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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:32-34
Memorials of mercies. It is indicative of the weakness and imperfection of human nature, that memorials of mercies should be needed. But frail humanity cannot do without them; and God in his goodness, knowing this, sanc…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:32
And Moses said. Not at the moment, but some time subsequently. See the introductory paragraph. Fill an omer. In the original it is "the omer," and so the LXX.; but the reason for the introduction of the article is obscu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:32-34
The pot of manna. Aaron was ordered to take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for future generations. The pot of manna is alluded to in Hebrews, where it is describe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:33
Take a pot. The word here translated "pot" does not occur elsewhere in Scripture, and is believed to be of Egyptian origin Gesenius translates it "basket;" but the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 9:4 follows the LX…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:34
Aaron laid it up before the testimony. "The testimony" is not the Ark of the Covenant, which is never so called, but the Covenant itself, or the two tables of stone engraved by the finger of God, which are termed "the t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:35
The children of Israel did eat manna forty years. Kalisch observes that the actual time was not forty full years, but about one month short of that period, since the manna began after the fifteenth day of the second mon…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 16:36
An omer. The "omer" must be distinguished from the "homer" of later times. It was an Egyptian measure, as also was the" ephah." It is not improbable that the verse is an addition by a later writer, as Joshua, or Ezra. H…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
The water from the rock. The Israelites pursued their journey to the mount of God. It was— 1. By stages—"after their journeys." It is well to discipline the mind to look at life as a succession of stages. "Most people c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
EXPOSITION THE SECOND MUMURING FOR WATER. When the Israelites had come to Rephidim which was probably in the Wady Feiran, near its junction with the Wady Esh-Sheikh, complaint arose, not, as at Marah (Exodus 15:23), tha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1
From the wilderness of Sin. See the comment on Exodus 16:1. The sandy coast tract (El Murka) was probably quitted in lat. 28° 42' nearly, and the Wady Feiran entered on at its south-western extremity. Two stations, Doph…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
The giving of water in Rephidim. I. OBSERVE HOW THE PEOPLE CAME TO REPHIDIM. There is a distinct intimation that it was according to the commandment of Jehovah. He it was who led them where there was no water to drink,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
Water out of the rock. "They did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). When man is at his last gasp, perishing for…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
Christ our Spring. "They drank of that spiritual rock," etc. (1 Corinthians 10:4). Introduction may deal with the following important items, as all leading up to the theme of the homily—the journey from Sin to Rephidim…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:1-7
Trial and failure. I. THE PURPOSE OF RECURRING TRIALS. Israel, tried before at Marah, is now led from the comforts of Elim to the thirsty land of Rephidim. They might have learned something of their own heart and of God…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:2
The people did chide. I.e. "quarrelled," made open murmurs and complaint—as before frequently (Exodus 14:11, Exodus 14:12; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2, Exodus 16:3). Give us water. As Moses had already given them flesh (t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:3
The people thirsted there for water. There is probably no physical affliction comparable to intense thirst. His thirst was the only agony which drew from the Son of Man an acknowledgment of physical suffering, in the wo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:4
And Moses cried unto the Lord. It is one of the most prominent traits of the character of Moses, that, at the occurrence of a difficulty, he always carries it straight to God. (See Exodus 15:25; Exodus 24:15; Exodus 32:…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:5
Go on before the people. "Leave the people," i.e; "where they are, in Rephidim, and go on in front of them, with some of the elders as witnesses, that the miracle may be sufficiently attested." On the other occasion, wh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:6
That rock was Christ. In the statement of Paul—"They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4)—we have a clear assertion of the typical character of this transaction…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:6
Behold, I will stand before thee there. A visible Divine appearance seems to be intended, which would guide Moses to the exact place where he should strike. The rock in Horeb must have been a remarkable object, already…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:7
He called the name of the place Massah. Massah is from the root nasah, "to try," or "tempt," and means "trial" or "temptation." Meribah is from rub, "to chide, quarrel," and means "contention, chiding, strife." Moses ga…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:7
They tempted God in the desert. Illustration. Child cries; parent sends for doctor; pleasant medicine is prescribed. Later the child cries again; cry is apparently addressed to parent, but real aim is to see if the doct…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:8-16
EXPOSITION THE WAR WITH AMALEK. The Amalekites seem to have been descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12). They separated themselves off from the other Edomites at an early date, and became the predom…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 17:8
Then came Amalek. The bulk of the Amalekites would have been passing the spring in the lower plains, where herbage is abundant after the early rains, while later in the year it dries up. They would hear of the threatene…