gathered all the manna each day in one central place and from there each family took as needed. There was always enough for everyone. The former explanation seems to fit the context better.
16:22-30 The Israelites had not observed the Sabbath or a day of rest until now (v. 23). This is probably one reason they did not immediately observe it faithfully as a distinct day. As slaves in Egypt they probably worked seven days a week. However, God was blessing them with a day of rest and preparing them for the giving of the fourth commandment (20:8-11). This is the first reference to the Sabbath as such in Scripture.
16:31-36 Evangelical commentators generally have felt that the manna was a substance unique from any other edible food (v. 31). Some interpreters believe it was the sap-like secretion of the tamarisk tree or the secretion of certain insects common in the desert.269In the latter case the miracle would have been the timing with which God provided it and the abundance of it. Normally this sap only flows in the summer months. If this is the explanation, it was a miracle similar to the plagues, not totally unknown phenomena but divinely scheduled and reinforced. Even though there are similarities between these secretions and the manna, the differences are more numerous and point to a unique provision.270
The Lord Jesus compared Himself to the manna (John 6:32-33, 35, 48, 51). It is a type (a divinely intended illustration) of Christ.
The "testimony"was the tables of the Mosaic Law that Aaron later kept in the ark of the covenant (cf. 25:16). Moses told Aaron to preserve a pot of manna before the Lord's presence (v. 34; cf. Num. 17:10-11).271These physical objects memorialized God's faithful provision of both spiritual and physical foods (cf. Deut. 8:3).
The Israelites were not completely separate from other people during their years in the wilderness. As they travelled the caravan routes they would meet travelers and settlements of tribes from time to time. They evidently traded with these people (cf. Deut. 2:6-7). Consequently their total diet was not just manna, milk, and a little meat, though manna was one of their staple commodities.272
God sought to impress major lessons on His people through the events recorded in this chapter. These included His ability and willingness to provide regularly for their daily needs and His desire that they experience His blessing. He gave them Sabbath rest to refresh and strengthen their spirits as well as ample, palatable food for their bodies: manna in the mornings and quail in the evenings.
