John Gill Commentary Exodus 16

And they took their journey from Elim
And came again to the Red sea, as appears from (Numbers 33:10) perhaps to some bay or creek of it, which ran up from it, and lay in their way, and where for a short time they encamped to look at it, and recollect what had been done for them in bringing them through it; but as their stay here was short, and nothing of any importance or consequence happened, it is here omitted, and their next station is only observed:

and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the
wilderness of Sin ,
which still bears the same name, as a late traveller

which is between Elim and Sinai
according to the above writer ^F4 , it was twenty miles from Elim the Israelites travelled, and forty more before they came to Sinai. Dr. Shaw ^F5 says, after traversing the plains in nine hours, we were near twelve hours in passing the many windings and difficult ways which lie between those deserts and these of Sinai; the latter consists of a beautiful plain more than a league in breadth, and nearly three in length:

on the fifteenth day of the second month, after their departing out of
the land of Egypt ;
the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of April and part of May, and has its name from the beauty of the flowers, which appear at this time of the year: the Israelites were now come from thence a month or thirty days; for they came out the fifteenth of Abib or Nisan, and now it was the fifteenth of Ijar; and as the first day of this month, as Jarchi says, was on the first day of the week, this day must be so likewise; and yet sometimes the Jews say ^F6 this was a sabbath day.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Ib.
• F5: Travels, p. 314.
• F6: T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 87. 2.

And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured ,
&c.] For want of bread; for the Targum of Jonathan says, that day the dough ceased they brought of Egypt, on which, and the unleavened cakes they had lived thirty days; and for a longer space of time it was not sufficient, as Josephus ^F7 and other Jewish writers ^F8 observe; and now it was all spent, and they were in the utmost distress for bread, and fall a murmuring as they were used to do, when in any distress, even the whole congregation of them, at least the far greater part; some few might be excepted, as Caleb and Joshua, and some others: and they

murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness ;
in the wilderness of Sin, where they were, and where no corn was to be had to make bread of; and their murmuring was not only against Moses, as before when they wanted water, but against Aaron also, who were jointly concerned in bringing them out of Egypt. It is a common case, when things do not go so well as to be wished for in church or state, for people to murmur against their governors, ecclesiastic or civil, and lay all the blame to them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Antiqu. l. 2. c. 15. sect. 1.
• F8: Seder Olam Rabba, c. 5. p. 17.

And the children of Israel said unto them
They not only inwardly murmured, and privately complained among themselves, but they spoke out their complaints, and that in a very extravagant manner:

would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt ;
by one of the plagues, or some such like plague as were inflicted on the Egyptians, which killed many of them, and particularly the hailstorm and plague on the firstborn; suggesting that death, even by the hand of the Lord, whether in an ordinary or extraordinary way, was more eligible than their present circumstances: when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full; which is an exaggeration of their former circumstances, and the happiness of them, in order to aggravate the misery of their present ones; for it can hardly be thought strictly true, that while they were in hard bondage in Egypt, they had often flesh in their pots, and leisure time to sit and attend them, either the boiling of it in them, or the eating of it when served up in dishes at the table; which they seem to boast of, as if they had several dishes of meat at table, and sat in great splendour, and took a great deal of time to regale themselves, and when they indulged themselves to satiety, having fulness of bread and all provisions:

for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole
assembly with hunger :
but there was no danger of that at present, since they had so many flocks and herds with them; though indeed so large a number would soon have ate them up, and which could not so comfortably be fed upon without bread; and, besides, these they did not choose to slay, unless under great necessity, which they reserved for sacrifice, and for an increase.

Then said the Lord to Moses
Who no doubt has been praying to him, as was his usual manner, when the people were in distress and complained, and was heard and answered by him: behold,

I will rain bread from heaven for you ;
though they were a murmuring, rebellious, and ungrateful people, the Lord dealt kindly and bountifully with them; he did not rain fire and brimstone upon them, as on Sodom and Gomorrah, nor snares and an horrible tempest, as on the wicked; but what was desirable by them, and suitable to their present circumstances, even bread, which was what they wanted, and this ready prepared; for though they did dress it in different ways, yet it might be eaten without any preparation at all; and this it was promised should be rained down upon them, there should be great plenty of it; it should come as thick and as fast as a shower of rain, and lie around their camp ready at hand to take up; and this should not spring out of the earth as bread corn does, but come down from heaven; and being such a wonderful thing, a "behold" is prefixed to it, denoting the marvellousness of it, as well as exciting attention to what was said:

Our Lord may seem to contradict this, when he says, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, (John 6:32) , but the reconciliation is easy; for not to observe that it was God, and not Moses, that gave this bread, so though it came from the airy heavens, and along with the dew of it, where it was prepared perhaps by the ministry of angels, and therefore called the corn of heaven, and angels' bread, (Psalms 78:24Psalms 78:25) , yet it came not from the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, from which the true bread, the antitype of this, came, even our Lord Jesus Christ himself:

and the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate of it every day ;
or "the thing of the day in its day" ^F9 , the bread day by day; to which our Lord may be thought to allude, when he directs his disciples to pray, give us this day our daily bread; as this would be rained every morning, the people were to go out of the camp, and gather it up for their daily use, and which was to be done every day:

that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not ;
by this single instance of their obedience to his will in going out every morning to gather their bread, that should be rained for them, he proposed to try and prove their obedience to his law in all other respects; what regard would be had to it when it should be given, and what might be expected from them, and likewise whether they would depend upon his providence in this case also.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (wmwyb Mwy rbd) "rem diei in die suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Fagius, Drusius.

And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day
Of the week, and from the raining of the bread, which was on the first day of the week:

they shall prepare that which they bring in ;
the Targum of Jonathan adds, to eat on the sabbath day; what they did not consume on the sixth day was to be prepared and reserved for the seventh day; that is, it was to be baked or boiled as they thought fit to have it, or eat it as it was, which they pleased, see (Exodus 16:23) only one part of it was to be kept till the next day:

and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily :
on that day should be rained double what fell on other days, and so twice as much should be gathered up; the reason for which is not here mentioned, but afterwards given; though Moses no doubt was now made acquainted with it, or otherwise he could not have informed the princes and people of it, as he afterwards did, (Exodus 16:23Exodus 16:25Exodus 16:26Exodus 16:29) .