Author’s Note: Interested readers can find all previous volumes of this series here.
Welcome to our Bible study. Today we discuss a famous story from the Book of Exodus. The passages are about how God fed the Israelites for 40 years while they wandered in the desert before reaching the promised land. The land, now called Israel, was geographically described to Joshua by God:
“‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west’” (Joshua 1: 1-4).
However, before a new generation of Israelites could step on the promised land, their elders — who miraculously escaped Egyptian bondage — had to be nourished. Thus, God provided “manna from Heaven” for four decades. In the secular world, the phrase is often used to describe “a usually sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain."
While the Israelites were in the desert, God demanded recognition and obedience from them in exchange for manna. What follows is a paraphrased version of the story with lessons relevant for us today. Quotes are used when passages are taken directly from Exodus Chapter 16.
“During the second month after they had come out of Egypt,” the Israelites “grumbled against Moses and Aaron,” saying, “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.”
The Lord heard their complaints and said to Moses, “‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’”
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Moses and Aaron explained to the people, “‘You will know that it was 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 your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.’”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord for he has heard your grumbling.’” When Aaron spoke, the people “looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.”
The Lord explained to Moses why He was providing the bread and meat, “‘Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
Lesson #1: God’s authority and dominion over us are supreme.
As promised, “that evening quail came and covered the camp” and “in the morning there was a layer of dew.” The people were confused by the dew that dissolved on the ground into “thin flakes like frost” and asked Moses, “‘What is it?’” He said, “‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: Everyone is to gather as much as they need.’”
But the Lord had a caveat: “Then Moses said to them, ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning.’ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.”
Lesson #2: Obedience to the Lord. By the Israelites having to depend on God to provide food every day, He showed His power and demanded obedience to His rules.
Then the day before the Sabbath, Moses told the people, the Lord commanded that they gather twice as much as needed. And, what they gathered must last until Sabbath morning because then, “You will not find any of it on the ground.” Most of the people did gather twice as much, and on the Sabbath morning ate the day-old food with no maggots or stink. But, for those who did not listen, they found no bread on Sabbath morning.
Lesson #3 Disobedience to the Lord has consequences.
The people who were disobedient prompted the Lord to say to Moses: “‘How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.’ So the people rested on the seventh day.”
Lesson #4: We must obey the Lord.
The first time the word “manna” appears in Chapter 16 is near the end of the story in verse 31. “The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.”
God commanded Moses to save a jar of manna to put “in front of the Testimony” that later was built to become the Ark of the Covenant to hold the Ten Commandments.
Lesson #5 is the connection between Exodus Chapter 16 and Jesus.
Talking about himself, Jesus said to his disciples, “‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’” (John 6: 32-33).
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’” (John 6:35).
For more details, read Volume 34, “What Jesus Says About The Bread of Life.”
Thanks for reading this far. I hope your interest was piqued to learn more about the connection between manna from Heaven and Jesus — “the true bread from heaven.”
Amen!
Myra Kahn Adams is a media producer and conservative political and religious writer with numerous national credits. She is also Executive Director of www.SignFromGod.org, a ministry dedicated to educating people about the Shroud of Turin. Contact: MyraAdams01@gmail.com or Twitter @MyraKAdams.
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