COME AS A CHILD LESSON 133 RECEIVING THE MANNA FROM HEAVEN

RECEIVING THE MANNA FROM HEAVEN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So the time came to leave Elim, which I’m sure wasn’t something the Israelites wanted to do.  You know how it is when you are in a perfect moment and you just want to linger there and not move on?  That was probably how they felt, and maybe that contributed to the beginning of a change of mood among the people. 

The whole community left Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.  The Desert of Sin was a whole new ball game.  So different from Elim!  It was hot and dry and food and water was not readily available. 

It was a hard and rugged journey for SO MANY people to make.  They all began to grumble and complain.  They said; “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt!  There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death!”  These ungrateful people were very fickle!  They even sort of accused God of planning their death in Egypt, so very opposite of what had really happened!  Their complaints were so overly dramatic!  Complainers are usually always dramatic and overstating with their complaints. 

There just seemed to be much disrespect for what had actually taken place.   They went from dancing and rejoicing to grumbling and complaining in no time!  The victory songs had turned to a grumble march and the thankfulness for the miracles was discarded for a spoiled, selfish complaining nature.  Moses and Aaron must have been so frustrated!  If they were frustrated; you can just imagine how God felt!  What a slap in the face.  He had given them freedom and luxury and rest in the middle of the desert.  When they had moved on; they were complaining and wishing for slave food again.   Where was their faith? 

This was no way to be going toward their wedding day to God!  They had promised after Morah to obey God and follow His commandments!  They had seen how he could use an old tree (symbolic of Torah) to change everything and to provide for their every need, but how quickly they forgot!  They were not calling on God at all; instead they were throwing verbal stones at Moses and Aaron. 

So God, in spite of their attitudes, brought a surprise solution to their problems.  He told Moses He would rain down bread from heaven for them!  God told the people to go out each day and gather enough food for that day.  God was testing them to see if they would REALLY follow His instructions as they had previously promised.  God told them exactly how much to gather each day and he also told them to gather twice as much as they usually gathered on the sixth day. 

So Moses and Aaron gathered the grumblers together and told them God’s instructions:  “In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because He has heard your grumbling against Him.  Who are we, that you should grumble against us?  You will know that it is the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because He has heard you’re grumbling against Him.  Who are we?  You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD.”  

Moses understood how serious this was. He probably hated that the people were acting like a spoiled brat child with their constant whinning and complaining!   So Moses told Aaron to gather the entire community and tell them to come before the LORD because he had heard their grumbling.  While Aaron was speaking to the people they looked toward the desert and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.  I’m sure it was a fearsome sight!  Had they grumbled so much that the cloud had removed itself temporarily?  

God said to Moses:  “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.  Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread.  Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

The people had already received a glimpse of the Torah at Morah; now God was going to give them some more information to add to that glimpse.  He was going to tell them how He kept time and He was going to let them in on the use of His holy calendar.  He would teach them in the way that men usually understand; through the filling of their bellies.

The meat was to appear at twilight.  Twilight, also called sunset, is the beginning of God’s clock for a new day.  His days go from sunset till sunset.  The days of God change each time the moon reappears in the sky.  The moon is God’s official clock.  

God was showing this to the people in a way that they would understand by feeding them according to His heavenly clock.  God had put men inside of time at the creation.  Time was created for men; it was the window of life from which they lived.  God lived outside of time; but He cared for mankind living inside of time.  

Over and over in Genesis when we hear of the creation week those words were repeated; evening and morning and the first day, evening and morning and the second day, evening and morning and the third day, evening and morning and the fourth day, evening and morning and the fifth day, evening and morning and the sixth day; and it was VERY good.  Then came the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh day.  Evening and morning, and God said at the end of the sixth day just before the seventh day: “It is VERY good.” 

The seventh day was sacred and special; set apart from the other days as a day for men to rest.   And God began to teach mankind all of this way of living before Him all over again.  Their ancestors knew these things; but while they were slaves in Egypt they had forgotten about God’s clock.  Instead they had been on Egyptian time.  It revolved around the sun and the pagan gods that came with the worship of the sun and the planets. The People of Israel had to re-learn everything that God had originally commanded, and keeping the Sabbath was given top priority in these lessons that God was slowly progressing through with them.  If they were to be God’s special Bride; they needed to keep God’s special ways.  They had to leave the ways of Egypt behind.

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.  When the Israelites saw this they looked at each other and asked, “What is it?”  They did not know what it was!  So Moses explained to them that this was the bread that God had given them to eat!  That is why to this very day when we speak of this story, we call the bread Manna, Hebrew for “what is it?”

Moses explained further:  “This is what the LORD has commanded!  Everyone is to gather as much as they need.  Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.”  So this is how the people started measuring with the omer again.  They had used it in ancient times to measure grain, now they would use it to measure out their daily manna.  The omer would hold about three pounds of the heavenly bread.  An omer was one tenth of an ephah.  Thus they began to learn how to set aside one tenth each day of all of their provisions from God.  Abraham had always set aside a tenth; and now God was showing Abrahm's ancestors how to do this.  This is where we get the tenth requirement for tithing.  Each day the people set aside one tenth.  They went out and gathered the bread.  They gathered an omer for each person in their household daily.  Some families gathered a little, some families gathered a lot.  When they measured what they gathered by the omer those who gathered much did not have too much, and the people who gathered a little did not have too little.  Everyone always had just what they needed. 

When they had gathered Moses told them; “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 

Some of the people, however, paid no attention to Moses’ instructions.  They kept some until morning, but when the morning came it was full of maggots and began to smell.  Moses finding this out, was angry with them.  They quickly learned how much to gather for each day, only one tenth!  Every morning they gathered what they needed and put it inside their tent to use for that day. When the sun grew hot what was left on the ground simply melted away. 

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much; two omers for each person, or approximately six pounds of bread for each person.  Moses told them this was the LORD’s command.  He explained that the next day (the seventh day) was to be a Sabbath rest.  It was to be a holy Sabbath to the LORD.  Moses told them to bake what they wanted to bake and boil what they wanted to boil on the sixth day and save whatever is left and keep it until morning.  They would eat what they had gathered on the sixth day on the seventh day too.

Of course, the people thought it would contain maggots and stink, but they did what Moses instructed.  From the sixth day till the seventh day ended, it did not stink or get maggots in it!  Moses told them to eat what was left over because that day was the Sabbath to the LORD.  On the seventh day there was no bread on the ground.  There would be no gathering of food.  They would eat what had already been provided.  For six days they gathered and on the seventh day they kept Sabbath and did not gather.  This was how Moses heard God command the people to act.  This is what Moses told them to do. 

Of course people have to learn the hard way!  They seldom listen to instructions; even from the mouth of God!  On the seventh day some of the people still went out to gather.  They found nothing!  The LORD said to Moses:  “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?  Bear in mind; the LORD had given the Sabbath; it was a perfect gift to mankind.  That is why on the sixth day He gave enough bread for two days.  Everyone was to stay where they were on the seventh day; no one is to go out to gather food.”

So this is how it was that the people learned to rest on the seventh day as they wandered through the Wilderness of Sin.  This same pattern still applies to us today; though mankind has tried to change it a million times over.  God never changes.  He is the same today as He was yesterday.  His ways never change.  He instituted the seventh day Sabbath; and this is still a holy and sacred day for God to spend in uninterrupted time with His people; a time of rest.  The Torah and the laws of God did not change with the cross.  It was not changed but fulfilled.  What changed was our redemption from breaking the law.  The laws are still in effect; only now we have the mercy of God because of Jesus’ blood shed on the cross.  Do not make the mistake of thinking that grace is being able to live in sin and break the law.  Grace was simply God’s Son paying the penalty for all the laws we have broken.  He bore our sins and shame so that we could live forever.  It still matters that you know and live Torah if you are a child of God.  God doesn’t change and His laws are forever. 

Can you imagine living like this and learning life the way the Israelites did?  Every morning your bread would rain down from Heaven; a daily gift from God the Father!  No toil, no strife, no cooking, no going to the grocery store, no saving up coupons and budgeting to be able to afford groceries!  Automatically with each new day came instant food from Heaven, once a day for every day of the week, and life-giving peaceful rest with God at the end of the week.  How good is that?  Life was easy, simple and delicious every day.  Each morning brought totally healthy food straight from the sky to your table.  All you had to do was pick it up six days a week.  Who could ever complain again?

The people called the bread manna.  It looked like white coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 

Then Moses proclaimed yet another thing that God had commanded; he said; “Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so that they can see the bread God gave you to eat in the wilderness when He brought you out of Egypt.”  Do you get the feeling that God was saying:  “Remember this forever!”?  That is how it strikes me.  The omer of manna in the jar was a constant reminder of who provided for them in all circumstances. 

So Moses and Aaron, carefully following God’s instructions, took a jar and put an omer of manna in it.  They placed it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come.  The LORD commanded Moses and Aaron to put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law so that it might be preserved.    This was the beginning of God teaching His people His best ways to live; His law.  In this wilderness journey they were re-learning to obey God’s commandments.  God would soon give them the law written down on tablets and they were to put the preserved jar of manna with them and set them aside as sacred and holy.  It would always be a reminder through all time of God’s provision for them in the wilderness. 

This was the beginning of the Israelites coming back under God’s holy clock of six days for work and one day for rest, and they ate manna (the bread from heaven) for forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; when they reached the border of Canaan.   While they wondered through the wilderness God would teach them the answer to this question they asked as the Manna fell from Heaven.  They had said “What is it?”  They would soon discover the deeper meaning of the Bread of Heaven provided from God.  One day they would all come to know that Jesus Christ is the Bread of Heaven.  They would pass the truth of that discovery down through the generations, until the present day called “today” because God always keeps His promises and God never changes.  From the Bread of Heaven we now know as Jesus, all may come to know the glory of God.  The pattern was formed right there as the Israelites wandered through the Wilderness of Sin.