Exodus 16: 1 –36
Living in the wilderness of Sin
16 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD; for He hears your complaints against the LORD. But what are we, that you complain against us?” 8 Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.” 9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your complaints.’” 10 Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” 13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’” 17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. 19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. 22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.
Let me ask you a question. What do you think it is like being in the “wilderness”? I had always interpreted a “wilderness” as equal to a “desert,” which is equivalent to ‘a dry desolate place where nothing lives’. Is this the answer you thought of?
The correct interpretation which I learned is not a desert, but a wilderness is a grass pastureland yet it is in a desolate and uninhabited area. It was not a place without animals, vegetation or water, rather, it was a place where living was rather subsistence living, than bountiful living. It was a place for shepherds and cattlemen and their livestock.
In the book of 1st Samuel chapter 17:34 we learn where “David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock.” It was in these grass pasturelands, this wilderness; David was raised and trained, as was Moses. Exodus 3:1 says, “Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back side of the desert [the wilderness]. And he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb….”
We are going to read today where the Israelites go and dwell in the wilderness called Sin. Yet, interestingly two of the greatest Old Testament characters experienced extensive times living in the wilderness
We find a man greatly used by our Holy God who lived in the wilderness during the time of the New Testament? The same: Matthew 3:4b says of John the Baptist “… and his food was locusts and wild honey.” Therefore it is clear that John lived in the grassland wildernesses which supported vegetation which in turn supported bees and locusts. And finally we find reference of The Lord Jesus Himself of whom we read in Mark 1:13, “and He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan. And He was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered to Him.” We see both John the Baptist and our Holy King Jesus Christ spending time in a wilderness, a grass pastureland; not an arid, waterless, desolation in which no living thing existed, there were large and small animals and all that animals need to survive.
We therefore can more fully understand the wilderness periods which the Lord takes us through. It is for testing, correction, strengthening and education.
We are going to be talking a lot about the Israelites dwelling in the wilderness. The correct understanding will help us in our thinking about the Israelites and their 40 years in the wilderness, as opposed to 40 years in the ‘desert,’ as my mind had previously imagined. I see it with a different perspective. The wilderness for them and us is a harshness lessened by the grace of the Lord.
While the barren arid desert is a place of death where any form of existence is indeed a God sent blessing, the wilderness, by comparison is a place of subsistence where we can survive. The whole point of the wilderness experiences which the Lord subjects His people to, is that we are not meant to be there for 40 years but that while we are there we are free to concentrate on Him and rely on Him and learns from Him! The Israelite’s trip was meant to take them through the wilderness to the Promised Land in less than two weeks. The trouble was, they failed miserably all the tests of the Lord along the way.
In truth I speak for myself that I have thought so much of the Israelite’s failures that I forgot that I have failed more miserably and more often than they did.
As I look at the Christian Church today, I see the same signs of failure. Seekers arrived into the testing and training wilderness and get baptized, but many never move on and still live in the wildernesses of their spiritual immaturity. I can see God still provides them manna and water and looks after them, but I believe they, like the mature Israelites of Moses’ generation, will die in the wilderness and never see their promised land. They just keep failing God’s tests and settle for being filled with the Holy Spirit, rather than seeking to be filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit as our Lord and Savior Jesus was. Remember what happened to our Lord Jesus: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…… and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee” (Luke 4).
What are the Wilderness tests that the Israelites and we go through?
We learned the first test that faced the Israelites and what we also go through is the ‘Passing Through’ phase.
The first thing the Israelites came to was the crossings of the Red Sea. To achieve freedom, they had to pass through the waters, just as new Christians today need to pass through the waters of baptism. Like the Israelites became free after the Red Sea passage, after baptism, Christians become new persons, freed from their old lives a new creation. God gave them and us victory so that in faith, we may venture forward, and as we test our faith out faith will grow!! Yes, Faith needs to be tested to grow – that is God’s plan that is the purpose of our visits and sojourns in the wildernesses.
The second test we learned about was regarding ‘Bitter Waters’
The next test God gave was a shortage of water. Exodus 15:23 “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, because it was bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.” Unfortunately, the result of the water shortage test was predictable as the next verse says “And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?” Rather than trusting in the Lord that He will provide them all water to drink – the Israelites complained, murmured, and began to rebel against the Lord God. Such murmurings of discontent have many dangers today for all of us in The Lord Jesus’ Church, as they did for the Israelites:
1. Murmurings stop us seeking or looking to the future and blind us to where we are now. Murmurings stop growth and development as we look at ourselves in self pity.
2. Murmurings cause doubt. Instead of looking to God for either the present of the future, we look back at the past and wish, ‘ if only this or if only that.’
3. Murmurings put us under a self curse. Remember, whatever you pray for, God may well give, and that includes things which are not good for us and which He does not want for us. Numbers 14:27-30 explains this as God says:“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmurs against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel which they murmur against Me. Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, as you have spoken in My ears, so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, you shall certainly not come into the land which I swore to make you live in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”
God, of course had a solution to heal and sweeten the bitter water of Marah and gave it to Moses, so they could drink of the waters and in the process, became Yahweh Rophe, the Lord Who Heals.
Today we are going to look at the next test which is ‘Abundant Blessings’. So let’s get to it.
16 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
God can and does test by goodness’s and this is one example. After the Red Sea crossings and the thirst of Marah, they came to an blessed place called Elim. At Elim there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees. So the people made their camp there near that water.” All was good, but nobody thought to thank the Lord for His kindnesses to them. Again the Israelites failed and did not thank or praise the Lord for His abundant blessings upon them. Instead, they took the Lord for granted. How ought we to respond?
Deuteronomy 28:47 answers that saying “The LORD your God gave you many blessings. But you did not serve him with joy and a glad heart.” What were the results of this failure? Verse 48 continues “So you will serve the enemies the LORD will send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, naked, and poor. He will put a load on you that cannot be removed. You will carry that load until he destroys you.” Be warned, the Lord does not change!
2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
The next test we come to understand from the Israelites experience is the Wilderness of Sin.
On arrival in the wilderness of Sin the children of Israel again murmur against Moses and this time because of lack of food. Their murmuring is prominent in the passage. It was an indication of hearts that were inward looking and servile, and had no confidence in God, and was a continuing problem. This is in stark contrast to the continual revelation of God’s power and provision. The one thing that is made clear is that they deserved nothing at His hand, and yet He continually provided for them. He was like a father watching over a moody child. Murmuring is an indication of poverty of spirit.
After leaving Elim, and “on the 15th day of the second month after leaving Egypt, then the whole community of Israelites began complaining again. They complained to Moses and Aaron in the desert, [the wilderness]”. Again, murmurings, this time for food, condemning themselves saying “It would have been better if the LORD had just killed us in the land of Egypt. At least there we had plenty to eat. We had all the food we needed. But now you have brought us out here into this desert to make us all die from hunger.” So, God provided manna and quail, and “the people ate the manna for 40 years, until they came to the land of rest, that is, until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan” (Exodus 16:35).
Everyone loves a free meal. They had food [look around at all the livestock. Milk can be obtained from the goats and cattle. Cheese can be made Heavenly bread was provided. The people could have had their own form of pizza every day. When we do not appreciate what nice things are done for us sin gets worse, doesn’t it? There is no sign or evidence of the Israelites thanking the Lord for the manna or the quail, but a complaint from God in verse 28 asking “How long will you people refuse to obey My commands and teachings?“
3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
After leaving Elim they had moved along the coast of the Gulf of Sinai and again found the going tough. They found this wilderness life not to their liking. The land was barren, and shortage of pleasant food, having to preserve their supplies, shortage of water, and the constant trudging, not knowing what lay ahead, was more than they had expected. And when they arrived in the Wilderness of Sin things were no better. So they vented their feelings on Moses and his mouthpiece Aaron. They looked back with longing to what they thought of as the good and plentiful food of Egypt. It would have been better to have died there than to die here. It is easy in such circumstances to remember and exaggerate the best things and forget the worst.
Moses here suffers the common lot of leaders who tend to be blamed for any shortcomings on other people’s journeys. It did not bode well for the future. But we must remember in easing the charge that they had been slaves for many years and had lost any sense of initiative.
Please notice the reference as ‘By the hand of Yahweh.’ This may suggest that they were thinking of the judgment that would have come on them if they had disobeyed Him. But it may simply be a contrast between dying naturally in Egypt and being ‘killed’ (by starvation) by Moses in the wilderness. This is an exaggeration as I have mentioned in that they had their herds and flocks with them. They could survive if necessary; it was the little luxuries that they missed. We may be puzzled at the situation as we note that they had plentiful supplies of cattle and sheep. But they would not want to eat too many of their beasts. They had the future to think of. In truth they did not want to tap into their own resources. It does, however, bring home the fact that they were not really at the last extremity, and that their murmuring was therefore not excusable.
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5 And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Moses had presumably sought Yahweh’s advice. It is noteworthy that His approaches to Yahweh are often assumed rather than stated. Yahweh’s reply is that He will send them food from heaven. And this will be provided in such a way that it will be a test for them. This is a reference to the fact that God was proving them as to whether they would obey His law or not. The purpose of testing was in order to strengthen them through their experiences. If we would but recognize that in our difficulties God is testing out our obedience, and that through them we are being strengthened if we respond in the right way, we might be more positive in our response to them.
Our Holy God speaks of a miraculous act He will perform for the Israelites by stating ‘I will rain food from heaven.’ This is described in verse 14 as ‘a small flake, small as the hoar frost on the ground’ which came with the dew. The dew, of course, fell from heaven literally. This ‘manna’ was white like coriander seed and it tasted like wafers made with honey (verse 31). It could clearly be ground and used in cooking and baking.
He instructed the people to ‘Gather a day’s portion every day.’ This was a test to see if there were those who would disobey and gather too much through fear of its non-arrival on the following day (‘that I may prove them’). Then on the sixth day they were to gather twice as much as there would be none on the seventh day. The reason for this will be explained later (verse 23).
6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD; for He hears your complaints against the LORD. But what are we that you complain against us?” 8 Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”
First Aaron, as the mouth of Moses, spoke to the children of Israel telling them that in the evening they would know that it was Yahweh, ‘the God Who Is there to act’, Who had delivered them, and that in the morning they would see the revealing of His glory. Then Moses himself declared how Yahweh would reveal the significance of His name and His glory, in that in the evening they would have meat to eat and in the morning they would have bread to the full. This was His direct reply to their longings for the meat and bread of Egypt (16.3). And it was because Yahweh had heard their murmurings against Him.
They must realize that when they murmur against Moses and Aaron they murmur against Yahweh, for them as the mouthpieces are nothing, it is The Speaker Who matters. Thus Moses can warn them, ‘your murmurings are not against us but against Yahweh’.
Please look how our Holy Lord has listened and then responds to their complaint ‘Flesh to eat --- bread to the full.’ Compare these words to what they complained about, ‘we sat by the flesh pots -- we did eat bread to the full’ (verse 3). This is God’s response.
9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your complaints.’”
The words ‘Come near before Yahweh’ is a call to an act of worship, humility and submission in view of the fact that Yahweh had heard their murmurings. This would be connected with Yahweh’s visible, but hidden, presence in the cloud that accompanied them.
It is clear that the murmuring of the people were not looked on lightly. They were a clear sign of lack of faith and of unwillingness to face even the least hardship. They were indicative of ungrateful hearts and a desire for self-indulgence.
10 Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
Being called to worship and humble submission the people look towards the cloud which revealed to them the presence of Yahweh, the cloud which led the way before them, which was nearby in the wilderness. Perhaps they had got too used to it and were seeing it as only a symbol.
Yahweh constantly revealed His presence to them by that cloud, and by the fire at night. It was a hidden presence and yet very real. But now for a time that presence was openly revealed and they saw something of His glory. This cloud would ascend Mount Sinai and would later descend on the Dwelling place (Tabernacle), a reminder of the continuing presence of God. They were not aware of the fact but He was preparing them for the greater revelation of His glory on Mount Sinai.
11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
The constant reference to the murmurings (verses 2, 7, 8, 9,12) shows how important they were seen to be. Their murmurings could not be treated lightly. And yet God graciously responds to them. He has heard their murmurings and yet there is no specific condemnation but an attempt to satisfy their needs. God is very patient with them. He recognizes that they have to learn to know Him as the God Who acts.
‘You shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’ The knowing of Yahweh as He Is, is a constant theme of Exodus. The provision of meat and bread in the wilderness will be absolute evidence of Who and What He Is, The One Who Is there and acts.
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
This was the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise, meat and bread to the full. The quails were a type of partridge, valued as a delicacy. In spring they migrate from Africa to the north and some, although not vast numbers, fly over the Sinai peninsula. They fly low and, tired with their long journey; will often land on the ground exhausted, when they are easy to catch. Here they ‘covered the camp’. Thus were the children of Israel able to fill their flesh pots. This was then followed the next day by the fall of small round flakes to the ground with the morning dew.
15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
Moses brings home the lesson, reminding them of how they had murmured against Yahweh. “It is the food which Yahweh has given you to eat.’ Rather than forsaking them He had provided in abundance.
Instructions are given with regard to the gathering of the manna and with regard to the Sabbath which is seemingly now instituted for all Israel.
16 This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’” 17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
The people are commanded by Yahweh to gather an omer of manna per head. But the fact that they may take according to their eating may suggest not so much the use of an exact measurement as an indication of the size of vessel to use per person. But ‘according to their eating’ may simply mean according to how many there are who will need to eat. For the overall impression is of an omer a head. And as it turned out that provided sufficiency for all with nothing left over.
19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Each days supply was to be for that day alone, and Moses ordered them not to leave any over until the morning. But some, having learned in the wilderness to preserve food supplies, were disobedient and kept some for the next day. Then to their horror they found it teeming with worms and smelling.
21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
Each morning they gathered an omer per person according to the number in each tent. And ‘when the sun grew hot it melted’. While this does not exclude ants as partly consuming it, it demonstrates that it was not mainly ants which disposed of it.
22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
The gathering of twice as much was in accordance with the instruction in verse 5. It is noteworthy that Moses was keeping a close watch on what was happening, for the ‘rulers’, the chiefs, reported back what was happening. The subject the rulers wanted to discuss was presumably as to what they should do about the extra that had been gathered.
23 Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’”
The impression given here is that Moses is imparting new information. He explains that the seventh day is to be a holy Sabbath, and therefore also every seventh day after that. It may well therefore be that this is in fact the time when the regular seventh day Sabbath was first established, in order to commemorate the giving of the Manna as something better than the bread of Egypt. Previously holy rest days had been mentioned (12.16) although not called Sabbaths.
Because it is a Sabbath they are to rest on it. It is a holy rest. This would hardly need to be explained if they were familiar with it. Moses elsewhere tells us that the reason why God commanded the observance of the regular seventh day Sabbath was because He had delivered them from the land of Egypt (in Deuteronomy 5.15). This also would tie in with a post-deliverance establishment of the Sabbath. The Creation account says nothing about the Sabbath.
24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.
When they laid up Manna for the seventh day it did not go bad. It may be that it had been cooked on the previous day and that that prevented this.
25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
No Manna could be gathered on the Sabbath because there was none available. It was ‘a Sabbath unto Yahweh’, a day of quietness for the purpose of honoring and worshipping Him. Yet inevitably some went out to see what they could find. But they found none as they had been told. There can be no explanation for this except the hand of Yahweh. It is a reminder that God often controls the natural, as He had done in Egypt, rather than doing spectacular miracles.
28 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?
Yahweh rebukes the disobedient people through Moses but there is no penalty. This can surely only be because it was a new institution. The cry of Yahweh’s heart is reflected in every generation. How He longs that His people will obey Him.
29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
The purpose of the solemn Sabbath is so that every man will remain in his place, presumably his tent, although the minimum need for the tending of the herds and flocks will be necessary. This gives them a chance to rest and to think and to remember Yahweh’s doings. This is the primitive Sabbath. It would remind them of their bondage in Egypt and of the giving of the manna. Later these requirements would be amplified to forbid all forms of work.
‘How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?’ The incident is seen as reminding Yahweh of the many times they have disobeyed Him. Once again they have set a command of His at variance. All the previous failures come flooding back. The rebuke is for their general attitude as revealed by the particular misdemeanor.
The Sabbath was not to be seen as a hard duty but as a gift. Only those whose lives are those of constant toil can appreciate how great a gift it was in those days. Those who ignore it do so to their own disadvantage.
31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
Moses now explains, presumably to the elders of the people, that Yahweh has commanded that an omerful (a day’s provision for one person) be kept as a reminder to future generations so that they might be able to see the food with which Yahweh had fed them in the wilderness when He had brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.”
As Yahweh had commanded, an omerful of the Manna was put by Aaron into a pot to be preserved for the future.
‘The Testimony’ means ‘the record of God’s covenant with His people’. So even prior to the covenant of Sinai there is a ‘Testimony’ which was kept, presumably in the Tent of Meeting (33.7-11) which would later be replaced by the Dwelling place (Tabernacle). At this stage it may well have been a container or containers containing the various covenant documents with respect to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which would make up much of Genesis (which Moses may have been putting in more completed form, along with the history of Joseph), reminders of God’s covenant with His people, together with the laws formulated by Moses and backed by Yahweh. Being kept in the Tent of Meeting they would provide a focus for worshippers who sought Yahweh, who would know that they were there and represented God’s covenants with His people. This would then later be replaced by the Ark of the Covenant which also contained a covenant record, this time the covenant of The Ten Commandments. But the old container with its sacred associations would almost certainly be preserved.
By the time of Solomon the pot and any other sacred objects which were kept in the Ark, other than the two tables of stone, had been lost (1 Kings 8.9). But these records may in fact never have been put in the Ark, being preserved in some other way, possibly in their old container. The central focus then being on the Sinai covenant.
35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
The Manna came for forty years and at times the children of Israel got sick of it (Numbers 11.6). But we are not told that it came every day summer and winter alike although that is often the assumption. The question is, if it did not what other supplies were there? They would, of course, eat meat from sacrificial offerings.
36 Now an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.
The theme behind this passage appears regularly in the New Testament and is specifically referred to by Jesus Himself in John 6. We would expect this to be so for bread is regularly a symbol of spiritual life and blessing. In John 6 our Master and King Jesus tells us that He had come as the Bread of Life, so that those who came to Him would never hunger, and those who believed on Him would never thirst. By receiving Him as the bread of God men receive eternal life through the Spirit.
There may be times of drought when that Bread seems far away, but in those times we must remember that He Is ever near, and that they are often allowed in order to test us and strengthen our faith. What we must not do is murmur like the Israelites do. For we can be sure that just as happened with the Israelites here, He will eventually come to us and show us His glory.
The theme of the Sabbath reminds us that in gratitude for His giving of Himself for us and to us we should ensure that we keep a time as set aside in which to serve Him and glorify Him. For the Sabbath was given for men’s benefit (Mark 2.27-28), although not to do as they liked with. He did not abrogate the Sabbath and we must remember that He, and He alone, Is the Lord of the Sabbath. But later in the New Testament Paul stresses that it is not which day we keep that matters, but ensuring that we do have time set aside for Him (Romans 14.5-6). Whether Sabbath or Sunday (or any other day) Our Holy Creator and Lord Jesus made clear that such a day was for works of compassion as well as for worship. It is especially a day for doing well and remembering those worse off than ourselves.
