Exodus 16:9-20--Our Daily Bread

Exodus 16:9-20 
World English Bible
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9 Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come close to Yahweh, for he has heard your murmurings.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, Yahweh’s glory appeared in the cloud. 11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’”

13 In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp. 14 When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. 15 When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: ‘Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent.’” 17 The children of Israel did so, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They each gathered according to his eating. 19 Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, so it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

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The passage last time focused in on was the LORD talking to Moses, but the message still has to get to the people, and, remember that Moses said he was "slow of speech" (probably meaning he had a stutter) and did not want to be the LORD's mouthpiece.  Instead, Moses must give the LORD's message to his brother Aaron so that Aaron can speak the words of the LORD to the people.  Aaron tells the people all the the LORD has promised--bread every morning (except for the Sabbath day when no bread will be given because none is to be collected) and quail every evening (I assume the same restrictions apply--none would be provided at the time when it would be sinful for it to be harvested).  Every evening, they will eat meat, and every morning they will eat bread and they will be filled.

The LORD wants them to know that He has heard their complains and that those complaints were a personal attack against Him.  He knows that, and He has told Moses and Aaron not to bother listening to the grumblings of the people because He knows the people ultimately have an issue with Him as LORD.  The LORD said that by Him doing this for them (feeding them miraculously every morning and evening) they will know that He is the LORD and there is none like Him.  He alone is worthy of their worship and obedience.  He is their God and they are His people, no matter what they think about that.

In the evening, quail came just like the LORD said they would.  There were so many of them that they covered the camp.  In the morning, manna (which literally means "What is it?" because they had never seen anything like it) was on the ground waiting for them.  Wherever they went, there was manna every morning until they entered the Promised Land and it had the sustenance of the Land to live off of (something else the LORD would miraculously provide for them).

​Instructions were given to each household about how much should be gathered for each member of the household (one omer per person).  Only on the day before the Sabbath were they to gather an additional omer per person (2 omers total on Friday morning) so that they would have enough on Saturday.  On any other day if they tried to gather extra, it would spoil and be filled with worms the next day because they were to have faith that the LORD was going to provide enough for each day.  There was just enough there for everyone to have exactly what they needed for that day.

The main focus here is on the bread from heaven, and we'll talk more about it next time as we discuss the special rules around collection and preparing it for the Sabbath.  I already talked about that a little bit this time, but we'll cover it specifically in tomorrow's text.  It should not surprise us that today's text ends with the people putting Gods' rules to the test.  They wanted to see if it would really go bad after just one day or not, and despite the warnings that Moses and Aaron gave the people, some people still tried to leave some until the next morning (probably thinking they would need to gather less or they would have a little or extra, or maybe they were just trying to be rebellious, I'm not sure).  It went bad just like the LORD said it would--by morning it was full of worms and they had to collect new bread for the new day.  We too need "daily bread" (to feast on the LORD's Word) every single day.  We should not depend on what we got yesterday (or at church on Sunday) to last us beyond that day.  We should not have the mindset that we are going to church and taking up a collection of manna for the entire week.  If we try that, it will spoil and be filled with worms (figuratively) when we go back and try to "eat" it.  Jesus even instructed us to pray for the our daily bread in His model prayer for the disciples.  We need just enough for each day--not too little and not too much, but just the right amount and the LORD knows exactly what that is for each of us and He can and will miraculously provide to supply the physical and spiritual needs of His people.