Exodus 16:13-23

13 So it came about at evening that ¹the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ²there was a layer of dew around the camp.

14 ³When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness ⁴there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.

15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "⁵It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.

16 "This is what * the LORD has commanded, 'Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take ⁶an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.' "

17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little.

18 When they measured it with an omer, ⁷he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.

19 Moses said to them, "⁸Let no man leave any of it until morning."

20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

21 They gathered it morning by morning, every man as much as he should eat; but when the sun grew hot, it would melt.

The Sabbath Observed

22 ⁹Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the ¹⁰leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,

23 then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: ¹¹Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and ¹²all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."

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Exodus 16:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 16

This chapter begins with an account of the journeying of the children of Israel from Elim to the wilderness of Sin, where they murmured for want of bread, Ex 16:1-3, when the Lord told Moses that he would rain bread from heaven for them, which Moses informed them of; and withal, that the Lord took notice of their murmurings, Ex 16:4-12 which promise the Lord fulfilled; and a description of the bread, and the name of it, are given, Ex 16:13-15, and some instructions are delivered out concerning the quantity of it to be gathered, Ex 16:16-18, the time of gathering and keeping it, Ex 16:19-21, the gathering a double quantity on the sixth day for that and the seventh day, with the reason of it, Ex 16:22-30 and a further description of it, Ex 16:31, and an order to preserve an omer of it in a pot, to be kept for generations to come, that it might be seen by them, Ex 16:32-34, and the chapter is concluded with observing, that this bread was ate by the Israelites forty years, even till they came to the borders of the land of Canaan, and the quantity they ate every day is observed what it was, Ex 16:35,36.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. Numbers 11:31; Psalms 78:27-29; Psalms 105:40
2. Numbers 11:9
3. Numbers 11:7-9
4. Exodus 16:31; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; Psalms 105:40
5. Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; John 6:31; 1 Corinthians 10:3
6. Exodus 16:32, 36
7. 2 Corinthians 8:15
8. Exodus 12:10; Exodus 16:23; Exodus 23:18
9. Exodus 16:5
10. Exodus 34:31
11. Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 23:12; Exodus 31:15; Exodus 35:2; Leviticus 23:3; Nehemiah 9:13, 14
12. Exodus 16:19

Footnotes 10

[a]. Lit "had gone up"
[b]. Lit "face of"
[c]. Heb "Man hu," cf v 31
[d]. Lit "the thing which"
[e]. Lit "according to his eating"
[f]. Lit "an omer for a head"
[g]. Lit "according to his eating"
[h]. Lit "according to his eating"
[i]. Lit "spoke"
[j]. Lit "lay up for you"