Bread from Heaven: Exodus 16:1-18

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.

One month out of Egypt. The initial provisions consumed. The desert stretching endless around them. And the grumbling began.

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

The whole community. Not a faction, not malcontents—everyone. Grumbling became the national pastime.

The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around 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.

The selective memory of the desperate. Pots of meat. All the food we wanted. Had they forgotten the slavery, the beatings, the murdered babies? Hunger rewrote history. Egypt became paradise. Freedom became death sentence.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you.

Rain from heaven. Not rain of water but rain of bread. The impossible promise. Sky producing food.

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.

Daily gathering. Daily dependence. A test: will they trust enough to gather only enough? Will they follow instructions or hoard?

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.

Sabbath provision. Double portion on the sixth day. Rest on the seventh. The rhythm of faith built into the provision.

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, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord.

Evening knowing. Morning seeing. The provision would prove the Provider.

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

Quail at evening—protein descending from the sky in living, catchable form. And in the morning, dew. But not ordinary dew.

When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

Thin flakes. Like frost. Covering the desert floor. Something they had never seen.

When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, What is it? For they did not know what it was.

What is it? In Hebrew: man hu? From which comes manna. The food named by a question.

Moses said to them, It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

Bread. From heaven. Given. The answer to their grumbling. The proof of God's care.

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.

Enough for everyone. Each person's portion calculated. No one excluded. No one excessive.

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 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.

The miracle of sufficiency. Somehow, whatever amount was gathered became the right amount. Those who grabbed much found no excess. Those who collected little found no lack. Everyone had exactly enough.

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

Don't hoard. Trust tomorrow's provision. Let today be enough.

Some of them paid no attention and kept part of it until morning. But it bred worms and smelled. And Moses was angry with them.

The hoarders discovered rot. The bread of heaven could not be stockpiled. Trust required daily exercise.

Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

Morning routine established. Gather early before the sun. What remained on the ground melted. Daily bread required daily gathering.

For forty years, the manna would fall. Six days a week, every week, for four decades. Bread from heaven, proving that the God who freed them would also feed them.