Joshua 5:11

Morrow - Next day; tomorrow.

They did eat of the old corn of the land - The Hebrew word עבור abur, which we translate old corn, occurs only in this place in such a sense, if that sense be legitimate. The noun, though of doubtful signification, is evidently derived from עבר abar, to pass over, to go beyond; and here it may be translated simply the produce, that which passes from the land into the hands of the cultivator; or according to Cocceius, what passes from person to person in the way of traffic; hence bought corn, what they purchased from the inhabitants of the land.

On the morrow after the passover - That is, on the fifteenth day; for then the feast of unleavened bread began. But they could neither eat bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, till the first-fruits of the harvest had been waved at the tabernacle; (see Leviticus 23:9, etc.); and therefore in this case we may suppose that the Israelites had offered a sheaf of the barley-harvest, the only grain that was then ripe, before they ate of the unleavened cakes and parched corn.

Old corn of the land - Rather "produce of the land," the new grain just coming in at the time of the Passover. (So in Joshua 5:12.)

On the morrow after the passover - These words denote in Numbers 33:3 the 15th Nisan, but must here apparently mean the 16th. For the Israelites could not lawfully eat of the new grain until the first fruits of it had been presented, and this was done on "the morrow after the Sabbath," i. e. the morrow after the first day of Unleavened Bread, which was to be observed as a Sabbath, and is therefore so called. (Compare Leviticus 23:7, Leviticus 23:11, Leviticus 23:14.)

The term Passover, which is sometimes used for the lamb slain on the evening of the 14th Nisan, sometimes for the paschal meal, sometimes for the whole eight days' festival, here means the first great day of the eight, the Sabbath of the first holy convocation.

5:11 Old corn — The corn of the last year, which the inhabitants of those parts had left in their barns, being fled into their strong cities, or other remoter parts.

The morrow — That is, on the sixteenth day; for the passover was killed between the two evenings of the fourteenth day, and was eaten in that evening or night, which, according to the Jewish computation, whereby they begin their days at the evening, was a part of the fifteenth day, all which was the feast of the passover; and so the morrow of the sixteenth day, was the morrow after the passover, when they were obliged to offer unto God the first sheaf, and then were allowed to eat of the rest.

Parched corn — Of that year's corn. which was most proper for that use.

Self-same day — Having an eager desire to enjoy the fruits of the land. And this corn came very seasonably; for after the passover, they were to keep the feast of unleavened bread, which they could not do, when they had nothing but manna to live upon.