Exodus — Chapter 16

The whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. Lapide teaches that murmuring (murmuratio) is one of the most destructive spiritual vices: it is both a failure of trust in God's providence and a sin against charity toward one's superiors. He cites Numbers 14:27 where God declares that He has heard the murmuring of Israel—a solemn reminder that all our complaints against Providence are heard by God Himself. He cites Chrysostom (Hom. in Phil. 2): \"Nothing alienates us from God more than ingratitude and complaint.\"

The Lord said to Moses: Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather the day's portion every day. Lapide opens his treatment of the manna with a declaration that this miracle is the supreme type of the Holy Eucharist in the Old Testament, even more explicit than the Passover bread. He notes that God called it \"bread from heaven\" (panem de coelo)—the very title Our Lord applies to Himself (Jn. 6:35: \"I am the bread of life\") and to the Eucharist (Jn. 6:51: \"the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world\"). He cites the Council of Trent (Sess. XIII, cap. 1) and Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Cyril.

And when Aaron spoke to all the assembly of the children of Israel, they looked toward the desert: and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud. The divine Glory (Shekinah) appears precisely when the people are murmuring. Lapide draws the lesson: God does not always delay His presence until we are worthy; He comes sometimes precisely in our unworthiness to shame our ingratitude and reveal His mercy. He cites Chrysostom: \"God's mercy often runs ahead of our repentance; He gives gifts before we have merited them.\"

In the evening the quails covered the camp; in the morning the manna fell around it. Lapide notes that God provides both flesh (quails) and bread (manna), satisfying both the lower and higher appetite. Morally, the quails represent the corporeal satisfactions God occasionally permits to the weak; the manna represents the spiritual nourishment of the soul, which is the primary gift. He cites Origen: the manna comes in the morning, after the dew—grace comes to the recollected soul, not to the one immersed in worldly affairs.

The manna appeared \"as it were a small round thing, as it were the hoarfrost on the ground.\" Lapide explains that the manna's smallness signifies the hiddenness of Christ in the Eucharist under the accidents of bread: the species of bread are small and white, like the manna, yet contain the immensity of the Godhead. The word \"manna\" (Hebrew man hu, \"What is this?\") expresses the disciples' question at the Eucharist: What is this that we receive? Lapide answers with John 6: it is the very flesh and blood of the Son of God, truly, really, and substantially present under the sacramental species.

When they gathered the manna, he that gathered more had none over, and he that gathered less had no want. Lapide interprets this miracle of equalization as a type of sacramental grace: all who receive the Eucharist worthily receive the whole Christ—the same measure of grace available to the greatest saint is available to every believer who approaches with proper dispositions. He cites Ambrose (De Sacr. IV): \"Though many receive, Christ is not diminished; He is received whole by each.\"

The sixth day produced a double portion because the seventh day was the Sabbath, on which no manna fell. Lapide follows Origen, Ambrose (In 1 Cor. 10), Augustine (Serm. 25 De Tempore), and the Synod of Caesarea: the day on which manna first fell was Sunday (the Lord's Day), because the Sabbath follows six days and the sixth day produced double. Thus the manna mystically and tacitly consecrated the Lord's Day, prefiguring the Sunday Eucharist of the New Testament. The double portion on Saturday is a figure of the Viaticum given to the dying—a final provision for the journey.

The house of Israel called the name thereof Man: and it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste thereof was like to flour with honey. Lapide notes the whiteness and sweetness of the manna: white signifies purity and innocence, honey signifies charity and consolation. The Eucharist similarly presents itself in the white species of bread and is sweet to those who receive it worthily—bitter only to those who receive it sacrilegiously (1 Cor. 11:29). He cites Psalm 33:9: \"Taste and see that the Lord is sweet.\"

The children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land. Lapide marvels at this continued miracle: forty years, for three million people, without interruption. He draws the theological conclusion: as God nourished Israel with manna for forty years in the wilderness, so Christ nourishes His Church with the Eucharist throughout the forty weeks of Lent and the entire duration of her pilgrimage, until she enters the true Promised Land of heaven. He cites Augustine: \"We are travelers; without provision we die.\"