Can He Provide Bread? – Exodus 16:1-36
16 Then they set out from Elim and the whole congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, located between Elim and Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from Egypt. (2) The whole congregation of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (3) The children of Israel said to them, We wish that we had died by Jehovah’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat around the pots of meat, when we ate bread and were full. You have brought us into this wilderness in order to kill this whole assembly with hunger! (4) Then Jehovah said to Moses, Look; I will rain bread down from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them, to know whether or not they will walk in accordance with my law. (5) And it shall be that on the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. (6) So Moses and Aaron said to the children of Israel, In the evening you shall know that Jehovah has brought you out of the land of Egypt; (7) and in the morning you shall see the glory of Jehovah, for he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you grumble against us? (8) And Moses said, You will know that it is Jehovah when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning; for Jehovah has heard your grumbling that is actually grumbling against him. Who are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against Jehovah! (9) Then Moses said to Aaron, Tell the whole congregation of Israel, Come near before the presence of Jehovah, because he has heard your grumbling. (10) As Aaron addressed the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and saw the glory of Jehovah appear in the cloud. (11) And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, (12) I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel. Tell them, In the evening you shall eat meat and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am Jehovah your God.
(13) That evening quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. (14) When the dew was gone, there lay on the surface of the wilderness thin flakes, like frost on the ground. (15) When the children of Israel saw it, they asked one another, What is it? for they did not know what it was. Then Moses told them, It is the bread that Jehovah has given you to eat. (16) This is what Jehovah has commanded: Every man is to gather of it as much as he needs. Take an omer’s worth for each person in your household; every man is to gather an omer’s worth for each one living in his tent. (17) The children of Israel did so, some gathered much and some gathered little. (18) When they measured it with an omer, they found that he who had gathered much had no excess and he who had gathered little had no lack—every man had gathered as much as he needed. (19) Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it until the morning. (20) But they did not listen to Moses, some left a portion of it until the morning, but it was full of maggots and became rotten. And Moses was angry with them. (21) They gathered it each morning, everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun became hot, it melted away.
(22) On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread—two omer’s worth for each person—and the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses.(23) He said to them, This is what Jehovah has said: Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath, dedicated to Jehovah. So bake what you wish to bake and boil what you wish to boil. Save whatever is left over and keep it until the morning. (24) So they saved it until the morning, as Moses instructed them to do; it did not rot, nor were there any maggots in it. (25) Moses said, Eat it today; because today is a Sabbath dedicated to Jehovah. Today you will not find any of it on the ground. (26) Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. (27) Nevertheless, on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found none. (28) Then Jehovah said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? (29) Look; because Jehovah has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he has given you enough bread for two days. Every man is to remain in his dwelling, let no one go out from his dwelling on the seventh day. (30) So the people rested on the seventh day. (31) Now the people of Israel called it Manna; it was like white coriander seed and it tasted like wafers made with honey.
(32) Moses said, This is what Jehovah has commanded: Let an omer’s worth of it be kept throughout your generations, so that you may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. (33) So Moses said to Aaron, Take a jar and put an omer’s worth of manna into it; then put it in the presence of Jehovah to be kept throughout your generations. (34) As Jehovah commanded Moses, Aaron laid it before the Testimony, to be preserved. (35) The children of Israel ate the manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. (36) (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
