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FEBRUARY 2
meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning manded; and it did not stink, nor were there
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bread to the full; for the LORD hears your com- any worms in it. Then Moses said, “Eat that
plaints which you make against Him. And today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today
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what are we? Your complaints are not against you will not find it in the field. Six days you
us but against the LORD.” shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the
9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the Sabbath, there will be none.”
congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come 27 Now it happened that some of the people
near before the LORD, for He has heard your went out on the seventh day to gather, but
complaints.’ ” Now it came to pass, as Aaron they found none. And the LORD said to Mo-
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spoke to the whole congregation of the chil- ses, “How long do you refuse to keep My com-
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dren of Israel, that they looked toward the mandments and My laws? See! For the LORD
wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives
appeared in the cloud. you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let
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11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I every man remain in his place; let no man go
have heard the complaints of the children of out of his place on the seventh day.” So the
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Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you people rested on the seventh day.
shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be 31 And the house of Israel called its name
filled with bread. And you shall know that I am Manna. And it was like white coriander seed,
the LORD your God.’ ” and the taste of it was like wafers made with
13 So it was that quails came up at evening and honey.
covered the camp, and in the morning the dew
lay all around the camp. And when the layer
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of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the
wilderness, was a small round substance, as
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fine as frost on the ground. So when the chil- 16:31 Manna. The arrival of the quails in
dren of Israel saw it, they said to one another, much quantity (v. 13) was totally overshad-
“What is it?” For they did not know what it owed by the arrival of manna the next morn-
was. ing. Despite the different descriptions given
And Moses said to them, “This is the bread for its form and taste (vv.14,31),the name cho-
which the LORD has given you to eat. This is sen for it derived from the question they
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asked. “Manna” was an older form of their
the thing which the LORD has commanded: question,“What is it?”The psalmist referred to
‘Let every man gather it according to each manna as the “bread of heaven” and “angels’
one’s need, one omer for each person, accord- food” which rained down after God had
ing to the number of persons; let every man opened the windows of heaven (Ps.78:23–25).
take for those who are in his tent.’ ” Natural explanations for the manna, such as
17 Then the children of Israel did so and gath- lichen growing on rocks or insect-excreted
ered, some more, some less. So when they granules on tamarisk thickets, are totally inad-
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measured it by omers, he who gathered much equate to explain its presence in sufficient
had nothing left over, and he who gathered lit- quantity on the ground under the dew every
tle had no lack. Every man had gathered day except the Sabbath for the next 40 years
according to each one’s need. And Moses (v. 35) to satisfy every family’s hunger. It was
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said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” supernaturally produced and supernaturally
20 Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. sustained to last for the Sabbath!
But some of them left part of it until morning,
and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was
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angry with them. So they gathered it every 32 Then Moses said, “This is the thing which
morning, every man according to his need. the LORD has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it,
And when the sun became hot, it melted. to be kept for your generations, that they may
22 And so it was, on the sixth day, that they see the bread with which I fed you in the
gathered twice as much bread, two omers for wilderness, when I brought you out of the
each one. And all the rulers of the congrega- land of Egypt.’ ” And Moses said to Aaron,
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tion came and told Moses. Then he said to “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it,
them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomor- and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your
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row is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the generations.” As the LORD commanded Moses,
LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be
what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all kept. And the children of Israel ate manna
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that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” So forty years, until they came to an inhabited
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they laid it up till morning, as Moses com- land; they ate manna until they came to the
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