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27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 15:27
Elim. "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water," etc. (Exodus 15:27). Describe locality, and point out the great change from Marah, and the miserable preceding three days in the desert. And then note the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-3
EXPOSITION THE FIRST MURMURING FOR FOOD. From Elim, or the fertile tract extending from Wady Ghurnndel to Wady Tayibeh, the Israelites, after a time, removed, and ca-camped (as we learn from Numbers 33:10) by the Red Se…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1
They journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation came. It has been noted (Cook) that the form of expression seems to imply that the Israelites proceeded in detachments from Elim, and were first assembled as a complete…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-36
The manna of the body-A homily on providence. "They said one to another, what is this? (marg.) for they wist not what it was" (Exodus 16:15). Introduction:—Trace the journey from Elim to the sea (Numbers 33:10); and the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-3
The unreasonableness of discontent. The people of Israel experience now the second trial that has come upon them since the passage of the Red Sea. First, they had nothing which they could drink (Exodus 15:24); now they…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-4
Murmurings. In the "Wilderness of Sin," between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after the departing of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 16:1). One short month, but how much can be forgotten even in so bri…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-15
The provision of the manna. This chapter contains an account of the first provision of miraculous bread for Israel in the wilderness. We are told very fully the circumstances in which it was given and the regulations fo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:1-36
Manna for the soul; a homily on grace. "I am the living bread … he shall live for ever." John 6:51. Having given the manna story, discussed the miracle, and given the lessons bearing on our providential path, we now go…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:2
The whole congregation … murmured, It has been observed above, that only the poorer sort could have been as yet in any peril of actual starvation; but it may well have been that the rest, once launched into the wilderne…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:3
Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt—i.e; "Would that God had smitten us with a painless death, as he did the first-born of the Egyptians! Then we should have avoided the painful and lin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:4-8
EXPOSITION THE PROMISE OF BREAD FROM HEAVEN. When men who are in real distress make complaint, even though the tone of their complaint be not such as it ought to be, God in his mercy is wont to have compassion upon them…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:4-8
The mercy of God in hearing and helping even an ungrateful and discontented people. God is very merciful to those who are in covenant with him, whom he has chosen for his own, and made "the sheep of his pasture." Very o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:4-16
The gift of Manna. Quails also were given, on this occasion in mercy, and on a later occasion in wrath (Numbers 11:31-34); but it was the manna which was the principal gift, both as providing Israel with a continuous su…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:4
Bread from heaven. Compare Psalms 78:24; Nehemiah 9:15; John 6:31-51. The expression is of course not to be trader-stood literally. The substance was not actual bread, neither was it locally transferred from the distant…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:5
On the sixth day. That a period of seven days was known to the Hebrews as a week appears from the story of Jacob and Laban (Genesis 29:27). But there is no distinct evidence that the year was as yet divided into weeks,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:6
At even, then ye shall know. See Exodus 16:12 and Exodus 16:13. The first evidence which the Israelites would have, that God had heard 'and considered their complaints, would be the descent of the quails at even of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:7
― And in the morning then ye shall see the glory of the Lord. This has been supposed to refer to the manifestation of God's presence recorded in Exodus 16:10; but the balance of the two clauses in Exodus 16:6 and Exodus…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:8
When the lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat. Moses must have received a distinct intimation of the coming arrival of the quails, trough he has not recorded it, his desire of brevity causing him to retrench…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:9-21
God and Nature. I. GOD IS THE MASTER OF NATURE, NOT NATURE'S SERVANT. A school of modern thought places nature above God, or at,any rate on a par with God. It is an absolute impossibility, we are told, that a law of nat…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:9-21
EXPOSITION THE PROMISE FULFILLED. Moses had made a double promise to the Israelites in God's name. "The Lord shall give you," he had said," in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full" (Exodus 16:8…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:11-12
He nurtured them in the wilderness. Continual mention of murmurings; yet all such murmurings do not meet the same treatment (cf. Numbers 11:31-33). Much alike to outward seeming, but not so in the sight of God. (illustr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:12
At even. Literally, "between the two evenings." For the meaning of the phrase, see the comment on Exodus 12:6. Ye shall eat flesh. The quails, as appears by the subsequent narrative, were supplied, not regularly, but on…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:13
The quails came up. The word here translated, "quails" has been supposed to designate the flying-fish (Trigla Israelitarum of Ehrenberg), or a species of locust (Ludolf). But Psalms 78:28, makes it clear that "feathered…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:13-31
Divine provision for daily need. I. THE LORD'S FAITHFULNESS. 1. Their varied need was met. Flesh as well as bread was given. God gives us richly all things to enjoy. 2. They came in the order and at the time God said th…