King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 9 notes
1And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
It took that long for their reserves to run out.
And that was exactly the Lord's plan.
Just like the bitter waters of Marah took three days to reach, and the Lord healed the water to implant in their minds that he is their healer.
Here he wants to show them he is their provider and keeper.
Under such conditions, hopefully the lessons won't be forgotten.
But 👨 man, they forgot over and over, even under such harsh teaching conditions by which to etch the lessons in memory.
2And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
One month of being in the wilderness, they were hungry and growing lean by now, I suspect.
I understand Israel 🇮🇱. The need to survive. Yes, God worked miracles, we agree.
But now how do they survive if there is no food 🍲?
It would have been nice if after crossing the Red Sea there were miracles of water, immediately followed by manna.
Then there would have been no need for murmurings and the like.
That is only fair 🧚♂️, considering that this is a wilderness and God had the ability to feed them.
So now the million dollar question was, WHY DID GOD TREAT THEM THIS WAY?
3And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
4Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
This was a very difficult situation God put Moses in.
I believe it never crossed the mind of Moses that God would feed them angels' bread 🥪.
I mean, who would have thought of such things?
I'm sure he prayed for provisions and increase for the goods and livelihood of the people.
The journey was to be 10 days ideally, but they went via a longer route.
It was already a month and a half, and it was starting to look like the Lord wanted to bring them out to kill them in the wilderness.
The burden on Moses's head was getting heavier with each passing day, much prayers and fastings, and the Lord had not said anything yet concerning the people's food 🍲.
Now their stock was running 🏃 dry.
And Moses and God spoke face to face, so obviously Moses had asked and God had told him to trust him, or maybe he refrained from answering, or maybe God spoke to him face to face but not daily.
And it had been a while since the Lord showed forth; the last time he was at the waters of Marah.
5And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
6And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:
Once the Lord spoke, they could speak the same and now become bold.
But till then they had to wait for the Lord. Not even Moses could just get up and declare anything or any solution at all he wanted.
It always had to be in concert with the Lord.
The one time he did deviate from this protocol and assumed to just exercise spiritual power without the Lord, it led to his disqualification from the promise.
He was cut off from the promised land.
The Lord takes matters of usurping spiritual authority and protocols very seriously.
7And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?
8And 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.
They were trying their very best for the people to appreciate how powerful and how much of a provider God is, so as to keep them from murmuring in future challenges.
But they never learnt till they were totally cast out of the promise.
9And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.
10And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto 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.
11And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.
13And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
14And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
16This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.
17And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.
18And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.
19And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
20Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
21And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
22And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
23And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
24And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
25And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.
26Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
God was very strict and firm with his commandments.
He did not entertain disobedience... He may let it slide but will definitely bring it to mind.
29See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
Working with man can be so frustrating.. even God was getting tired of them. So as a leader, lead with a heart of patience but diligence.
30So the people rested on the seventh day.
31And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Hmm, I can imagine the taste was nice.
32And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.
33And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.
34As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
35And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
?? 😳 😳 😳
Forty years.
40 years eating one food 🍲 type, though I suspect they found creative ways of cooking it differently.
36Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.