Exodus 16

After this it is written: "in the second month", it says, "after they had set out from Egypt, on the fifteenth day of the month, the people murmured against Moses, saying: would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat over the pots of flesh and ate bread to our fill, for you have led us out into this desert, to kill the whole synagogue with hunger". Granted, for the correction of readers let the sin of the people be indicated, that it murmured and was ungrateful for the divine benefits, when it was receiving the heavenly manna; but why is even the day written, on which day "the people murmured"? "In the second month", it says, "on the fifteenth day of the month"; which surely is not written without reason. Recall the things which were said concerning the laws of the Passover, and you will find that this is the time which is appointed for keeping the second Passover by those who were "unclean in soul" or occupied with journeys abroad. Those therefore who were not "unclean in soul" or were not "journeying far", kept the Passover "on the fourteenth day of the first month". But those who "were journeying far and were unclean", keep the second Passover at this time, at which the manna also came down from heaven. On the day on which the first Passover is kept, the manna did not come down, but on this, on which the second Passover is kept. Let us now see, therefore, what the order of the mystery in these things is. The first Passover is of the first people; the second Passover is ours. For we were "unclean in soul", we who "worshiped wood and stone" and "not knowing God served those who by nature were not gods". We also were those who "were journeying far", of whom the Apostle says that we were "strangers and sojourners from the covenants of God, having no hope and without God in this world". Nevertheless the manna is not given from heaven on that day on which the first Passover is kept, but on that on which the second is kept. For the "bread which came down from heaven" did not come to those who celebrated the first solemnity, but to us, who received the second. "For our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed", who is for us the true "bread that came down from heaven". But meanwhile let us see what it is that is shown to have been done on this day. "On the fifteenth day", it says, "of the second month the people murmured and said that it had been better for us to die in Egypt, when we sat over the pots of flesh". O ungrateful people: it desires Egypt, it that saw the Egyptians destroyed! it seeks after the flesh of Egypt, it that saw the flesh of the Egyptians given to the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven! They raise a murmur therefore against Moses, nay, against God. But this indeed is forgiven the first time, forgiven also the second, perhaps even the third; but if they do not cease and persist, hear what follows the murmuring people after these things. In the book of Numbers it is related, which the Apostle also rehearsed in his writings, saying: "neither murmur, as some of them murmured and perished from the serpents". The murmuring people is fed upon by the venomous bite of the serpents in the wilderness. Let us see, we who hear these things, we, I say, for whom they were written: "for they happened to them for correction, but they were written on account of us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come". If we do not cease from murmuring, if we do not desist from our complaints, which we frequently have against God, let us take heed lest we incur a like example of offense. For indeed when we make complaint about the intemperance of the sky, about the barrenness of the fruits, about the scarcity of rains, about the prosperities of others and about the ill-fortune of others, this is to raise up a murmur against God. But these things are forgiven those who are at the beginnings; but upon those who do not cease, it is grievously avenged. For serpents are sent upon them, that is, they are handed over to unclean spirits and venomous demons, who slay them with hidden and lurking bites and consume them with thoughts inward and shut up within the recesses of the heart. But I beseech you, let the examples of the correction set before us profit us; let their punishment be our amendment. For God says that: "I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel". You see that our murmuring is not hidden from God; he hears all things, and in that he does not punish at once, he awaits the repentance of our conversion.

Although this manner of speaking first referred to that people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession. For everyone who has first renounced this world and then returns to his former pursuits and his erstwhile desires proclaims that in deed and in intention he is the same as they were, and he says, "It was well with me in Egypt."I fear that there will be found as many such people as we read there were multitudes of sinners in the time of Moses. For although six hundred and three thousand armed men were said to have left Egypt, no more than two of these entered the Promised Land. Hence we must strive to take our models of virtue from the few and far between, since, according to that figure of speech in the Gospel, many are said to be called but few are said to be chosen. Bodily renunciation and removal from Egypt, as it were, will be of no value to us, therefore, if we have been unable to obtain at the same time the renunciation of heart which is more sublime and more beneficial.

Since they dared to prefer the bitterest of Egyptian foods to the heavenly food of manna and preferred the succulent meats of their hostile masters to their own freedom, did they deserve anything else than to have their joy in foods curtailed? They truly deserved to bear the brand of the slavery they had longed for, since a better food—the food of the free—displeased them so.

The Jews ate flesh in the wilderness, and it is written concerning them that, "While the flesh was yet between their teeth the anger of God had dominion over them," not because they had eaten flesh, but because with lust they had asked to eat it. And in the place where they required flesh it is written that, "The people said to Moses, It was better for us when we were in Egypt, for we sat by the flesh pots, and did eat, and were filled with everything that our soul lusted for." Behold then, according to the word of Moses unto the Jews, every one that eateth in lust, rejecteth the Lord Who is in him, and he resteth upon his lust's desire.

These incidents are quite well known from our reading of Exodus, for quails rained down like the heaviest shower, and the Jews received manna to get their fill. But to demonstrate that this was a prefiguration, he spoke not of manna but of the bread of heaven, so that the Lord Savior's coming could be visualized in this blessing, for he is "the living bread which came down from heaven." The meaning of manna, as was stated at Psalm 77, is "What is this?" He disposed of the problem surrounding the name, and with the statement "He filled them with the bread of heaven," he explained the answer to the question about manna, for the Lord of heaven is indicated by the phrase, and the nature of manna is clearly acknowledged.

But what was recited after these things? "The Lord said", it says, "to Moses: behold, I will rain for you bread from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather of one day in a day, that I may test them, whether they walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day, they shall prepare whatever they bring in; and it shall be double whatever they bring in daily in a day". I indeed would first wish to have discourse with the Jews concerning this scripture, to whom "the oracles of God" are said to have been "entrusted", what seems to them concerning that which it says: "for six days continuously you shall gather, but on the sixth day you shall gather double". It appears therefore that the sixth day is named as that which is set before the sabbath, which among us is called the preparation. But the sabbath is the seventh day. I ask therefore on what day the manna began to be given from heaven, and I wish to compare our Lord's day with the sabbath of the Jews. For from the divine scriptures it appears that the manna was first given upon the earth on the Lord's day. For if, as Scripture says, it was gathered for six continuous days, but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, there was a cessation, without doubt its beginning was from the first day, which is the Lord's day. But if from the divine scriptures this is established, that on the Lord's day God rained the manna and on the sabbath he did not rain it, let the Jews understand that even then our Lord's day was preferred to the Jewish sabbath, that even then it was indicated that on their sabbath no grace of God came down to them from heaven, that no heavenly bread, which is the word of God, came to them. For the prophet says also elsewhere: "for many days the children of Israel shall sit without king, without prince, without prophet, without victim, without sacrifice, without priest". But on our Lord's day the Lord always rains manna from heaven. And I say that even today the Lord rains manna from heaven. For heavenly are these oracles which have been read to us, and the words which have been recited to us have come down from God, and therefore to us, who have received such manna, manna is always given from heaven; those unhappy ones grieve and sigh and call themselves wretched, because the manna, as their fathers received it, they themselves do not deserve to receive. They never eat manna; for they cannot eat that which is "fine as the seed of coriander and white as hoarfrost". For they perceive nothing "fine" in the word of God, nothing subtle, nothing spiritual, but everything gross, everything coarse; "for the heart of that people has been made gross". But the interpretation of the name also sounds this same thing; for manna is interpreted 'what is this?' See whether the very force of the name does not summon you to learn, so that, when you hear the law of God recited, you may always inquire and ask and say to the teachers: what is this? For this is what manna indicates. You therefore, if you wish to eat manna, that is, if you desire to receive the word of God, know that it is "fine and very subtle as the seed of coriander". For it has something in it also of the herb, by which it can nourish and refresh the weak, because "he who is weak eats herbs". It has also something of hardness, and therefore it is "as hoarfrost". But of whiteness and sweetness it has very much. For what is whiter, what more splendid than divine instruction? What is sweeter, or what more pleasant than the oracles of the Lord, which are "above honey and the honeycomb"? But what is it that it says, "that on the sixth day double be gathered" in store, as much as suffices even for the sabbath? This, according to our understanding, we ought not to pass over idle or unconcerned. The sixth day is this life in which we now are ("for in six days God made this world"); on this day therefore we ought to lay up and store away as much as suffices also in the day to come. For if you acquire here anything of good work, if you store away anything of righteousness, mercy, and piety, this will be food for you in the age to come. Do we not read thus in the Gospel that he who acquired here ten talents there received ten cities; and he who acquired four received four cities? This is what the Apostle also says under another figure: "for what a man has sown, that also shall he reap". What then are we doing, we who love to store away that which is corrupted, not that which remains and endures unto the morrow? "The rich of this world" store away those things which in this world, nay, together with the world, will be corrupted; but if anyone stores away good works, they remain until the morrow.

The rain of manna fed the Jewish people for forty years in the desert. It did not by its customary service cause an increase of sprouts from the earth but streamed on the earth like harvested grains. It took away all the toil of human labor and by its pleasant dew offered and spread out heavenly produce for the hungry.

But what further does the divine word teach us? "And at evening", it says, "you shall know that I am the Lord, but in the morning you shall see the majesty of the Lord". And concerning this I would wish the Jews to answer me, how "at evening" the Lord is recognized, but "in the morning" his majesty is seen. Where was the Lord recognized "at evening" and his majesty seen "in the morning"? Answer us, you who are instructed from infancy to old age, "always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth": why do you not understand that these things are said prophetically? But if you wish to understand these things, you cannot except through the Gospel. For there you will find it written that: "on the evening of the sabbath, which dawns toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and Mary of James to the tomb, and they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher", an earthquake having occurred, the sepulchers broken open, the centurion and the soldiers, who had been set for the guard, "saying: truly this was the Son of God". Through these things, therefore, the Lord was recognized in the evening, because he himself was the Lord; he was recognized in the power of the resurrection. But how was his glory seen "in the morning"? When the other women had come "early in the morning on the first day of the week", they found angels with immense brightness sitting at the sepulcher and saying: "he is not here, he has risen from the dead. Come and see the place in which he was laid, and go, tell his disciples that he has risen and goes before you into Galilee". Therefore "the majesty of the Lord was seen in the morning", when through the angels the resurrection was announced.

I shall give you another testimony, my friends, from the Scriptures, that God begat before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos; and on another occasion He calls Himself Captain, when He appeared in human form to Joshua the son of Nave (Nun). For He can be called by all those names, since He ministers to the Father's will, and since He was begotten of the Father by an act of will.

And it is added in what follows: "at evening", it says, "you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with loaves". And concerning this I would wish to know in what manner the Jews receive the sayings of the prophet. For what consistency will it seem to have, that either "at evening" they should eat flesh without loaves, or "in the morning" eat loaves without the addition of a relish? What of the divine gift, what of the tempering of the heavenly grace do you show in this? Is this the thing in which you place the recognizing of God, that the flesh at evening is eaten without loaves, and do you say that the majesty of God appears, if again loaves are eaten without flesh? But keep these things for yourselves and for those who, acquiescing to you, think that God can be recognized in the quails. But we, for whom at the end of the age and at the evening of the world "the Word was made flesh", say that the Lord is recognized in that flesh which he took from the virgin. For no one ate this flesh of the Word of God either in the morning or at midday, but at evening. For the coming of the Lord in the flesh took place at evening, just as John also says: "children, it is the last hour". But "in the morning", it says, "you shall be filled with loaves". For us the bread also is the word of God. For he himself is "the living bread, which came down from heaven and gives life to this world". But as to what it says, that this bread is given "in the morning", since we have said that his coming in the flesh took place at evening, I think it is to be understood in this way: that the Lord came indeed at the evening of a world declining and set near the end of its course, but by his coming, since he himself is the "sun of righteousness", he restored a new day for believers. Because therefore he kindled a new light of knowledge for the world, he made his day in a certain manner morning, and brought forth his morning as the "sun of righteousness", and in this morning those are filled with loaves who receive his precepts. And do not wonder that the word of God is called both "flesh" and "bread", and is called "milk" and is called "herbs", and is named diversely according to the measure of believers or the capacity of those receiving. Yet this too can be understood, that after his resurrection, which we showed took place in the morning, he filled believers with loaves in this, that he gave us the books of the law and the prophets, before unknown and unrecognized, and granted these instruments of the Church for our instruction, so that he himself is the bread in the Gospel, but the other books of the law or the prophets or the histories are called many loaves, from which those "who believe from the nations" are filled. Yet we teach that this took place not without prophetic authority. For the prophet Isaiah had foretold in this manner: "they shall ascend into the mountain, they shall drink wine, they shall be anointed with ointment. Deliver all these things to the nations; for this is the counsel of the Lord almighty". Thus therefore fittingly we both receive flesh at evening and shall be filled with loaves in the morning, because neither was it possible for us to eat flesh in the morning, for the time was not yet, nor could we at midday. For scarcely do the angels eat flesh at midday, and to that order perhaps the midday time is granted. Moreover we can understand this also, that for each of us the morning and the beginning of the day is that time in which we are first illuminated and come to the light of faith. In this time, therefore, in which we are still in our beginnings, we cannot eat the flesh of the word, that is, we are not yet accounted capable of perfect and consummated doctrine. But after long exercises, after very great progress, when we are now near to evening and are urged on to the very end of perfection, then at last we can become capable of more solid food and of the perfect word. Now therefore let us hasten to receive the heavenly manna; for this manna, as each one wishes, renders such a savor in his mouth. For hear the Lord also saying to those who come to him: "be it done to you according to your faith". And you therefore, if you receive the word of God, which is preached in the Church, with all faith and all devotion, that very word will become for you whatever you desire. For example, if you are in tribulation, it consoles you, saying: "a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise". If you rejoice for the hope to come, it heaps up joys for you, saying: "rejoice in the Lord and exult, you righteous". If you are angry, it calms you, saying: "cease from anger and forsake indignation". If you are in pains, it heals you, saying: "the Lord heals all your sicknesses". If you are consumed by poverty, it consoles you, saying: "the Lord lifts up the needy from the earth and rescues the poor from the dung". Thus therefore the manna of the word of God renders in your mouth whatever savor you wish. Yet if anyone receives this unfaithfully and does not eat it, but hides it, "worms bubble up out of it". Do you suppose that the word of God is to be brought so far that it should even be thought to become a worm? Let not the hearing disturb you here; hear the prophet saying in the person of the Lord: "but I am a worm and not a man". For just as he himself is he who becomes for some "a ruin", but for others "a resurrection", so also he himself is he who now in the manna becomes for the faithful the sweetness of honey, but for the unfaithful a worm. For he himself is the word of God, which convicts the minds of the wicked and pierces the consciences of sinners with the darts of correction. He himself is he who becomes also a fire in the hearts of those to whom he "opens the scriptures", who say: "was not our heart burning within us, when he opened to us the scriptures?" And for others he is that fire which burns up the thorns from the evil ground, that is, which consumes the malignant thoughts in the heart. And therefore for sinners indeed "neither does the" convicting "worm ever die, nor is the" consuming "fire ever quenched"; but for the righteous and faithful it remains sweet and pleasant. For "taste and see that the Lord is sweet", he who is God and our savior Jesus Christ, "to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen".

But if there are any who have gone out of Egypt, and, having followed the pillar of fire and cloud, have come into the wilderness, he descends to them from heaven, furnishing them a minute and subtle food, like to that of the angels, so that man eats the bread of angels.

"This is the bread that God gave" to you "to eat." Hear who this bread is: "The word," Scripture says, "which God has ordained." This then is the ordination of God; this food nourishes the soul of the wise. It illuminates and it sweetens, resplendent with the gleam of truth and soothing, as if with a honeycomb, by the sweetness of different virtues and the word of wisdom. For "good words are sweeter than a honeycomb," as it is written in Proverbs.

That this is heavenly food is demonstrated by the person speaking: "I shall rain upon you bread from heaven." Manna is a cause (aition),because God, who waters minds with the dew of wisdom, uses it as an instrument. And manna is a kind of matter (hyle), because souls that see it and taste it are delighted and ask whence it comes, manna which is more splendid that light and sweeter than honey. They can be answered with a chain of quotations from Scripture: "This is the bread that the Lord gave to you to eat," and "This is the Word of God which God has established" or ordained. By this bread the souls of the prudent are fed and delighted, since it is fair and sweet, illuminating the souls of the hearers with the splendor of truth and drawing them on with the sweetness of the virtues.

Manna is interpreted as "What is this?" See whether the very power of the name does not provoke you to learn it, so that when you hear the law of God read in church you may always ask and say to the teachers: What is this? This it is that the manna indicates. Therefore if you want to eat the manna, that is, if you desire to receive the word of God, know that it is small and very fine like the seed of the coriander.

Nay, verily, the Holy Spirit is not given by measure, but is poured out altogether on the believer. For if the day rises alike to all, and if the sun is diffused with like and equal light over all, how much more does Christ, who is the true sun and the true day, bestow in His Church the light of eternal life with the like equality! Of which equality we see the sacrament celebrated in Exodus, when the manna flowed down from heaven, and, prefiguring the things to come, showed forth the nourishment of the heavenly bread and the food of the coming Christ. For there, without distinction either of sex or of age, an omer was collected equally by each one.33 Whence it appeared that the mercy of Christ, and the heavenly grace that would subsequently follow, was equally divided among all; without difference of sex, without distinction of years, without accepting of persons, upon all the people of God the gift of spiritual grace was shed. Assuredly the same spiritual grace which is equally received in baptism by believers, is subsequently either increased or diminished in our conversation and conduct; as in the Gospel the Lord's seed is equally sown, but, according to the variety of the soil, some is wasted, and some is increased into a large variety of plenty, with an exuberant fruit of either thirty or sixty or a hundred fold. But, once more, when each was called to receive a penny, wherefore should what is distributed equally by God be diminished by human interpretation?

I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack. [Exodus 16:18]

But if any endure not what I have said, but still cleave to the poverty of worldly things, snatching at the things which endure diminution: even in respect of those again, let him call to mind the food of manna and tremble at the example of that punishment. For what happened in that instance, this same result may one now also see in the case of covetous men. But what then happened? Worms were bred from their covetousness. This also now happens in their case. For the measure of the food is the same for all; we having but one stomach to fill; only thou who feedest luxuriously hast more to get rid of. And as in that case they who in their houses gathered more than the lawful quantity, gathered not manna, but more worms and rottenness; just so both in luxury and in covetousness, the gluttonous and drunken gather not more dainties but more corruption.

Finally it is thus also written that those who were unfaithful, "kept", it says, "of the manna, and worms bubbled up out of it, and it rotted". But that which was laid up for the sabbath day was not corrupted, nor "did worms bubble up in it", but it remained whole. And you therefore, if you treasure up only for the sake of the present life and for the love of the world, immediately "worms bubble up". How do "worms bubble up"? Hear concerning sinners and those who love the present world, what the prophet's sentence is: "their worm", it says, "shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched". These are the worms which greed produces, these are the worms which the blind desire of riches produces for those who have money and, seeing their brothers in need, "shut up their bowels from them". For this reason the Apostle also says: "but charge the rich of this world not to be proud in mind nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but let them be rich in good works, give readily, share, and treasure up for themselves the true life". But someone says: if you say that the manna is the word of God, how does it produce worms? Nor do worms arise in us from anywhere except from the word of God. For he himself says thus: "if I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin". After the word of God has been received, therefore, if anyone sins, that very word becomes for him a worm, which always digs at his conscience and gnaws the secret places of his breast.

And thou must in another way understand that it is lust which is reprehensible, for every day, morning after morning, the people gathered the manna which came down, and so long as they gathered it according to the command they were not reprehended or condemned; but when they lusted to gather it in too great a quantity, it swarmed with worms and stank, to the shame of the lust which gathered it.

Moreover in regard to the celebrated sabbath, a careful reader will see that the command, "You shall sit each one in your dwellings; let none of you go out from his place on the sabbath day," is an impossible one to observe literally, for no living creature could sit for a whole day and not move from his seat.

For the Word of God becomes all these things to each one, according as the measure or the desire of the partaker demands: even as the manna also, though it was a single food, yet rendered to each one the flavor of his own desire. He offers himself, then, not only as bread to the hungry and wine to the thirsty, but also, to those who wish to take delight, he presents himself as fragrant fruits.

And moreover when they ate it formerly, its taste was changed into that of all kinds of meats in their mouth, and it is well known that it also took the place of flesh unto them, for it is written, "It was like honey comb, and its taste was as if it had been kneaded in oil." And although it was changed into all these varieties of food the eaters thereof were not condemned thereby, for it was a gift of Grace, and not that which their lust had demanded.

Let us also see if we are able to find Quadragesima's mystical number somewhere else in the Scriptures. We read that holy Moses fed the children of Israel with heavenly manna in the desert for the space of forty years. Good is the number, then, which always opens heaven. Good is the number, I say, by which Noah's righteousness is preserved and the children of Israel are fed. For this reason let us also observe this number so that the heavens might be opened to us in order that the rain of spiritual grace might fall upon us and the manna of the spiritual sacraments refresh us. For, after the fashion of our fathers, by this observance of Quadragesima we are both made righteous and nourished: we are made righteous by the washing [of baptism] and nourished by the sacraments [of bread and wine].

Anyway, when the instruction is given to consecrate in a golden vessel the memorial of the food sent down by God from heaven, "the gomor," it is written, "is a tenth part of three measures." For our purposes, "three measures" means three sources of judgment: perception of sensible objects; reason, for evaluating sentences, nouns and verbs; and the intellect, for intelligible objects.