Epilogue to the Manna Story/1/en

Epilogue to the Manna Story

Introduction

Expanding the Timeframe

The bulk of Shemot 16 provides a log of the amazing events of the first week of the miracle of the manna: its raining down from the heavens on regular weekdays, the double portion of manna collected on Fridays, and its complete absence on Shabbat.  The conclusion of the chapter, though, moves on to discuss events relevant for the more distant future:

EN/HEע/E

(לב) וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה י"י מְלֹא הָעֹמֶר מִמֶּנּוּ לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם לְמַעַן יִרְאוּ אֶת הַלֶּחֶם אֲשֶׁר הֶאֱכַלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם בַּמִּדְבָּר בְּהוֹצִיאִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. (לג) וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל אַהֲרֹן קַח צִנְצֶנֶת אַחַת וְתֶן שָׁמָּה מְלֹא הָעֹמֶר מָן וְהַנַּח אֹתוֹ לִפְנֵי י"י לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם. (לד) כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה י"י אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיַּנִּיחֵהוּ אַהֲרֹן לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת לְמִשְׁמָרֶת. (לה) וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָכְלוּ אֶת הַמָּן אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה עַד בֹּאָם אֶל אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת אֶת הַמָּן אָכְלוּ עַד בֹּאָם אֶל קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן.

(32) And Moses said: 'This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded: Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' (33) And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Take a jar, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.' (34) As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. (35) And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

When

Cessation of the Manna

Verse 35 and its description of the forty year duration of the miracle of the manna is the classic example used to prove that the Torah sometimes appends information which is not in chronological order so as to complete a story.¹  Interestingly, this verse might even refer to events which go beyond the fortieth year, as it speaks of eating the manna until the nation's arrival at both "אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת" ("inhabited land") and "קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן" ("the border of the land of Canaan").  What is the relationship between these two terms; do they both refer to the land of Arvot Moav (east of the Jordan), both to Israel proper, or to one and one?  If the terms mean the same thing, why the doubling?  If not, when exactly did the manna cease?  Is the Torah speaking here only about events which took place in Moshe's lifetime, or also about those which happened after Moshe's death and the crossing of the Jordan?² 

Preserving the Manna

Verses 32-34 may also be out of chronological order.  Verse 34 speaks of Aharon's preserving of the manna by storing it "לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת", a term which the Torah uses as shorthand for the Ark of Testimony ("") and the Tablets of Testimony ("") contained therein.  At this point of the story, however, the Tabernacle and Ark have not yet been built, placing this event no earlier than the second year.  Here, too, though, the extent of the achronology is unclear.  Did the event take place right after the building, or at some later point?  Moreover, in Moshe's directive he speaks of placing the manna "לִפְנֵי ה'‏".  Is that term identical to "לִפְנֵי הָעֵדֻת" and speaks of the same event, or are they distinct and the manna might have been placed in two different places at two different times, perhaps even before the Tabernacle's construction? Do Moshe's instructions in verses 32-33 take place at the same time as the fulfillment in verse 34?   Finally, when would have been the most logical time to have set aside the manna – when the phenomenon first began, when there was a proper place for safe-keeping, or perhaps only at the eve of the nation's entry into the land, when it became necessary to commemorate the soon to be lost miracle?

When was the Epilogue Written?

When the Torah concludes a story by including a future event, when is that event recorded?  Did Moshe receive all the information where it was supposed to be written and prophetically write it even before the event transpired, or did he add it in only after the fact?  Did he do so immediately, or only at the end of the forty years?  When were the events of this epilogue written?  If Moshe wrote about the forty year duration of the manna already in the first year, does that mean he was privy to the decree of wandering even before the spies sinned?  If verse 35 describes events that took place on the other side of the Jordan,  does that suggest that Moshe wrote about events that took place after his death?

• Why Aharon? – Why is Aharon specifically chosen to store the manna?  Is this related to his role as priest or assistant to Moshe?

¹ See, for instance, Ibn Ezra on Shemot 12:50 and Ramban on Bemidbar 21:1 who both reference it as evidence when trying to suggest that other verses too come just "to finish the story".

² On a textual level, too, the doubling is problematic.  If the terms are identical, what is the need the repetition? If not, what is the verse trying to say about the cessation of the manna?