What Is That Stuff, Manna
What IS THAT stuff?
– ligurino
Numbers 11:4-35 --- Afternoon Service
Niles Grace Brethren Church
10/12/08
1. Moses’ problem
Numbers 11:11-13 {NKJV} {11} - So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? {12} - Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? {13} - Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
Numbers 11:21-23 {NKJV} {21} - And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ {22} - Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?” {23} - And the Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”
Do you have a big problem?
Is it any bigger than the one Moses faces?
600,000 soldiers, 600,000 wives, 2 kids/family = 1,200,000 for total of 2,400,000
Know how much meat it would take to feed that gang once
Now multiply that times 40 years
Not that many animals just walking by every day
Fishing not real great in middle of a desert either
OK, God. How are we going to feed this big bunch of bellyaching people?
Hey, Moses, do you think this is too big a task for God
You just stand back and see how I care for this matter
2. God’s provision for their need
Exodus 16:14-29 {NKJV} {14} - And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. {15} - So when the children 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, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
Israel was going to be eating this for breakfast every day for forty years
They saw that stuff on the ground and they asked their neighbor – Mah Nah?
This was something they had neve seen before
What is that? So for 40 years they had What’s That” for breakfast every day
{16} - This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ”
An omer = about two quarts
Note the principle of sufficiency – Gather according to your need
{17} - Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less. {18} - So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need.
Numbers 11:6-9 {NKJV} {6} - but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” {7} - Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. {8} - The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. {9} - And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.
Divine economics in practice here
He who gathered much had nothing left over
He who gathered little had sufficient
3. God’s prohibition
{19} - And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” {20} - Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.
Moses told them to be sure they ate it all that day
Yet some decided to store it up until the next day
They ended up with a bucket of worms
{21} - So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.
No sleeping in if you expected to eat
When the sun came up the manna melted
You slept in – You got to tighten your belt until the next day
{22} - And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. {23} - Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” {24} - So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. {25} - Then Moses said, “Eat that 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, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
God’s provision for the Sabbath
On the sixth day they gathered a double portion
The next day, the Sabbath, the manna stayed edible
Now don’t go out looking for manna on the Sabbath
You will not find it
Sabbath is a day of rest
Many people discover that God still cares for those who put Him first
Some people feel they need to get crops in before it rains
Others keep the day of rest and trust God for the details
{27} - Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. {28} - And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? {29} - See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
The Israelites remind me of a bunch of little kids
Don’t go down by the water! --- Guess where they are going to go?
How do we get the notion that God does not mean what he says?
So what can we learn from this passage?