Bread from Heaven
1 They took their journey 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 their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; 3 and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening, you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt. 7 In the morning, you shall see Yahweh’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh. Who are we, that you murmur against us?” 8 Moses said, “Now Yahweh will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.” 9 Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come close to Yahweh, for he has heard your murmurings.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, Yahweh’s glory appeared in the cloud. 11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’” 13 In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. 14 When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. 15 When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent.’” 17 The children of Israel did so, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They each gathered according to his eating. 19 Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, so it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.
A daily ration that cannot be stored teaches a nation to depend on God one day at a time, and the arrangement is called a test.
and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
One month out. The memory has already been rewritten: slaves who were worked to exhaustion making brick now recall sitting by meat pots eating their fill. Hunger does this, and the narrative does not pretend the hunger was imaginary — a nation in the wilderness of SIN with no crops and no supply line had a real problem. What it records is how quickly the past reorganizes itself around a present grievance.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
The provision is generous and it is also an examination, and the examination is built into its design. A day's portion every day means no reserve, no store, and no independence. God could as easily have filled their bags for a month. Instead the supply arrives each morning and expires each night, which obliges the whole nation to want him again by breakfast.
Moses said, “Now Yahweh will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.”
Moses corrects the address. The complaints have been aimed at two men for a month, and he tells them the letters have been going to someone else.
In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp.
Both halves of the promise arrive on schedule. The morning residue is unrecognizable: a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground, and the people say to one another what is it? Exodus 16:14–15, which is the phrase that becomes its name. They are eating something they cannot classify, and they will do it every day for forty years.
Two rules govern the gathering, and each teaches something the desert would not otherwise teach.
The first is a fixed measure. He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack Exodus 16:18. However hard a household worked, the omer per person came out the same, so the strong could not accumulate and the weak could not fall behind. Paul cites the sentence when urging one church to relieve another's shortage 2 Corinthians 8:15, and the principle he draws from it is exactly the one the wilderness enforced by miracle.
The second is a prohibition on hoarding. Let no one leave of it until the morning Exodus 16:19. Some tried, and the surplus bred worms and became foul Exodus 16:20. The instinct is understandable in people who have just been starving, and it is precisely the instinct the arrangement exists to break. Bread saved against tomorrow rots overnight; bread gathered this morning is enough. It is the shape of the petition Jesus later teaches, which asks for today's bread and not the week's Matthew 6:11.
When the sun grew hot, it melted Exodus 16:21. There was a window, and it was early. Provision was certain and it was not available at any hour a person chose.
settled What this mark means