In the desert of Sin, hungry and murmuring, Israel is fed each morning with bread from heaven, as much as each can eat and no more. The Church has always read the manna as the figure of the Eucharist, the bread of angels given to a pilgrim people on the way to the promised land.
The passage · Douay-Rheims
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.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
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 fleshpots, and ate bread to the full: Why have you brought us into this desert, that you might destroy all the multitude with famine?
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.
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.
And Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel In the evening you shall know that the Lord hath brought you forth out of the land of Egypt:
And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord: for he hath heard your murmuring against the Lord: but as for us, what are we, that you mutter against us?
And Moses said: In the evening the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full: for he hath heard your murmurings, with which you have murmured against him, for what are we? your murmuring is not against us, but against the Lord.
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.
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.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is the word that the Lord hath commanded: Let every one gather of it as much as is enough to eat; a gomor for every man, according to the number of your souls that dwell in a tent, so shall you take of it.
And the children of Israel did so: and they gathered, one more, another less.
And they measured by the measure of a gomor: neither had he more that had gathered more; nor did he find less that had provided less: but every one had gathered, according to what they were able to eat.
And Moses said to them: Let no man leave thereof till the morning.
And they hearkened not to him, but some of them left until the morning, and it began to be full of worms, and it putrified, and Moses was angry with them.
Now every one of them gathered in the morning, as much as might suffice to eat: and after the sun grew hot, it melted.
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The four senses
Literal sense
What did God do for Israel in the desert, and what was the manna in the sacred history of the Exodus?
8 writers
Irenaeus of Lyons, in Against Heresies, gives the reason God fed Israel with manna after the Exodus. He wrote in the late second century against the Gnostics, defending the one God of the Old and New Testaments. He reads the manna in its literal sense, as the instruction of a people newly led out of Egypt.
But when this righteousness and love to God had passed into oblivion, and became extinct in Egypt, God did necessarily, because of His great goodwill to men, reveal Himself by a voice, and led the people with power out of Egypt, in order that man might again become the disciple and follower of God; and He afflicted those who were disobedient, that they should not contemn their Creator; and He fed them with manna, that they might receive food for their souls (uti rationalem acciperent escam); as also Moses says in Deuteronomy: “And fed thee with manna, which thy fathers did not know, that thou mightest know that man doth not live by bread alone; but by every word of God proceeding out of His mouth doth man live.”
Theophylact of Ochrida, cited by Aquinas in the Catena Aurea on Mark, sets the measured gift of manna beside the loaves multiplied by Christ. The gloss rests on the literal detail of the measure given to each according to need. It bears on the literal sense by comparing the two gifts as events.
Even though Moses gave manna, yet what was given to each was measured by his necessity, and what was over and above was overrun with worms. Elias also fed the woman, but gave her just what was enough for her; but Jesus, being the Lord, makes His gifts with superabundant profusion.
Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, in the Summa Theologiae treats the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law and asks why manna was kept in the ark. He answers from the command in Exodus itself. It bears on the literal sense by giving the purpose of the gift as a memorial of the benefit conferred in the desert.
The manna was kept in the ark to remind them of the benefit conferred by God on the children of Israel in the desert; wherefore it is written (Ex. 16:32): "Fill a gomor of it, and let it be kept unto generations to come hereafter, that they may know the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness."
Aquinas, in the Summa Theologiae on Christ’s temptation, distinguishes lawful from unlawful seeking of a miracle for bodily sustenance. He takes the manna as an example of the lawful kind. It bears on the literal sense by stating the circumstance of the gift: the desert, where no other food was to be had.
Now it is inordinate for a man who has human assistance at his command to seek to obtain food miraculously for mere bodily support. Hence the Lord miraculously provided the children of Israel with manna in the desert, where there was no means of obtaining food otherwise. And in like fashion Christ miraculously provided the crowds with food in the desert, when there was no other means of getting food.
Saint Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit and Doctor of the Church, comments in his exposition of the Psalms on the verses recalling the manna. He gives the plain sense first, explaining the names the sacred text attaches to it. It bears on the literal sense by accounting for the words of the narrative itself.
This refers to the first time they murmured; for they got the manna before they got the water. The manna is called bread from heaven, having fallen from thence; and it is called the bread of Angels, being made and produced by them. The word manna is derived from two Hebrew words, that mean, “What is it?” which the Jews said when first they saw it.
This annotation on Deuteronomy, from Haydock’s commentary with Challoner’s note, explains Moses’s words about the word of God and bread. Challoner and Haydock are Catholic commentators on the Douay-Rheims text. It bears on the literal sense by giving the lesson the sacred page itself draws from the manna.
Not in bread alone, &c. i.e. That God is able to make food of what he pleases for the support of man. (Challoner) --- Obedience to his law will ensure a happy life, ver. 1. --- God can support a person's life without any sustenance, as he did Moses, Elias, &c., for a long time. When the usual food is wanting, he can send some of a supernatural kind, as he did the manna.
Haydock’s annotation on the proving of the people explains the command in Exodus to gather for one day only, with the double portion before the Sabbath. It cites Origen and Calmet. It bears on the literal sense by giving the precept as the narrative gives it, and the origin of the name Parasceve.
Prove. Show by experience. Therefore he orders the Hebrews to gather manna only for one day, except on Friday. Many suppose that this bread of angels began to fall on Sunday, (ver. 22; Origen, hom. 7.) or on Friday. (Calmet)
Haydock’s annotation, citing Menochius, comments on the promise of the morning in Exodus, which follows the quails of the evening. It reads the sequence as the sacred text presents it. It bears on the literal sense by explaining the order of the two gifts and their purpose for the murmuring people.
Ver. 7. Morning, when manna fell, as quails were brought the former evening, ver. 12 and 13. These fresh instances of protection, might convince them that they had not been imposed upon by Moses in leaving Egypt. (Menochius)
Haydock’s annotation on the quails in Exodus, citing Josephus, identifies the bird and the season of its flight. It belongs to the account of the same day as the first gift of manna. It bears on the literal sense by placing the event in its natural setting under the providence of God.
Quails. All the Oriental languages express these birds by solaem, though some have asserted, that pheasants or locusts are here meant. Josephus (Antiquities iii. 1) informs us, that great flocks of quails are found about the gulph of Arabia. They return to Europe from the warmer regions, about the beginning of May, at which time God directed the course of vast multitudes to the camp of Israel.
Haydock’s annotation compares the manna of Exodus with the natural substance of that name. It argues from the particulars of the sacred text. It bears on the literal sense by determining what kind of food the people received and why the commentators judge it miraculous.
Manna is found in various parts of the world, the best in Arabia. But this was of a different nature, and wholly miraculous, falling every day, except Saturday, throughout the 40 years that the Hebrews dwelt in the desert. It melted with the heat of the sun, (ver. 21,) though it would bear the fire, and might be made into cakes, which cannot be done with the Arabian manna. It filled the mouth of God's servants with the most delightful tastes, (Wisdom xvi. 20,) while the wicked were disgusted with it, Numbers xi. 6.
Haydock’s annotation on the gomor gathers the particulars of the narrative in Exodus: the measure, the spoiling and the portion for the Sabbath. It cites Worthington and notes the memorial kept in the ark. It bears on the literal sense by setting out the rule of the gathering as the text gives it.
Whatever a man gathered, he had only a gomor full, and this sufficed for young and old, sick and healthy; if any was kept over the night it became corrupt, except that which was reserved for Saturday, and that which was preserved in the ark for a memorial for several hundred years. (Worthington)
Haydock’s annotation, citing Calmet and Menochius, comments on the psalm that recalls the manna. The psalmist himself looks back on the sacred history of the desert. It bears on the literal sense by showing how the Scripture itself remembers the gift, and why the murmuring was without excuse.
Ver. 23. And. Or "though he had." Berthier has mandavit. "He commanded," would be better rendered, this order being given before the complaints. God had supplied them abundantly with manna from the clouds, as from his granaries. (Calmet) --- Therefore they ought to have trusted in his power and goodness. (Menochius)
Each is quoted in full and is here because the commentary above, or the text itself, ties it to the key passage.
Wisdom 16:20-21
Aquinas (allegorical sense, on verse 15) takes “the sweetness of every taste” as the figure of the grace of the Eucharist, the Roman Catechism (allegorical sense, on verse 15) uses the same words, and Haydock (literal sense, on verses 14-15) cites the text for the taste of the manna.
20Instead of which things, thou didst feed thy people with the food of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven, prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste.
21For thy sustenance shewed thy sweetness to thy children, and serving every man's will, it was turned to what every man liked.
The Offertory of the 1962 Missal (allegorical sense, on verse 4) sings these verses, Bellarmine (literal and allegorical senses, on verse 15) and Haydock (literal sense, on verse 4) comment on them, and Augustine (anagogical sense, on verses 3-4) expounds the Psalm.
23And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven.
24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven.
25Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.
Augustine (allegorical sense, on verse 4), Athanasius (allegorical sense, on verse 15), Benedict XVI in Verbum Domini (allegorical sense, on verse 4) and in Deus Caritas Est (allegorical sense, on verse 15) read the manna through these words of the Lord; the Bread of Life has its own path.
30They said therefore to him: What sign therefore dost thou shew that we may see and may believe thee? What dost thou work?
31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
32Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
33For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world.
34They said therefore unto him: Lord, give us always this bread.
35And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.
Haydock (literal sense, on verse 4) and Irenaeus (literal sense, on verse 4) comment on the manna as a lesson that man lives by every word of God, and Theophylact on Luke (moral sense, on verse 4) gives the same lesson.
2And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were known in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
3He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.
Chrysostom (allegorical sense, on verse 4) and Lapide (allegorical sense, on verse 15) explain Paul’s “spiritual food” of the manna, and Augustine (allegorical sense, on verse 15) quotes the passage.
1For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud: and all passed through the sea.
2And all in Moses were baptized, in the cloud and in the sea:
3And did all eat the same spiritual food:
4And all drank the same spiritual drink: (And they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.)
Victorinus (anagogical sense, on verse 15), Aquinas (anagogical sense, on verse 15) and the Roman Catechism (anagogical sense, on verse 15) read “the hidden manna” as the gift of the world to come.
17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna and will give him a white counter: and in the counter, a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it.
