<b>And Moses said unto Aaron: “Take a jar and put an omerful of manna therein” (Exod. 16:33).</b> I would not know of what substance the jar was fashioned, whether of silver or of gold or of iron or of lead, except for the fact that Scripture says <i>tzintzenet</i>, a word that suggests something that keeps a thing cooler than anything else.<sup class="footnote-marker">14</sup><i class="footnote">Jastrow tells us that <i>tzintzenet</i> is in the text because it glistened more than any other thing (i.e., it was a glazed earthen vessel).</i> And that could only be a clay vessel. <i>And put an omerful of manna therein</i>. R. Eleazar held: It was stored there for future generations. While R. Eliezer was of the opinion that it was put there for the Messianic era, for the time about which the prophet Jeremiah said to Israel: Why do you not devote yourself to the Torah? And they replied: If we do, how shall we obtain our sustenance? Then they brought forth the jar of manna and said: <i>O generation; see the word of the Lord: Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of thick darkness? Wherefore say My people: “We roam at large; we will come no more unto Thee?”</i> (Jer. 2:31). Your fathers occupied themselves with the Law, and see how they were fed; concern yourselves with the Law, and I shall feed you from this jar. This is one of the three things that Elijah will restore to Israel in the future: the jar of manna, the bottle of anointing oil, and the bottle of sprinkling water. Others add, Aaron’s rod with its ripe almonds and blossoms, as is said: <i>Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept there, for a token against rebellious children</i> (Num. 17:25).
This was one of three things that Israel complained against, saying they were instruments for punishment. These are: the incense, the ark, and the staff. The incense was an instrument of punishment, for it brought distress to Nadab and Abihu. That is why He informed them that incense was to be used for atonement, as is said: <i>And he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people</i> (Num. 17:12). They said that the ark was a tool for retribution, for He killed Uzzah and the men of Beth-shemesh there, as is said: <i>And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God</i> (II Sam. 6:7). And it is written elsewhere: <i>And He smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had gazed upon the ark of the Lord, even He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand men; and the people mourned</i> (I Sam. 6:19). But He revealed to them that it was also an instrument of blessing, as is written: <i>And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his house</i> (II Sam. 6:11).
The sapphire staff with which He brought the plagues upon the Egyptians in Egypt and killed them at the Red Sea (was an instrument for punishment). But they knew that it was an instrument that performed miracles as well. <i>And the Lord said unto Moses: “Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river”</i> (Exod. 17:5), He did so because of their rebelliousness.