What is it?
Background and printed text: Exodus chapter 16
Exodus 16:1 And they journeyed from Their-Ram. And they came—all the witness of the children of Israel—unto the Thorn Desert that is between Their-Ram and between My-Thorn in the fifteenth day to the second month to their exiting from the land of Double-Adversity [Egypt].
2And they lodged—all the witness of the children of Israel—upon Draw [Moshe] and upon Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] in the desert. 3And the children of Israel said unto them, “Who will give our death? Via the hand of Yehovah? Via the land of Egypt? Via our sitting upon a pot of the flesh? Via our eating bread to the full? For ye exited us unto this desert to kill all this congregation via famine!”
4And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Behold I am raining bread to you from the heavens! And the people shall exit. And they shall glean a speech of a day in his day so-that I will test him: Will he walk via my Teaching, if not? 5And he shall be in the sixth day. And they shall foundation what they shall bring. And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day.
6And Draw [Moshe] said, and Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], unto all the children of Israel: “Evening! And ye shall know that Yehovah exited you from the land of Egypt! 7And morning! And ye shall see the importance of Yehovah via His hearkening-to your lodgings upon Yehovah! And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?”
8And Draw [Moshe] said, “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction! Via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us! And what are we? Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah!”
9And Draw [Moshe] said unto Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], “Say unto all the witness of the children of Israel, ‘Approach-ye to the faces of Yehovah! For He hearkened-to your lodgings!’” 10And he was as the speech of Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] is unto all the witness of the children of Israel. And they faced unto the desert. And behold, the importance of Yehovah was seen via a cloud.
11And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say, 12 “I hearkened-to the lodgings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them to say, ‘Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings. And ye shall be satisfied of bread in the morning. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods!’”
13And he shall be in the evening. And the quail has ascended. And she covered the camp. And in the morning she was the lying of the dew around to the camp. 14And the lying of the dew ascended. And behold upon the faces of the desert is the fineness of a fine, vanishing pottery-refuge as a cover upon the land. 15And the children of Israel saw. And they said a man unto his brother, “What is that?” For they didn’t know what he is. And Draw [Moshe] said unto them, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat. 16This is the speech that Yehovah commanded: Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings. Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent.” 17And established, the children of Israel did. And they gleaned, the multiplier and the little-causer. 18And they measured via a baler. And the multiplier didn’t-cause the surplus. And the little-causer didn’t cause-lack. They gleaned a man to the mouth of his eating!
19And Draw [Moshe] said unto them, “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning!” 20And they didn’t hearken unto Draw [Moshe]. And men ‘excessed’ from him unto morning. And he elevated worms. And he stank. And Draw [Moshe] angered concerning them. 21And they gleaned him in the morning, in the morning, a man as the mouth of his eating. And the sun heated. And he melted.
22And he was in day sixth. They gleaned double bread: two of the baler to one. And all of the carriers of the congregation came. And they told to Draw [Moshe]. 23And he said unto them, “He is what Yehovah spoke. A cessation—a ceasing of the Holy-[One] is to Yehovah tomorrow. Bake-ye what ye shall bake and boil-ye what ye shall boil. And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning.” 24And they rested him unto the morning just-as Draw [Moshe] commanded. And he didn’t stink. And a maggot wasn’t in him.
25And Draw [Moshe] said, “Eat-thou him today. For today is a ceasing to Yehovah. Ye shall not find him today in the field. 26Thou shalt glean him six days. And cease-thou in the seventh day! He will not be in him!”
27And he was in the Day Seventh. They exited from the people to glean. And they didn’t find. 28And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings? 29See-ye that Yehovah gave the Ceasing to you! Therefore He, He gave bread of two days to you in Day Seventh! Return-ye a man under himself! A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh!” 30And they ceased—the people—in Day the Seventh. 31And they—the House of Israel—called his name, ‘What?’ [män]. And he is as the seed of white coriander. And his taste is as a pancake in honey.
32And Draw [Moshe] said, “This is the speech that Yehovah commanded: ‘Fill the baler from him for a guarding to your generations so-that they shall see the bread that I caused-you-to-eat in the desert during my exiting you from the land of Egypt!’”
33And Draw [Moshe] said unto Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], “Take one concave-concave. And give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’. And rest him to the faces of Yehovah for a guarding to your generations 34just-as Yehovah commanded unto Draw [Moshe]. And Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] rested him to the faces of the Witness for a guarding. 35And the children of Israel ate the ‘What?’ forty year[s] unto their coming unto a dwelt land. They ate the ‘What?’ unto their coming unto an edge of the land of Merchant [Canaan]. 36And the baler is a tenth of the baker.
I. The Long Journey (verse 1)
The Israelis journeyed from Their-Ram to Thorn Desert. This desert is between Their-Ram and My-Thorn.
The Israelis together are called the witness of the children of Israel.
They traveled until the fifteenth day of the second month from the time that they exited from Egypt!
Questions
1. Why would a desert be named Thorn Desert?
2. How long have the Israelis been traveling at this time?
3. Did the Israelis know where they were going?
II. Anger and Bitterness (verses 2-3)
The witness of the children of Israel became angry, and came into the personal space of Moshe and Aharon. They wanted to know who will give (cause) their death; will it be the hand of Yehovah? Will it be the land of Egypt? Will it be by means of sitting upon a pot of flesh? Will it be by means of having plenty of food? They then accused them both: “Ye exited us unto this desert to kill all this congregation via famine!”
Questions
1. The text states that all the witness of the children of Israel lodged upon Moshe and Aharon. What does this mean?
2. The text states that the witness of the children of Israel lodged in the desert. What is a witness as it is used here?
3. Why does the text mention that this witness of Israel lodged upon Moshe and Aharon in the desert? Why is that so important?
4. Are the children of Israel young?
5. The children of Israel said, “Who will give our death?” What did they mean?
6. Explain their accusation against Moshe and Aharon:
7. Are the Israelis in danger of dying of starvation?
8. Why did Yehovah permit them to become so hungry?
III. The Test (verses 4-5)
Yehovah spoke unto Moshe. He explained what He was about to do: “Behold I am raining bread to you from the heavens.” He then explained how the Israelis were to respond: “And the people shall exit. And they shall glean a speech of a day in his day.” Yehovah’s purpose was to test them in order to demonstrate if they will walk via His Teaching, or not.
Yehovah then gave more instructions: “And he shall be in the sixth day. And they shall foundation what they shall bring. And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day.” This is what will occur for the Sabbath.
Questions
1. How will Yehovah rain bread to the Israelis from the heavens?
2. The next statement is, “And the people shall exit.” What shall he (the people) exit?
4. What will the Israelis glean in this case? What is there to harvest?
5. What does “a speech of a day in his day” mean?
6. What is the purpose for causing the Israelis to have to glean for their food, according to the text?
7. Who is he in, “Will he walk via my Teaching”?
8. Explain if in, “Will he walk via my Teaching, if not”:
9. What does “And they shall foundation what they shall bring” mean?
10. At the end of the statement, “And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day,” the words day, day are found. What do they mean?
IV. Moshe’s and Aharon’s Response (verses 6-7)
Moshe and Aharon told the Israelis what Yehovah had told them. They explained, “Evening! And ye shall know that Yehovah exited you from the land of Egypt!” Thus, they would know this by evening. They also said, “And morning! And ye shall see the importance of Yehovah via His hearkening-to your lodgings upon Yehovah!” They then added, “And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?”
Questions
1. Verse 6 starts out, “And Moshe said, and Aharon, unto all the children of Israel…” Why didn’t it just say, “And Moshe and Aharon said unto all the children of Israel…”?
2. What did Moshe (and Aharon) mean by saying, “Evening”?
3. Didn’t the Israelis already know that Yehovah is the One Who exited them from the land of Egypt?
4. What did Moshe mean by, “ye shall see the importance of Yehovah”?
5. How will the Israelis see Yehovah’s importance?
6. Moshe added, “And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?” What did he mean by this?
V. Outrage (verse 8)
The next statement of Moshe seems to be the answer to a question: “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction, via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us…” Moshe then again stated, “And what are we?” He then accused them: “Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah!”
Questions
1. Moshe gave two incomplete sentences (they have no verb). The first states, “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction!” What did he mean by this?
2. Explain the second incomplete sentence, “Via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us”:
3. What did Moshe mean by, “Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah”?
VI. The Glory of Yehovah (verses 9-10)
Moshe now spoke to Aharon, giving him instructions to tell the Israelis: “Say unto all the witness of the children of Israel, ‘Approach-ye to the faces of Yehovah! For He hearkened-to your lodgings!’”
When Aharon was just finished relaying this information to all the witness of the children of Israel, they faced toward the desert. And they beheld; they saw the importance of Yehovah by means of a cloud!
Questions
1. Why did Moshe tell Aharon to say things to the witness of the children of Israel instead of saying things himself?
2. How can the witness of the children of Israel approach to the faces of Yehovah? Where are His faces located?
3. The text next stated, “And he was as the speech of Aharon is unto all the witness of the children of Israel.” Who is he?
4. The text says, “And behold, the importance of Yehovah was seen via a cloud.” What did they see?
VII. Yehovah Speaks (verses 11-12)
Now Yehovah spoke unto Moshe: “I hearkened-to the lodgings of the children of Israel.” Yehovah gave Moshe a reply for them: “Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings. And ye shall be satisfied of bread in the morning. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods!”
Questions
1. What does “Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings” mean, and what does between the evenings mean?
2. What does “And ye shall be satisfied of bread” mean?
3. The last statement is, “And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods.” Didn’t they already know that Yehovah is their Gods?
VIII. What is He? (verses 13-18)
When the evening will come, the quail has ascended and has covered the camp! She is still there in the morning as the dew began to set. Then the lying of the dew ascended. In its place is the fineness of a fine vanishing refuge (a little shelter that disappears) that altogether is a cover upon the land! The children of Israel saw this and began questioning each other: “What is that?” They didn’t know what it was. Moshe said unto them, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat. This is the speech that Yehovah commanded.”
Moshe told them what to do: “Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings.” (A baler measures grain taken from bales of grain stalks; the skull refers to the head-count.) He continued: “Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent,” referring to collecting the amount needed for all the occupants.
The Israelis did what they were told. They gleaned. Some multiplied the amounts gathered, and some only took a small amount. They then began to measure what they took using a baler (a grain measuring container, like a measuring cup). The person who took much more than he would need didn’t cause a surplus, and the one who took very little didn’t cause any lack! Every person gleaned exactly what he or she needed to eat!
Questions
1. Who is he who shall be in the evening?
2. If the quail ascended (went up), from where did they ascend?
3. What does “she covered the camp” mean?
4. What does “And in the morning she was the lying of the dew around to the camp” mean?
5. What happened when the lying of the dew ascended?
6. What does “the fineness of a fine, vanishing pottery-refuge” describe?
7. Where were these small items found?
8. Wouldn’t this item be mixed with soil, with bird droppings, and with other things that would pollute it so that it couldn’t be eaten?
9. Why did Yehovah make certain that it covered the land?
10. What was the reaction of the Israelis to this stuff?
11. Moshe explained, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat.” Who is her?
12. Why did Yehovah force them to glean for this food instead of causing it to appear in their empty bowls each morning?
13. How must of this food was each collector told to collect?
14. What does baler mean?
15. To what does the skull refer?
16. What is a scrolling of beings?
17. Explain using more modern and simpler words what “Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings” means:
18. What does “Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent” mean?
19. Why did Yehovah find it necessary to say that the children of Israel did?
20. What does “the multiplier and the little-causer” mean?
21. Why did they measure via a baler? What were they trying to see?
22. What miracle is described in verse 18, and what does this show?
IX. No Leftovers (verses 19-21)
Moshe warned the Israelis: “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning,” indicating that none of the gleaning was to be left until morning. The Israelis didn’t hearken; they set some extra aside for the next morning. It developed worms, and it stank! Moshe became angry at them.
They gleaned this every morning just as a person needed for his mouth (his appetite). When the sun became hot, this item left on the ground melted.
Questions
1. What does “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning” mean?
2. What was wrong with keeping leftovers?
3. The text states, “And they didn’t hearken unto Moshe. And men ‘excessed’ from him unto morning.” Why did they do this?
4. Who elevated worms, and what does this mean?
5. Why did Moshe anger? What was the big deal?
6. What does “And they gleaned him in the morning, in the morning, a man as the mouth of his eating” mean?
7. Who or what melted? What does this mean?
8. Of what was this food made?
X. Double (verses 22-24)
Day sixth (Friday) came. Whatever they picked up was double compared to the previous days; the baler (measurer) showed this. Those in the congregation who carried information came to tell Moshe. He said unto them, “He is what Yehovah spoke. A cessation—a ceasing of the Holy-[One] is to Yehovah tomorrow.” He then instructed them, “Bake-ye what ye shall bake and boil-ye what ye shall boil.” They could fix this product in any way they chose. “And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning.” That way, they would have food for the next day. The Israelis did this. This product didn’t stink, and no maggot was found in it.
Questions
1. What was in day sixth?
2. What miracle occurred on day sixth, according to this text?
3. What are the carriers of the congregation?
4. Why did the carriers consider telling Moshe about the doubling of the measurements as if this were so important?
5. What is this cessation?
6. Why is this called “a ceasing of the Holy One”? Who is this Holy One, and from what will he cease?
7. What ways could this strange bread be fixed, according to verse 23?
8. What does “And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning” mean?
XI. Ceasing (verses 25-26)
Moshe told Israel (as if Israel were one person), “Eat-thou him today,” referring to the strange ‘bread’ (food) that the Israelis had picked from the ground the previous day. He explained, “For today is a ceasing to Yehovah. Ye shall not find him today in the field.” Moshe continued, “Thou shalt glean him six days. And cease-thou in the seventh day! He will not be in him!”
Questions
1. On what day did Moshe say, “Eat-thou him today”?
2. Who is him whom they won’t find in the field?
3. Who owns this ceasing, and what does owning it mean?
4. Why won’t the Israelis find ‘him’ in the field on this day?
5. Will there be a future event that will include these six days when this Bread can be gathered, after which it won’t be available?
XII. Refusal to Guard (verses 27-31)
The next event occurred on Day Seventh—that is, on Saturday in the way we reckon days. Some of the Israelis exited to glean the strange food from the ground. They didn’t find it, of course. Yehovah responded to their actions by stating to Moshe, “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings? See-ye that Yehovah gave the Ceasing to you! Therefore He, He gave bread of two days to you in Day Seventh!” Yehovah referred to Himself in the third person!
Yehovah continued, “Return-ye a man under himself!” (What did He mean?) He then commanded, “A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh!” This was the most restrictive command Yehovah gave regarding the Sabbath.
The Israelis ceased; the entire people did this in Day the Seventh.
They needed a name for this edible item picked from the desert floor. They called it, “What?” which in Hebrew is män (the ä is pronounced like “ma” in the shortened form for mother).
Its size was the size of white coriander seed—that is, about an eighth of an inch. The taste was like a pancake in honey!
Questions
1. Who was in the Day Seventh?
2. What is the difference between “the Day Seventh” and “the seventh Day”?
3. Who exited from the people to glean?
4. Did Moshe also go out to glean on Day Seventh?
5. If the above answer is correct, why did Yehovah say unto Moshe, “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings,” as if Moshe is one of the violators?
6. Were the Israelis refusing to guard Yehovah’s commandments and His teachings by just looking for the special Bread on the Sabbath?
7. To whom did Yehovah give the Ceasing, according to verse 29, and what does this mean?
8. What does “Return ye a man under himself” mean?
9. When Moshe commanded, “A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh,” what did he mean?
10. The text states, “And they ceased—the people—in Day the Seventh.” From what did they cease?
11. What does manna mean, according to verse 31?
12. In what way is manna like white coriander, and what does that look like?
13. Like what did manna taste?
14. Did everyone like the taste of manna?
XIII. The Guarding (verse 32)
The measurement, an omer, is a baler—that is, it is a container that was used when baling hay and grains. Yehovah commanded the Israelis to gather a baler of the män to guard it for the generations of Israelis so that they will see this food that Yehovah caused the Israelis to eat in the desert during His exiting them from the land of Egypt.
Questions
1. What did Yehovah command to do with some of the manna in verse 32, and why did He command this?
2. Did Israel do this?
3. Where is this manna now, so that we can see it?
XIV. The Basket of Mahn (verses 33-36)
Moshe told Aharon to take one double-concave container, and give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’ This included filling it with the män. Aharon must rest the container to the faces of Yehovah for a guarding to the generations of the Israelis; that is what Yehovah had commanded Moshe. Aharon did so in front of the Witness—in front of Israel—so that Israel will guard it.
The children of Israel ate the ‘What?’ (män) forty years right up to the time that they came unto a land already being dwelt. They ate this ‘What?’ (män) right up to the point of their coming to the very edge of the land of Canaan.
What volume size is the baler (an omer)? It is a tenth of a baker’s measure (an ephah).
Questions
1. What is a concave-concave?
2. What does “And give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’” mean?
3. Where did Israel put this jar, and for what purpose did Israel put it there?
4. Why is faces plural (more than one)?
5. In what way will this manna be “for a guarding to your generations”?
6. Where did Aharon place the manna?
7. How long did the Israelis eat the manna?
8. What land is the dwelt land?
9. What is a baker?