Глава 16

1–6. Arrival in the Sin desert. The murmur of the Jews. 7–36. The miraculous sending of food to the Israelites: quail and manna. Ex.16:1. And they set out from Elim, and the whole congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they came out of the land of Egypt. A month after leaving Egypt (Num. 33:3), the Jews came to the desert of Sin, not directly from Elim, but from a camp that was by the sea (Num. 33:10–11). Ex.16:2. And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, Exodus 16:3. And the children of Israel said to them, Oh that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread! for you brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly. The murmur is directed against both brothers - their divine messenger: “they brought us out into the wilderness” (Ex. 3:10), and at the same time against the Most High himself, who called Moses and Aaron. In addition to whim (Ps. 77:18, 105:14), the basis for grumbling is the fear of starvation, more painful than death from Egyptian executions in a state of complete material contentment: “they sat by the meat pots” (Num. 11:4–5). Exodus 16:4. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and let the people go out and gather daily, as much as is needed for the day, so that I can test them, whether they will walk according to My law or not; Exodus 16:5. and on the sixth day let them prepare what they bring, and it will be twice as much as they collect on other days. The sorrowful memory: “they ate bread to the full” (Ex. 16:3) should not take place. Bread will be given from heaven, i.e. manna (Ex. 16:15, Ps. 77:24), in sufficient quantity for every day, and the people will be fed with it to the full (Ex. 16:8, Ps. 77:25). The daily collection of manna reminded the Jews of the complete dependence of their existence on God (Deut. 8:16–17) and at the same time taught them to strictly fulfill the requirement not to prepare it for another day other than the Sabbath (Ex. 16:29). In this regard, the giving of manna is a test of the Jewish people. Exodus 16:6. And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “In the evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 16:7. and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He has heard your murmuring against the Lord: and what are we, that you murmuring against us? Exodus 16:8. And Moses said: You will know when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to fill in the morning, for the Lord has heard your murmuring that you raised against Him: what about us? Your murmur is not against us, but against the Lord. Before God's will is announced, Moses and Aaron try to stop the grumbling. There is no reason to grumble against them, since it was not they, Moses and Aaron, who led the Jews out of Egypt and subjected the latter to disaster: “What are we, that you grumble against us?” God himself is responsible for the disaster because He led the people out of Egypt. As the one responsible for the hardships, the Lord heard the people's murmur and appeared to Israel. And in this upcoming appearance of the Being lies the basis for the cessation of discontent. God, who brought the Jews out of Egypt and now subjected them to deprivation, will himself eliminate the latter: “in the evening he will give meat, and in the morning bread.” Exodus 16:9. And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Stand before the Lord, for He has heard your murmur. Exodus 16:10. And as Aaron spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The appearance of the glory of the Lord, which served as an indication of the presence of God among the people (Num. 16:19, etc., 1 Kings 8:10, 11), was a clear proof of the justice of the previous speech of Moses. Exodus 16:11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Exodus 16:12. I heard the murmur of the children of Israel; Tell them: in the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread, and you will know that I am the Lord your God. Exodus 16:13. In the evening quails flew in and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp; Exodus 16:14. the dew rose, and behold, on the surface of the desert there was something small, grainy, fine, like frost on the ground. Exodus 16:15. And the children of Israel saw and said to one another, “What is this?” Because they didn’t know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat; According to travelers, in the spring there are such a mass of migratory birds on the Sinai Peninsula that you can catch them with your hands. This natural phenomenon served as an instrument in the hands of God’s Providence to feed the Jews. According to the instructions of Chis. 11:9, the appearance of dew was accompanied by the appearance of manna. But since dew comes down from heaven (Deut. 33:13, 28, Zech. 8:12), then the manna given by heaven is called “bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4, Ps. 77:24, 105:40, Neh. 9:15, John 6:31). In appearance, it resembled coriander seed, white as frost, or yellowish-blue in color, it was similar to bdollah, and the taste was the same as a cake with honey (Ex. 16:31, Num. 11:7). The very word “manna” is formed from two Hebrew words: “man”, “ma” - which and “gu” - he, and literally means: what is this? The derivation from “manan” – “to give” has no basis in the text. Like the appearance of quails, the giving of manna has been considered a natural phenomenon since the time of Josephus. Both he and other researchers identify biblical manna with tamarisk manna flowing from tamarisk trees in the form of glue. In the liquid state, the latter has a darkish-dirty color, and in the dry state it is completely white; gathers on the Sinai Peninsula in the wadi of Feiran and Garandel at the same time that the Jews were in the Sin desert - in May and June. But for all the similarities between biblical manna and tamarisk, there is also a significant difference. It concerns primarily quantity. The Jews collected manna each by an omer (Ex. 16:16), therefore, everything was in sufficient quantity; Meanwhile, no more than 500–600 pounds of tamarisk manna are produced per year. The Jews ate manna during their entire forty-year wandering (Ex. 16:35), even on the East Jordanian side (Joshua 5:12), meanwhile, tamarisk manna, except for the desert of Sin, is now found nowhere. Tamarisk manna is like wax, and biblical manna is like flour or cereal, which could be ground in millstones, pounded in a mortar and boiled in a cauldron (Num. 11:8). Biblical manna was subject to decay (Ex. 16:20), but tamarisk was not; the first did not appear on Saturdays (Ex. 16:27), the latter gathered on this day. Exodus 16:16. This is what the Lord commanded: everyone gather as much of it as he can eat; Collect one omerah per person, according to the number of souls, according to how many are in each tent. Exodus 16:17. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered together, some much, some little; Exodus 16:18. and they measured it by an omer, and he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortage: each one gathered as much as he could eat. The amount of manna collected was measured by an omer (Hebrew "omer" - dispute). This term served as the name of an unknown measure of capacity, and means “a drinking vessel, which the inhabitants of the East usually carry with them on their travels through the desert to draw water from springs” (Michaelis). Another exegete, Kanne, expresses the same view. And since these household vessels, with relative equality, could be of different capacities, this explains the fact that those who collected more manna (Ex. 16:17) when measuring it with an omer had no excess, and those who collected less did not have a shortage. Larger families also had larger omerahs, thanks to which they could accommodate a larger amount of collected manna - there was no extra manna. Smaller families had smaller omerahs, and they included as much manna as was needed for the family - there was no shortage. If this understanding of the term “gomor” sufficiently explains the speech of Exodus 16:18, then it does not contradict the remark of Exodus 16:36 that a gomor is 1/10 of an ephah. In view of its unequal capacity, it was quite natural to indicate its relation to a certain measure 12. Exodus 16:19. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave this until the morning. Exodus 16:20. But they did not listen to Moses, and some left it until the morning, and worms infested, and it stank. And Moses was angry with them. Failure to comply with the second command is most likely due to greed (Num. 11:32–33). Exodus 16:21. And they collected it early in the morning, each one as much as he could eat; when the sun warmed it, it melted. Exodus 16:22. On the sixth day they collected double the grain, two omers for each person. And all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. Exodus 16:23. And [Moses] said to them, This is what the Lord said: Tomorrow is a rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; what needs to be baked, bake, and what needs to be boiled, cook today, and what remains, set aside and save until the morning. Exodus 16:24. And they put it aside until the morning, as Moses commanded [them], and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Since the meaning of the command to collect a double amount of manna on the sixth day (Ex. 16:5) was not explained to the people, it is quite natural that they did not understand it. A hint of this is contained in the behavior of the leaders of society. They inform Moses about the fulfillment of his command, as if waiting for instructions on what should be done with the double amount of manna. Exodus 16:25. And Moses said, Eat it today, for today is the Sabbath of the Lord; you will not find him in the field today; Exodus 16:26. Six days you shall gather it, and on the seventh day is the Sabbath: it will not be found on that day. Exodus 16:27. But some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather and did not find it. Exodus 16:28. And the Lord said to Moses, How long will you turn aside from keeping My commandments and My laws? Exodus 16:29. Look, the Lord gave you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you two days’ worth of bread on the sixth day: each one shall remain in his own place, and no one shall go out from his place on the seventh day. Exodus 16:30. And the people rested on the seventh day. Exodus 16:31. And the house of Israel called the name of that bread manna; it was like a coriander seed, white, and tasted like a cake with honey. The disobedience of some of the people that took place the first time was subsequently eliminated by the second repetition of the Sabbath law (Ex. 16:28-30). Exodus 16:32. And Moses said, This is what the Lord has commanded: Fill Omer with [manna] for storage throughout your generations, so that you may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 16:33. And Moses said to Aaron, Take one vessel [of gold], and put in it an omer full of manna, and set it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations. Exodus 16:34. And Aaron set it before the ark of the testimony for keeping, as the Lord commanded Moses. Since the construction of the tabernacle of meeting and its accessories, in particular the Ark of the Covenant, dates back to a later time, then, according to some exegetes, the events of these verses took place much later than the presence of the Jews in the desert of Sin. Others, based on Exodus 33:7 and further verses of Chapter 33. Ref. It is assumed that before the construction of the tabernacle, the Jews had a special sanctuary, in which a vessel with manna was placed. Exodus 16:35. The children of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they came into the inhabited land; They ate manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. The remark of Ex. 16:35 belongs to a later time and author. Very interesting note. Gomorah is a completely fixed measure of volume (Editor's note). You might be interested in: