Episode 2484 - Lesson 7 - Monday August 11 - Quail and Manna

Quail and MannaUnfortunately, there is a repetitive pattern of rebellion in these pilgrimage stories. The people were notoriously forgetful that the mighty hand of God had helped them in the past and that He had provided solutions to their problems. They let their present problems blind them to their ultimate goal and their promised wonderful future. It’s a common problem even among God’s people today, as well.Read Exodus 16:1-36. What was the cause of the Israelites’ grumbling, and what followed?It is important to notice that temptations in the Bible are often related to food. In the Garden of Eden, the Fall was related to eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17; Gen. 3:1-6). In Jesus’ wilderness temptations, Satan’s first shot at Him was through food (Matt. 4:3). Esau lost his firstborn rights because of his undisciplined appetite (Gen. 25:29-34). How often was Israel’s disobedience connected to food and drink! No wonder Moses reminded later generations:"Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD" (Deut. 8:3, ESV).Manna, of course, was a heavenly bread that God supplied the Israelites with during their 40 years of sojourning in the wilderness. Through this gift, He taught them that He is the Creator and the Provider of everything. Also, God used His supernatural provision of manna to show them how to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.Each week four miracles happened: (1) for five days, God gave a daily allotment of manna; (2) on Fridays, a double portion of manna was given; (3) the manna did not spoil from Friday to Sabbath; and (4) no manna fell on Sabbath. God was constantly performing these miracles so the people would remember the Sabbath day and celebrate God’s goodness on that day. God said: "Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath" (Exod. 16:29, NIV).People like to eat. We were created to like to eat. The rich abundance of food, growing out of the ground (our original diet), reveals not only that God wants us to eat, but that we are to like what we eat, too. How, though, can this wonderful gift, that of food (and our liking to eat it), be abused?