Daily Devotions
Exodus
"Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me." Isaiah 46:9
Text: Exodus 16 : 28-32, 34-35
GOD’S PERSPECTIVE
Israel had not fared so well when tested on the issue of God’s provision of bread! There were some who failed what seemed like a simple test! What was God’s perspective on this matter?
“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse
to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD
has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day
bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man
go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on
the seventh day.”
EXODUS 16:28-30
The Lord was upset with the children of Israel! Their behaviour showed that they had “refused to keep (His) commandments and (His) laws”. Would Israel only be able to learn when God’s word is to be treated as Law and Commandment? Would they not lovingly keep His word of instruction?
PRESERVATION OF MANNA
Israel must not forget this lesson in a hurry! Thus orders were given to preserve the manna for the sake of posterity.
“Then Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the LORD has
commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it, to be kept for your generations,
that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness,
when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.””
EXODUS 16:32
What power God would exercise in the preservation of the Manna. This special bread would not keep overnight, except on the Sabbath! Now God was going to preserve the manna and keep it fresh for generations to come! What further proof would Israel need that God was with them?
REFLECTIONS ON THE ISSUE OF MANNA
Moses gave clear instructions to Aaron that the manna was to be carefully preserved.
“As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up
before the Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel ate
manna forty years; until they came to an inhabited land;
they ate manna until they came to the border of Canaan.”
EXODUS 16:34-35
This text is to be read as a historical footnote. “The Testimony” was a reference to the Tabernacle that was not yet constructed. God marvelously provided Manna that tasted like “wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31)!