What does the word manna mean?
The text says the Israelites asked what is it, and from that question comes the name manna. It was a fine, white food that tasted sweet, like wafers with honey, and appeared each morning with the dew.
Exodus · chapter 16 of 40
Exodus 16: Summary, Key Verses and Study Questions
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What happens in Exodus 16?
Exodus 16 tells how the Israelites grumble against Moses and Aaron over hunger in the wilderness of Sin, and the Lord answers with bread from heaven: quail in the evening and manna each morning. Each family gathers what it needs for the day, on the sixth day they gather double, and on the Sabbath there is no manna. A jar of manna is kept as a reminder.
A month after leaving Egypt, the people have already forgotten the joy of the song at the sea. Exodus 16 shows the people facing hunger and God providing with patience, through a daily lesson in trust. It also introduces the Sabbath for the first time in the book as a day of rest marked by God's care, before the law is given at Sinai.
Exodus 16 summary
The whole congregation of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt. There they grumbled against Moses and Aaron: it would have been better to die in Egypt, by the pots of meat and eating bread to the full, than to be brought out to starve in the wilderness.
The Lord told Moses he would rain bread from heaven. The people would go out each day and gather what they needed for that day. On the sixth day they would prepare twice as much. Moses and Aaron told the people that in the evening they would know that the Lord brought them out of Egypt, and in the morning they would see his glory, for he had heard their grumbling, which was not against them but against the Lord. While Aaron spoke, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. That evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around, and on the wilderness a fine flake-like thing, like frost. The Israelites asked what it was, and Moses told them it was the bread the Lord gave them.
Each gathered according to what he could eat, an omer per person, and the one who gathered much had nothing left over and the one who gathered little had no lack. Some kept part until the next day, against Moses' command, and it bred worms and stank. On the sixth day they gathered double, and Moses explained that tomorrow was a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. What was kept that day did not spoil. Some went out on the Sabbath to gather and found none, and the Lord rebuked them for refusing to keep his commands.
The house of Israel called the bread manna; it was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses commanded that an omer be kept in a jar for the generations, and Aaron placed it before the Testimony. Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land.
Chapter outline
- vv. 1-3: The people grumble over hunger in the wilderness of Sin.
- vv. 4-12: The Lord promises bread from heaven and the quail, and his glory appears in the cloud.
- vv. 13-21: The quail and the manna; each gathers what he needs.
- vv. 22-30: The double portion on the sixth day and the Sabbath rest.
- vv. 31-36: The taste of the manna, the omer kept before the Testimony and the forty years.
Key verses in Exodus 16
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Exodus 16:4
The Lord promises to rain bread from heaven and tells the people to go out each day and gather the day's portion, to test whether they will walk in his law. Daily bread teaches trust in God day by day.
Exodus 16:8
Moses says the people's grumbling is not against him and Aaron but against the Lord. Behind seemingly practical complaints lies a distrust of God.
Exodus 16:18
The one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no lack; each gathered what he needed. God provides sufficiently, with no hoarding and no shortage.
Exodus 16:23
Moses says tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord, and that the people should bake what they will bake and keep the rest. The Sabbath is presented as a gift of God that shapes the people's trust.
Main themes
- God's daily provision
- Grumbling and distrust
- The Sabbath as gift and test
- The glory of the Lord in the cloud
- The sufficiency of God
People and places
- Moses
- Aaron
- God (the Lord)
- The Israelites
- The wilderness of Sin
- Elim
- Sinai
Exodus 16 study questions and answers
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
1. What did the Israelites say to Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sin?
Answer: That it would have been better to die in Egypt, with pots of meat and bread, than to starve in the wilderness. — Exodus 16:3
2. What did the Lord promise to do to feed the people?
Answer: To rain bread from heaven. — Exodus 16:4
3. What came in the evening, and what was there in the morning?
Answer: In the evening quail came up, and in the morning there was manna on the wilderness. — Exodus 16:13-14
4. How much manna was each person to gather?
Answer: An omer per person. — Exodus 16:16
5. What happened to the manna some kept until the next day?
Answer: It bred worms and stank. — Exodus 16:20
6. What was done with an omer of manna, and why?
Answer: It was kept before the Testimony so future generations could see the bread the Lord fed his people with. — Exodus 16:32-34
Application for today
Exodus 16 invites us to live on God's daily provision. The manna could not be stored, and that limit taught the people to trust anew each morning. Today this questions anxiety about the future and the tendency to hoard out of fear, without neglecting work and prudence.
It also teaches that complaint can reveal what is in the heart. In a small group you can reflect on what grumbling we repeat and how we can turn it into prayer. The Sabbath also shows that resting is an act of trust that God sustains his people. In the Gospel of John, Jesus presents himself as the bread of life who gives life to the world.
Exodus 16 ends with the manna that will feed Israel for forty years and a jar kept as a reminder. In Exodus 17 the test changes: there is no water at Rephidim and the people quarrel again, and the first enemy, Amalek, appears.
Frequently asked questions about Exodus 16
How is the manna related to Jesus?
In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that the Father gives the true bread from heaven and that he himself is the bread of life. That teaching is understood against the background of the manna: as God sustained Israel, he offers life to those who believe in his Son.
Was this the first time Israel kept the Sabbath?
The text presents the Sabbath rest as something the people must learn to keep before the law is given at Sinai. Many readers see here an echo of God's rest at creation, which will later be included in the Ten Commandments.