Exodus 16:1-36 Introduction Two weeks ago, we saw how God tested the Israelites by letting them go for three days without finding water, and then after that bringing them to water that was bitter and undrinkable. This test was meant to reveal what was in the people s hearts. But that s not all. It was also meant to teach them, and grow them, and further establish them in true faith and obedience. So after the people failed the test by grumbling against Moses, God used even their failure to teach and instruct them in the nature of what true faith and obedience really is. God healed the bitter waters, making them sweet, as a sign and symbol that He is the Healer of His people. He is the one who doesn t put on His people the diseases that He put on the Egyptians. He is the one who turns away His wrath and His righteous judgments from His people. And in the end, we know that God does this by transferring our diseases (the judgments that we deserve) to His own Son. It s in the context of this focus on God as the one who turns His wrath away from us that we are meant to hear these words: Exodus 15:26 If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer. In other words, all true obedience is to be rooted in faith faith in God s provision for our sin and disobedience. Apart from this faith, there is no true obedience. And yet wherever this faith is found, there will be true obedience. Last week, we saw how God tested the Israelites a second time by letting them go a full month without any sign of how He would provide them with food. After the people failed this test by grumbling against Moses and Aaron, God once again used their failure to teach them and instruct them. A big part of Israel s problem is that they are treating lightly and presuming upon the glory of the Lord. So in response to the people s grumbling about food God says that He will graciously give them food, but He emphasizes that they should see this giving of food as a revelation of His glory. Exodus 16:7 In the morning [when Yahweh provides bread from heaven] you shall see the glory of the LORD. But they must also learn to see that this glory to be revealed in the provision of food is one and the same with the glory of the consuming fire that s veiled and hidden in the cloud. And so we read: Exodus 16:9 10 Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 1
God used Israel s failure of this second test as the occasion to teach them that His gracious provisions should provoke in them a salutary, health-giving fear of the all-consuming glory of the Lord. This is the kind of fear that should motivate them both to trust and obey, in that order. Trust in God s merciful provisions for their sin and disobedience in the God who is their Healer. And then obey God s law always as the expression and fruit of this trust. So now in light of the things Israel has had the opportunity to learn through these first two tests, God is about to test Israel yet again. God s provision of bread His response to Israel s failure of the second test will, itself, be the occasion for a third test. Another heart check. Another opportunity to learn and be established in the truth. 1 I. Exodus 16:4 5 Then the LORD said to Moses, Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. When God rains bread from heaven to satisfy the hunger of His people, He is revealing His glory. And so as the people receive this food from the Lord, it should teach them to fear and tremble before Him with grateful hearts. But will they? It s in this light that we see there are two laws that accompany this gracious provision of food. First, the people shall go out and gather a day s portion every day. And second, On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. The reason for these commands and qualifications is explicit: that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. II. Exodus 16:13 15 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. Let s just take a moment to talk about these two miracles. One commentator says: The habits of quails as we know them today fit the biblical picture. First, the bird flies mostly at night. Secondly, after migration the birds are so exhausted that they can be caught with bare hands. Lastly, during migration they make use of favorable winds [cf. Numbers 11:31]. (Currid) Another older commentator points out that these [quail] fly in such dense masses that the Arab boys ofen kill two or three at a time, by merely striking at them with a stick as they fly. (Keil) So the miracle of the quail is primarily in the timing and the extent of the provision. (Currid) The quail, in and of themselves, were not a miracle. But what about the bread? There isn t any natural explanation for the manna that can satisfy all the evidence of the text, and so the miracle of the manna is not only in the timing and the extent, 1 Deuteronomy 8:16 [The Lord] fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. God is going to test the Hebrews in order to refine their characters into obedience It is to teach God s people to depend upon him. (Currid) 2
but in the manna itself. It was, very literally, bread from heaven, and this is how it was celebrated ever after. Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger. Psalm 105:40 They asked, and [the Lord] gave them bread from heaven in abundance. Psalm 78:24 [The Lord] rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. This miracle of a heavenly bread to abundantly satisfy the hunger of the people is an important point to remember. But for now, we move on to the two laws that go along with this gracious provision of bread. Moses said to the people: III. Exodus 16:16 19 This is what the LORD has commanded: Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over till the morning. An omer is about the equivalent of two quarts. Apparently, when each family gathered two quarts per person per day, this always averaged out to just the right amount of food to satisfy the hunger of each individual in the family whether child or adult. One of the main things we see in these verses is the abundance and the sufficiency of God s provisions. Notice what Moses says at the beginning: Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. (v. 16) And then notice what Moses says at the end: Whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. (v. 18) God is not a stingy or a grudging giver. He delights to give to us freely and without reproach. (cf. James 1:5) And so in light of this, God commands Israel to demonstrate their trust in His faithfulness to provide by only gathering each day as much as they need for that day. Let no one leave any of it over till the morning. This is what the Lord has commanded. So we see here a law that accompanies God s gracious provision. 2 As the people all gather as much food as they can eat, knowing no lack, they should be learning trust. As the people all gather only as much food as they can eat in one day, leaving nothing over until the morning, they should be learning obedience an obedience that is the fruit of their trust. Trust and obey! IV. Exodus 16:20 21 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 2 Through the commandments which the Israelites were to keep in relation to the manna, this gift assumed the character of a test of their obedience and faith. (Keil) 3
Can t you imagine the temptation it would have been to gather and store away extra manna for the next day or the next week? Here you were just contemplating the prospect of starving to death in a land without food and now, suddenly, here is an abundance of food covering the desert ground. And so what do you naturally want to do? You want to gather and collect as much as you can, storing it up and filling every container that you have. This especially appears to be a wise thing to do when you find that the manna melts and disappears as soon as the sun grows hot. And so this is exactly what some of the people did. But at the end of the day, what s the real reason that the people refused to walk in God s law? What s the real reason that they disobeyed God s command by gathering extra food to store away for the future? It s because they weren t yet trusting God s word. They believed they still needed to take some things into their own hands. And yet see how in the end, they re completely shamed for their lack of trust! Not only does the food they kept until the morning breed worms and stink, but morning by morning the manna was there again for them to gather, each as much as he could eat. Is God really worthy of our distrust? Shouldn t God s gracious provision cause us to always fear and tremble before Him with grateful and obedient hearts? And yet the people have failed the test again. The Scripture says that Moses was angry, but never that the Lord was angry. See how merciful, and gracious, and slow to anger is our Lord! (Exod. 34:6) So will the people learn anything from this latest test? V. Exodus 16:22 26 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning. So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. Here again, we see the faithfulness and the sufficiency of God s provisions. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And this time, the leftovers could then be laid aside and kept till the morning. Notice how the text highlights the liberality of God: Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning. And this time, the bread did not stink, and there were no worms in it(!!!) But what s the purpose of all this extra food on the sixth day? The point is that they should still have plenty to eat on the seventh day when there would be no bread to gather. The point is that they should still have plenty to eat on the seventh day which they were to keep as a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. And so once again, we have a law and a commandment that goes together with God s gracious gift. This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest The overabundance and leftovers of the sixth day are intended to leave God s people totally free to obey His Sabbath command on the seventh day. Let s put it this way: As the people gather twice as 4
much bread on the sixth day and find that it keeps until the seventh day (leaving them with plenty to satisfy their hunger), they should be learning trust. As the people then rest from all their usual work and labor on the seventh day, they should be learning obedience an obedience that is the fruit of their trust. Trust and obey! And so here again is a test to see whether the people will walk in God s law, or not. Here is a test to see whether the people will trust Yahweh, or not. VI. Exodus 16:27 30 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. Once again, can you imagine the temptation it would have been to go out in the morning looking for more bread? Remember, it was only a few days ago that you were contemplating the prospect of starving to death in a land without food. So when you re finally allowed to collect extra food, and when you get up the next morning and see that the extra food you collected is still good, what s the thought that automatically comes into your mind? I wonder what s outside? Let s just go out and see if there s any more. Maybe I could get ahead just a little. Wouldn t this be the wise and prudent thing to do? And so that s exactly what some of the people did. But at the end of the day, deep down, what s the real reason that the people refused to keep God s commandments and laws? It s because they weren t yet trusting God s word. 3 That s it and there s no other excuse. They weren t yet wholly depending on God s faithfulness and on God s provisions. They still doubted how perfect was His wisdom and how infinite was His goodness. And so the Lord says to Moses, as the representative of the people: How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? Which, as we ve learned, is the same thing as to say: How long will you refuse to trust Me? How long will you refuse to trust and believe My Word? God s free, and gracious, and liberal provisions are always accompanied by law and command. There isn t a blessing God has given us that isn t accompanied by an opportunity for obedience. It s been this way ever since the Garden. 4 (Gen. 2:8-10, 15-17) But for us, this law should be the law of liberty! (James 1:25) The Law and the Commandment is our delight because by it we have the joy of living out our absolute trust in the proven goodness and wisdom and faithfulness of God. In other words, all true obedience must be rooted in trust. Apart from this faith and trust in God, there is no true obedience. (cf. Heb. 11:6) But whenever and wherever this trust is found, there will always be true and full obedience. So, it s not just obey. It s not obey and then trust. And it s not just trust. It s Trust and obey. 3 They found no manna and in the process showed themselves unwilling once again to trust God in the matter of a single commandment, not a promising sign in light of the fact that soon enough they would be expected to keep his entire covenant law as an indication of their trust in him. (Stuart) 4 Genesis 2:8 10, 15 17 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. 5
What are the ways that our rationalizing and compromising and minimizing, and ignoring of God s commands reveals our lack of full trust in the goodness and rightness of God s Word? On the other hand, how does our experience of burdensome obedience also reveal this same lack of full trust in the goodness and rightness of God s Word? In our relationships in our finances in our time in our use of possessions in all our choices and decisions, in our attitudes in our inmost thoughts and motives In all of these things, in all of these places, we are always being called to trust and obey. Twice, now, we ve heard Moses say: This is what the Lord has commanded. And now we hear him say it one last time: VII. Exodus 16:31 36 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. [See again the goodness and the liberality of Yahweh! 5 ] Moses said, This is what the LORD has commanded: Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.) This is an amazing thing! The ark of the covenant (or testimony) which was not yet built at the time of these events, but which had been built by the time Moses was writing this story down the ark of the testimony was the only piece of furniture in the very innermost sanctum of the holy of holies. This ark of the testimony was the visible representation of the very presence of God Himself in the midst of His people. It was called the ark of the testimony (or covenant) because inside the ark were the two stone tablets of the covenant, inscribed with the Ten Commandments the Law. (Exod. 25:16; 40:20; Heb. 9:1-4) And so now we learn that a jar of manna(!) is also to be placed before the Lord specifically, before the testimony and kept there throughout all generations. Why? So the people can always see the bread with which God fed them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. The first two things to be deposited in the ark, inside the very symbol of God s presence with His people, are the jar of manna (representing God s gracious and bountiful provision for His people and calling the people to trust Him) and the law (showing God s holy requirements of His people and the means by which God s people could wholeheartedly live out their trust in Him). 5 In ancient times the refining of sugar had not been invented, and the only means of sweetening foods was to add either fruit compounds or honey to them. Honey is far sweeter than dried, crushed, or minced fruit, being approximately half sucrose and half fructose, and its taste in foods was the apex of ancient flavoring. Few Israelites ever had the luxury of making wafers (in effect, thin cookies) instead of bread, and honey was rare enough (since it had to be found in the wild rather than cultivated as today) that describing the manna as like wafers made with honey was tantamount to saying that it was the most delicious food imaginable. (Stuart) 6
And so the bread and the law were kept together in the ark throughout the generations, pointing us forward to Jesus. Can you see how? Jesus is the one who fulfills the law for us by perfectly trusting and perfectly obeying the word of His Father. Before he died, Moses told the people: Deuteronomy 8:3 [The Lord] humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Fifteen hundred years later, when Jesus was hungry after forty days of fasting in the wilderness, and the devil tempted Him to turn the stones into bread and eat, He responded in perfect trust and perfect obedience: Matthew 4:4 It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus fulfilled the law for us, but He also makes it possible through His death and resurrection for the righteous requirement of the law [to] be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:4) And finally, this Jesus is the one who said to the people of Israel: John 6:32 33, 35, 47-51 (cf. 6:53-58) Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave 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 I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst [see God s abundance and liberality!] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. In Christ, we have the ultimate reason for our trust, and the object of our faith. In Christ, the bread from heaven, we ve tasted the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God. And so now in Christ, we re enabled to live out our trust in wholehearted, uncompromising obedience. Why did God let the people hunger and then feed them with bread from heaven? [So] that He might make [us] know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Trust and obey. 7