1 AND they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron [ Again we find them back to murmuring not directly complaining against the Lord, but rather His servants, questioning their inspiration, and perhaps their sanity. How does Moses address their complaining? Moses responds to this in v. 7-8 by equating complaining against the Lord's servants and complaining against the Lord. ] in the wilderness:

3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; [ That does not sound to me like the situtation that they left in Egypt to me. They were beaten, they were in all accounts in bondage. How easy it to look back and misremember it? ] for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

4 ¶ Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. [ The Lord is now proposing a plan of sorts to Moses here to teach the children of Israel. It is based on the theme that was started back in Exodus 6:26 and it will continue for the rest of the book of Exodus. Israel needs to learn how to grow up - and not act as the children of Israel but as Israel. They are to make covenants on their own and are to be proven of themselves - not just protected solely by virtue of the Abrahamic covenant. The people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day and that I may prove them or test them whether they will walk in my law or not. ]

5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; [ So you need to gather for yourself what you need for the day every day, if you gather more it will not store. I think maybe a little symbolism here that we too need to gather spiritual blessing every day as well (like daily scripture study), by doing so we are better nourished. ] and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: [ As the Lord provides the manna he also reminds them that he is the one the brought them out of Egypt, he is the one seeking to redeem them, but in order to do that they need to learn how to follow him. Baby steps I guess since they are THE children of Israel. ]

7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? [ Moses addresses the murmurings from the children of Israel as not against him but they are really complaining against the Lord. When we complain about or against the Lords servants why is that really complaining about the Lord? ]

8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? [ Moses and Arron are no more than servants of the Lord - fulfilling their responsibilities to the Lord, not much different than the manna. ] your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

9 ¶ And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

11 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.

13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: [ The Hebrew "man hu", can be fairly translated to "What is it?"] for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. [ They were hungry and he gave them bread. The sacrament is for the souls of those who are hungry and the souls of those who partake of it. ]

16 ¶ This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.

17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: [ What are the children of Israel learning here? Being feed by the Lord every morning - How should we use this as a type for us? We need to read and be feed spiritually every day!] and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. [ Interesting follow-up using the type that we need to be feed every day with the scriptures - the morning is the best time before we become hot, or frustrated or caught up in the energy of the day. ]

22 ¶ And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: [ The reference to the Sabbath as a Holy day appears to be formally instituted here with the gathering of manna. so, the Sabbath precedes the formal declaration given in the Ten Commandments. ] bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

27 ¶ And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

28  And the LORD said unto Moses, [ I think it is interesting how patient the Lord is with these guys. Here he Lord is showing such patience with them and just as he does with us. Therfore we need to remember that we shouldn't expect immediate deliverance from our problems or immediate solutions to things, we too need to struggle, to grow , to daily improve. Yep sometimes we are going to murmur a little, just like they did. IF we are moving forward, if we are making daily improvements then I think the Lord is happy. It is all about direction at we moving closer to him or not. The Lord doesn't expect immediate perfection from us either, but day by day increment. The manna can also symbolize for us and the sacrament too, daily incremental, gradual improvement. The Lord's not expecting perfection from us. And we shouldn't expect instant gratification of our desires from him or from ourselves. ] How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 so the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

32 ¶ And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer [an omer = 2.2
liters. ] of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. [ A pot of bread is going to be something to be looked upon as a remembrance for Moses and the people. For now and for the generations to come. ]

34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

35 And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, [ In Hebrew numerology means “the amount of time needed to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.” It may be an actual forty days and forty nights, but it is not meant to be taken literally. Examples: It rains for forty days and forty nights; Moses is upon the Mount for forty days and forty nights; Jesus is in the wilderness communing with God for forty days and forty nights; Jonah has to teach the people of Nineveh for forty days and forty nights—each signifying the length of time needed to accomplish what needed to be accomplished. ] until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.