And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
Israel is complaining in the desert, hungry and remembering the food of Egypt. The glory of the LORD has just appeared in the cloud. Now God Himself speaks to Moses. What will He say to a people who have complained against Him?
God's answer is startling for what it leaves out: no rebuke, no punishment, no delay — only supply.
But grace, without judgment, answers their grumbling and provides for their need. The LORD heard them, but did not scold. They cried for bread, and He rained it down from heaven. He gave them meat every evening and bread every morning.
God says He has heard the grumbling. The people thought their complaint was about their leaders.
Note, too, that grumbling against Moses and Aaron was grumbling against the Lord. (v. 8.) All sin is against God. (See Psalm 51:4; Luke 15:18-21.) That is why the Lord says, "I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel."
The same cry for meat later, in Numbers 11, brought judgment. Commentators point to where Israel stood at each moment: before Sinai, or after it.
Exodus 16 shows us Israel murmuring again, but the Lord answers in nothing but grace… Wrath did come upon them another day. They despised the manna, insisted on meat, and kept on in their craving… But that was after the law came in. God then judged in righteousness the sinners who dared to make the blessing depend on their own power to obey it. But up to Sinai it was not law, but grace. "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." So the Lord told Moses to say, "At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God."
The complaint did not drive God away. It became the moment His glory shone out. That pattern runs far beyond this chapter.
How precious this display of divine grace is! It shines against the dark background of man's sin, and that sin is the very thing that drew it out. Exposing what is in the heart of man brings out of the depths of God's heart all that He is in blessing to man… But at the cross we see man at his lowest, rejecting the Son of God. And there we see the heart of God fully revealed in grace.
God promises two gifts. They do not teach the same thing.
The bread that Israel gathered every morning was only a picture of the true bread. Of that bread the Lord said, "if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (John 6:51). But what about the meat in the evening — what may we learn from that? Does it not tell us how God provides for our bodily needs?… The quails are as much His gift as the bread; both are of His grace. The quails only met bodily needs, so they were not laid up before the Lord; but the manna, the bread from heaven, was.
Commentators differ over the quails. Some see God giving the people what they craved, not what they needed:
It seems we must draw a very clear distinction between the quails and the manna. God gave both to meet their hunger. But the quails came more in His chastening ways with a people who wanted what they had eaten as they sat by the pots of meat in Egypt. So the psalmist speaks of them craving in the wilderness and testing God in the desert: "He gave them what they asked, but sent leanness into their soul" (Psalm 106:14-15).
The last line follows an older translation. The ESV reads, "he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them."
The manna means more than daily food. Jesus later took it up and pointed to Himself.
But there is a far deeper meaning in the manna than this… Then comes the Lord's answer: "it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." And He adds, "I am the bread of life." He is the reality the manna pictured — our God gives us food for this wilderness life.
- Heard — the grumbling reached God, not just Moses. Complaints against His servants were complaints against Him.
- Answered — He sends food, not punishment — meat that evening, bread the next morning, and no scolding.
- Timed — the same craving met grace here and judgment in Numbers 11. Before Sinai it was grace; under the law, judgment.
- Displayed — their failure became the dark background for His glory. The same pattern reaches its height at the cross.
- Known — God fed them so they would know Him as the LORD their God. And the manna points on to the One who says, "I am the bread of life."
I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel speak to them, saying, Between the two evenings ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God.
Israel is hungry and complaining. God answers with food at both ends of the day, and He gives the reason: by that food they will know who their God is. Why does grumbling draw out supply instead of punishment? And why does God tie the knowledge of Himself to an ordinary evening meal and morning meal?
Israel will demand meat again later, and that time ends very differently. One writer sets the two occasions side by side.
Exodus 16 shows us Israel murmuring again, but the Lord answers with nothing but grace. Yet, as Moses and Aaron said, the murmuring was against Him, and not against them... Wrath did come on them another day. They despised the manna, demanded meat, and kept on craving, when they should have been ashamed and grieved at their self-will and unbelief... But this was after the law came in. God was right to judge sinners who dared to make the blessing depend on their own power to obey it. But up to Sinai it was not law, but grace... Their absolute need was now plain. In the wilderness, who but God could supply bread for such a multitude?
Their complaint did not drive God away. One commentator sees here a pattern that runs from Eden onward.
Their murmurings were the occasion of the display of the glory of the Lord. So the sight of what man is draws out of the depths of God's heart the revelation of what He is. It was so in the garden of Eden, and indeed all down the line of His dealings with man... Note, moreover, that murmuring against Moses and Aaron was murmuring against the Lord. All sin is really against God.
The verse names two foods at two times of day. One writer weighs what each of them is for.
What may we learn from the meat given in the evening? Does it not tell us of the provision God makes to meet our bodily needs?... So, "in the evening quail came up and covered the camp." There was abundance. God provides for the natural needs of His saints... The evening quails meet every bodily need. In the same way, the morning bread teaches us to begin each day with Him who alone sustains the soul... The quails are as much His gift as the bread; both are of His grace. The quails only meet bodily needs, so they are not laid up before the Lord, but the manna, the bread from heaven, is.
Commentators differ over the quails. One writer finds no teaching in them at all.
The quails have no special teaching connected with them, while the manna is a very striking picture of the Lord Jesus. The quails were given to satisfy the desires of the people, but brought no blessing... God may hear the cry of His people, even in their unbelief, and grant them their desires — but for discipline rather than for present blessing.
Verses 6 and 7 had already told them what evening and morning would each show.
What took place at evening? God gave them meat to eat. It was God's proof that He had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and that if He led them through the wilderness, He would feed them too. But the morning would show more than this. Then they would have not only proof that God had freed them from slavery; they would also see the glory of the LORD.
Jesus Himself takes up this desert food and reads it as pointing to Him.
There is a far deeper meaning in the manna than this. You remember how the Lord interprets it in John 6... "It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." Then He adds, "I am the bread of life." He is the fulfilment of the manna. Our God provides the food we need for this wilderness life. The wonder of it is so great that no one has ever been able to take it in. "God manifest in the flesh!"
The bread arrives with the morning dew, before anyone is awake to work for it.
This is how divine grace serves, and they depend on it completely. No human hands bestowed this bread. God Himself showers it around their tents in the night while they sleep. It comes in the dew, the beautiful figure of the Spirit, who ministers Christ, and not Himself — the dew lifts and leaves the manna on the ground. But it lies there, an insignificant thing, and small as the frost.
- Complaint — Israel aimed the murmuring at Moses and Aaron, but it landed on God. All sin is against Him.
- Grace — before Sinai, God answered that complaint with food, not judgment. The same demand met wrath later, once the law had come in.
- Glory — what man is drew out what God is. Their complaint became the occasion for His glory to appear.
- Gift — quails and manna both came from His hand: one feeds the body, one feeds the soul. Only the manna had a place before the Lord, and only the manna pictures Christ.
- Knowledge — evening proved He had brought them out of Egypt. Morning showed His glory in bread that fell while they slept — the bread Jesus points to as Himself.
And it came to pass in the evening, that quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round the camp.
Israel had complained against God in the desert. His answer came as food, not punishment — and commentators read both the evening birds and the morning dew as pointing far beyond one meal.
God had every reason to rebuke them. Notice what He sent instead.
But grace, without judgment, answers their murmuring, and provides for their need. Jehovah heard them, but did not scold them. They cried for bread, and He rained it down from heaven. He gave them flesh every evening, and bread every morning.
Notice also how the bread reached them.
So divine grace ministers, and they are dependent entirely upon it. No human hands gave this bread. God Himself showers it around their tents in the night while they sleep.
The birds settled on the camp in the evening and met plain, physical hunger. One writer asks what that teaches.
Does it not tell us of the provision God makes for our bodily needs? After the work of the day the body needs refreshment... He who sent the quails is the same One who said, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow"... And just as the evening quails meet the body's needs, so the morning bread teaches us to begin each day with Him who alone sustains the soul... The quails are as much His gift as the bread; both are of His grace. The quails, since they only meet the body's needs, are not laid up before the Lord, but the manna, the bread from heaven, is.
The evening gift told Israel something about God. The morning gift showed them more.
We take our stand with the hungry people at the end of the anxious day. And look — "In the evening quail came up and covered the camp." Here was the flesh they wanted. Jehovah, their salvation, had not appointed Israel to perish! It was He who had brought them out from the land of Egypt, and this the quails showed to Israel. But there was more — in the morning they were to see the glory of Jehovah... It was God's glory in the wilderness — it was the gift of God.
The proportions of the text carry a message.
Only part of one verse deals with the miracle of the quails. All the rest of our chapter gives the details of the manna. That is because the manna is a picture fulfilled in Christ, the wilderness food of His saints. The Lord's own words in John 6 make this clear. The manna was the picture, but He is the "true bread from heaven."
The same writer looks at the flight itself, and at what happened when the miracle came again later, under the law:
The word of the Lord came true in an extraordinary flight of quails that evening. This bird migrates and is easy to catch, but the huge numbers settling on the camp made the event a miracle. Nothing more is said here about them. But when this miracle was repeated under the law, judgment followed, as we see in Numbers 11:31-34.
One writer sees the order as deliberate: flesh before bread, evening before morning.
A flight of quails comes before the manna, in the evening. It supplies the people with the flesh they had been promised. We know well what this death as the food of life means, so it raises no difficulty here. The Lord Himself, in His sermon on this text of manna (John 6), assures us that we must not only eat His flesh, but drink His blood, or we have no life in us. His person and His work are both necessary to us. And His sacrifice must come first. In the same way, Israel could eat the lamb only inside the house sprinkled with blood. So the quails come first, and in the evening.
Commentators differ on what the dew pictures. One connects it with the Holy Spirit:
But notice, it was in connection with the dew that the manna came. It is the Holy Spirit who makes Christ our food; and may there not be a fitness in the dew being withdrawn so that the manna may be seen? The Spirit always presents Christ and none but Him. But the same things that removed the dew also melted the manna. The sun of this world soon drives away, as far as our enjoyment goes, what should be our food.
Another reads the same dew as a picture of Scripture:
Water in Scripture is a figure of the word of God in its cleansing or purifying power. The Israelites got manna in connection with dew — we receive Christ through the word.
- Murmuring — Israel complained, and God did not punish them. Grace answered with supper and breakfast.
- Gift — No human hand brought it. God scattered it around their tents while they slept, so they lived on pure dependence.
- Evening — The quails proved that He who brought them out would feed them. God cares for plain bodily need.
- Morning — The evening gave proof. The morning gave glory: God's own gift in the wilderness.
- Christ — Half a verse for the quails, a chapter for the manna. Flesh first, then bread: His sacrifice, then His life as our daily food.
And when the dew that lay [round it] was gone up, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was [something] fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost, on the ground.
The people had grumbled for food, and God answered by covering the desert floor with something no one had ever seen before. This verse describes what Israel woke up to. Commentators read every detail — its smallness, its shape, its link with the dew — as a picture of Christ given for His people in the wilderness.
Older translations read "a small round thing, as small as the frost on the ground." Several writers below comment on that word "round."
The manna came after the people complained.
God stamped the character of grace on this gift of the manna, given to meet the people's need. Their grumbling should have brought down judgment. Instead, God met it by supplying this food.
What they saw had never been on earth before, and they had no name for it.
And when the dew lifted, a new thing appeared, one which had never been on earth before. "Manna?" — "What is this?" — the people exclaimed. It was God's glory in the wilderness — it was the gift of God.
Jesus took up the story of the manna and applied it to Himself.
This then is the meaning of the manna: the bread which God gave the Israelites to eat in the wilderness. It is therefore the proper wilderness food for the Lord's people. The Jews once said to our Lord, "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" He replied: "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (John 6:32-33.) The manna, then, is clearly a type of Christ — a picture of Him as He was in this world. He came down from heaven, and He becomes the food of His people as they pass through the wilderness.
Two words describe how it looked: small, and round. Each says something about Jesus.
Second, it looked like "a small round thing," as small as the tiny specks of frost. The Son of God came down from heaven into manhood, so that He might give His flesh for the life of the world. In doing so He did indeed make Himself small and of no account in the eyes of men. It was also round, not angular and uneven. In the same way, in Christ once humbled here, there was an evenness that came from perfection in every detail.
Another writer reads the round shape differently: it shows how easy Christ was to reach.
The manna was round, picturing how accessible Christ is. A round thing is not like a square or an oval. Wherever you touch its edge, you are the same distance from its center. So the round shape shows how easy our Lord was to reach — young and old, rich and poor, religious and irreligious. Think of the woman who was a sinner, and Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven demons were cast. Think of the dying thief, and the children whom the disciples would have driven away. All alike could reach Him and be blessed.
It lay on the ground, and it looked like nothing special.
It is on the ground, so they must stoop to gather it. It lies on the face of the wilderness — something fine, as if pounded to pieces, fine as the frost on the ground. It does not look like much. It carries marks as if of rough handling. It reminds us of the prophet's words: "no beauty that we should desire Him." "What is it?" they say; for they did not know what it was. "The world knew Him not."
The manna lay where the dew had been.
The manna was found where the dew of heaven had fallen around the camp. The barren wilderness received the dew on its face. The moisture gathered unseen and fell from above. Where it settled on the ground, God spread the angels' food for man — "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." So we have both before us: the Spirit of God, who presents Christ to us, and Christ our food... We must gather our spiritual food diligently, day by day, early in the morning before the sun is up.
Older translations add the word "Behold" here. One writer turns it straight on the reader.
"Behold" — on the face of the wilderness at this very moment, despite all the bareness and roughness of your path. Behold, for you, God's own provision. Stoop, gather it up, and it will be sweet to your taste, and it will supply strength to you for all your desert way! Yes, weak as you are, surrounded by sorrow as you are, or, sadly, proud as you are, it is there waiting for you... not covered up, but out in the open... It is for every saint of God.
- Grace — Their grumbling should have brought judgment. God sent food instead, and stamped the gift with His own grace.
- Gift — What lay on the sand had never existed before. It was the gift of God, and it was God's glory in the wilderness.
- Small — Fine as frost, lying on the ground, with nothing about it to attract. Coming down into manhood, the Son of God made Himself of no account in men's eyes.
- Round — Even in every detail, and near at every point. The sinful woman, the dying thief and the children could all reach Him.
- Gather — It is not hidden but out in the open, waiting for every saint of God. Stoop early, take it daily, and it feeds the whole desert way.
And the children of Israel saw [it], and said one to another, What is it? for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat.
Israel had grumbled for food in the desert, and the next morning something they had never seen lay on the ground. Their name for it was a question, and Moses answered by naming the Giver.
Israel saw the small round thing on the ground and had no name for it. Their name became a question. Early English versions kept that sense, and one writer shows what is lost when translators leave the Hebrew word as it stands.
"It is manna" (Ex. 16:15) has no meaning to a reader who does not know Hebrew, but translated as the earliest versions had it — "What is this?" — the passage is simple enough.
The name stuck because the puzzle never cleared up.
The people say to one another Man-hu? "What is it?" And the question remained as its name, for no one ever really found out what it was — nor ever will. But something we know: it is the sustenance and strength of the redeemed soul.
The bread arrived after the people had grumbled about food.
The mark of grace is on this gift of the manna, given to meet the people's need. Their murmurings did not bring down judgment. Instead, God met them with this food.
The people asked what it was; Moses told them who gave it. Commentators read that answer through Jesus' own use of the story in John's Gospel.
This, then, is the meaning of the manna: the bread which God gave the Israelites to eat in the wilderness. It is therefore the proper wilderness food for the Lord's people. The Jews said to our Lord, "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" He replied, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven." So the manna is plainly a type of Christ — Christ as He was in this world. He came down from heaven, and in that character He becomes the food of His people as they pass through the wilderness.
Nobody could tell what it was by looking at it. One writer hears an echo of how the world treated Christ Himself.
It lies upon the ground, so they must stoop to gather it — on the face of the wilderness — something fine, as if pounded to pieces, fine as the frost on the ground. This is how the people see it, who have not yet tasted it, and do not know what it is. It clearly does not look like much; it carries marks as if of rough handling. It reminds us of the prophet's words, "no beauty that we should desire him." "What is it?" they say; for they did not know what it was. "The world did not know Him."
Where the manna lay mattered: it rested on ground the dew had covered.
The barren wilderness received the dew on its face. The moisture gathered unseen and fell from above, and where it settled on the ground, God spread the angels' food for man — "He gave them bread from heaven to eat." So we have both before us: the Spirit of God, who presents Christ to us, and Christ our food. "The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven" (John 6:33), and we find Him, we may say, where the Holy Spirit presents Him to us.
What God gave could not be stockpiled.
The heavenly manna must be gathered fresh every morning. Yesterday's manna will not do for today, nor today's for tomorrow. We must feed on Christ every day, with fresh energy of the Spirit, or else we shall stop growing. What is more, we must make Christ our first object. We must seek Him "early," before "other things" have had time to take hold of our poor, easily-swayed hearts.
One writer sets the manna beside a second food, and says we need both.
You and I cannot feed on that manna unless we come to it through death. Manna, then, is Christ humbled, as He was in this scene. "The old grain of the land" is Christ glorified. You and I have to eat both, because we are in the wilderness and yet going to heaven. We are on our road home to God, and the Spirit of God carries our souls into heavenly places now. You must eat both.
- The question. "What is it?" was Israel's reaction, and it became the food's name. No one ever solved the mystery, yet this food is the strength of the redeemed soul.
- The giver. Moses did not define the substance; he named the Source. The answer to "what is it?" is "bread the Lord has given you."
- The Person. Jesus took up this story and pointed past Moses to His Father. The Father gives the true bread from heaven, so the manna pictures Christ come down and humbled.
- The daily habit. The manna could not be stored. Feed on Christ fresh each morning, before other things crowd in.
- The full table. Manna is Christ humbled for the desert; the grain of Canaan is Christ glorified. The traveller eats both.