Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 16:4

"Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day`s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not." — Exodus 16:4 (ASV)

I will rain bread from heaven for you. — This first announcement at once suggests that the supply is to be supernatural. “Bread from heaven” was not simply “food out of the air” (Rosenmüller), but a celestial, that is, a Divine supply of their daily needs.

A certain rate every day. — Heb., a day’s meal each day — sufficient, that is, for the wants of himself and his family for a day.

That I may prove them. — Human life is a probation. God proves and tries those most whom He takes to Himself for His “peculiar people,” and the trial is often by means of positive precepts. These precepts are especially calculated to test the presence or absence of a spirit of humble and unquestioning obedience.

Our first parents were tested by a positive precept in Paradise. The family of Abraham was tested by a positive precept—circumcision on the eighth day. The Israelites were tested, both in the wilderness and afterwards throughout their career as a nation, by a number of positive precepts, of which this concerning the manna was one.

Christians are tested by positive precepts with respect to common worship, prayer, and sacraments. The object in all cases is to see whether men will walk in God’s law or no. Men are very apt to prefer their own inventions to the simple rule of following both the letter and the spirit of God’s commandments.