And they set forward from Elim, and all the multitude of the children of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai: the fifteenth day of the second month, after they came out of the land of Egypt.2 And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.3 And the children of Israel said to them: Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots, and ate bread to the full. Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?4 And the Lord said to Moses: Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you: let the people go forth, and gather what is sufficient for every day: that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or not.5 But the sixth day let them provide for to bring in: and let it be double to that they were wont to gather every day.9 Moses also said to Aaron: Say to the whole congregation of the children of Israel: Come before the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring.10 And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked towards the wilderness: and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:12 I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel: say to them: In the evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread: and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.13 So it came to pass in the evening, that quails coming up, covered the camp: and in the morning, a dew lay round about the camp.14 And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground.15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: Manhu! which signifieth: What is this! for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them: This is the bread, which the Lord hath given you to eat.
LVI. But that the food of the soul is not earthly but hea- Genesis iii. 14. t Genesis ii. 7. 150 venly tlie Holy Scriptures will testify in many passages, " Behold I will rain upon you bread from heaven, and the people shall come forth, and shall collect from day to day, when I "will try them, whether they will walk according to mv law or not." You see that the soul is nourished not on earthly and corruptible food, but on the reasons which God rains down out of his sublime and pure nature, which he calls heaven. "Let the people indeed go forth and the whole system of the soul likewise, and let it collect science and begin knowledge, not in large quantities but from day to day." For, in the first place, in that wTay it will not exhaust all at once the abundant riches of the grace of God : but it will overflow like a torrent with their superfluity. Secondly, it will happen that when they have taken such good things as are sufficient for them and duly measured, they will think God the dispenser of the rest. But he who endeavours to collect everything at once is only acquiring for himself despair with great sorrow,t for he becomes full of despair if he expects that God will only rain good things upon him at the present moment, and that he will not do so hereafter. And he becomes inclined to infidelity if he does not believe that the graces of God will be both at present and in all time abundantly poured upon those who are worthy of them. And he is foolish, moreover, if he thinks that he shall be a competent guardian of what he has collected contrary to God's will. For a very slight inclination is sufficient to make the mind, which in its boastfulness attributes safety and stability tox itself, an impotent and unsure keeper of those things of which it fancied itself a safe guardian.
LX. There is a certain peculiarity which is attached to this word. For when it calls the soul to itself, it excites a congealing power in everything which is earthly, or corporeal, or under the influence of the external senses. On which account it is said to be " like the hoar-frost on the earth." f For when the man who beholds God, meditates a flight from the passions, " the waves are frozen," that is to say, the impetuous rush, and the increase, and the haughty pride of the waves are arrested, in order that he who might behold the living God might then pass over the passion. J Therefore the Exodus xvi. 13. f Exodus vi. 16. % Exodus xvL 15. souls inquire of one another, those, that is, that have clearly felt the influence of the word, but which are not able to say what it is. For very often, when sensible of a sweet taste, we are nevertheless ignorant of the flavour which has caused it, and when we smell sweet scents, we still do not know what they are. And in the same manner also the soul very often, when it is delighted, is yet unable to explain what it is that has delighted it ; but it is taught by the hierophant and prophet Moses, who tells it, "This is the bread, the food which God has given for the soul," explaining that God has brought it, his own word and his own reason; for this bread which he has given us to eat is this word of his.
And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.19 And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?23 And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.24 And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.25 Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.26 He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.27 And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.28 And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions.
And that which in the wilderness seemed to the Jews marvellous, (they said at least, "Can He give bread also? or prepare a table in the wilderness?") this He shows forth in His works. With this view also He leads them into the wilderness, that the miracle might be very far beyond suspicion, and that no one might think that any village lying near contributed ought to the meal. For this reason He mentions the hour also, not the place only.
The same day Jesus going out of the house, sat by the sea side.2 And great multitudes were gathered unto him, so that he went up into a boat and sat: and all the multitude stood on the shore.3 And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying: Behold the sower went forth to sow.4 And whilst he soweth some fell by the way side, and the birds of the air came and ate them up.5 And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth.6 And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had not root, they withered away.†7 And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them.8 And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.9 He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
There is moreover a reason in the subject of His discourse why the Lord should sit in the ship, and the multitude stand on the shore. For He was about to speak in parables, and by this action signifies that they who were without the Church could have no understanding of the Divine Word. The ship offers a type of the Church, within which the word of life is placed, and is preached to those without, and who as being barren sand cannot understand it.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)