Discovery BoxExodus 16:5 
Context16:5 On the sixth day 1 they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day.” 2
Exodus 16:22
Context16:22 And 3 on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers 4 per person; 5 and all the leaders 6 of the community 7 came and told 8 Moses.
1 tn Heb “and it will be on the sixth day.”
2 sn There is a question here concerning the legislation – the people were not told why to gather twice as much on the sixth day. In other words, this instruction seems to presume that they knew about the Sabbath law. That law will be included in this chapter in a number of ways, suggesting to some scholars that this chapter is out of chronological order, placed here for a purpose. Some argue that the manna episode comes after the revelation at Sinai. But it is not necessary to take such a view. God had established the Sabbath in the creation, and if Moses has been expounding the Genesis traditions in his teachings then they would have known about that.
3 tn Heb “and it happened/was.”
4 tn This construction is an exception to the normal rule for the numbers 2 through 10 taking the object numbered in the plural. Here it is “two of the omer” or “the double of the omer” (see GKC 433 §134.e).
5 tn Heb “for one.”
6 tn The word suggests “the ones lifted up” above others, and therefore the rulers or the chiefs of the people.
7 tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
8 sn The meaning here is probably that these leaders, the natural heads of the families in the clans, saw that people were gathering twice as much and they reported this to Moses, perhaps afraid it would stink again (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 197).
