We will begin this lesson in Exodus 16:15 “And when the children
of Israel saw [it], they said one to another, It [is] manna: for they
wist not what it [was]. And Moses said unto them, This [is] the bread
which the LORD hath given you to eat.”
“Manna” means whatness. You see, they did not know what it was.
They had never seen anything like this before. Moses reminded them,
that this was a miracle of God.
Exodus 16:16 “This [is] the thing which the LORD hath commanded,
Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man,
[according to] the number of your persons; take ye every man for
[them] which [are] in his tents.”
An “omer”, in our language, would be a little over five pints. You
see here, that five pints is what the average person would eat per
day. Some of the little ones, probably, ate less, and the big ones more,
but it would average out. The dad went out and gathered, and he
brought enough for his own family. You can easily see why a family of
ten would need more than a family of five. They were to get just one
day’s supply.
Exodus 16:17 “And the children of Israel did so, and gathered,
some more, some less.” Exodus 16:18 “And when they did mete [it] with
an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered
little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”
This was just repeating that, if they gathered five pints for each
member of their family, it worked out just fine. “Mete” means to
measure.
Exodus 16:19 “And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the
morning.”
They were to discipline themselves to one day’s supply at a time.
This is similar to the song, “ONE DAY AT A TIME”. You see, God was
teaching them that He was sufficient for their needs each day. We are
even warned ourselves about planning more than that, because we are
not guaranteed tomorrow.
Exodus 16:20 “Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but
some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and
stank: and Moses was wroth with them.”
Here, we see greed in action, and what it did. Many of the
problems in society today are caused by the greed of the people.
Wanting something, that does not belong to you, can cause robberies,
lies, and even murder. Even the thought of it is called coveting in
the Bible. One of the ten commandments is “Thou shalt not covet”. Some
religions of our day tell people to claim things they have not worked
to get, something that actually belongs to someone else. This is a
sin. Thou shalt not covet thou neighbor’s possessions.
Exodus 16:21 “And they gathered it every morning, every man
according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.”
God took care of what was left in the fields. He provided
plenty, but no extra. There were lessons to be learned, and God was
teaching discipline.
Exodus 16:22 “And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they
gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the
rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.” Exodus 16:23 “And he
said unto them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow [is]
the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake [that] which ye will
bake [today], and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth
over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.”
“Seethe” means to boil, bake, or roast. It appears from this that
not only were they to gather it ahead one day, but they were to
prepare it a day ahead, as well. It was alright to eat on the sabbath,
but it was not alright for anyone to work. This is a day God had set
aside for them to have total rest. This is just like all the other
ordinances God made to help man. These people got so technical about all of this, that they forgot why God had set this sabbath of rest on the seventh
day. Jesus says in St. Mark chapter 2:27, “And he said unto them, The
sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.” You see, this
miracle bread could last as long as necessary. It lasted two days, when
they gathered it on Friday. The Hebrew sabbath lasted from 6 p.m.
Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. This Manna soured, at God’s command, not
because of the number of days. We will find in a later lesson, that a
piece of this Manna stayed for years in the ark of the covenant
without souring. You see, this miracle Bread was not subject to
elements of this world. Whatever situation you find yourself in, the
Bread of life (Jesus) is sufficient to take care of it, whether it is
for a day, or a lifetime. This sabbath, God was about to establish, was
six days’ work, one day rest. This holds true, whether this day is an
actual 24 hour period, or a year, or a 1,000 year period. I have
mentioned this before in another Bible study book, but it is worth
repeating here. Since Adam until now has been approximately 6000
years: I believe we are very close to the 1,000 year millenial reign of
Jesus Christ on the earth (which is the 1,000 year sabbath rest for the
believers).
Exodus 16:24 “And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade:
and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.”
God promised to supply our need, not our greed. He gave them
enough. This miracle Bread can last as long as necessary. Here, it
lasted two days. God was trying to teach them discipline and obedience.
As long as we obey the commands of God, every circumstance will work
out best.
Exodus 16:25 “And Moses said, Eat that today; for today [is] a
sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.”
This is what you might call a forced rest. Our bodies will
quickly wear out, if there is not one day of rest in seven days. It
is very strange the three religions in the world that worship one God
all have one day in seven that they rest. The Moslems rest on Friday,
the Jewish people practice sabbath on Saturday, and the Christians
practice Firstfruits on Sunday. I just thought this was interesting.
Exodus 16:26 “Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day,
[which is] the sabbath, in it there shall be none.”
This was a command of God, and was not to be broken.
Exodus 16:27 “And it came to pass, [that] there went out [some]
of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.”
This was not only for them, but us, as well. If we do not take one
day a week, and set it aside for rest and worship, it displeases God.
Just as these people did not profit from their work on the sabbath,
neither will we profit from seven days of work, instead of six. God
demands one day of rest. That is the way He has made our bodies, and
that is the only way they will function properly.
Exodus 16:28 “And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to
keep my commandments and my laws?”
This is interesting, that God said Moses was not keeping the
Commandments. The shepherd is responsible for his, or her sheep. Moses
needed to make it even clearer to them the warnings from God. I believe
the message in this lesson, for us, is that the shepherd must be a
watchman. An evangelist is not the shepherd. The evangelist brings a
salvation message only, and the pastor is the shepherd. The pastor not
only preaches the redemption sermon, but must preach telling the
members of his particular church how to live in the salvation that
they received. Most preachers today preach what their congregation
wants to hear, instead of preaching what God would have them preach to
help their members stay right with God. Pastors are responsible for
their flock. Pastors are shepherds who take care of the sheep; feed
them the pure Word, lead them to drink pure water, nudge them back
into the fold when they stray and keep the wolves (devil) away. This
was the very reason God said this to Moses. Moses had to teach his people
the ways of God. The shepherd (pastor) must teach the sheep the ways
of God.
Exodus 16:29 “See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath,
therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide
ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the
seventh day.”
This sabbath of rest was for mankind; this double portion of food
on the sixth day was so they would not have to do any work on the
seventh. This was to help man.
Exodus 16:30 “So the people rested on the seventh day.” Exodus
16:31 “And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it
[was] like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it [was] like
wafers [made] with honey.”
God had promised them milk and honey. This wafer bread tasted
like honey.
Exodus 16:32 “And Moses said, This [is] the thing which the LORD
commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that
they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness,
when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.”
This miracle Bread kept in the pot would never spoil. The Bread is
symbolic of Jesus. They were never to forget their source of life.
Exodus 16:33 “And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an
omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept
for your generations.”
We just see the chain of command from God, to Moses, to Aaron.
Exodus 16:34 “As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up
before the Testimony, to be kept.”
We just see, here, that Aaron was the actual one to put up the
Manna. The “Testimony”, here, was the tables with the Ten Commandments on
it. Aaron put this Manna in a pot to be kept, until the Ark of the
Covenant was built to house it in. At a later time, this Manna,
Aaron’s rod that bloomed, and the Ten Commandments would all be kept in
the Ark of the Covenant.
Exodus 16:35 “And the children of Israel did eat manna forty
years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until
they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.”
“Forty”, as we spoke of before, means time of testing. God let
them wander forty years to compensate for forty days of unbelief, when
they feared to take the promised land. We will go into this further
in another lesson.
Exodus 16:36 “Now an omer [is] the tenth [part] of an ephah.”
That is just to explain that an omer is 5.1 pints.