CHAPTER 16

(1491 B.C.)

THE WILDERNESS OF SIN

¹And 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. (This First Verse tells us that the Children of Israel had been on the road exactly one month, having left Egypt the fifteenth of the first month. It must be remembered that the Pillar of the Cloud led them in this direction; and yet, it was a direction that seemed to be most inhospitable. But the Lord had a purpose for this direction.)

²And the whole congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: (If we murmur against Gods man or woman, we have, in effect, murmured against God. Pink says: Here was the selfsame people who had been Divinely spared from the ten plagues on Egypt, who had been brought forth from the land of bondage, miraculously delivered at the Red Sea, Divinely guided by a Pillar of Cloud and Fire, day and night now murmuring, complaining, rebelling!)

³And the Children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt (as we read these words, we are reading an oath; this means that their sin was aggravated by an oath; they took the Divine Name in vain; the future proves the fact that they got exactly that for which they asked; they didnt die in Egypt, but they did die in the wilderness; as Believers, we must be very careful as to what we say), when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full (they lied! as slaves of the merciless Egyptians, there is no ground whatsoever for us to suppose that they sat by the flesh pots or ate bread to the full; unbelief is always based on a lie); for you have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (God had promised that they should worship Him at Sinai [3:12]; consequently, it was not possible, then, for them to die with hunger in the wilderness. In the face of difficulties, we tend to forget the Promises of God.)

⁴Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from Heaven for you (the Manna prefigured the descent of the True Bread, of which if a man eat he shall live forever [Jn. 6:51]); and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day (this proclaims the fact that we are to partake of Christ every day), that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My Law, or no. (Everything the Lord does with us is to prove us. How will we act? How will we react?)

⁵And 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. (They were to gather twice as much on the sixth day as they had on the previous days, but which the Lord would miraculously multiply, in order that they may have sustenance the next day, on which they would not be allowed to do any work. Very shortly, the Lord would institute the Sabbath.)

⁶And Moses and Aaron said unto all the Children of Israel, At evening, then you shall know that the LORD has brought you out from the land of Egypt (even though Moses didnt record it here, Verse 13 proclaims the fact that quails were sent in the evening):

⁷And in the morning, then you shall see the Glory of the LORD; for that He hears your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that you murmur against us? (The next morning, the Manna was sent. The murmurings of Verses 6 through 8 proclaim that God hears and sees all the acts of man and will hold each person responsible as to right and wrong in every detail [I Cor. 3:11-15].)

⁸And 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 hears your murmurings which you murmur against Him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. (Verse 8 is basically a repetition of Verse 7; but it emphasizes the statements of that Verse, and prepares the way for what follows. When looking back toward Egypt, Israel murmured; when looking forward toward the wilderness, they saw the Glory of the Lord. Discontent magnifies what is past, and vilifies what is present, without regard to truth or reason. The absurd then murmurs!)

⁹And Moses spoke unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the Children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for He has heard your murmurings. (Those in positions of Godly leadership do not hear all the murmurs of those whom they are attempting to lead. It is well that we do not, perhaps because we could not bear it: but God hears, and yet bears.)

¹⁰And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke 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. (This Verse seems to indicate that the entirety of the Children of Israel should present themselves as a whole congregation to the Lord. Concerning the Glory of the Lord appearing in the Cloud, it is not known whether something was visible or not, but, more than likely, the Cloud took on a new appearance of greater glory.)

¹¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

¹²I have heard the murmurings of the Children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At evening you shall eat flesh (the quail), and in the morning you shall be filled with bread (the Manna); and you shall know that I am the LORD your God. (Past miracles are convincing. But unless there are fresh evidences of God, the natural man will soon forget and lapse into unbelief again. Murmuring was the first sin committed by Israel after being delivered from Egyptian bondage. We must understand how displeased the Lord is at such action.)

QUAIL AND MANNA

¹³And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. (It seems that the quails, as appears by the subsequent narrative, were supplied, not regularly, but only on rare occasions; in fact [so far as appears] only here in the wilderness of Sin, and at Kibroth-hattavah in the wilderness of Paran [Num. 11:31-34]. The mention of the dew in this manner implies that, that which looked like dew was, in part, dew, but not wholly so. The next Verse explains it to a greater degree.)

¹⁴And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

¹⁵And when the Children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is Manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the Bread which the LORD has given you to eat. (The Manna was so precious that it could not bear contact with the Earth. It fell upon the dew and had to be gathered before the Sun came up. This teaches us that yesterdays blessing will not do for today, nor todays for tomorrow. Thus must the Christian feed upon Christ daily as He reveals Himself in the Scriptures.)

¹⁶This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. (In Egypt, Israel had slave food; in the desert, Angels food. The test quickly revealed that the natural man had little appetite for Heavenly things, for the people soon called it light food.)

¹⁷And the Children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. (Israel in the desert presented a striking picture! Egypt was behind them, Canaan was before them, the wilderness was around them, and the Manna was above them.)

¹⁸And when they did mete it with an omer (an omer is the equivalent of six pints; considering there were approximately 3 million people, this would play out to some 18 million pints, or about 13.5 million pounds gathered daily; to help us understand it even more, it would take a train pulling 45 cars, each car having in it 15 tons, to take care of one days supply; this means that approximately 1.5 million tons of Manna were gathered annually by Israel; and let it be remembered that this continued for nearly 40 years! Great is our God!), he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack (Christians who hoard money will find that it will not grow as they think; Christians who give generously to the Work of God will find that personally, and for their family, they will have no lack; God blesses us, in order that we may bless His Work); they gathered every man according to his eating. (That which the Lord gives to us as Believers should be used according to our need, and the balance be given to the Work of God; however, we must make certain that what we are supporting is truly the Work of God.)

¹⁹And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. (What they gathered, they were to eat. None was to be left over for the next day. This means that we must partake of Christ every day. As well, what we receive today from the Lord will not suffice for tomorrow. Tomorrow must, and will, bring a fresh enduement of power from on high.)

²⁰Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was angry with them. (That which some Christians are trying to present to the world stinks, at least in the nostrils of God, because it is someone elses vision, or yesterdays blessing.)

²¹And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. (Thus must the Christian feed upon Christ every day.)

²²And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much Bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. (They were allowed to gather twice as much on the sixth day, because the Manna would not fall on the seventh day.)

THE SABBATH REST

²³And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD has said, Tomorrow is the Rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which you will bake today, and seethe that you will seethe; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. (The day of rest here suddenly reappears after a silence of more than 2,000 years. Redemption being accomplished, typified by deliverance from Egypt, the Sabbath is gifted to Israel. The Jewish Sabbath was meant to serve as a portrayal of the rest that one receives when coming to Christ. In other words, Christ is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, hence that particular day not being kept, in the old manner, under the New Covenant.)

²⁴And they laid it up (the Manna) till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein (the double amount gathered on Friday, with the leftover to be used on Saturday).

²⁵And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the LORD: today you shall not find it (the Manna) in the field.

²⁶Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.

²⁷And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. (Man has little heart for Gods rest. His nature is bad. He can neither rest with, nor work for, God. If God makes a rest for him, he will not keep it; and if God tells him to work, he will not do it. In this Chapter, Israel, at least to a certain degree, refused the Sabbath as a gift, and in Numbers 15 disobeyed it as a Law.)

²⁸And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse you to keep My Commandments and My Laws?

²⁹See, for that the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you on the sixth day the Bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day. (As stated, this particular day, the Sabbath, commanded by God for Israel to keep, was meant to serve as a Type of Christ, and the rest He would give, on acceptance of Him [Mat. 11:28-30].)

³¹And the House of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. (Manna was a provision made for Gods people. It was not a question of Redemption, that having been obtained by the Blood at the Cross, and there alone. Manna was meant to proclaim Christ, and His sustenance for the Saints, and that on a daily basis. The wilderness afforded little. In Jehovah Alone was their portion.)

A TESTIMONY

³²And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commands, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the Bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. (A container of Manna was to be kept as a most precious memorial of the faithfulness of God. Whereas the Manna held over would normally breed worms and stink, the Manna addressed here in this Verse would be sustained by the Power of God for many, many centuries. The miracles of the past are to never be forgotten, but related over and over.)

³³And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of Manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

³⁴As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. (The Testimony was the Ten Commandments, kept on two tablets of stone, and preserved in the Ark of the Covenant.)

³⁵And the Children of Israel did eat Manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat Manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

³⁶Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.