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Chumash Project Due 12/9

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Real Source Sheet Chumash Project Due 12/9

(ט) וּבְרֶ֧דֶת הַטַּ֛ל עַל־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֖ה לָ֑יְלָה יֵרֵ֥ד הַמָּ֖ן עָלָֽיו:

(9) When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall upon it.

(יג) וַיְהִ֣י בָעֶ֔רֶב וַתַּ֣עַל הַשְּׂלָ֔ו וַתְּכַ֖ס אֶת־הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וּבַבֹּ֗קֶר הָֽיְתָה֙ שִׁכְבַ֣ת הַטַּ֔ל סָבִ֖יב לַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃

(13) In the evening quail appeared and covered the camp; in the morning there was a fall of dew about the camp.

(יג) היתה שכבת הטל. הַטַּל שׁוֹכֵב עַל הַמָּן, וּבְמָקוֹם אַחֵר הוּא אוֹמֵר (במדבר י"א) "וּבְרֶדֶת הַטַּל וְגוֹ'", הַטַּל יוֹרֵד עַל הָאָרֶץ, וְהַמָּן יוֹרֵד עָלָיו, וְחוֹזֵר וְיוֹרֵד טַל עָלָיו, הֲרֵי הוּא כְּמֻנָּח בְּקוּפְסָא (יומא שם):

(13) היתה שכבת הטל THERE WAS A LAYER OF DEW — Consequently the dew was lying upon the Manna. In another passage, however, it says, (Numbers 11:9) “And when the dew came down [upon the camp at night, the manna fell upon it]” and so there was dew under the Manna! Thus we see that the dew fell upon the ground and the Manna fell upon it, and then dew fell again upon this, and so it was as though it were carefully packed in a chest (Mekhilta, Yoma 75b).

Rashi says that in Bamidbar, it says that the the dew came down first and then the Manna fell on top of it. In Shmot, the Manna fell first and the dew fell on top of it.
Rashi harmonizes these two psalms together to say that the Manna and dew fell one on top of another continuously throughout the night, that both psalms are correct and describing a different aspect of the same event.

(יג) שכבת הטל: הטל שוכב ושטוח על הארץ.

(13) The dew fell: And the dew rested and lay upon the earth

Shadal's approach is that in both cases the dew fell upon the earth, similar to Rashi in his harmonization of the events. Whether Manna fell on top of it or below it is irrelevant to his approach. Therefore, in both Shmot and Bamidbar the same event is taking place. In Bamidbar, with the Jewish complaint for Slav leading them to take more notice of the Manna and dew alongside it, the Torah differentiates from its description of the event in Shmot, and adds more detail about the order in which the dew and Manna fell.
Conclusion: What we learn from reading Tanach in a non-linear fashion
From simply not reading the Torah in a linear way we can gain a much better understanding of the events that are described, by comparing and contrasting the various times that the events are mentioned. Each new mention brings a new piece of information and changes how we view the original story, with it ending up in a new light. While the focus in Shemot is simply to say that the Manna was a regular occurrence in the Desert by adopting a blase' sort of tone when it was mentioned, in Badmidbar, the focus is to show how much the Slav and the Manna was affecting their lives, and eventually led to their religious decline.
Through the different tones that the Torah uses to describe the Manna, we can learn a valuable lesson; namely, that depending on what perspective we approach Torah with, Torah will supply us with the appropriate response. If we delve into Torah while both viewing the events as natural occurrences and miracles, we can fully start to strengthen our relationship to God and our appreciation of the Torah as a whole.