Exodus 16:16

16 The Lord has commanded, 'Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.'"

Exodus 16:16 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 16:16

This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded
Respecting the gathering of it, the rule or rules he would have observed concerning that, as follows: gather of it every man according to his eating;
according to his appetite, and according to the appetites of those that were in his family, as much as they can all eat; and that they may have enough, the particular quantity is fixed for each of them. This act of gathering, in the mystical sense, may respect the exercise of faith on Christ, laying hold of him as he is held forth in the word, receiving him, and feeding upon him with a spiritual appetite, and that freely, largely, plentifully, and encouraging others to do the same: an omer for every man;
or head, or by poll F16; they were to take the poll of their families, the number of them, and reckon to every head, or assign to every man, such a measure of the manna, and which was sufficient for a man of the keenest appetite; what this measure was, (See Gill on Exodus 16:36) This must be understood not of sucking infants, and such that were sick and infirm, and of poor appetites, that could not feed upon and digest such sort of food, only of those that could: [according] to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them
which are in his tent:
this was to be done after it was gathered and brought in, either by certain overseers of this affair, or heads of families, who, according to the number of those that were in their tents, who were eaters of such sort of food, was to take an omer of it for everyone of them.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (tl gl gl) "ad caput", Montanus; "pro capite", Fagius, Drusius, Cartwright; so Ainsworth.

Exodus 16:16 In-Context

14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, "What is it?" because they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, "This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.
16 The Lord has commanded, 'Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.'"
17 So the people of Israel did this; some people gathered much, and some gathered little.
18 Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little. Each person gathered just as much as he needed.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.