How the Manna Descended on the Wilderness Floor

"And when the layer of dew went up" (Exodus 16:14) - Scripture comes to teach you how the manna would come down to them. For Israel a north wind would go out and sweep the wilderness clean, and rain would come down and pack the ground firm, and dew would come down upon it, and the wind would blow upon it so that it became like tables of gold; and the manna would come down upon it, and from it Israel would gather and eat. "And behold, upon the face of the wilderness" - and not upon all of it, but only upon part of it. "A fine thing" - this teaches that it was fine. "Flaky" - this teaches that it was flaky. "Fine as hoarfrost upon the ground" - this teaches that it would come down like frost upon the ground; thus the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in says: "And the layer of dew went up" - as it were, the Omnipresent stretched out His hand and received the prayer of the patriarchs who dwell in the dust, and brought the manna down like dew for Israel. "And behold, upon the face of the wilderness" - and not upon all the wilderness, but only upon part of it. "Fine" - this teaches that He would bring it down from the heavens, which are called "fine," as it is said, "who stretches out the heavens like a fine curtain" (Isaiah 40:22). Or, since He would bring it down from the heavens, how do we know He did not bring it down cold? Scripture teaches, [it was warm]. Or, since He would bring it down from above to below, one might think it came down with a noise; how do we know it came down only in silence? Scripture teaches [silence]. Or, since it came down upon the ground, how do we know it came down only upon the vessels? Scripture teaches [the threshold]. Rabbi Tarfon says: it came down only upon the branches. "As hoarfrost" - as it were, the Omnipresent stretched out His hand and received the prayer of the patriarchs who dwell in the dust, and brought the manna down with dew for Israel, in the manner of what is said, "I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). Now Rabbi Tarfon and his disciples were once sitting, and Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in was sitting among them. Rabbi Elazar of Modi'in said to them: the manna that came down for Israel was sixty cubits high. They said to him: Elazar our brother, how long will you draw out words and heap them upon us? He said to them: I expound a verse from the Torah. Now which measure is greater, the measure of good or the measure of punishment? You must say the measure of good. Concerning the measure of punishment it says, "and the floodgates of the heavens" (Genesis 7:11), and what does it say? "Fifteen cubits upward the waters prevailed" (Genesis 7:20). Whatever you take: in the riverbed fifteen cubits, upon the face of the mountain fifteen cubits, upon the face of the valley fifteen. And concerning the measure of good it says, "He commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of the heavens, and rained down manna upon them to eat" (Psalms 78:23-24). The fewest "doors" is two; how many "floodgates" are in a door? Four. Four times two is eight [windows]. Go out and reckon: the manna that came down for Israel was sixty cubits high. Issi ben Akiva says: how do we know that the manna came down for Israel until all who came into the world saw it? Scripture teaches, "You set before me a table in the presence of my enemies" (Psalms 23:5).