Exo 16:25-17:16

Exodus 16:25-36

• to/for YHWH = la-YHWH (לַיהוָה)

  • the preposition lamed (לְ)
    • In Biblical Hebrew commonly indicates:
      • Direction or dedication (“to,” “for,” “unto,” “belonging to”).
      • Purpose or benefit (“for the sake of,” dedicated in service to).
      • Possession/relationship (“of” in the sense of belonging).
    • it marks the Sabbath as consecrated to YHWH — a day when the people rest as an act of obedience, worship, and covenant relationship with Him

• V 4: Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

  • "Eat that today
    • for today is a Sabbath
      • to Yahweh.
    • Today you shall not find it in the field.
  • Six days you shall gather it,
    • but on the seventh day is the Sabbath.
      • In it there shall be none."
      • some of the people went out to gather,
        • and they found none.
  • Yahweh said to Moses, "How long do you refuse
    • to keep //shomer// my commandments Mitzvot
    • and my laws? Torah
  • because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath
    • therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days

• v 19: Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning, they didn’t listen, so it bred worms and became foul

  • v 23 on Sabbath day: Moses said to them, "all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning." And it didn’t become foul, and there were no worms in it.

• v 31: "Manna",

  • like coriander seed,
    • dried, aromatic fruits of the cilantro plant
    • 
  • white;
  • taste was like wafers with honey.
    • tsaphihit (צְפִיחִת) - wafer, thin cake, flat wafer
    • It refers to a thin, crisp, honey-sweetened baked good
    • Exodus 16:4 - rain bread from heaven and Exodus 16:15 this is the bread
      • lechem often functions as a generic term for any edible nourishment needed for daily life, not strictly literal bread

• v 32: Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations,

  • that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness,
  • lay it up before Yahweh
  • Aaron laid it up before the Testimony
    • This is the first mention of the Testimony
    • Common to biblical narrative: later terms or objects are referenced early when the story is written or compiled from a later perspective (Moses writing after the events).
    • The manna jar was eventually placed inside the completed Ark alongside the tablets (Hebrews 9:4 confirms this).

• ate the manna forty years,

  • until they came to an inhabited land.
  • until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

Thoughts:

• We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt
  • When we ate our fill of bread, - In the morning when manna fell:
    • you shall see Yahweh’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh
    • bread to satisfy you, because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him
    • you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’
  • When we sat by the meat pots - In the evening when the quail fell:
    • you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt
    • Yahweh will give you meat to eat
    • you shall eat meat
    • Wondering about the quail ...
      • It seems the quail was a one time event in that one evening - it isn't mentioned as being eaten for the forty years.
      • It reappears in Numbers 11:4-6, 31-34 — A second, much larger provision of quail due to the people’s craving for meat; they ate excessively, leading to a plague.
• Daily bread - it feels like we have taken this bread conept to a literal understanding and lost the literal meaning. When a Hebrew heard the word lechem - they didn't think of a loaf - they understood it to mean life - with out the provision, there was death. Give us this day our LIFE (daily bread). To change our mindset maybe we should start saying what the Hebrew would have heard - LIFE. Manna = life, bread = life.
• 02 The Seventh Day Rest was for Them (02 Exod 16)

Exodus 17:1-16

• starting according to Yahweh's commandment = pi (פִּי) according to the mouth of. Hebrew #idiom to mean “command,” “order,” or “instruction” (i.e., what comes from the mouth).
• Travels - Numbers 33:12-14 Wilderness of Sin - Dophkah - Alush - Rephidim
  • Modern scholarly and archaeological route estimates 19–31 miles
  • Traveling through narrow valleys and more rugged/hilly terrain
• there was no water for the people to drink - the people quarreled with Moses - Why do you quarrel with me - Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us //quarrel = vayyarev (וַיָּרֶב) “strive, quarrel, be in contention” and even “litigation". The people have a legal dispute—they are contending with Moses as if bringing a lawsuit.//
  • Exodus 15:22 - and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water, people murmured against Moses
  • Exodus 16:17 - Who are we, that you murmur against us
  • Exodus 16:3 - brought us out into this wilderness to kill
• Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God's rod in my hand
  • Exodus 14:16 - lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it,
  • Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart
• Write this for a memorial in a book (It is the first time in the Bible that God explicitly commands something to be written in a sefer (scroll, record, document))
  • rehearse it in the ears of Joshua:
    • that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky
    • Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation

Notes:

• Striking the rock -striking the rock recalled striking the Nile; there it brought death to Egypt, but here it brought life to Israel.
  • Paul links to the provisions of the Messiah 1 Cor 10:4
• Blotting out of Amalek and the Amalekites
  • Deuteronomy 25:17-19 — Commands Israel to “blot out the remembrance of Amalek” once they are settled in the land.
  • 1 Samuel 15 — King Saul is commanded to destroy the Amalekites completely, but he fails (spares King Agag and livestock). Samuel then executes Agag.
  • 1 Chronicles 4:43 — In the days of King Hezekiah, the last remnant of Amalek is destroyed by the Simeonites
  • No other ancient Near Eastern inscriptions, tablets, or manuscripts outside the Bible mention the Amalekites by name in a way that clearly corresponds to the biblical group.

Isa 58:13-14

• 21 The Seventh Day Rest Returns Blessings (23 Isaiah 58)

John 6:1-71

• Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, 'He gave them bread //lechem// out of Heaven to eat.'"
  • For the bread of God is that
    • which comes down out of heaven
    • and gives life to the world.”
  • Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.
    • Whoever comes to me
      • will not be hungry,
    • and whoever believes in me
      • will never be thirsty.
    • But I told you that you have seen me,
      • and yet you don’t believe.
    • All those whom the Father gives me
      • will come to me.
      • He who comes to me
        • I will in no way throw out.
      • They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me.
      • He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”
    • For I have
      • come down from heaven,
        • not to do my own will,
          • but the will of him who sent me.
            • all he has given to me I should lose nothing
            • that everyone who
              • sees the Son
              • and believes in him
            • should have eternal life
            • No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him
        • I will raise him up in the last day
          • he who believes in me has eternal life
  • This is the bread which
    • comes down out of heaven,
      • that anyone may eat of it and not die
        • Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died
    • I am the living bread which came down out of heaven.
      • If anyone eats of this bread,
        • he will live forever.
      • Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world
        • is my flesh. (sarx (σάρξ) flesh, meat, body, physical nature, human nature)
          • unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
          • and drink his blood,
            • you don’t have life in yourselves
          • He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood //symbolic element//
            • has eternal life,
            • and I will raise him up at the last day.
        • For my flesh
          • is food indeed,
        • and my blood
          • is drink indeed
        • he who feeds on me
          • will also live
            • because of me
      • This is the bread
        • which came down out of heaven
          • —not as our fathers ate the manna and died.
        • He who eats this bread will live forever.”
    • It is the spirit who gives life.
      • The flesh profits nothing.
      • The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
  • Jews therefore murmured concerning him
    • Don’t murmur among yourselves

Notes:

• Sea of Tiberias = Sea of Galilee
• Two "manna" feedings flash back to Exodus but John's is referring to the first in chronological order. Also recorded in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9. Second in Matthew 15:32-39 and Mark 8:1-10.
• Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life
  • If they tried to keep extra food on any day but the sixth, it would perish.
  • In Exodus they did no work on the seventh day yet received the life (bread).
• Raise them up = resurrect or make live again
• Eats flesh and drinks blood = looks on the Son and believes in him
• Draws him = used of pulling or dragging, often by force.

Psalm 53

Connections

Numbers 11 - Manna and Quail

Two separate events roughly one year apart in the biblical timeline.

Exodus 16 (Early Wilderness – Before Sinai)

• Timing: 15th day of the 2nd month after leaving Egypt (Exodus 16:1) — very early in the journey, still in the Wilderness of Sin.
• Context: People complain about hunger shortly after the Red Sea crossing and bitter waters at Marah.
• Provision:
  • Quail in the evening (one-time mention).
  • Manna begins the next morning as daily bread.
• Tone: God graciously provides both as an introduction to His care; no punishment recorded here.
• Outcome: Manna becomes the regular daily food for the next 40 years (Exodus 16:35).