In Ex. 16 we read how the manna was given to-the children of Israel to feed them as they journeyed through the wilderness. There was nothing to be found in their surroundings to sustain and satisfy them, but morning by morning the manna lay round about the host and all they had to do was to gather it.
In this we have a type of the christian passing through this world which can offer nothing to feed the new nature, but surely we have morning by morning the privilege of gathering the heavenly manna. It speaks of the lowly life of the Lord Jesus here on earth. When we have learned to know Him as the One Who has given Himself for us how it refreshes and strengthens us to feed upon Him in His perfect life, as the lowly, humbled One Who could say, " I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will but the will of Him that sent Me." It is necessary to feed upon Him thus if we are in any measure to " follow His steps."
In John 6 the Lord twice over emphasizes the fact that the fathers ate of the manna and " are dead." Feeding on manna, which in type is Jesus as a lowly Man on earth, by men in the flesh, ends only in death.
To-day many unconverted people profess to believe that the Lord Jesus was a great example, but do not believe in Him as the One Who died for them. Such feeding on the manna, will, as with Israel, only end in death. In contrast to this, the Lord tells the Jews that. He is the bread that came down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die, and goes on to say, " The bread that I give is My flesh." " Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood bath eternal life." That is, believing in Him as the One Who died for us, gives us eternal life, and having this we can now, with the greatest blessing to our souls, feed on Him as the manna. Christ in His lowly life of unflinching obedience and constant faithfulness to God, and grace and truth to man, is a heavenly portion to strengthen us as we too tread life's pathway.
In that Person and that pathway, God too found His portion and delight, so that He could bear witness to Him, " Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased." Luke 3. 22. When Israel saw the manna which the Lord had given them to eat they might well exclaim, " It is a portion! " (Margin Ex. 16. 15.)
The Israelites' first duty was to stoop in humble thankfulness and gather this portion the Lord had sent down that morning, for " when the sun waxed hot it melted." Likewise the believer's first concern day by day should be to gather up his portion of the blessed manna before the sun waxes hot, i.e., before the day's duties, letters, news or cares come in to hinder and disturb the mind. Let us get something for ourselves from the Word, something we can feed on, something which will bring Christ before our souls and keep our hearts in His love in the busy day before us.
Individual responsibility to gather the manna is brought out in verse 16. " Gather of it every man according to his eating." But the head of the household had more than individual responsibility. He is to gather " for them that are in his tents." How far is this household responsibility carried out to-day by the head of the house? Is the family reading made the opportunity when the portion gathered by him that morning is distributed to them that are in his house? Or are we believers in this Laodicean age giving up the family reading, prayer and praise? May the Lord exercise our hearts and consciences as to this.
Verse 18 contains what at first seems a strange statement. " He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack." It might seem that in this gathering of the manna diligence went for little. But elsewhere we read, " The soul of the diligent shall be made fat." This verse is no contradiction to it. Let us think of a diligent child of God gathering much of Christ from the Word in dependence upon the Holy Ghost as Teacher. Could such an one say of any part of this Spirit-given manna " It is unnecessary for me; I can do without it? " A thousand times " No." Each thought of Him should " constant yield unchanging fresh delight." But what about " he that gathered little had no lack? " Our Father knows His children and their circumstances perfectly, and when some unlooked for hindrance suddenly prevents the one, who habitually gathers much, or when others through lack of spiritual intelligence or infirmity are able to gather only a small portion of the heaven-sent manna that small portion is a portion of that which is infinite, and when fed and meditated upon can leave no lack.
A simple farm laborer was remarkable for his knowledge of Christ and His Word, and when asked how this was, he replied that he committed a verse or so to heart in the morning, and as he followed the plow he went over it again and again till the Spirit made it good to him. This man knew what it was to " chew the cud " or as in another scripture, he roasted that which he took in hunting.
We should particularly notice how that fresh manna had to be gathered every morning. If it were kept over from the day before, it bred worms and stank. This shows that we cannot lay in supplies to-day to last us to-morrow in the things of God. A double portion to-day will not give me the needed strength for to-morrow. Do let us see to it that each day we get our portion from the Word of God. The Lord knows what to-day's special need may be and can give the suited word for that. " His compassions fail not; they are new every morning." And morning by morning He will supply new grace, fresh love to cheer our hearts through the duties and cares of a new day.
On the sixth day they were to gather a double portion and quietly enjoy it on the seventh or Sabbath. Would not this in the present day signify that the Lord's Day is the one on which we should sit quietly under His shadow with great delight, and enjoy what we have previously gathered of Himself; rather than make it a day of studying the written Word? Restfulness was to characterize the Sabbath, see verses 2, 3 and 30.
In verses 32 and 36 the Israelites were told to put an omer of the manna in a pot to remind them continually of the bread wherewith God had fed them in the wilderness. In Rev. 2:1717He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17) there is a promise to the overcomer of being given to eat of the hidden manna. Let us connect this verse with John 21: 25, where the apostle tells us that " there are also many other things which Jesus did " which have not been written down. God has given us as much as and more than we can appropriate in our present state, but are any of those " many things " forgotten of His God and Father? Nay, all was an infinite delight to Him. In Ex. 12. to, that part of the Passover Lamb-wonderful type of Christ-which was more than the Israelites could eat, was to be burnt with fire, that the sweet savor of it might ascend to God for His satisfaction. So the " many other things which Jesus did " that are unrecorded for us in the Gospels, are treasured up by God for His continual delight, and it will be His good pleasure to share them with the overcomer in the eternal glory.
While we wait for this may the Lord give us diligence to gather daily much of Christ before the sun rises!