So, they journeyed from Elim (v1) and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month, which was exactly one month after leaving Egypt. (See Exodus 12:18)
The Wilderness of Sin was also known as the Wilderness of Zin but sadly a lot of sin took place there. It is interesting that they left one Wilderness (Shur), spent some time in Elim which was an oasis giving them rest and provisions, and then to another Wilderness (Zin) as they headed for Sinai where they would receive God’s law.
It wasn’t long before the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron (v2,3) – “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
They were running out of food and supplies and memories of Egypt came flooding back. Really? They only remembered the good things. Not many months before they were complaining about their treatment there and wanted to leave. So far as we know no-one had died of starvation, but they remembered the meat and bread in Egypt but not the slavery. Now they blame Moses and Aaron for bringing them out into the wilderness to die.
How often do we complain and make evil accusations of those who would seek to do us good. It’s always someone else’s fault.
God was aware and told Moses what He was going to do (v4,5) “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
God, in His grace and mercy, was going to perform another miracle for these complaining people. He has promised to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory, so what was ‘bread from heaven?’ It came with instructions and a test. They had to go and gather a quota every day, except the seventh day as they had to gather twice as much on the sixth day to last them over. The people called it ‘manna’ (see v31) which means ‘what is it’. They had to go out and collect it as part of their obedience to God, a specified amount and double on the sixth day. This was all part of the testing.
Moses and Aaron spoke to the people and gave them God’s promise and instructions (v6-8), “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD; for He hears your complaints against the LORD. But what are we, that you complain against us?” Also Moses said, “This shall be seen when the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full; for the LORD hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”
Moses makes it clear that their complaining is not against them, for they were unimportant, but against God. God, in His mercy, was still going to provide for them. They were to remember that it was The LORD God who had brought them out of Egypt. God would provide meat in the evening and bread in the morning. Moses told Aaron to instruct the people that God had heard their complaints, but He was still with them in the cloud which went before them in the daytime and that they should look and see His glory in the cloud (v9-12). Despite their complaining, God demonstrated His glory before them. God could have been angry with their complaining, but He showed His mercy. The instructions were that they should eat meat at twilight and bread in the morning, thus they would know that The LORD was their God.
What was the meat in the evening? Verses 13,14 explain further – quails came up in the evening and covered the camp. This was a miracle in itself. I understand that quail was a favourite delicacy of the Egyptians. In the morning dew lay on the ground and when it lifted, a small round substance like fine frost remained. Later in this chapter (v31) it is described as ‘like coriander seed’, sweet like honey and the colour of bdellium (Numbers 11:7 and 8 tells us that they ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.)
It is interesting that when God provides for needs He also wants to teach us lessons and in Deuteronomy 8:3 we read, “He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. “
The people didn’t know what it was and said to each other, “What is it?” Moses said that it was ‘The bread which The LORD had given them,” bread of heaven. It was something they had never seen before.
Further instructions were given by The LORD (v16-19). Each man had to gather according to each one’s need, an omer for each person, each one for those in his tent, on an individual basis or family and each one had to gather for their own family needs. Those who gathered it by omers, those who gathered much had nothing left over and those gathered little did not go short. They were not to leave any of it until morning.
Unfortunately, not everyone took notice of God’s instructions, and left part until morning and it bred worms and stank (v20,21) and when the sun was hot it melted. Moses was angry with them for their disobedience.
For the sixth day the instructions were to gather twice as much bread, two omers for each person (v22-30). They could bake it on the sixth day or boil it and it would remain unlit the next day, the Sabbath rest or holy day. It did not go off, nor did it attract worms, and they could eat it on the Sabbath. There was none provided to gather on the seventh day. This was the first mention of the Sabbath. Even though they had been told there would be none to gather on the Sabbath, some went out to gather and found none. God reprimanded Moses because some of the people went out to gather. They needed to trust God because He had given them the seventh day as a day of rest. This would be restated when He later gave then the Ten Commandments.
This ‘bread from heaven’ was an amazing substance – they could bake it, boil it, grind it, beat it, make cakes of it and even on the sixth day it would last until the seventh day, but on the other days it would go off by the next morning. This was the best of food, of course it was, it was provided by God, and they lived on it for forty years until they came to the border of Canaan, the land promised to them by God (v31-36). They were also to put an omer of manna in a pot and lay it up before The LORD. This did not go off; it lasted for many years for they carried it around in the Ark of the Covenant to be kept as a testimony to following generations. It was truly miraculous food.
It was a picture of Jesus, who described Himself as the ‘Living Bread which came down from heaven’, Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” (John 6:32,33)
He gives us life which will sustain us through this life and to eternity. We must feed on Him to have life and life in all its fullness.
