Literary Devices – Shemot 16

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In The Manna and the Paschal Sacrifice, Prof. Yonatan Grossman points out that Shemot 15-17 are arranged according to the following chiasm:

In The Manna and the Paschal Sacrifice, Prof. Grossman notes that this chiasm draws attention to what lies at its center, the complaint over bread and meat. He notes that this middle section contains many literary parallels to the chapter which discusses the Paschal sacrifice. The manna, like the Pesach before it, was meant to demonstrate to the people the Divine providence and intervention that was a constant feature in their lives.

By analyzing Ch. 16 in the Tanakh Lab, one sees that the words that appear most frequently in the chapter relative to the rest of Sefer Shemot and the rest of Tanakh are: תלונה, לקט, מן, עומר. The first of these words highlights the subject of this unit of Sefer Shemot, the complaints and travails of the nation in the wilderness, while the last three all relate to the gift of manna, God's response to the nation's complaint. Taken together, the words point to the dual nature of the manna, which is both a show of divine beneficence that provides for the Jews’ needs, and a test in response to their complaints against Hashem.

מַמְטִיר – Tanakh employs the word "מַמְטִיר" (rain down) when describing the falling manna. As the word relates to "מטר", dew, one naturally associates it with blessing. However, a concordance search reveals that in Torah, the verb is almost always related to destruction,¹ being used in connection to the Flood, Sedom, and the plague of hail. As Robert Alter notes in his commentary on the story, the choice of word might hint to the "double edged" nature of this promise, being a blessing but also a censure and test of faith.
לכם-לחם – Verse 4 contains a second wordplay as Hashem says, "הִנְנִי מַמְטִיר לָכֶם לֶחֶם". It is not clear, though, what message, if any, is being relayed through this.

Verses 20 and 24 form an inverse parallel, with verse 20 describing how the people leave over from the manna during the week against Moshe's command, inviting spoilage, and verse 24 describing how they leave over manna on Shabbat, following Moshe's command, with no spoilage. The contrast is further highlighted as the clauses of each half of each verse are structured as a chiasm with each other:

וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל מֹשֶׁה וַיּוֹתִרוּ אֲנָשִׁים מִמֶּנּוּ עַד בֹּקֶר / וַיָּרֻם תּוֹלָעִים וַיִּבְאַשׁ
וַיַּנִּיחוּ אֹתוֹ עַד הַבֹּקֶר כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה מֹשֶׁה / וְלֹא הִבְאִישׁ וְרִמָּה לֹא הָיְתָה בּוֹ.

Using the concordance demonstrates that clouds are often a vehicle of Hashem’s revelation, as in verse 10 here, and as such, they become symbolic of divine glory as well.
Articles

See Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Cloud, by R. Tamir Granot, for analysis of the phenomenon of Hashem’s revelation through natural phenomena such as fire and clouds. He suggests that in Tanakh, the cloud and pillar of fire are not two distinct modes of revelation, but one and the same. God's glory is manifest as fire which is screened by the cloud. It is referred to as one or the other due to the perception of the viewer, who might see fire at night, but only cloud during the day.
See For the Cloud Rested Upon It, by R. Shimon Klein, for exploration of the distinct symbols of fire and cloud. He suggests that fire represents Hashem’s actions and manifestation while the cloud represents man’s encounter with Him.