Charles Ellicott Commentary John 6:49

"Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died." — John 6:49 (ASV)

Your fathers . . . and are dead.—A more accurate reading is, . . . and died.—The manna which their fathers ate (John 6:31) seemed to them a greater work than this which He has done.

Its true relation to Him is shown in the fact that those who ate it afterwards died; whereas He is the true spiritual food for the world, and those who feed upon Him shall not afterwards die.

That was manna, special in time and circumstance; this is bread, the true sustenance for all times and all circumstances.

That seemed to them to come from heaven, and this from earth; but this outer earth-born form of flesh contains the true life, in the only way in which humanity could receive it.

The life itself comes down from heaven.