Morning Light – Exodus 16

[Exodus 16] The Manna from God. In this chapter, the children of Israel travel into the wilderness only to now find their supplies of food running critically low. Sadly they murmured against Moses once again. God answers by sending the Manna according to His promise, a type of Christ Himself, the Bread of God for the Believer.

[Exo 16:1-36 KJV] 1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which [is] between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. 5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare [that] which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. 6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: 7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what [are] we, that ye murmur against us? 8 And Moses said, [This shall be], when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what [are] we? your murmurings [are] not against us, but against the LORD. 9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings. 10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto 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 spake unto Moses, saying, 12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God. 13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. 14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness [there lay] a small round thing, [as] small as the hoar frost on the ground. 15 And when the children of Israel saw [it], they said one to another, It [is] Manna: for they wist not what it [was]. And Moses said unto them, This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. 16 This [is] the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, [according to] the number of your persons; take ye every man for [them] which [are] in his tents. 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18 And when they did mete [it] with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 22 And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said unto them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake [that] which ye will bake [to day], and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day [is] a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, [which is] the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 27 And it came to pass, [that] there went out [some] of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man 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 the name thereof Manna: and it [was] like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it [was] like wafers [made] with honey. 32 And Moses said, This [is] the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of Manna therein, 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 did eat Manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat Manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer [is] the tenth [part] of an ephah.

The Israelites in their travels come to a bleak area known as the wilderness of Sin. The word used here for “sin” can be used alternately to mean “thorn” or “clay.” In Matthew 13:22, Jesus refers to thorns as the cares of life and the deceitfulness of riches. If there is one thing that provokes believers to murmur against God’s promise, it is during those times that lack sets in without any prospects of things getting better in the natural. Jesus brought this up in John when the people complained for more after he multiplied the loaves and fishes:

[Jhn 6:32-35 KJV] 32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The Israelites were provided with natural bread that scholars suggest was some kind of plant-based sap or insect residue that native tribes in this area harvest to this day for food. Be that as it may, the miracle was that the foodstuff was so abundant and localized as to feed two million people every day for forty years. For us, the Manna is not a plant-based residue but Jesus Himself giving his life for the world that we might feed or be benefited by His sacrifice that we might sojourn not in a natural journey but a spiritual journey being sustained and maintained in our own personal wilderness of Sin, cares, temptations and challenges.

In v. 5, we see that on the sixth day, the instruction was to gather double than normal for their needs because the seventh day, there would be no manna as this was the Sabbath of God’s rest. In v. 7, Moses describes the provision of the Manna as the people “seeing the glory of the Lord…” So what is the glory then? The first mention of glory is in Gen. 31:1, where it is used to describe the wealth God had blessed Jacob with while in Laban’s employ. Here again, in v. 7, the concept of God’s glory is connected with supply and provision for God’s people. God is glorified not in some contrived image of esoteric things depicted on the ceiling of a chapel somewhere – God’s glory is seen in His watch care and provision by which He ministers to our needs. We see then that God is not glorified in poverty. He is glorified in provision, which is why in Due. 18:8 the declaration is made that God ratifies the covenant of His promises by transferring to us the power to get wealth.

The following morning the Manna is made manifest, and the people go out to gather. They were instructed to gather only that which was necessary for one day’s need, but some disobeyed and the following day found that yesterday’s Manna had bred worms and had rotted. What does this tell us? Jesus taught us that we should not care about tomorrow’s challenge but to focus our faith on the day. Many times we try to hang on to our understanding of God from yesterday in order to give us strength for today. Remember the lesson. Jesus is our Manna, but yesterday’s Manna, yesterday’s understanding of who He is always and ultimately breeds worms (or flesh). We must maintain a current and living relationship with Jesus with every new day.

In v. 31, we have a description of the Manna. It was white in color, and white represents righteousness. It tasted like honey. Honey is connected with prophecy and the prophetic word. Peter said that we are to desire the sincere milk of the word, but God brought the Israelites into a land flowing with milk AND honey. These two things show us the dual characteristics of God’s word, the milk of the scripture, and the honey of the prophetic.