Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Then said the Lord unto Moses. Though the outbreak was immediately against the human leader, it was indirectly against God: yet mark His patience, and how graciously He promised to redress the grievance.
I will rain bread from heaven. This expression, 'raining from heaven,' seems selected as if on purpose to guard against the supposition of its being a natural production - "bread from heaven," whence it is called 'the bread of angels' (Psalms 78:24-25).
And the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day. The circumstance of the bread being to be supplied every day was designed to teach them a lesson of dependence for their daily food; and that of its being bestowed at "a certain rate" was to train them to the exercise of faith in God's Providence. At "a certain rate" х dªbar (H1697) yowm (H3117) bªyowmow (H3117)] - the thing - i:e., the provision of a day in its day; what was sufficient for the sustenance of every individual for a day [Septuagint, to tees heemeras eis heemeran] (cf. Matthew 6:11). 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 (Psalms 78:24).
That I may prove them. 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. Whether they will walk in my law, or no. The "law" here referred to was either the moral law written on the hearts, and a summary of which in the Ten Commandments was soon to be promulgated in the ears of the people-and in that case the Israelites were to be placed in a state of probation as to the general duty of obedience-or it was the particular regulation prescribed for bestowing the promised bread from heaven, and they were to be put to the test whether they would comply with the divine arrangement as to this food on feast days and sabbaths. In either view the Israelites were to be subjected to a trial whether and how far they would be won to the love, and yield a voluntary submission to the will, of God.