Exodus 16:23

To morrow. Moses realized that God had bestowed the manna in such a way that the Sabbath was to be sanctified thereby (v. 4). The apparent ignorance of the people concerning the Sabbath, together with Moses’ instructions regarding it and the fact that some attempted to find a fresh supply of manna on Sabbath in spite of instructions that none would fall, shows that the Israelites had largely lost sight of God’s holy day during their sojourn in Egypt. The rigorous requirements of the taskmasters had primarily been responsible for this laxity in Sabbath observance (PP 258).

Seethe that ye will seethe. In modern English, “Boil what you will boil” (RSV). All preparation of the food was to be completed before the Sabbath began. Later, Moses instructed the people not even to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day (ch. 35:3), and upon at least one occasion a man was stoned to death for violating this regulation (Num. 15:32-36). The principle involved was that no labor of any kind should be performed on the Sabbath which could as well be done at some other time. In the warm desert climate it was not essential to health to eat warm food on the Sabbath day. Had it been necessary to do so God would have permitted it, in harmony with the principle that the Sabbath was designed for the benefit of man (Mark 2:27, 28), and that “it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days” (Matt. 12:12). Since baking and boiling could be dispensed with, without injury to health, God prohibited them in order that the people might learn to put a “difference between the holy and profane” (Eze. 22:26). In our day, whatever can be done on Friday in preparation for the Sabbath should be done then (6T 355), yet at the same time Sabbath meals should be both healthful and appetizing (6T 359).