Exodus 16:20

20 But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.

Exodus 16:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 16:20

Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses
That is, not all of them, some of them did, and perhaps the far greater part of them:

but some of them left it until the morning;
out of distrust, for fear they should have none the next day; being men of little faith, that could not trust God for a supply for the morrow; the Targum of Jonathan says, these were Dathan and Abiram; and so Jarchi:

and it bred worms, and stank;
or by an "hysteron proteron", and transposition of the words, the sense may be, that it stank, corrupted, and putrefied, and so produced worms, in which order the words lie, ( Exodus 16:24 ) , and this was not from the nature of the manna to breed worms so soon, but God so ordering and disposing it, that it should do so; for otherwise it would keep to another day, as what was gathered on the sixth day kept to the seventh, and there was a part of it kept for many ages, see ( Exodus 16:24-33 ) , and since the manna was of the meal kind, perhaps those worms it bred might be of the weevil sort, as Scheuchzer conjectures ^F19:

and Moses was wroth with them;
for breaking the commandment of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Physica Sacra, vol. 2. p. 179.

Exodus 16:20 In-Context

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.

19 Moses said to them, "Don't keep any of it to eat the next day."

20 But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.

21 Every morning each person gathered as much food as he needed, but when the sun became hot, it melted away.

22 On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food -- four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses,