Comentario sobre Exodo 16:26

וביום השביעי שבת means but on the seventh day is a day of rest (supply the word הוא); and לא יהיה בו means the Manna shall not be on it; and this verse comes (is written) only to include the Day of Atonement and the Festivals [as being also days when no Manna would fall] (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 16:26).

ששת ימים תלקטהו, "During six days you will collect it, etc." This is meant as a warning not to go out on the Sabbath in order to collect manna; the meaning of the words לא יהיה בו, refers to the activity of collection. Moses had already announced that there would not be any manna when He said: "you will not find it in the field." This is the reason that G'd became so angry (verse 28) asking "how long will you refuse to observe My commandments?" He referred to the people violating a negative commandment. Where else do we find that G'd had forbidden the attempt to collect manna on the Sabbath if not in verse 25? If you were to assume that the prohibition was to be derived from verse 26, this is hardly possible seeing that our verse speaks only about what to do, not about what not to do. At best it would be considered as לאו הבא מכלל עשה, a negative commandment which is a corollary of a positive commandment (Pessachim 41). It would not be justifiable to refer to a violation of such a commandment with the words "you have refused, etc."

לא יהיה בו, on the manna.

This verse comes only to add. . . Otherwise [it is superfluous, for] it is already written (v. 25), “For today is Shabbos to Hashem. Today you will not find it.” Perforce, [this verse comes only to add. . .].

(Exodus 16:26) "Six days shall you gather it, etc.": We are hereby apprised that the manna does not descend on Sabbath. Whence do we derive (the same for) a festival? From (the superfluous) "Sabbath there will not be (manna) on it." R. Elazar Hamodai says: We are hereby apprised that it does not descend on Sabbath. Whence do we derive that it does not descend on Yom Kippur? (From the fact that) Yom Kippur is referred to as "Sabbath" (viz. Leviticus 23:32).

V. 26. שבת לא יהיה בו gehört den Akzenten nach zusammen, wohl um auszudrücken, daß das לא יהיה בו eine reine Konsequenz aus der Natur des Tages ist am siebten Tage ist Schabbat, an welchem daher er nicht entsteht, nicht ins Dasein kommt. Das Manna war täglich eine neue Schöpfung, es widerspräche dem Begriffe des שבת, wenn an ihm etwas neu entstünde. Wie der Schöpfungsschabbat die Welt als freie Gottesschöpfung signalisiert, so dokumentiert auch das Nichtentstehen des Manna am Schabbat dessen Eintreten an den übrigen sechs Tagen als freie Gottesspende. Durch dieses Nichteintreten des Manna am siebten Tage ist gleichzeitig der jüdische Schabbat als der wirkliche von Gott eingesetzte Schabbat über allen Zweifel hinaus gleich bei dem Beginne der Schabbatinstitution dokumentiert.

וביום השביעי שבת, “and the seventh day is to be a day of rest called Sabbath; the people who were lacking in faith however, were saying that Friday and the following night were called Sabbath; the proof that this is what they thought is that when Moses upbraided them he says to them: “it is Sabbath today;” the emphasis on the word: “today” is meant as opposed to yesterday and last night. He had also told them on Friday: “tomorrow is the holy day Sabbath you will not find any.” (verse 23) The people who believed that the night follows the day in the Jewish calendar had been wrong all along, as Moses had made plain from the way he described the law concerning the eating of matzo on the Passover festival, that it would be from the evening of the 14/15th of Nissan until the 21st day of the month. In addition he had said to them in Leviticus 23,32 that the Day of Atonement commences on the evening and lasts until the following evening.