The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 36: Manna from Heaven (2023)

Episode Date: February 5, 2023

Fr. Mike talks about how God trains the Israelites to trust him in the wilderness, and how we can grow in our own faithfulness to the Lord. Today we read Exodus 15-16, Leviticus 11, and Psalm 71. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. This is day 36. Let's keep on going. We'll be reading today from Exodus chapter 15 and 16, as well as Leviticus chapter 11, and then finally

Psalm 71. As always, I am reading from the revised standard version, the Catholic edition. In fact, I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. You can get that Bible at ascensionpress.com or you can get the Bible at amazon.com, which is taking over the entire world. Just kidding. Side comment, I guess. But you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year as well. If you want to download your Bible in a year reading plan, that way you can follow along. You know what readings are coming up. You know how many chapters we're going through. You also can get an overview of the entire year, all 365 days and all 365 episodes that we're going to have as we continue to journey through the scripture today. If you have not subscribed in the podcast

app that you're using to listen to this podcast, go ahead and do that. You don't have to, but why wouldn't you is my question. And lastly, as I said, today we are reading from Exodus chapter 15 and 16. That's where we're starting. Exodus chapter 15 and 16, the songs of Moses and Miriam. Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war.

The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea. The floods cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send forth your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your

nostrils, the waters piled up. The floods stood up like a heap. The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right gods, who is like you, majestic in holiness, terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders. You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. You have led in your merciful love the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them by your strength to your

holy abode. The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed. The leaders of Moab trembling seizes them. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone. Till your people, O Lord, pass by. Till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

You will bring them in and plant them on your holy mountain. The place, O Lord, which you have made. You will bring them in and plant them on your holy mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever. For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the sons of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing, and Miriam sang to them, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. Then Moses led Israel onward from

the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. Therefore it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried to the Lord. And the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them, saying, If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his

eyes, and give heed to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer. Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water. They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out

into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven 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. On the sixth day, when they prepare that which they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your murmurings against the Lord. For what are we that you murmur against us?

And Moses said, When the Lord gives you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your murmurings, would you murmur against him? What are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your murmurings. And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,

they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel. Say to them, At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. In the evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what

it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it, every man of you, as much as he can eat. You shall take an omer apiece, according to the number of the persons whom each of you has in his tent. And the sons of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. Each gathered according to what he could eat. And Moses said to them, Let no man leave any of it until the morning. But they did not listen to Moses.

Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers apiece. And when all sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread,

two omers apiece. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil. And all that is left over, lay by to be kept until the morning. So they laid it by till the morning as Moses bade them and it did not become foul and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today. For today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it.

But on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather and they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, he gives you bread for two days. Remain every man of you in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.

Now, the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, take a jar and put an omer of manna in it and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant to be kept. And the sons of Israel ate the manna 40 years till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. In Omer, it's the tenth of a part of an ephah.

The Book of Leviticus, Chapter 11. Clean and Unclean Foods. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Say to the sons of Israel, These are the living things which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud among the animals you may eat. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these. The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud, but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the hare, because it chews the cud, but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. And the swine, because it parts the hoof,

and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. These you may eat, of all that are in the waters, everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters, and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall have in abomination. Everything in the waters that has not fins and scales is an abomination to you.

And these you shall have in abomination among the birds. They shall not be eaten. They are an abomination. The eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the kite, the falcon, according to its kind, every raven, according to its kind, the ostrich, the night hawk, the seagull, the hawk, according to its kind, the owl, the cormorant, the ibis, the water hen, the pelican, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron, according to its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. All winged insects that go upon all fours

are an abomination to you, yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those which have the legs above their feet, with which to leap on the earth. Of them you may eat the locust according to its kind, the bald locust according to its kind, the cricket according to its kind, and the grasshopper according to its kind. But all the other winged insects which have four feet are an abomination to you. And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every animal which parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean

to you everyone who touches them shall be unclean and all that go up on their paws among the animals that go on all fours are unclean to you whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening they are unclean to you and these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm upon the earth, the weasel, the mouse, the great lizard according to its kind, the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. And anything upon which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening, and anything upon which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article

of wood, or a garment, or a skin, or a sack, any vessel that is used for any purpose, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening, then it shall be clean. And if any of them falls into an earthen vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it. Any food in it which may be eaten, upon which water may come, shall be unclean. And all drink which may have been drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean. And everything upon which any part of the carcass falls shall be unclean, whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces, they are unclean, and shall be unclean, whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall be

unclean to you. Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whatever touches their carcass shall be unclean. And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed for sowing that is to be sown, it is clean. But if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you. And if any animal of which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening. And he who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth is an abomination.

It shall not be eaten. Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, all the swarming things that swarm upon the earth you shall not eat, for they are an abomination. You shall not make yourselves abominable

with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, lest you become unclean. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls upon the earth, for I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law pertaining to beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms upon the earth, to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the

living creature that may not be eaten. Psalm 71, prayer for lifelong protection and help. save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hands of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man, for you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth, from my mother's womb you have been my strength. My praise is continually of you. I have been as important to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me. Those who watch for my life consult together and say, God has forsaken him. Pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste to help me. May my accusers be put to shame and

consumed with scorn and disgrace. May they be covered who seek my harm. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God, I will come, I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, till I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many sore troubles will revive me again. From the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my honor and revive me again. From the depths of the earth, you will bring me up again. You will increase my honor and comfort me again. I will also praise you with the harp for your

faithfulness, O my God. I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O holy one of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you. My soul also would you have rescued, and my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long. For they have been put to shame and disgraced who sought to do me harm. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the gift of your revealing your heart to us through scripture. And we ask that you please let your scripture, let your word,

let your grace conform our minds to your mind, that we see things as you see them, conform our hearts to your heart, that we can love things as you love them. Help us to turn away from what kills us and help us turn towards you who give us life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So today we have in Book of Exodus this food that the Lord gives. We're going to hear this story a couple more times in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen so today we have in book of exodus this food that the lord gives we're going to hear this story a couple more times in the book of numbers for example um but you have the people who are murmuring against the lord and moses and aaron and even you know you have moses and aaron saying a couple times like listen why are you murmuring against us it's kind of like pawning off the blame to god god's the one who did

this but god is also the one who's going to give you the food that you long for. It's so remarkable, isn't it? That here it's just been a few weeks now that the Lord God has miraculously delivered these people, his people from slavery and he's led them through the Red Sea when they're murmuring against God saying,

why didn't we just die back in Egypt? This is gonna be one of the refrains. Would it have been better if we had just died as slaves? Wouldn't it be better if we had just died as people who were abandoned by the Lord rather than being led by the Lord through dangerous places, uncomfortable places? And yet this is what the Lord God is doing for his people, his people of Israel. It's interesting because we note this, not God is doing for his people, his people of Israel. It's interesting because we note this. Not only is God feeding his people, but he's also asking something of them. He's training them. He's not just feeding them. He's not just caring for them. He's training them. And this is going to be one of the themes throughout the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers. We're going to see this again and again,

how God is taking care, he's fighting for, but he's also trying to teach his people who he is and the degree to which they can trust him. So here's the example of manna, right? The Hebrew, what is it is translated as the word manna. And people see this manna on the ground and Moses says, gather an omer of this and it will spoil. So only gather enough for one day. And if they kept it overnight, it would spoil, had worms in it. That's gross. But on the sixth day, gather twice as much so that you can keep a Sabbath day, that seventh day being Shabbat, right? That seventh day being a day where you're going to rest, but also it's a day of trust. And this is the remarkable thing. God has demonstrated that if you keep the manna overnight,

it spoils and you don't have any food or the food you gathered the day before is useless because it's now gross, right? And yet, if you honor my Sabbath day and do not work and do not gather that food that you gathered, I will preserve it. And so here's God, again, what is he doing? He's not just providing for his people.

He's not just feeding his people. He's also training them He's training them in the act of trust. He's training them to walk in faith He's training them who he is his heart his love for them his faithfulness for them his fidelity to them And then he's near to them And they have to learn this and so do we and we have to learn How to trust the Lord. And that's one of the reasons why God gives us certain commandments. Sometimes for our good.

Sometimes they're to keep us out of harm. And I imagine sometimes God gives us commandments not just to keep us out of harm and not just because it's oriented towards human flourishing, but also because it teaches us and trains us to be like him. God is faithful and he wants us to be faithful. He is faithful to us. He's faithful to himself. He's faithful to his promises.

And so God is inviting us to learn how to be faithful to him and be faithful to his promises and faithful to our own promises. And in order to do that, we need his grace. We can't do it on our own. So we need to pray. We need to pray with each other, for each other. And especially on this journey, as we're now in the wilderness, the wilderness of our own lives, we need each other. None of us can do this on our own.

We can't do life on our own. We can't do this Bible in a year on our own. So please, as part of this community, I invite you, encourage you, continue to pray for each other. You might not know each other by name, but we do know each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. I am praying for you and please pray for me. My name is Father Mike and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.