Exodus 16 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Exodus 16:1-12

1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat round pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.’

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?’ 8 Moses also said, ‘You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.’

9 Then Moses told Aaron, ‘Say to the entire Israelite community, “Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.”’

10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked towards the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 ‘I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, “At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”’

A. Find Out:

1. Who grumbled against whom? v.2
2. What was their complaint? v.3
3. What did the Lord say he would do? v.4
4. Against whom were they really grumbling? v.7,8
5. As they gathered what happened? v.10
6. What 2 things did the Lord say He would do? v.12

B. Think:

1. What test were Israel now obviously going through at the start of this passage?
2. What second test was soon to follow?
3. How is grumbling against leaders seen here?

C. Comment:

      Having been through a testing over provision of water, the nation next go through a testing over the provision of food. Obviously with a large body of people like this, food runs out after two months. They have a problem, but they don’t resolve it by speaking to God about it, they just grumble! Next the Lord promises provision of food, but He is going to do it in such a way that will require their obedience and faith, for He is seeking to train them to follow instructions. The believer or follower of God who can do that has learnt much. Moses points out to the people that when they grumble against his leadership, they are in fact grumbling against God, because God called him to lead and called them this far. If you “blame” anybody, then “blame” God, is what he is saying. But of course, there’s no need for blame, simply to trust and enquire of God.

     How we respond to difficulties reveals just how mature or immature we are. The Israelites had recently been singing God’s praises, but twice now they had quickly forgotten and allowed grumbling to replace praise. Do we learn from our experiences with the Lord, so our faith gets stronger each time?

D. Application?

1. Do we praise on a Sunday and then grumble on a Monday?
2. Philippians 4:6,7 Share everything with the Lord.

Passage: Exodus 16:13-26

13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: “Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.”’

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

19 Then Moses said to them, ‘No one is to keep any of it until morning.’

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much – two omers for each person – and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: “Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.”’

24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 ‘Eat it today,’ Moses said, ‘because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.’

A. Find Out:

1. What came that evening? v.13
2. What came after the dew in the morning? v.14
3. How much were they instructed to gather? v.16
4. What were they told not to do? v.19
5. What happened when some of them disobeyed? v.20
6. What happened on the sixth day? v.22
7. What happened to the extra? v.24

B. Think:

1. Note all the characteristics, both natural and supernatural of this daily food provision from God.
2. How was the Sabbath shown to be special by God?
3. How were many of the Israelites shown to be still disobedient to their leadership and to God?

C. Comment:

     God has promised food provision and it comes first in the form of quails arriving in the evening, and then in the daily arrival of manna. This manna is quite remarkable! First of all it just appears after the frost. Second, it melts as soon as the sun comes up so you had to collect it first thing or not at all. Third, it provided sufficient food for all Israel, presumably for the whole day. Fourth, it didn’t last twenty-four hours, it had to be used on that day. Fifth, on the sixth day, that which was collected lasted two days. Sixth, on the seventh day there was no manna. That happened for forty years! Wow!

      Every day they received God’s provision, just sufficient to meet the needs of THAT day, except on the Sabbath when they could rest without having to go out and collect it, because the previous day’s provision lasted through. A miracle of provision every day. A special miracle of provision every weekend. In a similar way God wants to provide for us spiritually every day, sufficient for that day as we meet with Him.

D. Application?

1. Do we allow the Lord to provide for us at the beginning of the day?
2. We need to learn to feed on the word for our daily provision.

Passage: Exodus 16:27-36

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.’ 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.”’

33 So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.’

34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

36 (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

A. Find Out:

1. How did some disregard Moses again? v.27
2. What did the Lord tell them? v.29
3. What was the manna like? v.31
4. What did Moses say they should do with some of it? v.32
5. So how did they do that? v.33,34
6. How long did they eat manna? v.35

B. Think:

1. What does the action of some of the people say about them?
2. What was the purpose of the Sabbath?
3. What must have been miraculous about keeping a portion of the manna for future generations?

C. Comment:

      We see here, and in yesterday’s reading, that the Sabbath, the day for resting up was instituted by God before they reached Sinai and received the Ten Commandments. In their march through the wilderness a day’s rest would be essential (as it is in our march through the wilderness of modern life). Foolishly, some of the people in unbelief went out looking for manna on the seventh day, but it wasn’t there! It was there for six days but every seventh day, none! People who try to explain away the manna tend to ignore the many miraculous aspect of it. Look back to yesterday’s study to see just how many miraculous aspects there were to this!

       Yet a further miracle was the placing of a portion of it in a pot to be kept for years to come so that future generations could look at it – without it ever going moldy! But of course, this is God’s provision, handled as God instructs, so whether it is five loaves and two fishes (Matthew 14:17 ) or a pot of manna, when God directs, the impossible becomes possible. The Lord can do wonderful things with our provisions when they are surrendered to Him.

D. Application?

1. Do I never know the miraculous provision of God? Perhaps I’ve never surrendered all to Him.
2. Unbelief leads to disobedience.