Exodus 16

¹ They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. ² And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and 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 am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” ⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” ¹³ In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the people 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, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. ¹⁹ And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. ²² On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, ²³ he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” ²⁴ So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. ²⁵ Moses said, “Eat it 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, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” ²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? ²⁹ See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day. ³¹ Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so 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 jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. ³⁵ The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)

The miracle of the fish at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778 is a disputed tale of an allegedly miraculous catch of shad in the Schuylkill River. In her article, “Starving Soldiers at Valley Forge,” written for The History Channel, Stephanie Butler offers a nice summary.

In December of 1778, the Continental Army was retreating in the face of a British advance on Philadelphia, but they also needed a place, as Armies did back then, to make winter quarters.

The Army’s commanding general, George Washington, chose a spot on the Schuylkill River called Valley Forge…Pennsylvania winters are harsh and the army was tired. They had neither winter clothing nor a regular supply of food. Most of the soldiers lived on near starvation rations.

When Washington arrived at Valley Forge, just days before Christmas, his army numbered about 10,000 and his situation was desperate…There was heavy snow Christmas Day and since they still were working on building cabins, most of the men still were in tents. They hadn’t been paid, didn’t have enough food, and many had no shoes, but Washington did his best to see the men had some kind of Christmas.

He hosted a somewhat meager dinner for his officers, and then saw to it that each soldier had an allotment of rum and something to eat. Both the general and Mrs. Washington did their best to visit each encampment.

It also was at Valley Forge that Washington is said, on Christmas Day, to have ridden into the woods to pray. It’s presumed the general prayed for strength and guidance, but no one really knows.  Besides, what he prayed about is his business, but his need to find some time to be alone and to talk to God suggests the spiritual side of this remarkable individual. It also could be argued, given what followed, that God was giving a little extra attention to the Washington’s prayers.

Amazingly — and this was recorded by several of the foreign officers, including the Marquis De Lafayette — the morale of the Continental Army at Christmastime revived.  Even without adequate rations and amid appalling living conditions, the men sang, told stories, and enjoyed their Christmas.

There also was, a few weeks later, an early running of the shad. It was far too early for this protein rich fish to make its appearance, but for many soldiers, freezing and near starvation, it was nothing short of a miracle. The work of the Army continued too.  Even in the snow, under the direction of Baron Von Steuben, a former Prussian officer, the Continental Army remade itself.[1]

Should we believe such a story? Who knows? Regardless, it would appear that something happened that was (a) quite unusual and (b) was regarded as a miracle by many who were there. I rather suspect the story is true. It would not, after all, be the first time that God miraculously fed a starving people.

Exodus 16 is a chapter that records a much earlier feeding miracle, and one on a grand scale at that! Here we find the miraculous feeding of the children of Israel in the wilderness with quail and manna. This astounding occurrence says a great deal about God, of course, but it also reveals a great deal about us.

God is faithful to provide for His people.

The most obvious point of Exodus 16 is that God is faithful to provide for His people. If God’s deliverance through the Red Sea was not sufficient enough evidence, and if His miraculous changing of the bitter waters of Marah did not put an end to their doubts, then God’s actions in this chapter certainly should have…or at least we would have thought. Notice the providing hand of God.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?”

¹³ In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

First we see the promise then we see the fulfillment. God sends quail and manna. As with virtually every miracle in the Bible, many have proposed a naturalistic explanation. Thus, Terence Fretheim has pointed out that the Bible’s description of manna “corresponds quite closely to a natural phenomenon in the Sinai Peninsula.” He explains:

A type of plant lice punctures the fruit of the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white flake or ball. During the warmth of the day it disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold. It has a sweet taste. Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, it is still gathered by natives, who bake it into a kind of bread (and call it manna). The food decays quickly and attracts ants. Regarding the quails, migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are often exhausted enough to be caught by hand.[2]

The insight about quail getting tired seems absurd, and the insight about manna seems plausible to an extent. Regardless, if both of these natural explanations play a part, they only play a part in the sense that God took natural phenomenon and miraculously bent them toward His own will. Of course, this is what God does all of the time when He acts in miraculous ways. Consider the feeding of the five thousand. That miracle involved “natural” phenomenon: bread and fish (though bread, of course, has to be made). But Jesus took bread and fish and multiplied it miraculously.

If God used the excretions of plant lice and the exhaustion of migrating quail to fulfill his promise of provision, it was no less miraculous. Just think of it: for forty years God had the little plant lice secrete enough substance to provide manna every morning for hundreds of thousands of Israelites. And if God caused the quail to grow exhausted just over where the Israelites were encamped, he did so every evening for forty years.

Regardless, these questions of how are not as significant as the reality that God did in fact provide! Here we see an astonishing and faithful fulfillment of that which Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).

Our God is a providing God.

God’s provisions cannot be increased by human greed or diminished by human despair.

He is a providing God, and His provisions can neither be increased by human greed nor diminished by human despair. Predictably, many of the Israelites wanted more than what was provided. The results were disastrous as God had foretold.

¹⁷ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. ¹⁹ And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

²⁵ Moses said, “Eat it 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, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” ²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

Those who gathered more manna than they needed and those who set out on the Sabbath looking for more than they already had been provided with were both justly rebuked. Here is a powerful principle that we had best come to terms with: God provides enough. Greed and despair warp our perspectives of His character or, maybe more accurately, reveal that we have a perspective that has been warped.

I have recently been reading the canons of the Council of Nicaea from 325 A.D. The seventeenth canon states:

Forasmuch as many enrolled among the Clergy, following covetousness and lust of gain, have forgotten the divine Scripture, which says, “He hath not given his money upon usury,” and in lending money ask the hundredth of the sum, the holy and great Synod thinks it just that if after this decree any one be found to receive usury, whether he accomplish it by secret transaction or otherwise, as by demanding the whole and one half, or by using any other contrivance whatever for filthy lucre’s sake, he shall be deposed from the clergy and his name stricken from the list.[3]

This means that the church of the 4^th century forbade loaning money on interest. My purpose is not to discuss the ethics of interest. My point is simply to say that here at the first ecumenical council of the Church they had to condemn the clergy fleecing the people for more money than they needed. It is but one example of countless examples of greed, of failing to trust God as we should for His provision.

It is fascinating that God builds safeguards against both greed and despair in this wilderness arrangement for food: there will be enough.

What would it be like if we reached the point where we thought God had given us enough?

God’s provisions tend not to be appreciated as they should by His people.

One of the recurring themes of Israel’s wilderness wonderings is the theme of failing to appreciate God’s gracious provisions. Note the repetitious use of the image of grumbling.

² And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Peter Enns says of this charge, “Only the most calloused heart or the most stupid mind could conceive of such a ridiculous charge.”[4] That is blunt, but true. After God’s great provision and miraculous deliverance of His children from Egypt and at the waters of Marah, they still grumbled and complained. Even in Moses’ revelation that God would send food to the Israelites he indicted them for their absurd grumbling.

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

The Lord likewise notes their complaining spirit.

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel.

Our grumbling says a great deal about us and how we see the world. Victor Hamilton has made an interesting observation about the nature of the grumbling mind-set.

The Israelites’ mind-set is not unlike that of criminals released from incarceration. Imprisonment, but with three meals a day and a place to lay one’s head at night, seems more inviting than struggling with the challenges of liberty. Being told what to do and when to do it and how to do it may be easier than having to make one’s own (responsible) decisions. In a strange way Egypt can become Eden. A ghetto can become a garden, or so it seems. Pharaoh can become a “nice guy,” a life-giver, while Moses can become a villain, a life-taker.[5]

A refusal to trust leads to a complaining spirit that, in terms, hinders us from actually seeing reality for what it is. This is the story of the human race. Indeed, there is ample evidence in scripture to suggest that most people simply do not take the time to thank God for the provisions He does indeed supply. We can see this in Luke 17, for instance, in Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers.

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance ¹³ and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” ¹⁴ When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? ¹⁸ Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Dear church, do not allow grumbling to overtake your minds and hearts. When is the last time you stopped and said, “Thank you, God, for providing for me”?

God’s provisions should lead to rest and worship.

And what is the ultimate purpose of God’s provision? Holy rest. Sabbath rest. Praise.

The Lord provides. His people gather. Then we should rest. We find one of the clearest articulations of the need for Sabbath rest in our text.

²² On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, ²³ he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” ²⁴ So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. ²⁵ Moses said, “Eat it 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, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” ²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? ²⁹ See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

Peter Enns rightly observes, “It is not simply that the Sabbath is ‘observed’ by the Israelites in that they refrain from gathering food. Rather, it is God who refrains from supplying the food. It is he who ceases working, so that no manna or quail is to be founded.”[6] This is consistent with the Genesis account of creation. In Genesis 2 we read:

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

There is an absurd notion in our country, perhaps mainly among men (it seems to me), that excessive, self-destructive busyness ostensibly in the name of providing for our families is a virtue to be celebrated. In fact it is a vice to be deplored. I am aware of the fact that at times and seasons of life and in certain circumstances people simply must work more than they should. Again, I understand this. I am talking here, though, about the modern penchant for unnecessary busyness. It is largely unnecessary because it is embraced in order to fund things we simply do not need in many cases. We thereby shortchange our children and our spouses by being busier than we need to be.

In the process, we lose the very idea and logic of Sabbath rest. We fail to rest because we do not take seriously God’s absolute seriousness about the Sabbath rhythm of life: work for six days and rest on the seventh.

We are especially adept at pointing out absurd legalisms concerning Sabbath observance, and there can be no denying that the Church has sometimes fallen into such legalisms to the same extent that many Pharisees did. However, the problem in most churches today is not legalism concerning the Sabbath but crude license concerning it. That is, we barely observe it at all, it seems to me. Please note, however, that as God led His children through the wilderness He insisted on Sabbath rest.

How do we best give praise to God for His provisions? Surely not by frantically grasping for more than we need. No, we best give praise by observing Sabbath rest and worship to the glory of His great name.

God provides. He does so in astounding and beautiful ways. Open your eyes to the manna He gives us every day. Work to gather then stop to rest. Through all, praise His great name!

 

[1] https://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/starving-soldiers-at-valley-forge

[2] Terence Fretheim, Exodus. Interpretation. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), p.182.

[3] https://www.christian-history.org/council-of-nicea-canons.html#17

[4] Peter Enns, Exodus. The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), p.324.

[5] Hamilton, Victor P. (2011-11-01). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Kindle Locations 8426-8429). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[6] Peter Enns, p.325.