Exodus 16:21

21 Forsooth all they gathered in the morrowtide as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was hot, it was molten. (So every morning they all gathered as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was risen, it melted away.)

Exodus 16:21 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 16:21

And they gathered it every morning
From the time the morning began, during four hours, or to the fourth hour, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, till ten o'clock in the morning: this was a very wonderful thing that bread should be provided and rained every morning about the camp of Israel, in such plenty as to be sufficient to feed such a vast body of people; and that for forty years together:

every man according to his eating;
according to the number of persons he had in his family to eat of it, and as much as everyone could eat; there never was any lack or scarcity of it, but every morning there it was for them, and they gathered it, an omer for everyone:

and when the sun waxed hot, it melted;
and so what was left ungathered, being exhaled by the sun and laid up in the clouds, generated and increased, and became a provision to be let down the next morning; it being the will of God that it should not be trampled upon or exposed; and that the Israelites might be diligent, and not neglect the time of gathering it: and the Targum of Jonathan says, from the fourth hour, or ten o'clock and onward, the sun was hot upon it and melted it, which is the time of day when the sun is hottest: and some things, we may observe, are hardened by the sun, and others are softened, as the manna was, even to a liquefaction; though otherwise it was of so hard a nature as to be beaten in a mortar and ground in a mill, ( Numbers 11:8 ) .

Exodus 16:21 In-Context

19 And Moses said to them, No man leave thereof into the morrowtide; (And Moses said to them, No one leave any of it until the next morning;)
20 which heard not him, but some of them left thereof till to the morrowtide, and it began to boil with worms, and it was rotten; and Moses was wroth against them. (but some of them did not listen to him, and saved some of it for the next day, and it began to boil with worms, and it was rotten; and Moses was angry at them.)
21 Forsooth all they gathered in the morrowtide as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was hot, it was molten. (So every morning they all gathered as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was risen, it melted away.)
22 Soothly in the sixth day they gathered double meats, that is, two omers each man (And on the sixth day they gathered double the amount, that is, two omers for each person). Forsooth all the princes of the multitude came, and told (that) to Moses,
23 which said to them, This it is that the Lord spake, The rest of the sabbath is hallowed to the Lord; do ye whatever thing (that) shall be wrought tomorrow, and seethe ye those things that shall be sodden; soothly whatever thing is residue, or left over, keep ye it till into the morrow. (and he said to them, This is what the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the sabbath, that is holy, or is dedicated, to the Lord; so do ye today whatever needeth to be done, and boil ye those things that need to be boiled; and whatever is left over, keep ye it for tomorrow.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.