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Weekly Devotional

Aug 6, 2012

God’s Peace be with you all

Exodus 16:11-18   ¹¹ The LORD spoke to Moses and said,  ¹² "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"  ¹³ In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  ¹⁴ When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.  ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. 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 as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.'"  ¹⁷ The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.  ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.

            Our Old Testament lesson for yesterday described how God gave bread to the Hebrews as they walked in the wilderness.  We know this bread as “manna”.  This comes from the actual question “What is it?”  (See vs. 15 above).  In Hebrew, the question is “Man Hu?”  Put that into English and we get Manna.

            So what exactly is manna?  Well, we are not exactly sure.  There are lots of answers, ranging from the resin of the Tamarisk Tree (which is thought to have populated the Sinai peninsula at one point), others will say it is a substance like honey.  There are even people who claim that manna is a certain type of Kosher locust.  I read a book several years ago that claimed (rather hilariously I might add) that manna was a by-product of melted Gold.  The theory here was that the Hebrews carried so much gold with them they melted it, ground it up, and ate it.  Gold is edible in small amounts and there are some foods and beverages today that still contain gold.  Given its price though, I don’t think I will add it to my diet though…

            Whatever manna is (does it really matter?), the bigger picture is that for 40 years God provided the Hebrews with the nourishment that they needed to cross the wilderness and enter the Promised Land.  Despite their complaining, their unappreciative attitude, and their lack of faith in God, God still remained faithful to them, even in the moments when he was ready to wipe them out and start fresh.  God provided what they needed in order to fulfill his covenant with them.

In our prayers this week:  Bobby, Ann, Jim A., Wayne C., Mike C., and Doris

God’s Peace,