And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came into an inhabited land they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Now an omer is the tenth [part] of an ephah.
The chapter ends with a footnote: one short line telling the reader how big an omer was. That small definition anchors all the chapter says about daily bread — how much God gave, and to whom.
The omer was an everyday measure. One writer places it inside Israel's system of dry measures, and shows the same tenth part turning up in the offerings.
The ordinary measure was the ephah, and one-tenth of it was an omer, the food of one man (Ex. 16:16, 36). In the grain offering, the amount of fine flour that went with the burnt offering matched the size and importance of the animal offered. So a lamb had one-tenth, that is one omer; a ram had two-tenths, or one-fifth; and a bull had three-tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fullness of Christ.
This verse fixes the ratio, so it does arithmetic for you elsewhere in Scripture. One writer uses it to measure a single day of Ruth's gleaning.
We see from Exodus 16, the last verse, that an omer was the tenth part of an ephah. The same chapter shows that each person's allowance was an omer of manna a day. So if barley was as nourishing as manna, Ruth by her hard work had gleaned enough in one day to feed ten people.
The closing verses of the chapter look backward, as though written by someone at a distance from the events. Critics have treated that as proof of a later hand. One writer lists the verse among those objections and answers them together.
Again, Exodus 16:35-36 … are only difficult to one who denies the essential claim of Scripture.
Whether a man gathered much or little, he ended with the same full portion. One writer sees in that a picture of what God gives in His Son.
You remember that when God gave the manna He said, "an omer for every man." Whether one gathered much or little, it was all measured so that each one had his full quota, "an omer for every man." A full Christ for every man was the thought of God. At the end of that chapter, in Ex. 16:33, we read, "Take a pot, put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD." So an omer was the measure of Christ coming into this world to meet man's need. In doing so He showed the grace and glory of God.
The omer was the standard, but each person gathered according to what he would eat. One writer applies that to how much of Christ a believer takes in.
Each man was to gather according to what he would eat. As a result, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no shortage. The appetite governed the amount collected. How strikingly true this is of the believer! We all have as much of Christ as we desire — no more, and no less. If our desires are large, if we open our mouth wide, He will fill it. We cannot desire too much, nor be disappointed when we desire.
A potful of this same measure was kept in God's presence. One writer draws out why it was stored there.
The LORD required this measure of man's need to be placed before Him: "Take a pot, put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations." … An omer was the ordinary measure used in the tents of Israel. It held the usual portion of a man's daily food. So it made the gift of the manna personal to every single person in the camp. The application is plain. In all eternity, His redeemed people will never forget the bread God fed each of them with on earth.
- Measure defined. An omer is a tenth of an ephah — the food of one man, a household measure, not a temple one.
- Measure applied. Fix the ratio and other passages open up: Ruth's ephah of barley was ten omers, a day's food for ten people.
- Measure given. The same omer fell to every Israelite — God's thought was a full Christ for every man.
- Measure received. Appetite decided the amount gathered; we have as much of Christ as we desire, no more and no less.
- Measure kept. A potful of that daily measure stood before God, so the memory of His feeding never fades.