Joshua 5:12

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) The manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land.—The date should be noticed. On the fourteenth day was the Passover; on the fifteenth, Israel ate of the produce of the land. From that day the manna fell no more—i.e., on the sixteenth day of the first month of the year of their entering the land of Canaan, it was not found. On the sixteenth day of the second month of the first year of the Exodus, it first appeared (Exodus 16:1; Exodus 16:7; Exodus 16:13-14). Thirty-nine years and eleven months it fell, except on the Sabbath. It kept Sabbath all through the wilderness, on the seventh day of the week, and it finally ceased, kept Sabbath (vay-yishboth, Hebrew) on the very day afterwards marked by our Lord’s resurrection, which became the Lord’s day. The coincidence is too remarkable to be overlooked. It is the risen Christ who takes the place of the manna; and in the discourse wherein He calls Himself “the true bread from heaven,” He points again and again to resurrection as the end of the life which He gives: “I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39-40; John 6:44; John 6:54). Then the manna, which is the food of the wilderness, shall keep Sabbath, for “they shall hunger no more.” The food of the wilderness is that which Israel ate, not knowing what it was. Of the other world it is written, “then shall I know, even as also I am known.”

Benson Commentary

Joshua 5:12. The manna ceased — Which God now withheld, to show that manna was not an ordinary production of nature, but an extraordinary and special gift of God to supply their necessity: and because God would not be prodigal of his favours, by working miracles where ordinary means were sufficient. The morrow — That is, on the seventeenth day. It cannot be too much taken notice of, as it is a great mark of the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, that the miracles related therein are not a heap of wonderful stories, which have nothing to recommend them but the strangeness of them, like most of those contained in the Koran, but that they are acts of consummate wisdom, as well as of wonder. Here we see, that as soon as the Israelites came into a country where they could obtain a sufficient supply of food in the ordinary way, that miraculous provision which had been made for them in the desert wilderness, where it was absolutely necessary for their subsistence, ceased. So that it is evident the falling of the manna from heaven was not merely or chiefly a strange thing to be wondered at, but an act of great wisdom and goodness, which the circumstances of things absolutely required.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:10-12 A solemn passover was kept, at the time appointed by the law, in the plains of Jericho, in defiance of the Canaanites round about them. It was a performance of the promise, that when they went up to keep the feasts, their land should be under the special protection of the Divine providence, Ex 34:24. Notice is taken of the ceasing of the manna as soon as they had eaten the old corn of the land. For as it came just when they needed, so it continued as long as they needed it. This teaches us not to expect supplies by miracles, when they may be had in a common way. The word and ordinances of God are spiritual manna, with which God nourishes his people in this wilderness. Though often forfeited, yet they are continued while we are here; but when we come to the heavenly Canaan, this manna will cease, for we shall no longer need it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Old corn of the land - Rather "produce of the land," the new grain just coming in at the time of the Passover. (So in Joshua 5:12.)

On the morrow after the passover - These words denote in Numbers 33:3 the 15th Nisan, but must here apparently mean the 16th. For the Israelites could not lawfully eat of the new grain until the first fruits of it had been presented, and this was done on "the morrow after the Sabbath," i. e. the morrow after the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was to be observed as a Sabbath, and is therefore so called. (Compare Leviticus 23:7, Leviticus 23:11, Leviticus 23:14.)

The term Passover, which is sometimes used for the lamb slain on the evening of the 14th Nisan, sometimes for the paschal meal, sometimes for the whole eight days' festival, here means the first great day of the eight, the Sabbath of the first holy convocation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11, 12. And they did eat of the old corn of the land—found in storehouses of the inhabitants who had fled into Jericho.

parched corn—new grain (see on [180]Le 23:10), probably lying in the fields. Roasted—a simple and primitive preparation, much liked in the East. This abundance of food led to the discontinuance of the manna; and the fact of its then ceasing, viewed in connection with its seasonable appearance in the barren wilderness, is a striking proof of its miraculous origin.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

God now withheld

the manna,

1. To show that it was not an ordinary production of nature, as by the long and constant enjoyment of it they might be prone to think; but an extraordinary and special gift of God to supply their necessity.

2. because God would not be prodigal of his favours, nor expose them to contempt by giving them superfluously, or by working miracles where ordinary means were sufficient.

On the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn, i.e. on the seventeenth day.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land,.... There being now no further need of it; miracles are not wrought or continued when unnecessary; for the ceasing of the manna shows, that it was not a common but an extraordinary provision. The ceasing of the manna, which was a type of Christ, may signify the cessation of Gospel ordinances, in which Christ is held forth as food for his people. These are to continue till all the spiritual Israel of God have passed over the river Jordan, or death, even until the end of the world, and then to cease, Matthew 28:19; the eating of the old corn may signify the glories of the future state, the joys and happiness of the heavenly Canaan, prepared for those that love the Lord from the foundation of the world; it may denote those ancient things the saints will feed and live upon to all eternity; the eternal love of the three divine Persons, electing grace, the ancient settlements of grace, the everlasting covenant of grace, and the blessings of it; the glorious Mediator of it, that was set up from everlasting, and the grace given to them in him before the world began:

neither had the children of Israel manna any more; having no more need of it, as the saints in heaven will stand in no more need of Gospel ordinances:

but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year; the increase of the land, not only of the fields, but of the vineyards and oliveyards, which they had neither sown nor planted, see Deuteronomy 6:10; which may denote the plenty and variety of the joys of heaven, and glories of the future state; the various fruits which grow on Christ, the tree of life, brought forth every month, or continually; all which will be enjoyed through the free grace of God, without the works or merits of men.

Geneva Study Bible

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. the manna ceased] For the first time since leaving Sinai the Passover cakes were not made of manna, for the people had now arrived in Canaan, and no longer needed this “Bread of the Wilderness.” Day after day, for forty years, there had appeared “on the face of the wilderness a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost, white, like coriander seed,” the taste of which “was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:14-36). Day by day, except on the Sabbath, it had been gathered, and had been found sufficient for their daily wants. Now it suddenly ceased. The people no longer needed this “angels’ food” (Psalm 78:25), but “they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan.” Comp. John 6:31; John 6:49; John 6:58; Revelation 2:17.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - The manna ceased. It ceased when the Israelites entered a cultivated region. The eastern portion of their inheritance, though well suited for pastoral purposes (see Joshua 1:12), was not a land of agricultural produce. Therefore the manna did not cease until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan.

CHAPTER 5:13-15. Joshua 5:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Passover at Gilgal. - When the whole nation had been received again into covenant with the Lord by circumcision, they kept the passover, which had no doubt been suspended from the time that they left Sinai (Numbers 9:1.), on the 14th of the month (Nisan), in the evening (according to the law in Exodus 12:6, Exodus 12:18; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16; Deuteronomy 16:6). The next day, i.e., on the 16th, or the day after the first feast-day, they ate unleavened loaves and parched corn ("roasted grains," see at Leviticus 2:14) of the produce of the land (עבוּר,

(Note: Rendered "old corn" in the Eng. version.)

which only occurs in Joshua 5:11 and Joshua 5:12, is synonymous with תּבוּאה

(Note: Rendered fruit in our version.)

in Joshua 5:12), i.e., corn that had grown in the land of Canaan, as the manna entirely ceased from this day forwards. "The morrow after the passover" is used in Numbers 33:3 for the 15th Nisan; but here it must be understood as signifying the 16th, as the produce of the land, of which they ate not only on that day, but, according to Joshua 5:12, throughout that year, cannot mean the corn of the previous year, but the produce of this same year, i.e., the new corn, and they were not allowed to eat any of that till it had been sanctified to the Lord by the presentation of the wave sheaf on the second day of the passover (Leviticus 23:11). According to Leviticus 23:11, the presentation was to take place on the day after the Sabbath, i.e., the first day of the feast of Mazzoth, which was kept as a Sabbath, or the 16th of Nisan, as the seven days' feast of Mazzoth commenced on the 15th (Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17). "On the morrow after the passover" is the same as "on the morrow after the Sabbath" in Leviticus 23:11, the term passover being used here not in its original and more restricted sense, in which it applies exclusively to the observance of the paschal meal, which took place on the evening of the 14th, and is expressly distinguished from the seven days' feast of Mazzoth (Exodus 12:23, Exodus 12:27; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16), but in the broader sense, which we have already met with in Deuteronomy 16:2, in which the name was gradually extended to the whole of the seven days' feast. The writer assumed that the facts themselves were already well known from the Mosaic law, and therefore did not think it necessary to give any fuller explanation. Moreover, the words, "they did eat of the fruit of the land," etc., are not to be understood as signifying that they began to eat unleavened bread for the first time on the 16th Nisan (they had already eaten is as an accompaniment to the paschal lamb); but unleavened bread of the produce of the land, the green corn of that year, was what they ate for the first time on that day. Especial prominence is given to this by the words, "in the self-same day," because not only did the eating of the new corn commence on that day, but from that day forward "the children of Israel had manna no more." This statement is evidently related to Exodus 16:35, and must be understood, according to that passage, as merely signifying, that on that day the gift of the manna entirely ceased (see Pentateuch, pp. 366ff.).