Why Israel Keeps the Sabbath and the Double Portion of Manna

"See that the LORD has given you the Sabbath" (Exodus 16:29). What is the meaning of "See"? Rabbi Isaac said: See how you are to answer the nations of the world. For if they say to you, "Why do you keep the Sabbath? What miracles were done for you?"—"See that the LORD has given you the Sabbath"—say to them: On every day a single portion would come down, but on the eve of the Sabbath two portions, as it is said, "And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be double" (Exodus 16:5). What is "double"? If you say two, has it not already been said, "Two omers for each one" (Exodus 16:22)? Then what is "double"? Hezekiah bar Hiyya said that it was different in its taste, in its aroma, and in its appearance. And not only that, but on every day, whoever left over any of it from evening until morning, it would stink; yet on the Sabbath it is written, "It did not stink" (Exodus 16:24). Hence, "they gathered double bread." "And all the princes of the congregation came and told Moses" (Exodus 16:22). At that hour he remembered that he had forgotten to tell them the section concerning the Sabbath, which the Holy One, blessed be He, had told him. Since they came and spoke to him, Moses said to them, "This is what the LORD has spoken: a rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD, is tomorrow" (Exodus 16:23). Jeremiah said, "Why do you contend with Me?" (Jeremiah 2:29)—even Moses, whom I told to tell them the section concerning the Sabbath, forgot and did not tell them; "all of you have transgressed against Me" (ibid.). Rabbi Judah says: The Holy One, blessed be He, honored the Sabbath, for on every day the manna would come down, but on the Sabbath it would not come down, as it is said, "And it was on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none" (Exodus 16:27). Moses said to them: Whoever takes an omer per head shall not take more than it, as it is said, "And Moses said to them: Let no man leave over any of it" (Exodus 16:19); "but they did not listen to Moses, and some men left over of it" (Exodus 16:20). And who were they? These were Dathan and Abiram. Rabbi Joshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: When they left over of the manna, worms would come out from within their tents and enter into the tents of Israel, and the Holy Spirit cries out and says concerning them: Do you suppose that you act in secret, and it is not revealed before Me? "If a man hides himself in secret places, shall I not see him?" (Jeremiah 23:24). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In this world you ate the manna by the merit of your fathers, but in the world to come I will feed you the beasts—Ziz and Leviathan—and you will eat by your own merit, as it is said, "Shall the companions feast upon him? Shall they divide him among the merchants?" (Job 40:30).