[And] the people went about and gathered [it],.... Went about the camp on all sides, where it fell in plenty; this they did every morning, and this was all the trouble they were at; they had it for gathering, without any expense to them:
and ground [it] in mills: in hand mills, as Aben Ezra; for though it melted through the heat of the sun, and became a liquid, yet, when gathered in the morning, it was hard like grains of corn, or other seeds, and required to be ground in mills:
or beat [it] in a mortar; with a pestle, as spices are beaten and bruised:
and baked [it] in pans; or rather boiled it in a pot, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, since it follows:
and made cakes of it; which were baked on the hearth; all which may denote the sufferings of Christ, who was beaten, and bruised, and broken, that he might become fit food for faith, Isaiah 53:4;
and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil; which is very grateful and pleasant, as well as very fattening and nourishing; so that the Israelites had no reason to complain of their being dried away by continual eating of it; Exodus 16:31.