Exodus 15:19-16:24 Chavurah Shalom 11/12/16

V. 19-21 v. 19 is an epilogue to the Song at the Sea, the Shirat ha-yam. This is considered not a part of the foregoing poetry of song, since this is no longer in the same poetic form, but serves as a prose summary statement of all that the song taught and reminded us of concerning . Keil & Delitzsch propose that Pharaoh and his horse are first, as he leads his vast army into the depths of the sea with the wall of water on either side. He is placed at the head of the enemies destroyed by ADONAI. Our text would indeed seem to indicate this, with the first mentioned being the horse of Pharaoh, then his chariots and his horsemen. As he is in the sea, ADONAI returns the waters to their place, thus drowning all of them. But the children of Israel walked on the dry ground in the midst of the sea. This is quite the summary statement! v. 20-21 We have just a brief epilogue, followed with the identification of a separate worship involving Miriam and the women. Miriam is here identified as a prophetess. She is the older sister of the two brothers, Moshe and Aharon. She was instrumental in the saving of Moshe from being drowned in the Nile, and getting him into the hands of both the daughter of Pharaoh for his life, and into the hands of his own mother until weaned. She is counted alongside of Moshe and Aharon as leading Israel out of Egypt in Micah 6:4. We have no record of any prophecy which she might have spoken, but the fancifulness of the Sages has it that she prophesied the birth and ministry of Moshe. The other women with whom she shares this designation in the Tanach are Deborah, Huldah, and Noadiah; and the only name mentioned in the Apostolic Writings is Anna. Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14; Nehemiah 6:14; Ezekiel 13:17; Luke 2:36; Acts 21:8-9; Revelation 2:20. In Isaiah 8:3, “the prophetess” is the wife of the prophet. Rabbinic tradition adds another three—Hannah, Abigail, and Esther—for a total of seven prophetesses active in Israel in biblical times, that is in the times of the Tanach. The text states that Miriam recites only the first line of the shirah. However, a midrash has it that Miriam and the women actually recite the entire song. These verses affirm the custom, chronicled in Judges 11:34 and 1 Samuel 18:6, of women going forth with music and dance to hail the returning victorious hero,

- 1 - although in the present instance, it is God and not man who is the victor. The Sages have it that there are two companies engaged in the song. The men led by Moshe, and the women led by Miriam. Hebrew tof is most likely the portable frame drum, a percussion instrument constructed of two parallel membranes stretched over a loop or frame. It was apparently used exclusively by a special class of female musicians. The Chumash identifies this instrument as a drum. The is a general term for tambourines and small drums (the most common תּ ֹף noun instruments of percussion in ancient times), examples of which have been found in Egyptian and Mesopotamian excavations.--Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p. 978. Exodus 15:22-16:24 Crisis in the Wilderness We now begin the journey from the Red Sea to the Mountain of God at Sinai. There is an immediate testing of the faith of this newly formed nation as they receive their marching orders to leave the Reed Sea and to head out into the desert. The Talmud lists 10 trials with which Israel tested God after the Exodus, and one consistent challenge, “what shall we drink?” They entered the wilderness of Shur, the desert northwest of the Sinai peninsula. They journeyed for 3 days without finding an oasis sufficient for the people and their flocks. The old adage is that you can live for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. They arrived at Marah, which means bitter, and could not drink the water because it was bitter, hence the name. On the way to the mountain four crises occur: (1) a lack of drinking water (15:22–27), (2) a shortage of food (16:1–36), (3) a further lack of water (17:1–7), and (4) sudden, unprovoked aggression by a wild desert tribe (17:8–16).--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 83. The Mekhilta turns the entire incident into a metaphor. The living, life- sustaining water symbolizes the Torah; to be deprived of its spiritual sustenance for three days is life-threatening. (Hence, the Torah is read publicly each Sabbath, Monday, and Thursday.) The parable is reinforced by the Hebrew verb va-yorehu , “He showed him,” which comes from the same stem as Torah, and by ‘ets, “a tree log,” which is a symbol of Torah described in Proverbs 3:18 (cf. 3:1) as “a tree of life to those who grasp her.” The verse succeeding this Exodus passage further enhances the homily.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 84. This was evidenced even in the days of Yeshua, in that these days were coupled with the days the people from the countryside would come to town, and they became for the

- 2 - P’rushim, the Pharisees, days of fasting. This is commentary for Romans 14:5-9. Here the people complained against Moshe. Coming to an end of their natural provisions, they are apparently not capable of looking with faith to what God will do. Here is the first miracle of preservation. This was also a test of the people’s faith. Moshe in turn cried out unto God who showed him a tree, which cast into the water, made it palatable. and a regulation or judgment, a ; ח ֹק ,There He made for them a statute, a chok Thus God gave them statutes and .נָסָה ,and there he tested them ;מִשׁפָּט ,mishpat regulations before ever coming to Sinai. This may be a general summary of all that was about to happen with the gathering and the preparation of the , and for the Shabbat, the giving of the quail, etc. God’s miracles bring about a test. Would they accept the work of God as sufficient? The rabbis distinguish between a statute and a judgment, saying: a statute is a commandment given by God for which there is no rational explanation. In contrast, the judgment is something that makes sense rationally. Here He identifies Himself as the Great Healer – Ani ADONAI Rophecha, If hearing, shema, you obey, shema the voice of ADONAI, and do .אֲנִי יְהוָה רֹפְאֶך that which is proper IN HIS EYES, and you listen closely to His Mitzvot, His commandments, and you keep, shamar, all of his statutes, his judgments, then the entire malady that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon you, for I am Your healer. ...it would be much more natural to suppose that there was an allusion to the tree of life, especially if we compare Gen. 2:9 and 3:22 with Rev. 22:2, “the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations,” though we cannot regard this reference as established. All that is clear and undoubted is, that by employing these means, Jehovah made Himself known to the people of Israel as their Physician, and for this purpose appointed the wood for the healing of the bitter water, which threatened Israel with disease and death (2 Kings 4:40).--Keil & Delitzsch. Thus Keil & Delitzsch determine that the statute and the judgment that ADONAI was proving to them was that God was their help and deliverance from every trouble.

The promise is that Healing comes as the direct result of obedience and the exercise of faith in following after Him. This is fully illustrated as they arrived at , the oasis of 12 springs and 70 date palms. The Sages of course take great

- 3 - license with this. We may well see the significance throughout the Scripture of the 12 and of the 70. The number seventy in the Bible is usually meant to be taken as typological, not literal; that is, it is used for the rhetorical effect of evoking the idea of totality, of comprehensiveness on a large scale. Thus, in Genesis 10 precisely seventy nations issue from the three sons of Noah, and these constitute the entire human family. The children of Jacob - These seventy built up the nation of Israel. See Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5 and Ruth 4:11. Seventy elders furnished Israel's great Tribunal, Exodus 24:1; Numbers 11:16, afterwards called the Sanhedrin. Seventy disciples sent out by the Lord prefigure the mighty host which followed them, Luke 10:1,17, in spirit and in power. It is the number specially connected with Jerusalem, for the city kept its sabbaths seventy years, while Judah was in Babylon, Jeremiah 35:11. And seventy sevens were determined upon it to complete its transgression, and bring in everlasting righteousness for it, Daniel 9:24. Hegg noted that there were 12 springs, one for each of the tribes of Israel, signaling that full provision for the nation was given. He then connected this with Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.--Parashah 57, p. 3. Both Hegg and Keil & Delitzsch associate the coming to these wells of water with Psalm 23, and the Shalom in the desert. However, back to this idea of ADONAI Rophecha. Many will tie this into the famous passage of 2 Chronicles 7:14: and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. So as Hamilton, He is seen not as the healer of an individual in our text, but rather as the Physician of Israel - the People, the Land. We might well also run to Isaiah 53:5: But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well- being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. From here we might also go to Romans 8:18-25, where ADONAI will restore the Universe to its rightful state through the work of our Redeemer, Yeshua. Exodus 16:1-24 The Manna and the Quail

- 4 - A month after the Exodus (compare Numbers 33:3), having left the oasis of Elim, they come into the wilderness of Sin. This is a Hebrew word and not our English Our text describes this .חָטַּאת ,word for sin, which comes from the Hebrew Chatah location as simply being between Elim and Sinai. There is also a wilderness of Zin, that is associated with Kadesh, and not our present location. For one month they had faced limited water and food resources, and thus were in a position to begin to complain. Running low on food, the once more turn on Moshe and Aharon and begin to idealize life in Egypt. A month of limited food and water had perhaps made the produce of Egypt very enticing. Numbers 11:5 chronicles another time they lamented the food left behind in Egypt. At this point we are told that the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moshe and Aharon in the wilderness. Here they make a remarkable statement, in effect they are saying, we would rather have died at the hands of the Egyptians in slavery with a full belly than to die free in this wilderness of starvation! That is not exactly how they couched it, but it is what they were saying. Hegg noted that the eyes of the people had shifted away from ADONAI and onto Moshe and Aharon. It was obviously NOT Moshe and Aharon that decided to bring them out of Egypt, nor to bring them into this desert. That was all an act of God. This is a lack of faith, and a lack of understanding of the ways and means of our LORD. It was also obvious that ADONAI continued to be with them and go before them in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud. Nonetheless, when they find themselves in a predicament, they blame Moshe and Aharon. Hegg stated: Faith looks to God; the flesh relies upon men.--Parashah 57, p. 3. However, to grumble against God's chosen leader is to grumble against God Himself who sent that leader. An Apostolic example of this problem can be seen in Acts 5:27-39. Here Gamliel counsels the Sanhedrin to leave Peter and the Apostles alone lest they be found to be fighting against God! When God is in a movement, a situation, then we must not fight against Him by fighting against the leaders He is using! Before Moshe can go to inquire of ADONAI, He speaks to Moshe and reveals His Divine Plan in order to provide for His Chosen People. God will provide "bread from heaven," and He will use this to test the people to see if they will "walk in my Torah." On the sixth day it will be twice as much as on the other days of the week, in order to provide for the Shabbat on which there would be no bread. The

- 5 - Mekhilta takes the sentence to mean that the regular day’s allotment would miraculously double when brought home, but the Hebrew should then be ve- hayah le-mishnah.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 86. To this the Word Biblical Commentary agrees. Word Biblical Commentary also goes to the extent of suggesting that each person would gather each day, and when it was brought home and measured, it all amounted to an omer per person. Our text gives no sense of Divine Displeasure at this point, however, Psalm 78:18-22 does indeed indicate ADONAI's displeasure with the grumbling multitude. Our text literally says that the Manna will rain "bread from heaven." There is then no earthly manifestation of this substance, but that which Only God In the Hamotzee, we pray .לֶחֶם ,can create. Here in v. 4 it is called "bread," lechem for the Bread from the Earth. This is also called "heavenly grain," and "the bread of heroes." Psalm 78:24, 25; 105:40; Nehemiah 9:15. The very nature of the provision coupled with a test anticipates that some of the people will indeed disobey God concerning the gathering of the manna. In essence the giving of the manna and the quail, and the setting aside of the Shabbat all roll together in this testing. We may understand this to mean that the testing has to do with God's Torah in general, and not the specific testing concerning the manna or Shabbat only. Moshe and Aharon then inform the people that evening and morning, they will know that ADONAI has brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they see His glory, as He provides for them. It is interesting that we have the evening/morning together in the way that the day is reckoned in creation. There is an acknowledging that ADONAI hears the grumbling of the people, and that this grumbling is actually a complaint against God. These revelations are a response to their grumbling against Him. Then Moshe specifically identifies the means - meat in the evening and the manna in the morning. Our text literally says "flesh" in the evening, and bread in the morning. The bread is described as given "to satisfy." They are to trust ADONAI to give them for that day what they need for life, or as we say it in the Model Prayer of Matthew 6:9-16, Our Daily Bread. They had been used to a vast store of food in Egypt, and had not to think about having to go out and find food for each day. Now their trust was to be in God alone. They were to go out and gather each day what they needed for that day and that day alone, but more on that later in the Scripture. Our text here simply notes that on the 6th day it will be twice as much as they gather daily.

- 6 - Moshe admonishes them for their grumbling, and notes that their grumbling is not against Moshe and Aharon, but rather against God who has brought them out of Egypt and provided for them in this way. Three times Moshe mentions that the people are grumbling against ADONAI. Vv. 9-12 For a fourth time, Moshe mentions that their grumbling is against ADONAI. Aharon speaks to the people at Moshe's dictation, and suddenly the glory of the LORD appeared to them in the pillar of the cloud. We are to take this to mean that something quite much more than the normal has occurred. We have already been told that the pillar of the cloud by day, and the pillar of the fire by night was not taken away, but remained with Israel in the camp, Exodus 13:21. Thus this means that there was something quite unusual about this appearance of the Glory of God in the cloud, and we might suppose it was similar to that which we shall see soon at . Our text implies that the people heard ADONAI's voice speaking to Moshe, and affirming that He had heard the grumblings of the people against Him. His Word to Moshe, to give to Aharon, to give to the people, which they had already heard, is simply, the same thing already said - at evening, at erev, the meat, and at morning, at boker, the bread, and thus they shall know that I am ADONAI! By the miraculous and Divine Intervention of ADONAI, they will come to experience Him as their God. The literal expression of Exodus 16:12 is Mˆy‹A;b√rAo`Dh Ny§E;b, "between the evenings," and the Exodus 16:13 simply says, b®r$RoDb, "in or at the evening." Rabbinic sources take this to mean “from noon on.” According to Radak, the first “setting”occurs when the sun passes its zenith just after noon and the shadows begin to lengthen, and the second “setting”is the actual sunset. Josephus testifies that the paschal lamb was slaughtered in the Temple between 3 and 5 p.m. Josephus, Wars, 6.9.3.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 55. The explanation of this comes some 1500 to 1700 years after the event of the Exodus. That this was the case in the times of Yeshua is well documented. Many insist that this must have been the same times as in the days of Moshe. However, the typical lexicon definition is seen from the Theological Wordbook of .Verb, ”become evening, grow dark.” Denominative verb עָרַב :the Old Testament Evening, night. This common masculine noun for “evening” likely עֶרֶב developed from the expression, “the setting of the sun, sunset.” It is cognate to Akkadian erebu, a common verb of wide usage which includes “to enter, go

- 7 - down (of the sun).” Akkadian erib samsi means “sunset.” Sometimes, as in 12:6, the Hebrew reads literally, “between the two evenings,” likely “twilight,” the time interval between sunset and darkness in which there is a state of .denote “night”proper עֶרֶב illumination. Only in Job 7:4 does You will have to decide for yourself if you think that it must have always been that the people waited until after 9:00 AM in the morning, for the morning daily burnt offering, to begin to travel, and stopped and set up for a 3:00 PM evening burnt offering, as they left Sinai and traveled to Israel. Vv. 13-14 While explanations abound involving natural phenomenon for the provision of both the quail and the manna, our text along with the other places we find mention, assure us of its Divine Origins: Numbers 11:1-35; Psalm 78:23-29; 105:37-45. The following notes reveal the attempts to explain this phenomenon. These migratory birds of the pheasant family, scientifically known as Coturnix coturnix, are to this day caught in large numbers in northern Sinai and Egypt. They migrate in vast flocks from central Europe to Africa in autumn and return in spring. They are small in size and make the long and tiring journey in stages. Flying low and landing exhausted, they are easily captured with nets or by hand. Numbers 11:31–32 gives a vivid description of this process. The tender meat of the baby quail is regarded as a great delicacy. It requires no oil for cooking and is speedily prepared over a hot flame. There is no suggestion in the narrative that the quail was other than a one-time provision.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 88. The quails are mentioned less in their arrival than in the anticipation of that arrival in vv 8 and 12. After a brief report that they “flew up”and covered the camp (cf. the much fuller account of Num 11:31-32), the narrative moves on to a detailed and repetitive account of the manna, which in turn provides opportunity for an account of the sacred nature of the sabbath day. The connection of the arrival of the manna along with the dewfall (see Noth, OT World, 31) further links the manna to the morning and is one of several attempts to describe the manna: it was in “thin flakes”and gave the appearance of a coat of frost, a statement reinforced by the note in v 31 that it was white.--Word Biblical Commentary, p. 225. That the manna came with the dew is explicitly stated in our text. One has to wonder where the real miracle is: did the manna come with the dew, or did it just miraculously show up as the dew evaporated? Numbers 11:9 seems to allay all of

- 8 - that speculation, suggesting that the manna was sandwiched between the layers of dew. The dew fell at night. This would enable the manna to remain clean or pure until it was collected in the morning. Our text describes the manna as a thin flake, thin as the frost upon the ground, upon the face of the wilderness. Numbers 11:7 adds to this description that it was like a coriander seed, and in appearance as bdellium. Vv. 15-24 The Israelites did not know what the strange frostlike material was, so -what is it? This question then serves as a folk“ ,מָּן הוּא ,they asked man hu etymology for the name “manna,” in the vernacular, “whazit?” Moses explains that the strange substance is the food that ADONAI has provided, and He has specified that no one is to collect more of it than is needed for a day’s food, a quantity set at one omer, about two and one-third liters or two quarts, by dry measure, for each member of a given household. Our text literally says, "an omer to a head of the souls a man takes to his tent." We would generally translate into good English, an omer per person. The next statement has been interpreted to mean that no matter how much or how little the people collected, they found that when they came to prepare and eat the manna, they had precisely the amount needed and allowed for the day’s food. The amount collected was always the amount specified, an omer per person. The text literally says when they gathered, and brought it into their tents and measured it, that the one who had gathered much did not have any remaining over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. These words are generally understood by the Rabbins as meaning, that whether they had gathered much or little, when they measured it in their tents, they had collected just as many omers as they needed for the number in their families, and therefore that no one had either superfluity or deficiency.--Keil & Delitzsch. Moshe then warns them not to leave any of the manna over night, but the amount that was given was to be eaten for that day. If left overnight, it bred worms and it stank! We have no way of knowing how bad was the smell, but the word means to become odiferous, to smell badly. This then was part of the test. Our text quite plainly tells us that they did not obey, shema, Moshe. This was the test, or at least part of the test. They were to trust God day by day to provide them what they needed for that day. Perhaps this was in the mind of Yeshua when he gave to us Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. They would gather morning by morning, by morning. Once the sun grew hot, the manna would melt.

- 9 - However, the need to keep the Shabbat holy to ADONAI meant a change from the normal for the six days of the week. On the sixth day, the collection amounted to two omers per person. This statement in v. 22 must be read in the light of the statement of v. 5 that the collection of the sixth day was double that of each of the other days. Once again, the control of the amount collected is miraculous. On the sixth day the amount allowed was doubled to provide a quantity of food sufficient also for the Shabbat, when there would be no collection. Hebrew lehem mishneh occurs in the Bible only here. Verse 22 is the source of the Jewish custom of having two loaves of bread (referred to in later Hebrew as lehem mishneh) on the table at the kiddush, the benedictory ceremony consecrating the Sabbath and festivals.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 90. The word mishneh in this context has the meaning of "doubled." Thus "two loaves." Once they had gathered and measured, and found the amount on the 6th day to be 2 Omers per person, the leaders of the people came and told Moshe. Our leaders ,The word Nasi can mean "leader .נְשִׂיאֵי הָעֵדָה ,here are identified as nasi ha aye-dah or prince," and is used today of the president of a synagogue. They were obviously concerned since Moshe had just become angry when any was left over until the next morning in opposition to the commandment. Moshe had to explain to them that this was what God spoke, that the 7th day was a Shabbaton, a Shabbat-kodesh to ADONAI. This is the first occurrence of the word "Shabbaton" in our Scripture. We find it again in Leviticus 23. It is most often translated by "complete rest," indicating that no work at all is to be done on this day. Our present verse lists shabbaton first, and then further describes this day as a shabbat-kodesh, a Holy Shabbat. We next come to this word, again in association with Shabbat, at Exodus 31:15, where it describes the 7th day as a "Shabbat shabbaton, holy to ADONAI." At Exodus 35:2 it is called a "Holy Shabbat Shabbaton to ADONAI." Leviticus 16:31 describes Yom Kippur as a "Shabbat Shabbaton." Leviticus 23:3 takes us back to the 7th day, and calls it "a Shabbat Shabbaton," and "a Mikra Kodesh," a Holy Convocation. Leviticus 23:24 refers to Yom Teruah as "A Shabbaton of remembrance." Leviticus 23:32 flips us back once again to Yom Kippur, and we have once again "a Shabbat Shabbaton." Leviticus 23:39 speaks of the first day of Sukkot as "a Shabbaton." Finally in Leviticus 25:4, we have the Shemittah, the 7th year referred to as a "Shabbat Shabbaton," and a "Shabbaton year." These are all the occurrences of this word Shabbaton.

- 10 - Hebrew shabbaton is an abstract form meaning “restfulness.”It is also applied to the holy day later known as Rosh Hashanah, and to Tabernacles (sukkot). However, the weekly Sabbath and the Day of Atonement are designated shabbat shabbaton, a superlative signifying the highest degree of rest. Hence, “all manner of work (Heb. mela'khah) is proscribed on the shabbat shabbaton but only “laborious work” (Heb. mele'khet 'avodah) on the ordinary shabbaton.-- JPS Torah Commentary, p. 90. The designation in our current text, "a holy shabbat," takes us back to creation and Genesis 2:3. Here ADONAI, from His Own Holiness, in His Created Order, made this day a Holy Day, a Day set apart unto Him. They were to prepare the manna, either by baking or boiling, and then keep what they had prepared through the night, so that they might have to eat on the Shabbat without going outside of the camp and gathering manna. This that they kept overnight of the 6th night in honor of the Shabbat, did not be come wormy nor did it stink. A fuller description of the way the manna was prepared is given in Numbers 11:8. “The people would go about and gather it, grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, boil it in a pot, and make it into cakes.”The present passage is the biblical source for the prohibition against cooking on the Sabbath.

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