Exodus 16:2

2 And all the community of the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the desert.

Exodus 16:2 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 16:2

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured,
&c.] For want of bread; for the Targum of Jonathan says, that day the dough ceased they brought of Egypt, on which, and the unleavened cakes they had lived thirty days; and for a longer space of time it was not sufficient, as Josephus F7 and other Jewish writers F8 observe; and now it was all spent, and they were in the utmost distress for bread, and fall a murmuring as they were used to do, when in any distress, even the whole congregation of them, at least the far greater part; some few might be excepted, as Caleb and Joshua, and some others: and they

murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness;
in the wilderness of Sin, where they were, and where no corn was to be had to make bread of; and their murmuring was not only against Moses, as before when they wanted water, but against Aaron also, who were jointly concerned in bringing them out of Egypt. It is a common case, when things do not go so well as to be wished for in church or state, for people to murmur against their governors, ecclesiastic or civil, and lay all the blame to them.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1.
F8 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17.

Exodus 16:2 In-Context

1 And they set out from Elim, and all the community of the {Israelites} came to the desert of Sin, which [is] between Elim {and Sinai}, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt.
2 And all the community of the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the desert.
3 And the {Israelites} said to them, "{If only we had died} by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread {until we were full}, because you have brought us out to this desert to kill all of this assembly with hunger."
4 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, I am going to rain down for you bread from the heavens, and the people will go out and gather enough for the day on its day; in that way I will test them: Will they go according to my law or not?
5 And then on the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring, and it will be twice over what they will gather every [other] day."

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
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