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.

“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.”

“דבר יום ביומו THE THING OF THE DAY ON ITS DAY — what is needed for a day’s eating shall they collect on its (that) day, and they shall not today collect what will be needed tomorrow (cf. Mekhilta). למען אנסנו הילך בתורתי THAT I MAY TRY THEM WHETHER THEY WILL WALK IN MY LAW — whether they will observe the commands associated with it: viz., that they should not leave any overnight, and that they should not go out on the Sabbath to collect it.”

“BEHOLD, I WILL ‘MAMTIR’ (CAUSE TO RAIN) BREAD FROM HEAVEN FOR YOU. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote that because the manna came down like rain from heaven, He said mamtir, [which is derived from the root matar (rain)]. But we find: ‘yamteir’ (He will cause to rain) coals, fire and brimstone; And the Eternal ‘himtir’ (caused to rain) upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire. [Brimstone and fire do not come down like rain, and yet Scripture uses the word matar with reference to them!] Perhaps in these cases they accompanied the rain of which the term “coming down” may properly be used. Onkelos’ opinion is that mamtir just means “cause to bring down,” for he translated: “behold, I will cause to bring down.” [However, it has no connection here with rain, as Ibn Ezra would have it.] It is possible that the word mamtir can be associated with the expression ‘kamatarah’ (as a mark) for the arrow, although they are of different roots. (target) is of the root natar (keep), since a target is kept in sight and watched. Mamtir however is of the root matar (rain). Yet, as Ramban concludes, they have a common association, as is explained in the text. Scripture makes use of both terms when speaking of every form of “falling from above.” Thus it is called matarah (target) because they come down like arrows [on a target], and it says, ‘vayamteir’ (And He caused to rain) upon them flesh as the dust, and winged fowl as the sand of the seas. It may be that [Scripture does not use the term mamtir for every form of “falling from above,” but only] for the fowl of heaven. [Therefore, the term, vayamteir in the above — mentioned verse refers only to the winged fowl] because they came down upon them as the rain. BREAD. Because they made bread out of the manna — as it is written, and they made cakes of it — [Scripture calls it lechem (bread)], for every form of bread is called lechem, not just those of wheat and barley. It says cause to rain bread [although it did not come down in the form of bread, for the meaning thereof is] that He is causing it to come down for them to make it into bread. Similarly: As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, [meaning: “out of it cometh the wheat from which bread is made”]. So also: To bring forth bread out of the earth, which means that He brings forth the wheat from which people make bread. And some scholars. interpret: Behold, I will cause to rain bread, meaning food. Similarly: ‘lechem’ of the offering; For he offereth the ‘lechem’ of thy G-d;, 21:8. When thou sittest ‘lilchom’ with a ruler — all are expressions of food. The correct interpretation is that lilchom means “to eat bread,” and ‘lechem’ of thy G-d, 21:8. is a euphemism, meaning that it is “the food” for G-d even as bread is for man, for we find it said, Man doth not live by bread only. THAT I MAY TRY THEM, WHETHER THEY WILL WALK IN MY LAW OR NOT. “I.e., whether they will observe the commandments associated with it, such as [the laws] that they should not leave [a remainder] of it until the morning and that they should not go out on the Sabbath to collect it.” Thus the language of Rashi. But this is not correct. (“that” or “for the sake of”) — ‘that’ I may try them — expresses causation in itself, namely, that the manna as such will be their trial, as will be explained, and not the precepts associated with it, as Rashi explained. Rather, the intent [of the trial mentioned here] is as He said, Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that He might afflict thee, and that He might try thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. [The manna itself] was a trial to them, since they had no food in the wilderness and were without recourse to any sustenance except the manna, which they knew not from before and had never heard of from their fathers. Each day’s quantity came down on its day, and they were eagerly desirous for it. Yet with all this, they hearkened to walk after G-d to a place of no food. And so indeed He said to them again, And thou shalt remember all the way in which the Eternal thy G-d hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might afflict thee, to try thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no., Verse 2. He could have led them by way of the cities that were round about them. Instead, He led them through the wilderness wherein were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions, and each day’s quantity of food would come to them only from heaven in order to try them and to do them good at the end so that they would believe in Him forever. I have already explained the matter of “trial” in the commentary on the verse, And G-d tried Abraham. The Rabbi [Moshe ben Maimon] has written in the Moreh Nebuchim i.e., let every one who desires try and see whether it is useful and sufficient to devote himself to the service of G-d.” [on the verse before us, That I may try them, whether they will walk in My law or not, that it means] that “everyone capable of knowledge should know and determine whether there is usefulness in the service of G-d, and whether there is adequate satisfaction in it or not.” But if so, it would have been proper for Him to say, “that He may try them to know!” Now Scripture mentions here only the matter of manna, which was “the bread” which He caused to rain upon them, [and it does not refer to the flesh which He gave them]. However, from that which Moses told them, This shall be, when the Eternal shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, we know that everything was told to him. It is only that when a subject is mentioned twice, Scripture shortens it in the report of the command or the narrative, as I have mentioned to you many times. At times, it omits one — [the command or the narrative] — altogether, such a case being the verse written in this section: This is the thing which the Eternal hath commanded: Let an omerful of it [the manna] be kept throughout your generations, and the command [of G-d to Moses] is not recorded at all. This is also the case in many places. But in the opinion of those scholars who say that lechem here means “all food,” it is possible that by saying, Behold, I will cause to rain ‘lechem,’ the meaning refers to both the manna and to the quail, i.e., that He would fulfill their request for bread and flesh. Moses explained that the flesh would be [available] to eat in the evening, and the bread would be [available] in the morning to the full, as is the customary way.”

“Then said the Lord unto Moses,.... Who no doubt had been praying to him, as was his usual manner, when the people were in distress and complained, and was heard and answered by him: behold: I will rain bread from heaven for you; though they were a murmuring, rebellious, and ungrateful people, the Lord dealt kindly and bountifully with them; he did not rain fire and brimstone upon them, as on Sodom and Gomorrah, nor snares and an horrible tempest, as on the wicked; but what was desirable by them, and suitable to their present circumstances, even bread, which was what they wanted, and this ready prepared; for though they did dress it in different ways, yet it might be eaten without any preparation at all; and this it was promised should be rained down upon them, there should be great plenty of it; it should come as thick and as fast as a shower of rain, and lie around their camp ready at hand to take up; and this should not spring out of the earth as bread corn does, but come down from heaven; and being such a wonderful thing, a "behold" is prefixed unto it, denoting the marvellousness of it, as well as exciting attention to what was said: our Lord may seem to contradict this, when he says, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, Joh 6:32, but the reconciliation is easy; for not to observe that it was God, and not Moses, that gave this bread, so though it came from the airy heavens, and along with the dew of it, where it was prepared perhaps by the ministry of angels, and therefore called the corn of heaven, and angels' bread, Psa 78:24, yet it came not from the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, from whence the true bread, the antitype of this, came, even our Lord Jesus Christ himself: and the people shall go out, and gather a certain rate of it every day; or "the thing of the day in its day" (i), the bread day by day; to which our Lord may be thought to allude, when he directs his disciples to pray, give us this day our daily bread; as this would be rained every morning, the people were to go out of the camp, and gather it up for their daily use, and which was to be done every day: that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no; by this single instance of their obedience to his will in going out every morning to gather their bread, that should be rained for them, he proposed to try and prove their obedience to his law in all other respects; what regard would be had to it when it should be given, and what might be expected from them, and likewise whether they would depend upon his providence in this case also. (i) "rem diei in die suo", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Fagius, Drusius.”

“Then said the Lord unto Moses--Though the outbreak was immediately against the human leaders, it was indirectly against God: yet mark His patience, and how graciously He promised to redress the grievance. I will rain bread from heaven--Israel, a type of the Church which is from above, and being under the conduct, government, and laws of heaven, received their food from heaven also (Psa 78:24). that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no--The grand object of their being led into the wilderness was that they might receive a religious training directly under the eye of God; and the first lesson taught them was a constant dependence on God for their daily nourishment.”