The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 3/2/21 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.
At this point, in the book of Exodus, God has delivered his people from their Egyptian captivity. The three sets of three plagues have been brought upon Egypt. The angel of death came upon Egypt for the 10th and final plague. The Passover occurred, and the people of Israel were commanded to go, given riches and wealth and treasure from the Egyptian people and urged to go on their way.
God had redeemed a people for himself. The first move, though, was that they were pinned up against the waters of the Red Sea. And we already covered in our last session together how God miraculously delivered the people. Setting a wall of fire or protection on their rear guard while Moses extended his staff and the waters of the Red Sea were parted through a strong wind.
And the people of Israel passed through on dry ground. And when God removed the wall of fire, the Egyptians thought to themselves, "Let's follow them in to the Red Sea." But this was God's final judgment upon the armies of Egypt, and the waters collapsed upon their bodies. And the Israelites watched God win this incredible victory for them.
And as we saw in chapter 15, their response was to sing, to sing before God, to celebrate what he had done for them. Then, they experienced one of their first tests on that side of the Red Sea, in that they approached water in extreme thirst, but the water was bitter.
And so, Moses threw in the branch at the Lord's directives, and the bitter water was made sweet because that's what God is able to do. He can make the bittersweet through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, redeeming all things for his purposes and glory.
Exodus 16
God's Provision in the Wilderness of Sin
1 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to 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. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
And so, with that, we turn to Exodus 16. Let's start out reading in verse one. “They set out from Elim and all the congregation to the people of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
And the people of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Now, in this first movement of chapter 16, we find the people of Israel here in this place called the Wilderness of Sin.
It's not connected to our word for sin, but more than likely connected to Mount Sinai, a barren wasteland that the people were wandering in. And because it's the 15th day of the month, and because the Passover occurred at that same time, we know that it's been exactly one month since their departure from Egypt.
Now, Numbers 33 records the places that the people of Israel camped. And only seven places of encampment are mentioned. And only one journey of three days duration is mentioned. So, it seems that Israel stayed at a number of these places for a number of days. But finally, they come here into the Wilderness of Sin out from Elim, near Sinai, about a month after their departure from Egypt.
Now, of course, it tells us here that they begin longing because of this wilderness wandering for the land of Egypt. They recount the days of the past. They wish they had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt. And then, their way of describing their time in Egypt is simple. We sat by the meat pots and we ate bread to the full.
And so, they're remembering the time in Egypt with in a selective way. Their past life wasn't as great as they made it sound here in this moment. But that's the way that they're saying it to Moses, "Oh, Moses, life in Egypt was so good. You know, we had meat pots, where it was just overflowing with that protein for us. And we ate bread to the full, we are satiated, satisfied all the time.
And now, here we are out in the wilderness a month after our freedom, a month after the Passover meal, and we're hungry. We're out here starving in the wilderness." Now, this of course, as I said, is selective memory. They thought the Egyptians had it better. In other words, they thought we should have just died with the Egyptians back in Egypt when they went through the plagues.
This, what we're experiencing is worse than what they endured. And so, they are saying, we think the whole congregation, the whole assembly is going to die of hunger. You know, it's always important for us to remember accurately the past faithfulness of God. And if we don't remember the past things that God has done for us, and when the trials come into our lives, we'll think that they're designed to kill us, rather than to shape us and our character.
But God, He allows trials into our lives to mature us not to decimate us. But that was the feeling of Israel at this point. They just couldn't remember all the great things that God had done for them, the great protection, provision that God had blessed them with. And we have to continually be on guard against this, I think. That all too common tendency to judge our circumstances by the feelings of the moment.
And what was the feeling they had in that moment? Well, they were hungry. And so, they felt that God was letting them down rather than trusting in God's ultimate provision. You know, they had a lot to go off of as they looked at the past. And I think that we need to continually grow in this area of our lives.
You know, for me, every once in a while, when I'm feeling down and feeling as if I'm not sure what God is doing in my life. And I feel I'm a little bit in that wilderness experience. Sometimes I'll just take a moment, go on a walk, and pray about from the earliest points of my Christian life, things that I'm thankful that God did in my life.
And all the way back to the point of my salvation, to the point of, people, even before my salvation, speaking God's Gospel into my life. I think about the beginning decisions and God's provision to get me where I am today. The relationships that He has given to me, the key people he has brought into my life, my bride.
I think about all these things that God has done, and it bolsters my faith for today. But the people of Israel, at this point, they could not remember all the plagues, all the provision, the hundreds of years of protection, the favor of Pharaoh from Joseph. They couldn't remember any of those things. And they were distraught.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to 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. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”
So, the Lord, verse 4, said to Moses, "Behold, I'm about to 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 what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily."
So, Moses and Aaron said to all the people 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 grumbling against the Lord. For what are we that you grumble against us?
And Moses said, "When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him? What are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. There in verse 4, God says, I'm going to test the people of Israel every day.
They will go out and need to gather the meal that I'm going to give them. And as we'll see in a moment, He's going to give them this bread from heaven that they don't know what it is. So, they say, what is it, which is where they derive the word manna from. And so, they eventually called it manna, which means, "What is it?"
But they needed to collect it every single day of the week except for on the Sabbath day, the seventh day. And so, this was going to be God's way of testing his people. So, He's going to test them again. So again, we're seeing here that the desert is really not their home territory, but a place where their character is being purified.
So, God was trying to develop a people who turned to Him for their daily provision. I think often in our prosperity, we worry about our provision, even though we're a very prosperous people. But Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 that if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to us. He will be our provider.
And as God was bringing the people of Israel into the Promised Land, they needed to be conscious of God's daily provision upon their lives. When they were confronted later by the 10 spies who said, "We can't go into the land, there's giants in the land. Were like grasshoppers in their sight." They needed to, in that moment, be able to draw on the lesson that God has provided for us.
God takes care of us. We are His covenant people. But of course, if you know the story, you know that in that moment, they feared. Fear entered into their hearts. But God is trying to develop a people who turn to Him for their daily provision. Philippians 4:19, Paul said to the Philippian church who was so generous towards him, supporting his missions, where he said, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
I think that was a conditional word that Paul spoke to the Philippian church, I don't think he would have spoken that to just any run-off-the-mill believer who has a closed hand, but this generous church, he says, look, sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And so, He will add these things unto you.
He will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now, of course, this is what God would do for the people of Israel. He was going to take care of their needs, provide for them their sustenance. And so, that night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna fell with it. According to Numbers 11:9, "God would work for them while they were asleep."
Now, one of the things to point out is that they were to collect this food every single day. But on the sixth day, they were to collect double so that they could rest on the Sabbath. So, God is, again, in the very early stages in Israel's life here as a people, He's preserving that Sabbath experience.
I want you to notice there in verse 8 as well, that Moses, he's getting so good, in verse 7 and 8, he's getting so good at turning the attention from himself towards the Lord. He says, "Why are you grumbling against us?" He says, "What are we? Your grumbling is not against us, your grumbling is against the Lord." Moses and Aaron were growing tired of this pressure from the people.
And so, what major lesson that they are already learning is that, look, these are God's people, and they might complain against us. But in reality, if we're walking with the Lord and being obedient to Him, if it's a situation that He has put them in, then their complaint is not with us, their complaint is with the Lord.
Now, I'll be honest, I have heard times where pastors have made terrible decisions, or fathers have made terrible decisions, or a spiritual leader has made a terrible decision. And the people have complained about the terrible predicament that they're in as a result of the terrible leadership that is in front of them.
And then, the response of the leader is, "Well, your complaint is not with us, your complaint is against the Lord." Hey, don't blame the Lord for a terrible decision that you made. However, when God puts a person in a difficult spot, so often those in leadership, they will experience that friendly fire.
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
And Moses and Aaron, they were experiencing that, but they learned the great lesson of saying, "It's really not about us. It's about the Lord. The Lord has allowed this into the lives of the people. Their complaint is not against us. It's against God." Then Moses, verse 9, said to Aaron, "Save to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near before the Lord, for He has heard your grumbling."
And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people 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 grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, at twilight, you shall eat meat, and in the morning, you shall be filled with bread, then you shall know that I'm the Lord your God."
And in the evening, quail 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, fine flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. And the people 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 that the Lord has given you to eat." This is what the Lord has commanded. Gather of it each one of you as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent. And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less.
But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, "But no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning and the bread worms and stank, and Moses was angry with them.
13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people 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 that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’ ” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted. Okay. Now, before talking about the manna, which would be their daily provision for, really, the next 40 years. First, we have to talk about the quail. In the evening, these quail came down and covered the camp, okay? This is a small little bird, easy for them to collect and trap and all of that.
So, God has given to them this meat source there momentarily, just for a moment there in their wilderness, wandering. And even Egyptian art depicts people catching birds like this with little hand nets. Because once they were exhausted, they were easy prey, easy to catch. And so, God brings forth quail for them.
He would do this again, if you've read the book of Numbers in their second year of wilderness wandering. And at that point, it didn't go as well. God actually brought judgment against them in that moment. But here, this is just God's gracious gift to the people of Israel. He gives them this gift of quail.
But then, the next day when the dew falls, this manna begins to come. It is bread, verse 15, that the Lord has given to them to eat. Psalm 78, the psalm of Asaph, records it as the bread of angels, Psalm 78:25. And they go out, and they are to take an omer, a measurement that they used, and take some of it for themselves.
This would have been about 4,500 tons of manna every day, if our estimates on how large or how big the people of Israel were at this point as far as numbers go, two or three million people strong. And morning by morning, they were to go out and pick up this bread from the ground.
You know, to me, this speaks of the daily necessity of going out to get the bread before God, which speaks to me of our daily relationship with the Lord. Daily, we've got to pursue Christ. You see, the Lord have given them this daily supply of bread to consume. But as Jesus said, quoting from Deuteronomy 8, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."
So, I think every day we need to go out and get our bread, our daily bread for life today, a word, a verse that God has spoken to us. So, I'd encourage you to be a person who is daily in the word. Now, it's not that hard in our modern time to find a Bible-reading schedule. And of course, you can get a Bible-reading schedule and go through it in a robotic form and get absolutely nothing out of it.
But I encourage you to get yourself on track and be a constant reader of God's Word. Meditate upon scripture. Study scripture. Read teaching about scripture, let the Word of God saturate your soul. But this manna, also, not only does it represent, I think, the Word of God, but probably the better picture, is Jesus Himself.
Jesus said in John 6:13 and 33, "Truly, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven, for the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So really, the manna is a foreshadowing of Jesus Himself, the ultimate bread that satiates, satisfies, nourishes, humanity.
We must receive from him. And I know many of you that are listening to this are believers. And you're thinking, "Well, great, Nate, I've already received Jesus, I've already received the manna from heaven." But we're called to continue to walk by faith, to continue to receive of and feast on the Lord.
And I think a great question to ask is, what bread are you seeking in life? What are you pursuing to satisfy you, to bring nourishment to your soul? Are you pursuing Christ? Now, a few devotional notes on this little passage about the way they were to gather this daily bread, this manna. They were to go out, verse 16.
And they were to be active. They were engaged, they were involved. It wasn't just the heads of each tribe that would go out and collect it for everybody, or a staff of people that went and did the work for everybody and then delivered it. No, each person individually had a decision to go out and be active and collect their food for that day.
This, I think, is again, similar to our need for Christ and the Word of God. We've got to personally be actively engaged. Each one of you is what he said there in verse 16. Then, it's according to our need. He says in verse 16, as much as he can eat. So, there's the sense in which each individual pilgrim was meant to ask the question, how much do I require?
And so, for us, as we're pursuing the Lord, we have to ask that question, what is my need during this season in life? And I think quite often we need more than we're willing to admit. Then, there's the idea that it's for your family, verse 16, his tent is what is talked about or required, and so taking care of your family, nourishing your family spiritually.
For any man who's listening or watching this, if you have children, I'd encourage you to become a man who shares the Word of God with your children in an age-appropriate fashion. It might be a comic book Bible. It might be proverbs that you share with them. It might be retelling the book of Genesis. It might be sharing verses that you've read.
It might be theology that you want to explain to them. It might be apologetics that you want to bring into their lives. It might be Christian philosophy that you're trying to bring to them. It might be scriptures that help fashion current events or popular culture subjects that will help shape the way they see the world. But bring the Word of God into your family.
And then, notice there in verse 19, again, the daily experience, let no one leave any of it over till the morning. They weren't supposed to store any of it. It was a daily experience. So, it says in verse 22, that on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each.
22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 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 aside to be kept till the morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”
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 leftover lay aside to be kept till morning."
So, they laid it aside till the morning as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, 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." Now, this is actually the Bible's first explicit mention of the Sabbath.
And of course, we know that the Sabbath is hinted out from the very beginning because in Genesis 2, God rested on the seventh day and that becomes the template for the Sabbath in the future. And later, God is going to command the Israelites to do this every single week, to rest on the Sabbath. But here is the first instance of the Sabbath directly being spoken of.
Saturday now is the Sabbath. And that's how God describes it or declares it. And of course, for thousands of years, this was the practice of the people of Israel. The Sabbath starts on Friday night at sundown and it ends on Saturday night at sundown.
And it's obviously a major part of the Israel-like culture, historically, which is one of the reasons why it's fascinating that the church, which was for 10 years almost exclusively Jewish, changed their Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. It's one of the clearest apologetics for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There must have been an incredible and monumental event that occurred that would have convinced these early Christian Jewish people to shift their Sabbath from something that had been so historically rooted on Saturday to Sunday. And of course, we know that that incredible event was the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
But here, Moses makes the first mention of what we'll find are many about the Sabbath, here in Exodus and beyond. On the seventh day, verse 27, some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will 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 each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day, so the people rested on the seventh day. Now, in this first little instance of disobedience, God didn't punish anybody. This is a brand-new thing, the idea of the Sabbath.
You got to remember, these people had been working every day of the week for hundreds of years now as slaves, so they just don't even know what it's like to have a day off. So, God had told them, though, he said, "Look, on the sixth day, Friday, you're can go out in the morning.
And though you're not supposed to collect any extra manna on any of the other days, on Friday, you are supposed to do that, you're supposed to take two days' worth of manna on Friday, because there will be no manna on Saturday, because that's Sabbath morning. I want you to sleep in. I want you to hang out. I want you to stay in your pajamas.
That was the idea. But again, these people were not accustomed yet to any rest in life at all. So, Saturday came around, they got up, they went out into the field looking for manna. And God comes to Moses and says, "Hey, I thought I told you that there will be no food out here, no manna, on Saturday. This is the Sabbath. This is supposed to be a day of rest.
Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." So, the people rested on the seventh day. You know, my family has what we call family days, a family Sabbath. For us, it's not Sunday, because Sunday is a long day, really, of work for me. It's not a Sabbath experience. But for us, when we have those times, that description there, let no one go out of his place.
That's really, actually, my favorite day. I don't have to leave. I just got to stay in my pajamas, eat some pancakes, just be with the family. It's a beautiful experience. And I think that God installed this into the fabric of who Israel is, that they would be a people who rest regularly and recharge, and don't have those pressures of work and all of that, just absolutely incredible.
Not to mention the incredible trust that they would have to have for God, to have a whole nation shutting it down for 24 hours, meant that they, every week, have to trust the grace of God to protect them, watch over them, defend them from their neighbors. So, in many ways, this was a moment of trust for the people of Israel, to begin practicing the Sabbath.
31 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. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ” 33 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.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
Now, the house of Israel called its name manna, it says there in verse 31. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Moses said, "This is what the Lord has commanded. Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generation so 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 testimony to be kept. The people of Israel ate the manna 40 years, so they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
And omer is a 10th part of an ephah. Not that that means anything to you today. But these are the measurements that Moses wanted to record into the Book of Exodus. Okay, so a couple things here in this closing paragraph of chapter 16. First of all, there's to be something that they wanted to keep as a subsequent memorial throughout their generations.
They are to take an omer, a jar of this manna, and they were supposed to set it aside for future generations to be able to observe. And now, all of it is interesting, because this obviously is being written years later, where the author, Moses, knows they wandered for 40 years so they ate this manna for 40 years. Obviously, the citizens here in chapter 16, they don't know that they're going to be eating manna for 40 years.
They think they're on their way to the Promised Land at this point. Of course, they are, but their lack of faith is going to prohibit them from going in right away. A whole generation is going to have to die off and a new generation will go into the Promised Land, so that's why we have these little editorial notes from Moses.
That they ate the manna for 40 years and that talks about the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, and the jar of manna being placed inside of it. These are all things that have yet to be developed by the time we get to Exodus 16. But because Moses knows about all these things and writes this book later, he's able to speak of them and we're able to get a foreshadowing of what's coming here in the pages and chapter to come.
And eventually, like I said, this omer of manna was placed before or inside, Hebrews 9:4, the ark, next to the two tablets of the law. And this was meant to be a perpetual reminder of God's loyalty to his people in supplying all of their needs. So, the idea that's here is that future generations needed to hear of the past provision of God for this original Exodus generation.
And this is true. Every current generation of God's people needs to hear the testimonies of God's faithfulness to those who came before them. It doesn't mean that each generation is going to learn all the lessons that they need to learn simply by hearing them through the mouths and lives and testimonies of others.
Quite often, we have to go through those experiences ourselves. But we're bolstered by hearing, reading, studying, thinking about the stories of God's faithfulness in the past. So, they take an omer, which is just over two liters of manna, and they put it to aside as a memorial for the future. But again, there's that ominous note there in verse 35.
If you're just reading along Exodus, you don't know yet at this point that they're going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. So, you might be asking the question, "40 years? Why would they have to eat this manna for 40 years? I thought they were on the way to the land of Canaan, a land that was flowing with milk and honey that seems like what they should be eating."
And eventually they will, but not before a time wandering in the wilderness. Well, this faithless generation as we'll see once we get to Numbers, dies off. Now, in chapter 17, it says in verse 1, that all the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the Wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord and camped at Rephidim.
But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people that thirst there for water. And the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us in our children and our livestock with thirst."
You're probably seeing a repeated theme here. So, Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." It seems that something shifts here, it reads similar to the beginning of chapter 16, the people are saying, "Hey, it used to be good back in Egypt, we should have died there with the Egyptians. Why is this happening to us?"
Exodus 17
It almost feels as if a same thing is repeating itself here in this section. But the increase that's happened here is that it seems they're actually ready to kill Moses. He says this to God, "What will I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." But let's think about a few things from this first opening paragraph of chapter 17.
1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
First of all, they leave the Wilderness of Sin by stages. You know, there's so many people and all the different tribes, so they're stage by stage moving out. And they're moving according to the commandment of the Lord. In other words, God is in control of their entire situation. He put them out there for a season of hunger.
And now, they're about to enter into a season of thirst. They're being tested. Their character is being matured. And instead of submitting to the tests that God had for them, Israel began to test the Lord themselves. And of course, as Jesus is quoted from in Deuteronomy 6 through 8, "We should not test the Lord our God, but him only we should serve."
But that's what this passage is going to show, the people of God testing God, Himself. And the reason for their frustration here is that there was no water for them to drink. So, it is a desperate situation. And again, is another opportunity for God to provide. He has provided the water that was bitter that he turned sweet. He provided the quail and manna.
And now, He's going to provide water, again, a third setting of God's provision. Again, I think this is a theme that God's people should be reminded of. God is our provider. And so, they quarrel with Moses, it says there in verse 2. Like I said, this is more intense than it was back at the beginning of chapter 16. There, they were just worried about their provision.
But here, they quarrel with Moses and prepare to stone him to death. And they demand that Moses give them water. I mean, here you got two, three million people, they say to Moses, "Give us water to drink." They looked rather than to the hand of God to the hand of Moses. Rather than crying out to God, they cry out to Moses.
Rather than think that God can provide for them, they think that Moses is the one who must provide for them. And I'm sure you've felt this temptation before in your own life. I know that I've felt it in my own life. And I've seen it in the lives of so many, the temptation to look to humanity or to man rather than to look to God.
This can come in the form of hearing from God through a pastor that you love, needing to hear God's voice again. And if that pastor is not available to you, you panic. You look to them rather than to God. God can speak to you. He used a donkey to speak to a prophet named Balaam. He can use any vessel He desires to minister His Word to you.
It can also come in the form of where we look for our provision. You're seeing the bills, they're mounting up. And the dollar isn't stretching like it used to. And you begin thinking about your boss, and what they should be doing for you, and the environment you should be in.
And yeah, sure, there are moments where we need to speak up and say, "Hey, I'd like a raise. I think this is what I've been doing. What can I do to try to fight for a promotion here in this company? Or that type of thing. But the reality is ultimately behind, all of that is the Lord. We need to look to God. He is our ultimate provider.
Here, the people of Israel ran straight to Moses. They thought Moses has to be the one to provide for us. And they seem to have felt that it was right that they could demand this from God. So, Moses, there in verse 2, we already read it, he asked the question, "Why do you test the Lord?" In Moses's view, they were simply testing God.
They should have trusted the Lord at this point, believing that his past provision was evidence of his future provision. You know, he wanted these people to be singing of God's faithfulness, singing of God's glory, singing of God's provision, singing of the victories that God had won for them in the past, trusting all the while that he was going to take care of them, no doubt in their minds.
But instead, there was grumbling. "Why do you test the Lord?" Moses said. And so, he just cries out to God. It's a great move. When you're desperate, you're being asked to provide something you can't possibly provide, you have to cry out to God. You're put in a desperate situation. That's what Moses was put in, a desperate situation.
5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” 8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
And so, he gets alone with God, he cries out to the Lord. And the Lord, verse 5, said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. And you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink."
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel. And because they tested the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" Now, here, God provides water through a beautiful miracle. Moses was to take the staff in his hand, the same one that he, verse 5, struck the Nile with, and he was to go and strike the rock.
And just as blood came out of the Nile when Moses struck the Nile with his staff, water would come out of the rock when Moses struck the rock with his staff. I love that difference, by the way. Egypt got blood, judgment. The people of Israel, they got water, life-giving nourishment. And He says, "You go, you strike that rock, Moses, you gather them all together, you strike the rock and water is going to come out of it."
This to me is amazing. I don't know that had I been the Lord, and I'm so thankful I'm not, that I would have behaved in this way. You have a grumbling, ungrateful people, yet the Lord blesses them. He's patient with his disobedient and grumbling people. And so, he tells Moses, "Take your staff and strike the rock."
Now, this is one of those places where it's beautiful to compare Old Testament Scripture with New Testament Scripture. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10:4, that this is a picture of Jesus, a type of Christ. It says, "All drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."
So, here you have Moses striking a literal rock, the water comes out. And years later, Paul says, you know that rock, spiritually in a sense was Christ Himself. The wooden rod of Moses representative of the cross of Jesus, cross of Christ struck Jesus, blood came out, and now we receive His ever-present, life-giving flow of living water. In other words, we don't get life from the Lord until He is struck.
But we don't get forgiveness from Jesus until He suffers and dies upon the cross. This, by the way, is part of the reason why in a later episode, God became upset with Moses when he struck the rock again. Years later in Numbers 20, a point comes where they're thirsty again, and God tells Moses to speak to the rock. The rock had already been struck. Jesus only needs to be crucified once.
And rather than speak to the rock like God told Moses, "Moses struck the rock twice." And God allowed water to come out of it mercifully, but then later, pulled Moses aside and told him that he had misrepresented God to the people of Israel, and that Moses's punishment for that misrepresentation would be he, himself, would be part of the generation that died in the wilderness.
He would not go into the Promised Land. But again, this is a place as we saw there in verse 7, Moses said, "Look, you have tested the Lord here by asking the question, is the Lord among us or not?" It's just an amazing question that they asked when you consider that in less than six months the Israelites had witnessed 10 plagues.
They were now being led, by the way, with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. They saw the opening and shutting of the Red Sea. God had sweetened the waters at Meribah. He'd sent the quail and the manna. And after all of that, they asked the question, is the Lord among us or not? Obviously, the Lord was among them.
But in that moment of trial, they lost their minds. They began to panic and they tested the Lord. But God is gracious to His people and He provided for them in that moment. Now, in verse 8, a new episode unfolds. It says, then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So, Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow, I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." So, Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek with Moses, while Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses's hands grew weary, so they took the stone and put it under him and he sat on it while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Now, here, we have the beginnings of a longstanding battle with the Amalekite people.
They were a people who were, according to 1 Samuel 15 and 27, a nomadic people in the desert south of Canaan. So, people of Israel are on their way, getting closer to the Promised Land and you have this nomadic group called the Amalekites. They were connected, actually, to Esau, who we saw in the book of Genesis through Eliphaz and a woman named Timna.
The Amalekites were born. We saw them for the very beginning at the very first instance of Amalek is found in Genesis 36. And these people come, and they attack the people of Israel. It appears that the Amalekites, according to Psalm 83, had attacked the weak in Israel, probably the tail, the end of Israel's trailing people as they sojourned or as they wandered through the land.
And so, it seems that they were trying to take advantage of the weak, and so they attacked them. And so, God was upset with the Amalekites. Now, Moses, he responds to the Amalekites battling against Israel by telling Joshua, we see there in verse 9, to pull out some men to fight as an army against the Amalekite people.
This is our first mention of the figure, Joshua, in Scripture. This is actually Jesus's name as well in Hebrew. So, we're getting the Old Testament Jesus, so to speak, not that he'll atone for anyone's sins, but he's a deliverer, he's a warrior, he's a fighter. And the name Joshua means YAHWEH is his help or YAHWEH, the Savior. And he's a great man. He's a real servant of Moses. He is devoted to God.
He actually went part of the way up to Mount Sinai, we'll see, when Moses received the 10 commandments, Joshua was nearby. So, he got closer than anyone else did besides Moses to the glory of the Lord. We'll see later in the Book of Numbers that he's one of the spies who's filled with faith, him and Caleb, both believe that God can give the people of Israel the victory.
And that even though the people in the land are giants and they're like grasshoppers in their sight, they believed, Joshua believes God can give us the victory. And here, we see the beginnings of that faith. He goes out into battle against the Amalekites, and God gives him victory. He's a leader. And eventually, he will be Moses's replacement.
Moses will die. And God will install Joshua as the next leader of the people of Israel, which is... obviously, Moses had a 40-year run as the leader of Israel, great and incredible man, those were huge sandals to fill. But Joshua did just that. He was strong and courageous. God encouraged him not to fear. And he did lead a fearless life and many conquests as he brought the people of Israel into the Land of Promise.
Now, the way this battle unfolded is interesting. Moses took Aaron and they went to the mountaintop where Moses would hold up his staff and look down upon the battle below. And with Moses and Aaron was this man named Hur, H-U-R. Now, Jewish tradition associates him with Miriam, either as her husband or as her son.
11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
So, it's hard to know with certainty, but he's got a connection there to Moses, and likely to Moses's family. But the beautiful part is that as they're there looking down upon the battle, whenever, verse 11, Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. I think this was an important lesson for the people of Israel. You see, they were going to enter into some significant military battles in the future.
And what they needed to learn from the very outset is where victory came from. You see, at the Red Sea, there was no fighting. There were chariots from the Egyptians, warriors and generals of the Egyptians. But the people of Israel only had to pass through the Red Sea on dry land, and then God closed up the waters of the Red Sea upon the Egyptians.
There was no fighting. There was no engaging. There was no sword, spear, warriors, training, none of that was involved at the Red Sea. But here, Joshua is told to go take some men and go out and actually fight themselves. And it's easy when your energy is being expended to think that the victory comes from your energy, your effort, your power, your might, your gifting.
But this first victory would have showed them that God was the one who had to give them the victory. I mean, supernaturally, whenever Moses's hands are down, they lose, and whenever his hands are up, they win. So, this would help them know that God was the one who gave them success on the battlefield. God would be the one who was their strength.
I think in like manner, we can understand that we will, in the Christian life, prevail as long as we're dependent upon the Lord. I think independence is a great killer of God's work in our lives. It saddens me to think of and is terrible to witness when a man or a woman who has previously been fruitful unto God ceases to be dependent upon God.
Begins believing that the victory comes from their own energy, power, might, resources, gifts, knowledge, wisdom, character, persuasiveness, none of those things ultimately win the day. We should be faithful with the gifts that God has given to us. We should work as hard as humanly possible. We should fight with great wisdom and skill.
But when we're dependent upon the Lord, that's ultimately where the victory comes from. And I think this first battle would have helped the people of Israel internalize that message. I need God. We need God. The victory comes from him. And when they went into the Promised Land and had to defeat Jericho.
And eventually, even after that victory, became self-confident and thought that they could easily defeat this next small little village. They had grown self-dependent. But self-dependence zaps our power. We've got to be dependent upon the Lord daily, on our knees before Him, asking for His might and His strength. And so, Aaron and Hur, they saw what was going on so they actually propped Moses's hands up so that he could keep his hands in the air.
And as his hands were in the air, God gave the victory. Don't you think this speaks to us of the reality that everyone needs help from others, especially when their hands grow weary? Don't attempt to serve and live alone. You've got to support one another, encourage one another, and lift each other up in prayer.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Then, the Lord, verse 14, said to Moses, "Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is My Banner, saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Now, a few things to mention as we close out this chapter in this study, first of all, we have to notice that God tells Moses to write this as a memorial in a book. So, now we're getting the beginning of the record of God's word. There will be certain things that are recorded in a book. And Moses is going to begin that record.
And he was to recite it in the ears of Joshua, verse 14. I think this would have been helpful to Joshua, prophetic in a sense, because he'd be the one to lead the people into the Promised Land, the one to commission to lead them into war with the pagan nation. So, he needed to get this insight from God. And the insight was that He would, God would utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.
So, Moses then says this, writes this, and then builds an altar and calls the name of this altar, The Lord is My Banner. Now, it's hard to say exactly what that means. But there are military connotations. In other words, God's military might and power and name and banner is above us. He is our strength, we're under Him.
The word banner or the root of it means to be high, to be raised, to be conspicuous. So, this spoke of the lift, it spoke to the lifting of Moses's staff, raised up, raising it high, and that victory was the Lord's. So, Moses was giving all credit here to God. And then, the announcement there in verse 16, "The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."
Now, as we'll see, as we continue through the Old Testament, the Amalekites remain a persistent and harassing enemy of Israel in the generations to come. When Israel tried to enter into the land of Canaan in Numbers 14, when Saul was the king in Israel, when David was the king in Israel, the Amalekites were a thorn in the Israelites' side.
Now, again, why did God do this? Well, God was angry that they hadn't submitted to the obvious plan of God in Israel's life, but instead chose to resist it. I mean, you have to remember everything that God did a month earlier in Egypt or for the six months earlier in Egypt, had been broadcast to that part of the world. And the Amalekites could have easily said, these are God's people.
We've heard this story. We want to respect what God is doing in their lives. But in like manner with Pharaoh, there was a hard-heartedness and unwillingness to submit to God's clear plans for his people. And so, God would defend his people when they were persecuted against. And so, they needed to embrace what God had said, rather than they tried to resist God's will.
As I mentioned earlier, Psalm 83:4 of Amalek says, that they say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, let the name of Israel be remembered no more." So, that was the attempt that day, to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And people have been trying to do that ever since then. But God has protected His people.
I think it's actually one of the great, apologetic evidences for the Christian faith, is the existence of Israel on Earth. How in the world did they still exist? Well, because God is involved in this special people. They produced the Messiah, who is the Savior of the world. And as I also mentioned, God seems to have been angry because of the way that the Amalekites attacked.
They attack the weak and the weary at the rear of Israel's March, which of course, in every society and culture is a dishonorable thing to do. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 recalls how Amalek attacked Israel on the way when they were faint and weary, cut off the tail, those who are lagging behind and did not fear God.
So, that's where we get the idea that they seem to have been trying to attack in a dishonorable way those who are weak in the people of Israel, so a terrible people who did not believe. And as we'll see in chapter 18, they were very unlike the Midianites, whom Jethro had come from, Moses's father-in-law, who did believe to at least a degree. God bless you, church. Have a wonderful week.