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.
