Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 16 narrates the manna and quail provision in the wilderness. The chapter is theologically rich with LXX vocabulary that supplies John 6's Bread of Life discourse, 2 Corinthians 8:15's equality argument, and Hebrews 9:4's jar-of-manna reference. The Sabbath-gathering pattern (6 days/1 day) also establishes the Sabbath observance explicitly before Sinai — a point the synagogue tradition and Christian Sunday-resistance both note.
Notable Variants
The 'rain bread from heaven' formula at 16:4 (hyō hymin artous ek tou ouranou) that John 6:31–32 cites; the 'what is it?' manna etymology at 16:15; the LXX's exact wording of 16:18 quoted verbatim at 2 Corinthians 8:15; the jar of manna at 16:33 that Hebrews 9:4 lists among the ark's contents.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 16 preserves MT's 36-verse structure.
They set out from Elim, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
The itinerary (Elim to the wilderness of Sin) tracks MT. The fifteenth-day-of-the-second-month dating is exactly one month after the Exodus departure (12:2).
The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
The whole-congregation grumbling tracks MT. The egogongyzon verb recurs as the wilderness-rebellion refrain.
The sons of Israel said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate bread to satisfaction! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Israel's bitter nostalgia ('if only we had died by the hand of the LORD in Egypt') tracks MT. The 'meat pots' (lebētas tōn kreōn) become the literary emblem of wilderness-regret — a trope the rabbis developed at length.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion each day, so that I may test them — whether they will walk according to My instruction or not.
Masoretic (WLC)
הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם מִן־הַשָּׁמָיִם
I am about to rain bread from heaven for you
Septuagint (LXX)
ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ὕω ὑμῖν ἄρτους ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ
Behold I rain bread from heaven for you
John 6:31 cites this passage in its LXX form: "as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat'" (arton ek tou ouranou edōken autois phagein). The Johannine citation is composite of Exodus 16:4/15 and Psalm 78:24 (77:24 LXX).
Jesus' whole Bread of Life discourse (John 6:32–58) works from this LXX manna-vocabulary. 'I am the bread of life' (egō eimi ho artos tēs zōēs), 'the bread that I will give is my flesh' — every sentence of the discourse presupposes LXX Exodus 16.
The Lord's Prayer's 'give us this day our daily bread' (ton arton hēmōn ton epiousion) echoes the day-by-day gathering pattern of 16:4–5.
On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."
The sixth-day double-gathering provision tracks MT. The Sabbath-anticipation element is one of the Torah's first indications of Sabbath observance prior to Sinai.
So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, "At evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
Moses and Aaron's announcement of the evening-knowing tracks MT.
and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because He has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?"
The 'morning you will see the glory of the LORD' (doxa kyriou) tracks MT. The doxa-in-wilderness motif carries into John 1:14 ('we beheld his glory').
Moses said, "When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfaction in the morning — because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against Him — what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD."
Moses' clarification that the grumbling is against the LORD tracks MT.
Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, 'Draw near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.'"
The command to 'draw near before the LORD' (proselthete enantion tou theou) tracks MT. Proselthete becomes a key LXX word for cultic approach that Hebrews 4:16, 7:25, 10:22, 11:6, 12:22 all deploy.
As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
The appearance of divine glory in the cloud tracks MT. The combination of kabod (doxa) and the cloud is the LXX's standard Shekinah-formulation.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
The divine speech introduction tracks MT.
"I have heard the grumbling of the sons of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"
The evening-quail and morning-bread provision announcement tracks MT.
In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
The quail covering the camp and the morning dew track MT. The LXX's ortygomētra ('quail-mother') is the standard Greek ornithological term.
When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine, flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
The fine-flaky substance appearing as frost on the ground tracks MT. The LXX's lepton ('fine, thin') echoes 1 Kings 19:12's 'sound of fine silence' — fine/thin is a LXX topos for numinous-small-things-that-bear-divine-presence.
When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" — for they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
Masoretic (WLC)
מָן הוּא
What is it?
Septuagint (LXX)
τί ἐστιν τοῦτο
What is this?
The Hebrew 'man hu?' ('what is it?') supplies the etymology of manna — the name derives from the question of its discovery. The LXX renders ti estin touto?, preserving the question but losing the Hebrew wordplay (the name manna is not derived from the Greek question).
Moses' answer — 'It is the bread (artos) the LORD has given you to eat' — uses the same artos vocabulary that John 6 builds on.
'Do not work for the food that perishes' (John 6:27) and 'the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven' (John 6:33) both echo Exodus 16 LXX language.
This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer per person, according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.'"
The daily-portion (omer per person) gathering instructions track MT.
The sons of Israel did so. Some gathered more, some less.
The differential gathering (some more, some less) tracks MT.
But when they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. Each gathered according to what he could eat.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְלֹא הֶעְדִּיף הַמַּרְבֶּה וְהַמַּמְעִיט לֹא הֶחְסִיר
the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no lack
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ οὐκ ἐπλεόνασεν ὁ τὸ πολύ καὶ ὁ τὸ ἔλαττον οὐκ ἠλαττόνησεν
the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little
2 Corinthians 8:15 cites this verse verbatim in its LXX form as the scriptural foundation for his argument on Christian economic equality: "As it is written, 'The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.'"
Paul's whole collection-for-the-Jerusalem-poor argument (2 Cor 8:1–9:15) builds toward this LXX-Exodus citation. The manna's equalizing-distribution pattern becomes the paradigm for Christian resource-sharing.
The citation is unmistakably LXX: the Greek verbs epleonasen and ēlattonēsen are direct LXX vocabulary; neither MT nor Vulgate matches Paul's citation as closely as the LXX.
Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it until morning."
The no-leftovers provision tracks MT.
But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Disobedience and the worm-breeding consequences track MT.
They gathered it morning by morning, each according to what he could eat, and when the sun grew hot, it melted.
The daily gathering with sun-melting provision tracks MT.
On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread — two omers per person. All the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses.
The sixth-day double-portion gathering tracks MT.
He said to them, "This is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and set aside all that is left over to keep until morning.'"
Moses' Sabbath announcement tracks MT. The sabbata kyriou ('Sabbath of the LORD') phrase is the LXX formulation that Mark 2:27–28 ('the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath') references.
They set it aside until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
The Sabbath-kept manna's preservation tracks MT — one of the Torah's early proof-signs of Sabbath sanctity.
Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you will not find it in the field.
Moses' instruction to eat on the Sabbath tracks MT.
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."
The 6-days-yes, 7th-day-no pattern tracks MT.
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
The seventh-day gatherers finding nothing tracks MT.
The LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?
The divine rebuke 'how long will you refuse to keep my commandments?' tracks MT. This is the first Sabbath-related divine rebuke in the Torah, and it comes before Sinai.
See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."
The 'stay where you are' Sabbath injunction tracks MT. The LXX's kathēsthe each ast tō oikō autou ('sit each in his own house') established one of the rabbinic Sabbath-travel limits (the 2,000-cubit Sabbath day's journey).
On the seventh day, the people refrained from work and rested.
The people's Sabbath rest tracks MT.
The house of Israel called its name manna. It was like white coriander seed, and its taste was like wafers made with honey.
The name 'manna' and the coriander-seed / honey-wafer description tracks MT.
Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Fill an omer of it to be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'"
The command to preserve an omer tracks MT.
Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations."
Masoretic (WLC)
קַח צִנְצֶנֶת אַחַת וְתֶן־שָׁמָּה מְלֹא־הָעֹמֶר מָן
Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it
Septuagint (LXX)
λάβε στάμνον χρυσοῦν ἕνα καὶ ἔμβαλε εἰς αὐτὸν πλῆρες τὸ γομορ μαννα
Take one golden jar and put in it a full omer of manna
LXX adds chrysoun ('golden') — specifying the material of the preserving jar. MT has no adjective.
Hebrews 9:4 lists among the ark's contents 'the golden jar holding the manna' (stamnos chrysē echousa to manna) — citing the LXX's golden-jar reading, not MT. The passage is one of Hebrews' clearest LXX dependencies against MT.
The LXX reading probably reflects a Hellenistic Jewish tradition that grew around the wilderness-shrine objects. Similar LXX pluses (golden altar, golden censer) appear at various points — the Hellenistic imagination gilded the sanctuary's memory.
Following the LORD's command to Moses, Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony for safekeeping.
Aaron's placement of the jar 'before the Testimony' tracks MT. The 'Testimony' (martyrion) is the ark of the covenant — a term Revelation 11:19, 15:5 uses for the heavenly ark.
The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
The forty-year manna-feeding tracks MT. Joshua 5:12's end-of-manna narrative ('the manna ceased') closes the forty-year provision with the crossing of the Jordan.
An omer is a tenth of an ephah.
The omer-to-ephah measurement explanation tracks MT — a scribal aside for later readers unfamiliar with the smaller unit.