SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON 5 - Ex. 16:1-5, 11-20 - SUFFICIENT
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Ex. 14:13-28, we witnessed one of the most awesome displays of God's sovereign power to be found anywhere in Scripture. You will remember that after Pharaoh allowed the children of Israel to leave Egypt, God hardened Pharaoh's heart again so that he mobilized his entire army to overtake and either kill or enslave them. By this time, the Israelites were camped in on the west bank of the Red Sea. To save them from certain disaster, God ordered Moses to take his staff and divide the sea, which he did. To prevent to Egyptians from catching up with the slow-moving hoard of Israelites, God also repositioned the pillars of cloud and fire to put a barrier between them and the advancing army and turned the seabed under the Egyptians into mud. When the Israelites had made substantial progress and the entire Egyptian army was well past the western shore, God commanded Moses to un-divide the sea, which God limited to the area surrounding the Egyptians, and they were drowned with no survivors. We discussed four points of application which I will boil down to two broad truths: (1) We human beings aren't capable of leading ourselves, yes? We must trust God and obediently follow wherever He leads us. (2) When God delivers us from the various and inevitable trials of life, we are duly-bound to give Him all the credit and praise. He just rescued all of us from one of the worst plagues in recent history, did He not? Amen?
Today, in Ex. 16:1-5, 11-20, we'll learn some valuable lessons about God's provision. We come into the story about a month after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and now have reached an area in the Sinai Peninsula about 100 miles south called the Wilderness of Sin (see map). Before you judge these people too harshly, ask yourself if you've ever truly experienced hunger to the point of justifiable desperation, where you thought that you might very possibly die from it?
Read Ex. 16:1-3 - THE SONS OF ISRAEL GRUMBLED
1 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. 2 But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!"
v. 1: "Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt" - The exact location of Elim isn't known but it appears to be on the western side of the Sinai peninsula maybe 20-25 miles north of the Wilderness of Sin. The name "sin" for the region isn't the Hebrew word used for human sin. They departed Egypt on the 15th day of the previous month (Nissan), so they are exactly one month into their exodus.
v. 2: "But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness" - Although God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelite people are finding out that life in the wilderness of Sinai is not one of or comfort or abundance. This isn't the complaint of a few malcontents, but is an attitude shared by "the whole congregation." And the people direct their complaints against Moses and Aaron because they are the visible leaders.
3a: "The sons of Israel said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full" - This is a serious example of selective memories, the kind of thing that often happens when people begin to reminisce about the "good old days." As slaves in Egypt, despite being oppressed and mistreated, it appears from this verse that they weren't short of food, and enjoyed varieties of food in abundance. However, short of a miracle, it would have been impossible to feed 2+ million people in this desolate wilderness.
3b: "for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!" - Here, they are not only accusing Moses and Aaron of incompetent leadership, but are alleging that they deliberately brought them into the wilderness to die. All of us have experienced hunger-it's a natural biological need. But how many of us in this land of plenty have ever been hungry when we didn't know where our next meal was coming from? These people were starving: they were desperate. This level of hunger can make people irrational, even drive them senseless.
Read Ex. 16:4-5 - I WILL RAIN BREAD FROM HEAVEN
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 day's portion every day, so that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily."
4a: "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you" - Notice that God doesn't dignify their accusations in v. 3 with a response. God simply responds to their complaint about food in much the same way that he acted on their earlier complaint (15:24-25 skipped) about fresh water. In that instance, Moses threw part of a tree in the foul water, and it became drinkable. In this case, God now promises to "rain bread from heaven." Although the food is called "bread" here, it will later be referred to as "mánna," which literally translates to "what is it?" In theology, it's understood as a symbol of God's divine provision to us.
4b: "and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, so that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction" - Notice that God carefully words these instructions to make it clear that even if the bread from heaven on any given day is more than needed, the people are to collect only enough bread for that day and nor more (i.e., they are prohibited from hoarding bread for later consumption). By requiring them to only meet the needs of one day, God is testing them. In the NT, Jesus instructs to pray for our "daily bread, not for tomorrow (Luke 11:3).
v. 5: "On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily" - God commands them to collect twice as much on the sixth day so that they will have food on the Sabbath. This predates the Levitical requirements they will later receive. This reasons for this are three-fold: (1) they would need food on the Sabbath; (2) they are to honor the Sabbath by not working, and gathering bread would constitute work; and (3) God is testing them to see if they succumb to the temptation to collect more than they need. This is the first mention of restricting any form of "work" on the Sabbath. It will be defined in detail later at Sinai (20:8-11).
Note: We skip vv. 6-10, but here's a quick summary: In reply to their "grumbling," Aaron informed them of two things: (1) That their complaints and accusations were really directed at God Himself, not him or Moses, and (2) that God hears them. To prove his point, Aaron told them simply to look up and out, and suddenly, they saw God's glory in a cloud. Humans aren't engineered to physically experience God's glory. By analogy, it would be like coming into contact with a high-voltage line-way too much for us to handle.
Read Ex. 16:11-12 - YOU SHALL EAT MEAT AND BE FILLED WITH BREAD
11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 "I have heard the grumblings of the sons 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.'"
v. 11: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying" - God is presumably speaking out of the cloud. However, it's not clear whether He's heard only by Moses or whether the people can hear Him, too.
v. 12: "I have heard the grumblings of the sons 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.'" - Other than brief mention in v. 3, there has been no complaint of lack of meat. Notice that God promises they will have their fill of bread but not necessarily meat. In the last phrase, "that you shall know...," God's intent is that the people understand they are completely dependent on Him for their provision. It was life and death. They needed to see this.
Read Ex. 16: 13-15 - A FINE FLAKE-LIKE THING ON THE GROUND
13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons 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 which the LORD has given you to eat.
v. 13: "So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp" - God makes good His promise: quails covering the ground like a feathered carpet. Quails are still a sought after, good to eat game bird today. This is the only reference to Quails in Exodus. The layer of dew was not manna.
v. 14: "When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground" Due to the low humidity in that part of the world, nighttime temperatures frequently drop below freezing year around and could turn dew into frost. As the dew evaporated, it revealed a flakey residue on the ground. This was manna. It wasn't ready to eat bread, but sort of like flour, could readily be made into cakes and cooked. The purpose of the manna from heaven was not only to provide material sustenance to the Israelites but to teach them eternal lessons-day-by-day-of dependence on God. And it was sort of a partnership: God, by His miraculous power-something the people could not do-would bring the manna and the Israelites would gather it and make into something both edible and nutritious.
Read Ex. 16:15-20 - YOU SHALL TAKE AN OMER APIECE
15 When the sons 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 which the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Everyone gather as much as he will eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.'" 17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. 18 When they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered as much as he would eat. 19 Moses said to them, "No one is to leave any of it until morning." 20 But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them.
v. 15: "When the sons 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 which the LORD has given you to eat." - As mentioned in v. 4, "What is it?' literally translates to "mánna." Moses basically answers that this is food (their daily bread) which God has provided to keep you alive.
v. 16: "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Everyone gather as much as he will eat; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of people each of you has in his tent. The manna was to be gathered on an individual or family (as opposed to some centralized system), taking one "omer" for each person. We're not certain of the standard of measurement, but one omer is thought to have been about a gallon.
v. 17-18: "The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. 18 When they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered as much as he would eat" - Some of these variations in gathering could have been due to differences in age and strength. However, when they put it all together, divided by the number of people, it came out to one omer apiece!
v. 19: "Moses said to them, "No one is to leave any of it until morning" - This order was divinely designed to remind the Israelites of their absolute dependence on God for food from day-to-day. The trust they needed to learn was that God was sufficient for their needs each day, so that they should not worry about tomorrow.
v. 20: "But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them" - Whether out of greed or mistrust of God, some of them hoarded a portion of the manna, only to find that it was infested with worms and putrid the next day. Moses apparently took this as an affront to his leadership and was angry. Then and now, some people simply refuse to listen or accept instruction. They are fools.
APPLICATION-God is faithful to provide for our basic needs.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, today is a momentous day in the life of this good church. In just a few minutes, all of us are going into the sanctuary to hear a message preached by Pastor Mike Donathan, a man who has been invited to come here in view of a call to be the new shepherd our church. To prepare us, dear God, I pray that you will calm our hearts, remove all distractions, and open our minds as we listen to this important message. And I also pray for Pastor Mike as he deliverers it. And finally, Dear Lord, I pray above everything else that Your Will will be done. I pray these things in the name above all names, Jesus Christ, AMEN.
