Exodus 16:1

The Bible says in Exodus 16:1-3, “And 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. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And 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.” To murmur means to complain or to grumble. This is the second time that the children of Israel murmured. The first time was when they were thirsty, and now they are hungry. God had miraculously provided for them when they were thirsty, and so one would think that they would be ready to trust the Lord when they got hungry. Selfish human nature is the enemy of faith. Complaining is the opposite of having confidence in the Lord. A believer should be trusting in the Lord concerning everything that happens to him or her.

To complain about anything means to be not trusting in the Lord. That is why the New Testament refers to the murmuring of the children of Israel the way that it does. It says in First Corinthians 10:21, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.” Notice that the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. Moses said to them in Exodus 16:8, “your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.” It really was a spiritual problem: their lack of faith in the Lord; but it manifested itself in their attitude towards their leaders. Be careful how you react to people around you, or you might just be proving that you do not know how to trust in the Lord for all things that come your way in life.

The Bible says in Exodus 16:4-12, “Then 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. And 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. And 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: And 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? 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. And 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. And 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. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I 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.”

These verses in Exodus chapter 16 teach us a couple of important spiritual truths. We see that God gave the children of Israel quail to eat in the evening and bread to eat in the morning. And we see that God gave them this food on a daily basis: one day at a time. God is the Lord of the whole earth. He takes care of all of His creatures, including you. Jesus told us to pray in Matthew 6:11, “Give us this day our daily bread.” That is exactly what He promises to do. He promises to give us our “daily” bread. In other words, do not worry about tomorrow. God will provide for you tomorrow, just as He has provided for you today. Another interesting truth to notice about God’s provision for the children of Israel is the fact that He continued to provide for them even though they were awful. They were murmuring and complaining constantly, and showing no faith in the Lord. Yet, God continued to keep His promises and to provide for them. How merciful He is to us all. David wrote in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” The Bible says in Lamentation 3:22-23, “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

The Bible says in Exodus 16:13-22, “And 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. And 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. And 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. This 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. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And 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. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding 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. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And 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.” One of the lessons that we learn from this passage in Exodus chapter 16 is the fact that it is always best to do things God’s way. It is strange that mere mortals would think that they know better than God, but it happens all the time. If Jesus wants you to do something a certain way, one of the reasons is because the Lord knows the outcome, and the Lord knows what will work out for the best. God is not trying to keep you from enjoying life. Actually, He is trying to give you the best life possible with the best results possible. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Speaking for God, Moses said to the children of Israel in Exodus 16:19, “Let no man leave of it till the morning.” God had promised that He would supply them with food each day, and therefore, they were not supposed to save Monday’s food for Tuesday. That would have ruined the symbolism of what the Lord was establishing with those people. The Lord was saying to them something like this: “You do not have to rely upon your own ability to save for this or to save for that. I will provide for you each day.” As New Testament Christians, we do not live under the requirements that the children of Israel were living under, but it is important to remember the spiritual principle that God will take care of you each day. Yes, save for the future, save for a rainy day, and save for retirement, if you can. But do not let your ability to save prevent you from trusting in the Lord Jesus each day for your needs. Make sure that you are trusting in Him and not in yourself or in your savings.

Some of the Israelites thought that their idea of storing up the food for the following day was a better idea than what they had been told to do. What sorrow, what regret, and what loss of opportunity whenever Christians think they know better than what the Lord has told them to do. For the believer who fails to do things God’s way the results are always just like what they Israelites saw. It says in Exodus 16:20, “but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank.” Another way of putting what happened here is to say, “All of Satan’s apples have worms.” One of the purposes in reading the Bible is to take what the Bible says to Christians, and to put it into practice in your life. If you purposely omit a Biblical principle from practice, then you are purposely going against God’s revealed will, and when you see the final outcome of what you have done, you will say, “it bred worms, and stank.”

The Bible says in Exodus 16:23-30, “And 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. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And 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. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, 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. So the people rested on the seventh day.” Of course, this passage has an emphasis on the Sabbath Day, and the expectation that the Israelites would not work on the Sabbath Day. There are some basic truths that need to be said about the Sabbath Day. The first truth is that the Sabbath Day is Saturday. It is not Sunday: it is Saturday. The second truth to point out is that the Sabbath Day referred to a day of rest. From a practical standpoint it was meant to be a day when work was not performed. The principle was this: work as hard as you can 6 days a week, but on the Sabbath Day perform no work. That is exactly what God did when He created the earth. The work of creation was completed in six days and once the work of creation was completed, it was time to do no work. Therefore, the Sabbath Day is primarily known to be a day of rest.

Here is a very important question: what does the Sabbath Day symbolize? We do not need to come up with the answer to this question ourselves. We can find the answer very clearly given at the end of Hebrews chapter 3 and most of Hebrews chapter 4. These verses from Hebrews chapter 3 and Hebrews chapter 4 were written based upon what happened in the book of Exodus. These were events that had to do with the establishment of the commandments concerning the Sabbath Day. It says in Hebrews 3:15-19, “While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Continuing on the same subject, the Bible says in Hebrews 4::1-11, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Some of the main points to notice from the passage in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 are as follows: 1. Some of the people during the time of Moses did not enter into the “rest” because of “unbelief” as stated in Hebrews 3:19. In other words, obtaining God’s rest that He has provided is only done through faith…..not through works. 2. The rest being talked about here is associated with the Sabbath Day. That is demonstrated by Hebrews 4:4 that says, “For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” 3. The true rest from God is not the Sabbath Day, but is spiritual rest: what we call peace, peace with God. That is what is meant by Hebrews 4:8-9 that says, “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Interesting that it says that Jesus was involved with the people of the Old Testament, but Jesus did not give them rest through the Sabbath Day. There is a rest for the people of God, but it does not come through the keeping of the Sabbath. The “rest” comes through faith in Christ. That is why it says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The message is very clear: we do not obtain rest through the keeping of religious restrictions such as those regarding the Sabbath Day. That never did bring true rest or peace. It was meant to give a symbolic meaning: cease from your own works, have faith in Christ, and learn to trust in the finished work that Jesus performed. Jesus obeyed the law, Jesus pleased God, and Jesus died for your sins. Cease from your works, and rest in Jesus.

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