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What the Bible says about Gathering Manna on Sabbath
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Exodus 16:26

Moses is repeating himself here, perhaps for emphasis. He had already told the Israelites that:

  • They should gather manna for six days
  • The seventh day is a Sabbath—a day of rest
  • There would be none for them to gather on the Sabbath Day.

Staff

Joshua 5:10

Remember the instructions in Exodus 12. The Israelites were to kill the Passover lambs in the twilight just after the sun went down. This takes place at the very beginning of the Abib/Nisan 14, but light remained. All of those Israelites age 40-59, plus Joshua and Caleb and their families, had kept Passover while they were still in Egypt. They knew what to do by experience. Besides, they had Moses' writings to fall back on. Therefore, after the sun went down, they followed through by burning any of the lambs that remained after the Passover meal, and as Exodus 12 instructs, they stayed in their homes until morning.

What did they do in the morning, the daylight portion of Abib/Nisan 14? They did what we do on the daylight portion of the 14th. They prepared for the activities of Abib/Nisan 15. Like us, they undoubtedly prepared for the Night To Be Much Observed and the keeping of the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They made final preparations for observing it, as the Passover, Abib/Nisan 14, is a preparation day.

Because it was not a Sabbath, manna fell on that day. Notice the instructions regarding manna in Exodus 16:25-30:

Then Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there shall be none." Now it came happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day for to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place [for manna] on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day.

This presents us with a choice about what happened in Joshua 5. Did manna fall on an annual festival—on Abib/Nisan 15? The annual festivals are Sabbaths. It is not specifically mentioned in Exodus 16, but they are Sabbaths and also holy convocations. Exodus 16 contains a principle by which we can understand that God did not provide manna on any Sabbath. He sent double portions on the preparation day, and the manna did not spoil over any Sabbath day, whether weekly or annual.

God would have been concerned about witnessing to His people about all His holy convocations, just as He was about the weekly Sabbath, so that they would have no excuse about not knowing they were Sabbaths. Thus, He would have provided a double portion of manna on Abib/Nisan 14. When that day ends at sunset, the first day of Unleavened Bread, Abib/Nisan 15, begins with that same sunset. That sunset also begins The Night To Be Much Observed.

Time-wise, this is the same time mentioned in Genesis 15:17 and Exodus 12:40-42. Those two, separated exactly to the day by 430 years, and in Joshua 5, exactly 40 years after the Israelites left Egypt. To the day, Abraham's descendants in Joshua 5 are in the Promised Land keeping The Night To Be Much Observed.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Wavesheaf and the Selfsame Day


 




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