Exodus 16. Bread from Heaven.

Bread from Heaven

• Here we see God continually shaping the Israelites, testing them and providing for them. All they need to do is obey.

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. 

• They are now leaving their oasis and heading into the wilderness.
  • Wilderness of Sin doesn’t mean our English version of ‘sin’ – could possibly be related to Sinai or the word might be ‘Zin’.
• We are now one month away from Passover (15th day 1st month to 15th day 2nd month)
• See map below (#7)

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.”

• Chapter 15 to 16 is a big contrast from singing praises to God to whining again.
• How often do we romanticize our sinful past or long for it? We forget we were slaves!

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.” 

• The test of manna: will Israel obey? God puts them in a situation where they must trust Him. Think of it as He is giving them training.
• The full test is:
  • Gather only what you need each day (16:4).
  • Don’t save it overnight (16:19).
    • or it will breed worms (unless for Sabbath)
  • On the sixth day, gather twice as much (16:5).
  • Don’t go gathering on the Sabbath (16:26).
• Deuteronomy 8: 2-3
  • “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
  • And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna which neither you nor your ancestors had known,
  • to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

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?” 

• Evening = quail, Morning = manna

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. 

• Manna descriptions:
  • Exodus 16:14 fine and flake-like, like frost
  • Exodus 16:31 like coriander seed, white
  • Numbers 11:7 appearance like bdellium
  • Exodus 16:31 tasted like wafers made with honey
  • Numbers 11:8 prepared manna tasted like cakes baked with oil
• Exodus connects the name מָן (man, “manna”) with the Israelites’ question מָן הוּא (man hu), “What is it?” (16:15).

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. 

• An omer is a tenth of an ephah. Helpful? Probably about 2 quarts dry material.
• A bit confusing because עֹמֶר (omer) can also refer to a sheaf/bundle of harvested grain. That’s why you later get the “omer” offering in Leviticus 23:10- 11 which is the first sheaf of the barley harvest presented to YHWH.
• Paul quotes verse 18 in 2 Corinthians 8:15 while teaching Christians about generosity and providing for one another.

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.”

• This chapter is the first mention of the Sabbath (Genesis 2 didn’t mention the word “Sabbath”) (שַׁבָּת, Shabbat)
• I like this comparision
  • Pharaoh: Work harder.
  • YHWH: Rest. I will provide.

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.

• It really feels like Moses is teaching a bunch of children these new rules.

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. 

• Here are some interesting Jewish traditions surrounding manna
  • Rabbinic tradition portrays manna as miraculously taking on different tastes depending on the person eating it (children would taste one thing vs. an adult). This might come from Wisdom of Solomon 16:20-21 as it describes heavenly food that adapted itself to a person’s taste.
  • Some say hidden manna would have an end-times significance. 2 Baruch 29:8 says the treasury of manna would descend again, and people would eat from it. That’s particularly interesting alongside Revelation 2:17, where Jesus promises the one who conquers “some of the hidden manna.”
• Psalm 78:24-25 calls manna “the grain of heaven” and says, “Man ate of the bread of the angels”

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.”

• God said “Set aside an omer of it as a reminder for future generations” This was eventually placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Hebrews 9:4).

 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.)

• Would it be hard to gather the manna if mixed with sand? Some legends say God blew the sand away.
• After Jesus feeds the 5,000, the crowd brings up manna: “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness…” (John 6:31)
  • Jesus responds: “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.” (6:32)
  • And then: “I am the bread of life.” (6:35)
  • Later: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died… I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” (6:49, 51)