Stories from the Bible - Ep 7 It's Raining Bread (Exodus 16)

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

The Israelites experienced God's spectacular provision of a way through the sea. But walking through the desert towards the land promised to Abraham is no picnic. Thirst and hunger hit, and they start to have regrets... The Scriptures quoted are from the NET Bible® http://netbible.com copyright ©1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved

Beauty, perfection, desire, deception, rebellion, judgment, hope. You're listening to Stories from the Bible. Bible stories told in order, using the words of the Bible, with introductions to give a recap and provide context. At the end of each story, you might want to pause and take a moment to reflect on what you noticed in the story, things you liked or didn't like, something the story showed you about God or about people. Don't worry if not everything makes sense. Keep listening to each episode and sit with the journey.

I'm stoked to have you on the ride. Today is Story 7, but before we get there, it'd be helpful to have a recap of the story of the Bible so far. We heard that in the very beginning there was nothing, and then God created the world with all its plants and creatures through the power of his words. The world God created was very good. And the final creature God made was people, the first man and woman. He made them in his image to rule over the birds, the fish, all the animals.

And he made them to rule with the kindness and wisdom that reflected his character to the creation. But the man and the woman chose to doubt God's goodness and believe, and they chose to believe that God was holding something good back from them. They ate the fruit from the tree that God had told them specifically not to eat from. And from that point, death entered the creation, and rebellion, hatred, and murder ruled in the hearts of people. By rejecting God, they failed to rule the creation with his wisdom and kindness, and they messed up their own lives and relationships with one another. Where there had once been peace and harmony, there was now division, fear, and enmity. Well, many, many years passed, and one day God spoke

to one of Adam and Eve's descendants, Abraham, who lived in the land that we now know as Iraq. God told Abraham to leave his home and go to the place that he would show him. God promised Abraham that his name would be blessed and great, that a huge nation of descendants would come from his body, and that he would give those descendants a special land of their own to dwell in. Well, God kept his promise to Abraham and eventually gave Abraham and his wife Sarah a son in their old age. From that son came descendants who one day migrated to Egypt because of a famine. God had prepared Joseph to provide for them there. After 400 years, the Israelites had multiplied so much that the new Pharaoh feared them. He made their lives misery, forcing them to work as his slaves and throwing their baby boys

into the Nile. They cried out to God to remember them, and God promised he would rescue them and bring them to the land he had promised to Abraham so long ago. God had prepared it so that Moses spoke to Pharaoh, telling Pharaoh that God told him to let his people go. But Pharaoh didn't acknowledge the God of the Israelites to be of any significance to him, so he refused. So God sent plagues, ten in all, each plague demonstrating God's power and might to be greater than any of the gods of the Egyptians. The tenth plague was to be the death of every firstborn throughout the land of Egypt. To escape the death of their own firstborn, God instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb as a substitute and paint the blood of the lamb over their doorposts.

When the angel of death saw the blood, it would pass over that house and the firstborn inside would be safe. Finally, Pharaoh told the Israelites to get out, and they did. But last time we heard that after all the Israelites had left, Pharaoh changed his mind and decided to chase them with his army and chariots. The Israelites were terrified when they saw the Egyptians had caught up with their camp, and they cried out to Moses, asking why had he bothered to lead them into the desert if it was just to be killed? But Moses told them not to panic, to stay calm and trust that God would

fight for them. Then God told Moses to get them to pack up. He put his cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians, and he told Moses to stretch out his hand over the Red Sea. When he did, God caused a wind to blow the water back so that dry land appeared. The Israelites walked safely through. But when the Egyptians followed, God made the waters come back over them so that none of them survived. After this great victory, Moses and the Israelites sang to God, praising him for his power and might and for bringing them salvation from their enemies. Then they journeyed for three days into the desert, but found no water. They came to a place

where there was water, but it was bitter. The people complained to Moses, what are we going to drink? God showed Moses a tree, and when Moses threw the tree into the water, it became drinkable. After that, they soon came to a place where there were a dozen springs of water, and they camped there. Eventually, they moved on through the desert, and today's story happens a month and a half after they'd left Egypt. And by the way, there's an old measurement used in this story. An omer. It's about three litres. I could have said three litres each time it comes up, but omer just sounds so much better. So here we go. The story starts here.

The entire nation of Israelites started grumbling against Moses and his brother Aaron. They complained, If only God had killed us in the land of Egypt. At least then we sat by pots of meat and ate bread till we were full. Because now you've brought us into this desert to starve us all to death. Then God said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount they need for each day, so that I may test them.

Will they walk in my commands or not? On the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring in, and they'll gather twice as much as they do on the other days. Then Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you will know that God has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of God, because he has heard your grumblings against him. As for us, what are we that you should complain about us? Moses said, You will know this when God gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread in

the morning to satisfy you because God has heard your complaints that you are grumbling against him. As for us, what are we? Your complaints aren't against us, but against God. Then Moses said to Aaron, tell the whole community of the Israelites, Come before the Lord God, because he has heard your grumbling. As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites, and they looked toward the wilderness, there the glory of the Lord God appeared in the cloud, and the Lord God spoke to Moses, I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites.

Tell them, During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God. In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. And in the morning, a layer of dew was all around the camp. And when the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a thin, flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, what is it? Because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, it is the bread that the Lord God has given you for food. This is what the Lord God has commanded. Each person is to gather from it what he can eat,

an omer per person according to the number of people living in your tent. The Israelites did so, and they gathered, some more, some less. When they had measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing. Each one had gathered what he could eat. Moses said to them, no one is to keep any of it until morning. But they did not listen to Moses. Some kept part of it and in the morning it was full of worms and began to stink and Moses was angry with them. So they gathered it each morning, each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt.

And on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food, two omas per person, and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses what they'd done. He said to them, This is what the Lord God said. Tomorrow is a time of rest from work, a holy Sabbath to the Lord God. Whatever you want to bake, bake today. Whatever you want to boil, boil today. So they put it aside until morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, and there weren't any worms in it the next morning. Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath rest to the Lord.

Today you won't find any of the stuff on the ground. Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any out there. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. So the Lord God said to Moses, how long do you refuse to obey my commandments and my instructions? See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, he gave you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are. Let no

one leave his tent on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. The house of Israel called the name of the food manna. It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey. Moses said, Moses said to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. Moses said to Aaron, take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come. The story ends here. Thanks for joining us for today's story. You might like to take a moment to pause and think about what you noticed. Things you liked, things you didn't like. Something the story showed you about God.

Perhaps you might even have thoughts about how this story fits into the bigger narrative of the Bible. If you'd like to look it up, it's from Exodus chapter 16. Well, God again showed the Israelites that they could trust him to look after them. But some still had trouble trusting his most basic instructions. Will they get better at following what he says? Stay tuned. You've been listening to Stories from the Bible. I'm Jen, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you.