שמות

וילקטו אותו בבקר בבקר. בקר שתי שעות ובקר שתי שעות הרי ד' שעות ומד' שעות ואילך וחם השמש ונמס והיו חולקין בתורת צדקה אל כל מי שפשע ולא לקט בבקר, ונס גדול היה נעשה במן כשם שהנביא היה מגיד הדברים הנעלמים כך המן כשברח לו עבד ונמצא העבד ביד חברו זה אומר אתה מכרתו לי וזה אומר ממני ברח אם היה העומר שלו נמצא בבית רבו ראשון ידוע שהוא ברח ואם נמצא בבית חברו שהוא שם בידוע שהראשון מכרו, וכן האשה שברחה מבית בעלה זאת אומרת הוא סרח עלי והוא אומר היא סרחה עלי אמר להם משה רבינו לבקר משפט למחר נמצא העומר בבית בעלה בידוע שהיא סרחה עליו נמצא העומר בבית אביה בידוע שהוא סרח עליה והוא הוציאה מביתו כך דרשו רז"ל במסכת יומא מרמז הכתוב כזרע גד שהמן היה מגיד לישראל ענינים נעלמים ודין ומשפטים הרבה.

וילקטו אותו בבקר בבקר, “they collected it morning after morning.” Had the word בקר been written only once it would have meant two hours after sunrise. The repetition of the word בקר means that it could be collected until he end of four hours after sunrise. After that time the words: “when the sun was hot it would melt” would apply. Anyone who had failed to collect the manna by that time had to receive it as a charitable gift from people who had collected their share on time. A great miracle occurred in connection with the manna. Just as it was the function of the prophet to reveal to people matters otherwise concealed from them, so the manna served as a source of information (Yuma 75). If someone’s slave had fled and was found in some other household, and the householder claimed that the first owner had sold the slave to him, whereas the first householder claimed that the slave in question had fled from him, the number of omers of manna in the two households would reveal who had spoken the truth. If the first household wound up with an extra omer of manna it was evident that the slave had escaped from that household and had not been sold. If an extra portion of manna was found in the second household however, it was proof that the owner of that household had bought the slave, that he had not run away from the first household. The same would apply to a woman who had run away from her husband. If she were to claim that her husband had kicked her out and she would demand her כתובה, financial settlement, whereas her husband declared her guilty of the kind of infidelity by which she forfeits her כתובה, the presence or absence of an extra portion of manna would help to determine whose claim was true. Moses would announce that on the following morning when the husband went out to collect the daily manna ration for the family the truth would become evident. This is how the sages in Yuma 75 describe the judicial help which the manna represented. They base this on the wording of Numbers 11,7 that the manna כזרע גד הוא, “was like the seed of gad;” the Hebrew word גד being similar to מגיד, “telling, revealing.” It revealed many matters which had previously been hidden.