Exodus 16:1-12 comments: bread from heaven

Exodus 16:1 ¶  And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2  And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 3  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, 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. 4  Then said the LORD unto 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. 5  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. 6  And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: 7  And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? 8  And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. 9  And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings. 10  And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12  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.

The Sinai mentioned in verse 1 is probably a reference to Mount Sinai as the peninsula that bears the name Sinai was not called that back then. In the time of Christ it was not called the Sinai Peninsula. Some have written that the area was called by different names at the time of Christ and before but that it was given its name for Mount Sinai because of the Bible.

We must be careful about reading more modern names back into the Bible because of some tradition that was prompted by the Bible. This can cause great confusion. As an example, in the following verse Jesus is talking about how, due to the mindset that wealth brings it is very unlikely that a rich man will enter God’s kingdom but then says that with God it is possible.

Matthew 19:23 ¶  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24  And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25  When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Some fundamentalists and evangelicals have written that this is a reference to a gate called The Needle’s Eye in the walls of Jerusalem where a camel coming at night when the main gate was closed would have to kneel and have its burdens removed so it could go through the gate on its knees. This nonsense has no basis in fact. First, there is no reference to such a gate as existing before the Middle Ages and the legend has no basis in the Biblical text. In other words, there is no evidence that there was a gate in Christ’s Jerusalem called The Needle’s Eye. It is just a matter of reading back your wishes into the Bible and messing with the text because it sounds good to you.

The Hebrews are hungry and are now wishing they were back in Egypt where at least they had food to eat. You can imagine how daunting a task it would be to keep this large amount of men, women, children, and beasts fed.

God says He will rain bread from heaven down on them which they will gather for six days, gathering a double portion on the sixth. Jesus declares that He is that bread from heaven sent by God to give life.

John 6:28 ¶  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30  They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34  Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

As the Hebrews plunged into the wilderness and needed physical food so humanity exists in a spiritual wilderness and needs this spiritual food from God to survive.

This is also a prime example of how many Christians cannot rightly divide the word as God requires through Paul in 2Timothy 2:15. The reference in Exodus is a reference to a physical, literal food you consume with your stomach. The reference in John is a reference to a spiritual fact that happens when you believe on Christ. Both are nourishment; one temporal that needs to be renewed daily and the other is spiritual that needs to be received only once.

God is going to supernaturally feed these children of Israel as one of the signs He has already blessed them with abundantly as He states 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.

1Corinthians 1:22  For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks [Gentiles: non-Jews] seek after wisdom:

It is amazing that these people have seen the great power of God and witnessed a sample of His glory and that they still doubt. It is no wonder that men and women who have been taught out of seeing God’s handiwork every day would question. God’s power is manifested all around us but they’ve been told that all they are seeing are perfectly natural processes that may have well invented themselves. There is no wonder when the magnificence of creation is viewed as something that just is and just happened and is of no huge importance. But, to see physical reality as a continuous miracle has to fill us with awe and even dread and fear when we realize the power and the mind of God being displayed for us constantly.