And the manna was as coriander seed, and its appearance as the appearance of bdellium.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it with hand-mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it; and the taste of it was as the taste of oil-cakes.
Israel is complaining about food in the wilderness, and this verse describes the bread God sent them every morning. Commentators read it in two ways: as a picture of Christ enjoyed in many forms, and as a sign that Israel's appetite for God's gift had gone stale.
Commentators read the manna as a picture of Christ come down into this world. One writer works through the details, down to the dew that kept it off the bare ground:
It is a picture of Christ (John 6), the divine Man come down to the earth, as we have Him presented in the Gospels. … It is the Son of God come down in humiliation. It comes from heaven and rests on the earth, but the dew separates it from the defiling ground — sanctified by the Spirit and the word. It is "small" — despised, neglected; but "round," it keeps its heavenly and perfect character. It is "white" — pure, holy; and it is "sweet."
The verse lists a string of actions before a single bite. One writer reads them as Christ served to His people in many forms:
Those who are fitted to minister Christ today can present Him in the excellent attractiveness of His many perfections, and in how He fits our need. In the same way, Israel served this wonderful food in a variety of ways. They ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars; they boiled it in pans or baked it, and made cakes of it to their liking.
Another writer connects the crushing and baking to the death of Christ, the living bread:
As with the manna of old, so with the living bread: something more had to happen before anyone could eat it. The manna was first pounded in a mortar, or ground in a mill, and then baked in a pan (Num. 11:8). He who is the living bread had first to die; for to profit by Him as the bread of life they must eat His flesh, and drink His blood.
Commentators differ here. Others read the grinding and baking as a sad sign: people making God's gift suit themselves. One writer applies it to our own day:
Christ can never suit the taste of the flesh, so man tries to make Him suit the flesh in man some other way. Is this never done, reader? What are all the efforts made today to make Christ suit the natural mind of man — in the preaching, the teaching, the books, the activity of our time?
Another writer weighs a kinder reading first, then settles the question:
Would the cooking and the baking here speak of the spiritual exercise we need, so that we get the fullest profit from feeding on Christ? … These were the actions of people who had lost their taste or appetite for "the corn of the heavens." They now saw it as "light food."
In Exodus the manna tasted like wafers made with honey; here the comparison changes. One writer, using an older translation that reads "fresh oil," finds a meaning in each:
The people were despising it as light food. In touching appeal to us, the Lord describes its taste through the writer of the history. It is hard to describe a taste. We can only compare it to some other taste we know. So here: "its taste was as the taste of fresh oil" — the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In another place, "it was like wafers made with honey": that speaks of Him whom the Holy Spirit declares to us.
Others take the change in taste as a comment on the eaters, not the food:
Do these things describe the way Israel perceived it at first, then the way it seemed to them later? If so, this is a lesson for us as to how we perceive the goodness that is in the Lord Jesus. It is never true that Christ changes. But our appreciation of Him can change far too easily, and then we want something else besides Him.
One writer traces the drift through three stages of the wilderness story, quoting an older translation:
When they first saw the manna "the taste of it was like cake with honey" (Exodus 16). In Numbers 11 they said "there is nothing at all beside this manna." The manna in itself was no longer enough for them. They were looking for something "beside" it, something more. The standard of their appreciation reaches its lowest point in Numbers 21 — "our soul loathes this light bread."
- Given. The manna pictures Christ come down from heaven — small, white, sweet, and kept off the bare ground by the dew.
- Crushed. They pounded and baked it before eating it; Christ had first to die to be the bread of life.
- Served. Some see in the mills, mortars, pans and cakes Christ presented in many forms, fitted to every need.
- Doctored. Others hear a warning in the same actions: hands busy making God's provision suit a taste that has already gone off.
- Declined. Honey, then oil, then loathing. Christ never changes, but appetite does. The first sign is wanting something "besides" Him.
And when the dew fell upon the camp by night, the manna fell upon it.
Numbers 11 is a chapter of complaint. The people weep for the food of Egypt and grow tired of what God gives them — and right in the middle of their grumbling, this verse notes when the bread fell and where it landed.
It follows the loudest grumbling in the chapter. The answer is not an argument but a fact: the supply kept coming.
"And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it." These words are wonderfully lovely. They fall like dew upon the soul, in the middle of a scene such as the earlier part of the chapter describes. Man's heart is exposed here; but the Lord's heart is disclosed. Did He withhold His open hand? Did the six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, go hungry the next day? Did the manna stop that night? Has God Himself now changed? This little verse of two lines is the touching and lovely answer.
Israel named this bread with a question. Where it fell rules out one answer: it did not grow here. (The ESV reads that the manna fell "with" the dew; the writers quoted here follow the older wording, "fell upon it".)
Manna, they called it — that is, "What is it?" (Exodus 16:15). It was something quite new. It was not the product of the soil, for the manna fell on the dew (Num. 11:9). It was not special to that one region, the wilderness of Sin, because it fell wherever the people were. It kept falling all through their wilderness journey, while they stayed east of the Jordan. It only stopped after they were west of that river (Joshua 5:12). It was bread they did not know… so that God might make them know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (Deut. 8:3).
Commentators read the manna as a picture of Christ. The dew underneath is the point: something heavenly resting on earth without belonging to it.
Numbers 11:9 tells us that the manna fell upon the dew. That, I take it, is the care the Spirit of God has for the blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It never touches the ground, though it is on the ground. Christ was on the earth, but was not earthly. He was the heavenly One upon earth. It is the beautiful care of God's Spirit with regard to the incarnation of God's own dear and blessed Son.
Writers also notice what the dew then does: it lifts and leaves the bread behind.
How wonderful to see that no human hands gave this bread. The manna fell upon the dew, and when the dew had gone up, the manna was left: a beautiful picture of the Spirit who ministers Christ and not Himself. As the Lord Jesus says in John 16:13-14 concerning the Spirit, "He will not speak on His own authority… He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you."
The Lord Jesus applied this bread to Himself, and the hour at which it fell carries its own lesson.
The manna was the type, but He is the "true bread from heaven." Again He said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven." Notice a few features of the type. First of all, the manna fell during the quiet hours of the night and not in the heat and bustle of the day. Silently, and unseen by human eyes, it fell, and only showed itself lying on the dew when morning came. It is not mere fancy to say that we Christians need times of retirement and quiet so that the spiritual manna may come down upon our souls.
They had to gather it at dawn, and it kept only a day.
The manna fell upon the dew (see Num. 11:9) and had to be gathered before the sun was up. Each one, therefore, had to rise early and seek his daily portion. So it is with the people of God now. The heavenly manna must be gathered fresh every morning. Yesterday's manna will not do for today, nor today's for tomorrow.
The same people who received this bread every night grew tired of it.
Let us beware, dear reader, that we too are not guilty in the smallest degree of despising Christ, the true Manna, as the food of our souls. Let us not forget: this was the first point of departure with the children of Israel — they turned from the manna.
- It still fell — Israel grumbled all day, and the bread still came down that night. God's open hand did not close.
- It came from heaven — it landed on the dew, not the soil. Israel's name for it asked "What is it?", and Christ called Himself the true bread from heaven.
- It stayed above earth — the dew kept the bread off the ground: a picture of Christ on the earth yet not earthly.
- It came by the Spirit — the dew lifts and leaves the bread behind: a picture of the Spirit, who makes Christ known and not Himself.
- It must be fresh — gather it before sunrise in quiet, because yesterday's will not do for today. Turning from this bread was Israel's first step away.