John 6:31

Manna. See on Ex. 16:15. An ancient Jewish commentary on Eccl. 1:9 declares concerning the Messiah: “As the former redeemer [Moses] caused manna to descend, ... so will the latter Redeemer [the Messiah] cause manna to descend” (Midrash Rabbah, Soncino ed., p. 33). While this statement, in its present form at least, goes back only to the 4th century A.D., it seems to reflect an earlier tradition that apparently was in the minds of the Jews who disputed with Jesus at Capernaum. Thus 2 Baruch 29:8 declares: “And it shall come to pass at that self-same time [when the Messiah shall begin to be revealed] that the treasury of manna shall again descend from on high, and they will eat of it in those years, because these are they who have come to the consummation of time.” Jesus had recently provided the people miraculously with bread, but, doubting His Messiahship, they now declared that Moses had done an even greater miracle in giving their fathers bread “from heaven.” Furthermore, they apparently implied that Moses’ miracle was to be repeated by the true Messiah; in their view Jesus had not brought bread from heaven, but had only multiplied simple barley loaves and fish that were already at hand. They must have reasoned that if Jesus was truly the Messiah, He would perform at least as great a miracle as they believed Moses had.

He gave. The words here quoted are not found in exactly this form in either the Hebrew OT or the LXX. They seem to be taken loosely from Psalms 78:24, with Nehemiah 9:15 also in mind. In each of these passages note is made of the fact that it is God who gives the manna, not Moses.