Exodus 16:1-21 - Daily Bread from Heaven

Exodus 16:1-21

Bread from Heaven

1 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “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.”

4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “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. 5 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.”

6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 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?” 8 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.”

9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your complaints.’” 10 Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

13 So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children 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, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’”

17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. 19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

After leaving the bondage of Egypt and witnessing the judgment on the nation which refused to let God’s people go, the people delivered from such affliction then complained to Moses and Aaron about food.  They even wailed and moaned how it would have been better to die by the hand of the LORD while enslaved in Egypt as long as they had meat and bread to eat.  Then God promised both meat as quail and bread from heaven to sustain them, with certain conditions that would test their hearts (Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 2 Chronicles 16:9) to see if they were actually on faith to hear and obey His word for their good.  God then rained down bread from heaven in the morning after providing quail for their evening meal.  This was to prove to them that it was the LORD whose mighty hand had brought them out of bondage and into freedom on the way to the land promised by them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and test their response of trusting faith.  Moses and Aaron made it clear that the people were complaining against God and not them as His instruments, and told them that they would witness the glory of the LORD in the morning when He fed them in answer to their complaints and needs.  The meat came and they feasted.  In the morning, the dew brought the bread from heaven as we know now was a picture of Jesus the Christ (John 6:35, 41, 51) as our bread from heaven come to sustain us in body and soul for eternity.  Do we not find godly contentment (1 Timothy 6:6) in this heavenly bread of life as we learn from the mistakes of these in the wilderness who were set free from bondage as we have been set free from the bondage of sin, or do we complain and want more or even what we seemingly had before we knew Christ?  The people of God in the wilderness found this bread on the ground in the morning like frost after the dew burned off and said, “what is it?”  This word is translated manna (מָן man, what and ה֔וּא hu, is it) in English and literally means they named it after the ‘whatness’ of what they received.  They then gathered up just as much as needed for each person and family and there was just enough for all so nobody had too much or too little!  That is the perfect provision of God who meets our needs and not the wants of our misplaced desires for more than we require.  Just as 2 Corinthians 8:14-15 reminded the church of Corinth with these same words that God provides so we can give to meet the needs of others from all He gives us, just as required, so He did for these then.  They were also warned as God told Moses beforehand that they were to only gather what they needed or it would rot the next day.  They did not all obey and found worms had infested the manna and it rotted with a terrible stench.  This angered Moses because they did not trust and act on the word of the LORD he had conveyed to them, undermining his authority and disobeying God.  After that incident, they gathered only what was necessary and ate it before the sun’s heat melted the rest.  This is a lesson to us that we should hear what God says in His word and willingly obey by faith that takes Him at His word when we are tested, while we avoid coveting more than we need and more than He gives us to meet our every need.  Godliness of trust with contentment of His provision is truly the greatest gain over all accumulation of unneeded desires.  He has rained down the Bread of heaven for us to daily provide us all things (2 Peter 1:3) as our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) for life and godliness, so how can we ever desire more than that?