Exodus 16 Commentary
The location is the Desert of Sin, located between Mount Sinai and Elim. 45 Days after leaving Egypt. People complain. They are missing the meat and soup in Egypt. The LORD cannot be happy about this. Firstly, people should simply talk to God and not complain. Secondly and even worse, saved people should not wish enslavement back or think of the new-found life as bad – making the Savior’s effort useless.
These lines are for the saint today who wants to compare sinful pleasures with the godly and sacred life in Christ. The cross may have bumps but it’s sinful to fail to see the grace of the LORD and only focus on the bumps.
Again it’s a strong pointer for the saint when she begins to crave the wrong food. We can easily tell that Israel’s attitude towards her God is less than impressive. Something is missing.
Nevertheless, as we have constantly seen in scripture, the LORD pays little attention to our mistakes and moves in with compassion. The manna that the LORD provided is a stronger pointer to the real bread that the LORD would eventually provide in the LORD Jesus Christ. The manna saved them from starvation but the real bread of life would save them from total destruction.
The bread had rules. You gathered enough for the day. When the LORD teaches us to pray, the instruction is that we need to ask for our daily bread, daily. BREAD is a daily situation. Prayer is a daily situation. You cannot survive on yesterday’s bread. The LORD wants us to eat of Him daily. The LORD wants us to be in communion with Him daily.
Some Christians may experience a constant problem because the LORD wants them to constantly reach out to the LORD for relief – daily. The same LORD who has healed you of many other diseases is the same LORD who decides to heal in daily installments for a particular problem. It was a deliberate decision to provide manna on a daily basis and to have people gather it daily.
This chapter is drawing us back to the basics. Dry beans can stay in its state for years while a ripe banana won’t last beyond a couple of days. This is the doing of the LORD. It is the purpose of scripture that we are reminded of these basics as we put worship on the altar. It is the doing of the LORD that manna didn’t keep for more than one day. It is again the doing of the LORD that when He decided, the same manna kept for two days.
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