Passage: Exodus 16

The Big Idea

Hungry in the wilderness, Israel complained and exaggerated how good Egypt had been. God could have rained fire. Instead He rained bread. The manna teaches three lessons about God’s Word, our daily bread: it’s supernatural, a gift from heaven; it’s given every day, enough for today; and it has to be eaten, portioned, chewed and digested. God doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us what we need.

Three Lessons

The manna was supernatural.
The manna was given every day.
The manna was meant to be eaten.

(Why is manna like hay? Both are food from aloft.)

Halfway There (Exodus 16:1)

The whole community set out from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt.

About halfway to their destination. God had said, “You will worship Me on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12).

The Complaint (Exodus 16:2-3)

The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron: “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

Their complaint:

We’re hungry!
Is God trying to starve us? They didn’t yet know His love and character.
They exaggerated, really lied, about how good it was in Egypt. (Pots of meat? They were slaves!)
And they accused their leaders of trying to kill them.

Honestly, they were immature, self-centered, carnal, weak and moody. Sound familiar?

What They Deserved, and What They Got (Exodus 16:4)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down… fire from heaven on these no-good, ungrateful, grumbling people I handpicked!“

That’s what they deserved.

But that’s not what He said. He said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.“

God doesn’t only see us as we are. He sees what He’s going to make of us.
He doesn’t see you only in your current self-centeredness, but in everything He will transform you into. He isn’t discouraged, and He isn’t about to abandon His project.
The gospel isn’t about who you are or what you do. It’s about who God is (love) and what He does for you. He gave His life for you in sacrifice, and gives Himself to you in daily fellowship.
Grace was His response.

God gave them exactly what they needed, not what they deserved. Think about the love in that.

The manna would come every single day for forty years, a continual act of deep love and grace from our Father.

This bread pictures two things. Here we’ll focus on how it pictures the Word of God, our daily spiritual food. In the next study we’ll see how it pictures Jesus Himself, the Word made flesh.

Eating God’s Word daily is vital. Many Christians go to church on Sunday and expect that to carry them through the week. Seven days without the Word makes one weak.

Lesson 1: The Bread Is Supernatural

“Bread from heaven for you.”

Manna isn’t from this world.
You can’t manufacture it, produce it or farm it.
It simply appears, a gift from God.

Older commentators like Arthur Pink tried to calculate the scale of it: an omer (roughly two quarts) for each of perhaps two million people works out to thousands of tons every single day, for forty years. However you figure it, it was a staggering daily miracle.

God’s Word is like that. It isn’t human wisdom. It comes from heaven.

Lesson 2: Every Day (Exodus 16:4-5)

“The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I’ll test them and see whether they’ll follow My instructions. On the sixth day they’re to prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

God was training His people to live by grace.
My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
Every day is the key.
And it’s a test, showing whether we want to walk in God’s ways or keep doing our own thing.
His way: receive what we need each day, as a gift.
Our way: go figure it out ourselves. Maybe at work. Maybe in money, fun or relationships.
He set up a daily gift to satisfy their hunger.

That’s a daily time in the Word. Not enough for tomorrow. Just enough for today.

“Not Against Us, but Against the LORD” (Exodus 16:6-8)

Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites, “This evening you’ll know it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you’ll see the glory of the LORD, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we, that you grumble against us?” Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because He has heard your grumbling. Your grumbling isn’t against us, but against the LORD.“

“Not fair, guys. We just work here. That’s above our pay grade.”
Moses had great faith. He could already see God’s promise being fulfilled.
And there’s the real problem: they doubted God’s love, provision and grace.
But God loved these children so much He kept guiding them anyway.

“Come Near” (Exodus 16:9-12)

Moses told Aaron, “Tell the whole community, ‘Come near before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.'” While Aaron was speaking, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said, “I’ve heard the Israelites’ grumbling. Tell them, ‘At twilight you’ll eat meat, and in the morning you’ll be filled with bread. Then you’ll know that I am the LORD your God.'”

When we doubt God’s love, faithfulness or ways, let’s draw near to Him.
He isn’t playing hard to get. He wants to be found.
How do we draw near? In real humility and honest faith, not in empty words and doubt.
There’s a difference between “Let’s go to church and see what God has to say” said as a formality, and the same words said with a hungry heart. Jesus quoted Isaiah about people who honor God with their lips while their hearts are far from Him (Matthew 15:8).

“What Is It?” (Exodus 16:13-15)

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost lay on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is it?” (in Hebrew, man hu), because they didn’t know what it was. Moses said, “It’s the bread the LORD has given you to eat.“

Lesson 3: Eat It

Jeremiah said, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).

God’s Word is meant to be eaten by His people daily. Eating has three parts.

Portion

Serve yourself a small portion. Don’t try to read too much at once.
Food does you no good unless it’s on your plate and you eat it yourself.
You can starve to death in a grocery store if you never sit down and eat.

Chew

Meditate on it.
If you don’t chew, you won’t get the nutrition, and you might even choke.
Chewing takes time. Slow down. Read one verse over and over and think about it.
Ask it questions. Pray through it. Memorize it by repeating it.
That’s how God’s Word is designed to be handled. Meditation is a lost art.
The blessed man delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). Try it.

Digest

Let it become part of you.
When you digest food, it becomes your blood and tissue, your health and strength.
Jesus said to eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6:53).
When I take in God’s Word, it does the same thing for my spiritual life. Health and strength increase. My new nature grows in serving and honoring God. I’m stronger against temptation.
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).

Enough for Everyone (Exodus 16:16-21)

“This is what the LORD commands: everyone is to gather as much as they need, an omer per person for everyone in your tent.” The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it, the one who gathered much didn’t have too much, and the one who gathered little didn’t have too little. Everyone had just what they needed.

It didn’t just fall into their mouths. They had to go out and gather it.
It wasn’t far or difficult, but they had to get up and do it.

Moses said, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” But some didn’t listen, and by morning it was full of maggots and smelled. Moses was angry with them. So every morning they gathered what they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

The Word for today is what you need today.
May God teach us how desperately we need Him every day, and the right time to seek Him: early, before the day heats up.

The Sabbath Portion (Exodus 16:22-30)

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much, and the leaders came to Moses. He said, “This is what the LORD commanded: tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake and boil what you want today, and save the rest until morning.” They did, and it didn’t stink or get maggots. “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath. You won’t find any in the field today.” Some went out on the seventh day anyway and found none. The Lord said, “How long will you refuse to keep My commands? The LORD has given you the Sabbath; that’s why on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days.” So the people rested on the seventh day.

God provided even their rest. On the day He told them not to work, He’d already supplied what they needed.

Kept for Generations (Exodus 16:31-36)

Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses said, “The LORD commands: keep an omer of manna for future generations, so they can see the bread I fed you in the wilderness.” So Aaron put an omer of manna in a jar and placed it before the Testimony to be kept. Israel ate manna forty years, until they reached the border of Canaan.

That jar was later kept in the ark of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4).
That shows how much God values this picture. He wanted every generation to learn these lessons.

Grace Takeaway

Israel deserved fire, and God sent bread. That’s grace. And He still feeds His people from heaven, every morning, through His Word: a supernatural gift, fresh each day, enough for today. Don’t try to live on last week’s manna, and don’t starve in the grocery store. Serve yourself a portion, chew on it slowly, and let it become part of you.

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