They Turned Toward the Wilderness and the Cloud Shielded Moses

"And they turned toward the wilderness" (Exodus 16:10). Rabbi Yehoshua says: it says "and they turned" only to receive judgment. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in says: it is said only to recall the early fathers, as it is stated, "and they turned toward the wilderness" - just as the wilderness has in it no sin and no transgression, so too the early fathers, in whom there was no sin and no transgression. "And behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud." Rabbi Yose ben Shimon says: whenever Israel sought to stone Moses and Aaron, the Holy One was revealed in the pillar of cloud. The Holy One said: better that the pillar of cloud be struck than that Moses and Aaron be stoned.