Chapter 10
Exodus 16
“We left the children of Israel last evening,” said Mother, “at Elim — under the palm trees, and beside the wells of water. It was very quiet and restful there, but no doubt they were anxious to get on their way. After leaving Elim, they traveled on until they came to the wilderness of Sin. But they had no bread and were hungry; then, sad to say, they complained to Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, 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.’”
“Oh,” exclaimed Sophy, “and did they forget God and really think He would let them die of hunger?”
“Yes, Sophy, I am sure they had forgotten the goodness of the Lord and the lesson He taught them at Marah. But God did not change. He said to 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.’ This was because the bread gathered on the sixth day should be enough for the seventh day also. Moses and Aaron told them that in the evening they should know that it was the Lord who had brought them up out of Egypt and in the morning they should see the glory of the Lord. They also told the Israelites that their murmuring was really against God. Then 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.’
“God did give them more than bread for in the evening He sent a flock of birds called quails which flew across the camp; the people killed and ate them, for this was the meat the Lord had promised.
“In the morning the dew was on the ground all round their tents, and when the dew dried up, there lay on the sand of the wilderness a small round thing like hoarfrost. And Moses said, ‘This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.’ God told them that they must gather it every morning. Every man was to gather as much as he could eat, a measure for every man according to his family. They did so, and some gathered a little and some a great deal, and when they measured it, he that had gathered much had nothing over and he that had gathered little had enough. But they were not to keep any of it over until the morrow because God chose to give it to them each day so that they would learn to depend on Him as the One who would provide. However, some of the people disobeyed, and kept it until the next day, and it had worms in it. Moses was very angry with them. They gathered it early in the morning, before the sun was up, because when the sun was hot it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much — two measures for every person. Can you tell me why, Arthur?”
“Was it because the next day was the Sabbath?” suggested Arthur.
“That’s right. Moses said, ‘This is that which the Lord has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake today and seethe that which ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.’ This they did and it was quite good the next day. Though Moses told the people they would not find any bread on the Sabbath day, some of the people were disobedient and went to look for some anyway, and the Lord was vexed with them.
“The children of Israel called this bread, manna, which means, What is it? It looked like a small white seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. Moses told the people, ‘This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your children’s children; that they may see wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.’ They ate manna every day for forty years until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.
“Our next story will interest you very much, I know, but it is too late to talk more now, so I shall save it for tomorrow evening,” said Mother in conclusion. “Goodnight, my dears.”