10 Manna and Quail [Exodus 16]
The Bible passage: [Exodus 16]
The Story:
About six weeks after leaving Egypt, the Israelite people turned on Moses and Aaron. They said, “You should have left us to die in Egypt where we had plenty of meat and bread to eat. Instead, you brought us out here into the wilderness to starve to death.”
The Lord told Moses that He was going to rain bread from heaven each morning and send quail to the camp each evening. God gave specific instructions for the people’s use of the food.
The people were to gather bread each morning. They were to gather only enough for that day. On the sixth day of the week, they were told to gather enough for two days, because no bread would be provided on the seventh day (the Sabbath day). Some of the people tried gathering extra, but it rotted during the night. The extra bread gathered on the sixth day for the Sabbath day didn’t rot during the night. The Israelite people called the bread “manna”, which sounds like the Hebrew word meaning, “What is it?”.
God reminded the people that they were allowed to gather food for six days, but that they were to rest on the seventh day, following the example set by God during the creation of the world.
The Lessons:
- The people constantly complained. They first complained about how bad slavery in Egypt was. When God brought them out of that slavery, they said it would have been better to be in slavery. God provided for their needs.
- Even before God gave them the Ten Commandments, He gave them the principle of resting on the seventh day of each week. See 12 The Ten Commandments
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