Exodus 16

Exodus 16:1-36

Israel Encamps in the Wilderness of Sin - The story of Israel’s encampment in the Wilderness of Sin and the provision of manna from Heaven is one of the greatest miracles in the Scriptures. Here, the Lord instituted the provision of bread from heaven, which lasted throughout the forty-year wilderness journey. Along with the provision of manna, the Lord instituted the Sabbath rest. In the wilderness of Sin, which means, “bush,” the children of Israel are given manna from Heaven and quail to eat. The manna symbolizes the daily word that God speaks to every one of His children as a part of His fellowship with them. God speaks to His children each day if he will just take the time to listen. The quail represent the stronger meat that God can give to those who are mature in Christ (Hebrews 5:12-14). The children of Israel were taught the Law of Moses, but it was also necessary that they daily fed upon this divine manna. We too, must learn the academics of the Scriptures in Bible school as well as having a daily devotional in God’s presence to hear a word from Him. We must study the “logos” of the Bible, learning its foundational doctrines, as well as learn to hear the “rhema” of God’s spoken words for us daily. Since man cannot live by bread alone, but by God’s manna, it means that God has a fresh word for us each day, every day of our lives, if we would just listen (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4). As we partake of Jesus, His life in us through fellowship with Him, He becomes our bread of life (John 6:28-59). As the Lord covered the earth each morning with manna for the children of Israel, each day He covers the earth with fresh manna for His people. All of God’s people, from the beginning of time, have learned to feed upon manna. As the manna is gentle and light as dew and easily trampled, so is the daily manna that He brings to us. We must be light of heart to receive it. It is interesting to note that the manna was small in size, thus making the people to work harder in gathering it. Because God sends His manna in different ways we must know how to gather manna each day. For example, this manna can come from living epistles, his people; it may come from something that someone says to you; or, it may come from a writing of a saint. The Scriptures that we read each day are our milk; then, it becomes our meat. It builds for us a container that helps us to hold and understand the fresh manna. The vessel that the manna is placed into represents the foundational doctrines of the Scriptures. The manna represents God’s daily bread in our lives. Without a vessel, the manna cannot be contained and used properly; but a vessel without manna is useless also. Both are needed to provide food for living. The daily manna that we receive must be in line with the doctrines of the Scriptures in order for us to receive it. When Jesus fed the five thousand, he commanded that the crumbs be gathered and placed in to twelve baskets. Without the baskets, the crumbs were useless. In order to know God’s ways, we must know His Scriptures. When I learned this truth, I began to look for this manna. When I began to look for it, I found it everywhere. Gathering manna and writing it down became a daily exercise for me. It was not that the Lord began to give me more manna; but rather, I began to see it better, because it had been there all the time. Just as the manna in the wilderness did not last until the next day, we must realize that when the Lord gives us a rhema word for today, it may not apply to a different situation tomorrow. We must learn to find a fresh word from the Lord tomorrow to take us through that day. For today’s manna is only sufficient for today. God made it this way in order to have fellowship with us. Illustration - In 1980 the Lord gave me a dream. I saw an old-fashioned wooden screen door with the Colonial Bread advert within this screen. This was a common way of advertising as a child. The advert did not read, “Colonial Bread,” but rather, “the bread of life.” In this dream, I knew to open this door and enter in to partake of the bread that comes from God. Exodus 16:1 — Word Study on “Sin” – Gesenius says the Hebrew name “Sin” (ñִ ?éï) (H5512) literally means, “clay.” PTW says it means, “bush.” Exodus 16:1 — Comments – The children of Israel left Egypt in haste the night of the fourteenth of the first month (Exodus 12:6). The Jewish month was a thirty-day period.[74] Therefore, the children of Israel had been wandering for thirty days. [74] John F. Walvoord, Every Prophecy of the Bible (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, c1990, 1999), 254.Exodus 12:6, “And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” Exodus 16:7 — “the glory of the Lord” – Comments - Jesus Christ is the glory of the Lord (Hebrews 1:3) and the manna is figurative of the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Hebrews 1:3, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” John 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life.” Exodus 16:8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. Exodus 16:7-8 — Comments – Murmuring Leads to Rebellion - Murmuring is the early stages of rebellion. When we murmur against God’s servants who are placed over us, then we begin to rebel against the Lord. Exodus 16:18 — Comments - We have a New Testament reference to Exodus 16:18 in 2 Corinthians 8:15, “As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” Exodus 16:19-20 — Comments – The Manna as Our Daily Bread - After reading John 6, we compare this manna to Jesus, as the Bread of Life, God’s Word. We must be refreshed with Jesus (outpouring of the Holy Spirit) and God’s Word daily. Yesterday’ word was needed for yesterday, but today we need a fresh word from God. Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” John 6:31-35,”Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Exodus 16:21 — Comments - In Luke 11:3 Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, which alludes to the daily bread that God gave to the children of Israel. Luke 11:3, “Give us day by day our daily bread.” Exodus 16:23-30 — The Ordinance of the Sabbath Day - In Exodus 16:23-30 we have the first discourse about the Sabbath day. As we study the Mosaic Law, it becomes apparent that this Law is built around the number “seven”. For example, the seventh day was called the Sabbath day. The seventh month was a month of festivals. The seventh year was the Sabbath year. The seventh Sabbath year ushered in the Year of Jubilee.

There were seven days involved in certain feasts. There were seven weeks to be counted between certain feasts. God gave commandments of judging sin seven days for individuals and seven years for judging nations. There were seven days of uncleanness and seven days of consecration. The blood of atonement was sprinkled seven times. The oil was sprinkled seven times on the altar.

There were seven lambs to sacrifice. God’s judgment was seven times for sin. Exodus 16:31 — Word Study on “Manna” – Strong says the Hebrew word “manna” (îָ ?ï) (H4478) literally means, “a whatness (so to speak).” Gesenius tells us this word can used with the Hebrew hyphen (Maqqeph) in indirect interrogation to mean, “what,” or “who.” Exodus 16:32 — Comments - John Gill says that an omer is often viewed by scholars as a man’s daily portion of manna.[75] [75] John Gill, Exodus, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Exodus 16:32.Exodus 16:36 — Comments – The explanation of the omer in Exodus 16:36 may have been an explanatory note added during the period when the Pentateuch was compiled shortly after the death of Moses or as late as the time of Ezra when the Old Testament was canonized and collected into its final form.