THE MANNA AND THE PASSOVER
[p. 39] THE MANNA AND THE PASSOVER
Exodus 16:13 - 36; Leviticus 24:5 - 9
JT It is to be observed that the manna was peculiarly for the wilderness, and that one food does not set aside another. The passover continues; it was eaten in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the land, but the manna was not eaten in Egypt nor in the land — it belonged expressly to the wilderness.
AFM Would you tell us what the wilderness is?
JT The wilderness is what the world has become to the believer as delivered out of it morally.
AFM We do not take a physical journey, as the Israelites did, but a moral one.
JT That is the idea. We are delivered, in a moral sense, out of the world; it has changed its character for us. The world of man’s lust and glory is now a barren scene through which we pass.
AP Do we need to have the Spirit in order that the world may become a wilderness to us?
JT The Spirit is given consequent on redemption which latter is seen in the passover lamb and in the passage of the Red Sea. The Holy Spirit is given typically in chapter 17. He sustains us in the position into which the light of the gospel introduces us.
AP The Lord was anointed before He went into the wilderness, and then He “was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil”, (Luke 4:1). Would that have a bearing on the people of God as anointed in the wilderness?
JT The Lord entered the wilderness on Deuteronomic ground, not on that of Exodus. He quoted Deuteronomy in repelling Satan.
AP Was the wilderness actually a wilderness to them before they received the Spirit, typically?
JT It was. It is called the wilderness from the [p. 40] outset but it is noticeable that here they turned toward it: “And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness”, (Exodus 16:10). That indicated an acceptance of it. Hitherto they would desire to go back into Egypt, but now they are definitely turned toward the wilderness.
AFM They get encouragement in the appearing of the glory of the Lord.
JT Yes. Looking in the wilderness direction you get a view of the glory. It is brought about by Aaron’s word to them, and is a definite point reached — they see the glory. It is well worth being set for the wilderness if the glory appears there.
AJD Consequent upon that is the fact that God led them and sustained them in it.
JT That is the connection here. He had said, “I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4); but Aaron’s word seems to have touched them in order that such a provision should be valued, for they turned toward the wilderness and got the actual appearance of the glory. Then we get the initiatory giving of the manna: “In the morning the dew lay round the camp. And when the dew that lay round it was gone up, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was something fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost, on the ground”.
TA You get the two things here: the daily manna, and the hidden manna. An omer full of manna was deposited before Jehovah.
JT I suppose we value the hidden manna in the measure in which we understand the daily manna. As having eaten of it daily you understand why it is laid up before Jehovah, and why the principle is carried into the New Testament, for we are given to eat of the “hidden manna”,. (Revelation 2:17).
TA Do you think that Christ will be treasured as the hidden Manna, throughout eternity by [p. 41] the saints?
JT That is what He was here, the reference in Revelation 2 would indicate.
AFM Does the wilderness suggest two things: that there is no way, and no resource there? Hence the provision would be in the pillar of cloud by day the pillar of fire by night, and the daily manna.
JT Exactly. They turned toward the wilderness, and then “on the face of the wilderness there was something fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost”. You see the glory, but also this wonderful thing. It is well worth turning wilderness-wise to see the glory; then you see the face of it covered with bread from heaven.
ARS You see the glory of the Lord in the wilderness, and you get food from heaven.
JT These are the two great features. So that while it is a foreign land through which we pass, in the manna there is that which belongs to our home. It is food from heaven. It is not indigenous to the wilderness.
WB-w What is the point in verses 6 and 7? It says, “In the evening, then shall ye know that Jehovah has brought you out from the land of Egypt; and in the morning, then shall ye see the glory of Jehovah”.
JT The evening would remind you of the past experience; the morning is the glory, and that is what they saw as they turned toward the wilderness.
JS Turning toward the wilderness is like an act of faith on their part.
JT I think so. It points to the peculiar touch in Aaron’s address.
JS They saw the glory of Jehovah and the face of the wilderness covered. Would that be evidence to us of divine presence and divine provision?
JT That is what I thought. Therefore, we are not lonely in the wilderness if we have the glory before us and the face of the wilderness is covered [p. 42] with what belongs to heaven. While the place itself is strange, for us to go through is made possible by the glory and by the face of the wilderness being covered every morning by the manna.
AJD In verse 12 it says, “Between the two evenings ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God”. What is the distinction between flesh of the evening and bread of the morning?
JT The quails were to remind them of their unbelief. God would provide abundantly for them, even to satisfying their natural taste by the quails, which were similar to the fleshpots they had sat by in Egypt.
CB The manna is enough to sustain us in the wilderness if we gather it up.
JT Quite. But it must be gathered. I was thinking of the quails that they ate in the evening — it is remarkable that God allows them the satisfaction of their natural appetite at this point. It illustrates His consideration of young believers; God is very considerate of them. Lusting for flesh brought judgment on Israel later, as seen in Numbers 11:32,33) “And the people rose up all that day, and the whole night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered little gathered ten homers; and they spread them abroad for themselves round about the camp. The flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, when the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague”. In the instance before us, it did not bring judgment upon them, for God was acting in grace to encourage them. If you have learned that God is good, even in ministering to you according to your natural tastes as young believers, it is only to encourage you to go in for the food He has provided. He is not going to give you quails every evening.
WB-w “And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God”, (Exodus 16:12). They would put confidence in Him as Jehovah.
JT That was the point to be reached. If we have confidence, we will accept the food that He supplies. Quails would not remind them of heaven but of Egypt. What a thing it was to be reminded of heaven every morning by the manna! It covered the face of the wilderness. And then we are told what it was like: “Fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost, on the ground”. It was pleasing to the eye and could be viewed in detail.
TA What is the significance of its falling on the dew?
JT The dew would be the preparatory effect of God’s grace. The goodness of God in supplying the quails would touch their hearts. If God has helped us in natural things our hearts should be touched. Dew is that which refreshes the earth. God would refresh us in some way so as to prepare us for this heavenly food.
BTF Would you say that the quails represent earthly blessing? Are they figurative of spiritual blessing too?
JT They were God’s creatures, of course; and God could command them as He commanded His creatures in the plagues of Egypt. He has rights in creation, and uses His creatures to express His sympathy and care for us. The quails were an earthly provision; but as accepted from God they convey the sense of grace and care which softens and refreshes one.
ANW It says of them that they came up in contrast to the manna which came down.
Ques . How is the face of the wilderness covered for us?
JT It is contained in that expression, “The life ... of Jesus”, (2 Corinthians. 4:10). The manna was on [p. 44] every shrub and leaf of the wilderness. The manna enters into every legitimate circumstance in which we may be found down here. It is a question of how the Lord Himself acted in every human circumstance.
ARS The manna had to be gathered early in the morning, not at night or whenever one felt inclined to gather it.
JT Showing that the believer is taught at the beginning of the wilderness that things are never optional in the kingdom of God.
AFM You refer to the manna as being like the life of Jesus. The Israelites said, “What is it?” They did not know what it was; but we are not raising that question, are we?
JT No; we know what it is now. To them it was a very extraordinary thing; and no mere scientist can tell what it was either. For us it is a spiritual thing, outside of the natural man’s range.
TA Would the gospels tell us what it is?
JT Yes. It is Christ here as presented in the gospels; but in everyday circumstances, not exactly in the exercise of His ministry.
ARS When the Lord was on earth men could not discern Him. They saw in Him only the carpenter’s son; we see in that life the Manna from heaven.
JT The life of Jesus is still unknown, save to faith. Man in the flesh cannot understand it. When the Lord raised the inquiry, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” (Matthew 16:13), nobody knew. It is the intelligent believer only who knows what the manna means.
AFM They were to “go out and gather the daily need [the footnote renders it ‘word’ or ‘thing’] on its day”, (Exodus 16: 4).
JT It is rained from heaven; that is plenty of it, but it has to be gathered. Each one has to gather it, as it says, “And the people shall go out and gather the daily need on its day”. And then, “That I may [p. 45] prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not”. One has to notice these words and go out and gather! The chapter should stir us up from lethargy. If we are to get this manna we have to be energetic, not only in getting up in the morning but in going out. Nature is negated by this. Then they were forbidden to keep it until the morning; if kept over it bred worms, except on the sixth day, when they were to gather twice as much. This subject of the manna brings in the idea of the sabbath. We need to be spiritual to understand that the sabbath is allied with this subject of manna; it is another apprehension of Christ. I must not allow the manna to deprive me of Him as the sabbath of God; I must rest in Him. So that, while there is energy in going out to gather, there is also rest in Christ, not for the flesh, but in a spiritual sense, as the Lord said, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, (Matthew 11:28).
AFM This should stir up an exercise with us as to whether we really feel the need of such food day by day. No doubt ‘word’ (footnote Exodus 16:4) suggests Scripture to us as the daily word.
Ques What does the manna being “rained” suggest?
JT Bountifulness — there was plenty of it.
FHL It was a matter of life and death for them.
JT They were not self-supporting, but were entirely shut up to God — that is the lesson for us to learn; but then, what a God! When we get to the end of the wilderness and look back from Pisgah “over the surface of the waste” (Numbers 21:20), we shall know what God has been to us. The omer of manna laid up in the ark is, typically, to remind us eternally of that.
WB-w According to verse 4 He proves them.
JT “That I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not”. He had not formulated the law as yet but was preparing them for it.
TA Do you mean preparing us for the covenant?
JT Preparing the young believer subjectively. One feature of this chapter is to show that the young believer cannot regard the things of God as optional. His position is that of having come into the kingdom of God. Moses represents the Lord as in Romans and Corinthians. They “believed in Jehovah, and in Moses his bondman”, (Exodus 14:31).
JS Not the principles of Egypt but God’s law was to prevail in the wilderness.
BTF The exercising of your own will would not be in the spirit of the manna. The manna represents Christ as food, as having come to do the Father’s will.
JT Quite. It is as in the path of the will of God that this kind of food comes to support us. Manna is said to be angels’ food; they do the will of God in heaven. “Thy will be done as in heaven so upon the earth”, (Matthew 6:10). Every creature must be sustained, for none are self-sustaining; divine Persons only possess that qualification. Christ as doing the will of God here becomes manna for us.
AP Do you mean that no creature will be self-sustaining even eternally?
JT No creature could be self-sustaining however great that creature may be.
AR The Lord says, “I have food to eat which ye do not know”. “My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me”, (John 4:32,34).
JT That is akin to what we are considering, as showing how He was sustained.
ANW Did the Lord have the manna in mind when He said to Satan, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”, (Luke 4:4)?
JT He was Himself the Manna, but that would lead up to the thought. Manna is what Christ Himself was as here doing the will of God — so that [p. 47] the wilderness is covered with it. The word ‘hoar’ would mean that it was visible in purity.
AFM You have spoken of Christ as our Sabbath. How would you apply the sixth day, on which day they gathered twice as much?
JT It would involve increased spiritual energy, I think; which would lead to desire for the sabbath. This is the first mention of the sabbath after Genesis 2, and henceforth it has a great place in Scripture.
JS Does the sixth day here refer to excessive energy?
JT Six goes beyond human weakness (five). This passage helps us as to the meaning of the numeral — that there is a double energy on this day. You find it, as a principle, running through Scripture. But the sabbath is not energy, but rest. Many of us make a show in activity, but in such a case Christ is not before us that we can rest in Him. Rest has an equalising effect — all the members of the body renewing their living energy, which promotes regular growth.
TA Do we not have a sense in our souls on the Lord’s day as identified with the Lord’s supper, of being out of the wilderness?
JT The Lord’s day with its privileges enjoyed leads us out of the wilderness. The Lord’s supper is partaken in the wilderness; through it we are led into the land. As it says, “We who have believed enter into the rest”, (Hebrews 4:3).
ANW Apparently there was more done on the sixth day in Genesis 1 than on the other days.
JT I think that is right. The work of the sixth day was the greatest, for it includes the creation of man. You will find the idea of the sabbath running through the types: Leviticus 23, which treats of the feasts of Jehovah, begins with a sabbath in the mind of God, which He intended to reach, So we read:
“[p. 48] There remains then a sabbatism to the people of God”, (Hebrews 4:9).
AP There is the idea of completion in it; the work of creation was finished in six days.
JT Exodus 31:17 says, “In six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed”.
HSD Would you say a word about the man gathering not only for himself but for his tent? He is an energetic man.
JT It says, “This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Gather of it every man according to what he can eat, an omer a poll, according to the number of your persons: ye shall take every man for those that are in his tent”. That is a feature of household responsibility, corresponding with the passover; only here it is “an omer a poll” — each one in the family had the same measure. Uniform capacity is contemplated, which lays the basis for general conformity to Christ — “The measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, (Ephesians 4:13).
FHL Gathering the manna was, clearly, not optional.
JT There is no other food for us as in the wilderness. As soon as we accept this we shall be exercised about getting it.
AR The manna had various characteristics: It was “fine, granular”, and then later on it says that it was “like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like cake with honey”. It was unique, and it fed them for forty years. These features stand out, do they not?
JT They do; the fineness and granular character of it point to the infinite perfection of detail in the life of Jesus. And it had the taste of cake with honey. This points to the substantial character and sweetness of Christ’s life as food for us. After some period of Israel’s use of it the taste is said to be different.
AFM “The taste of it was as the taste of oil cakes”, or ‘fresh oil’ (Numbers 11:8 and footnote).
JT This is said after the record of how they ground it in hand-mills and made cakes of it. It should not lose its sweetness with us. They sought to alter it, to make it more palatable to the natural taste whereas, typically, it is a spiritual thing. In this sense, from the description given in our chapter, it is all that could be desired.
AFM It could not be improved upon.
AJD In Numbers 21:5 they say, “Our soul loathes this light bread”.
JT Which shows how important it is to maintain the right spiritual taste, or we shall turn to other things.
BTF Would you say that the manna would meet every spiritual desire?
JT As we apprehend it to be Christ that is quite evident. In going through the gospels you see how you can live on it — on the wonderful thoughts, affections, and other features of Christ seen in His daily life here. As apprehending Him in the adverse circumstances of His life here we understand what the manna is. “The old corn of the land” (Joshua 5:11) is Christ as He now is in the congenial circumstances of heaven; but the manna is what He was in the adverse ones on earth.
AFM So you would recommend us to read the gospels?
JT That is the thing to do if you are to get the manna.
JS We may read the gospels but if we have not left the world morally we cannot get the good of the manna. In Christendom they endeavour to connect Christ with the world, but you cannot do that. There was no manna in Egypt.
JT No. Neither was there a smaller measure than an omer for a child, because God has [p. 50] brought Christ into this world, and He is the standard; there is no other standard for man. If I have children, that is the standard for them. Every child in the house is to be regarded as a potential man.
AP Yes. And so we should not keep them dwarfed, but keep the idea of a man before them.
AJD Does that dispense with the exercise of having meetings for children?
JT No; there are other scriptures that cover that; you keep Christ as the standard for men before them. As it says, “A man has been born into the world”, (John 16:21).
AP You call attention to the little children in 1 John 2:20 as having an “unction from the holy one”.
JT That is potential; that verse goes on to say, “Ye know all things”. It is not that they knew literally, but in principle. We are enjoined to be as new born babes in regard to our desire but not in regard to our growth. Normally a child has a regular appetite for food.
APT The life of Jesus should be brought before our young people. Tell them about Jesus here, and so inculcate that life into their moral fibre.
JT So that before He is presented in testimony properly, He is thirty. That is the divine thought. The Holy Spirit comes down on Him then, not that He was not seen before in relation to God in sonship, but it is a question of what God would present to men. What there was from the Lord’s conception and birth until He was thirty, who can say? Volumes could not contain what that life was for God! It is infinitely beyond us. But it underlies what God presents to men in Christ as man: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, (Matthew 3:17). That is the way He is introduced; He is the true omer of manna, as God’s portion for every [p. 51] man.
WB-w Whether a child is able to appropriate the whole omer or not, is not the point; no less a measure will do.
JT That is the idea, you present the full thought.
WB-w It is a whole omer for every child in the household.
JT And if he does not eat it, it simply is not there. There was no lack, but there was nothing left over. That is the principle of it. “He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little wanted nothing”. There was plenty on the ground, but of what was gathered there was nothing beyond the eating capacity of those who gathered. This can be quite understood spiritually.
Ques . What is the difference between the bread here and the bread in John 6?
JT The bread in John 6 is for eternal life; that to say, it is Christ as having come down from heaven and having died — His flesh as separated from His blood. It is a dead Christ in John 6. The bread here is Christ as He was living on earth. Therefore it is a question of your seeing how He would move and act in any circumstance in which you are.
ANW So if you have not partaken of the passover, you cannot feed on the manna. You cannot value the life of Jesus if you do not appropriate His death.
JT The passover necessarily precedes the manna. It is not to support man as in the flesh.
AP Do we not get both the passover and the manna in John 6:53? “Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves”; I thought that referred to the passover, but then further on it says, “He also who eats me shall live also on account of me” (verse 57).
JT I think not. You do not get the manna, except by way of contrast, in John 6. That chapter [p. 52] has eternal life in view. You enter Canaan, the land to which eternal life belongs, on the line of John 6.
WGT Why does the Lord use the word “true bread” in John 6:32?
JT It is contrast with the manna.
JS “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died”, John 6:49.
JT They ate and died, but the Lord goes on to say, “This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, that one may eat of it and not die” (verse 50). That is what the Lord had in mind.
TA Is eating a continuous thing?
JT There are two tenses used, past and present: “Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the Son of man, and drunk his blood, ye have no life in yourselves. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up at the last day”, (John 6:53,54). There has first to be definite appropriation; then the eating is continued and so is characteristic, one thus characterised has eternal life.
AR “And it came to pass on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one; and all the princes of the assembly came and told Moses. And he said to them, This is what Jehovah has said: To-morrow is the rest, the holy sabbath, of Jehovah”.
JT The princes who informed Moses are persons of authority. This confirms what we have been saying — that there was the excessive energy on the sixth day that led on to the sabbath. The passage goes on to say, “And Moses said, Eat it today; for today is sabbath to Jehovah; today ye shall not find it in the field”. Now you come to the sabbath actually: Moses is speaking on the seventh day, “To-day is Sabbath”; that is to say, the chapter brings us on to the actual, positive thing — what Christ is as our Sabbath.
AP In verse 23 it says, “Bake what ye will bake”. It is not exactly the omer, and seems to be optional.
JT Well, it is optional, but it was all based on what they had. It would allude to what they gathered — two omers for a person to be utilised as they thought best, which I think is recognition of our spiritual intelligence and liberty. You are prepared for the Sabbath — you have your mind on it, and there is plenty of latitude. You have arrived at rest in Christ.
WB-w What about those who did not respect it?
JT They were exposed; the flesh, as allowed, will always disregard the authority and order of God. This is seen also in verse 20.
AJD What would be the features of those who are in the gain of the sabbath?
JT They are restful.
JS They would enjoy the accumulative results of the six days, spiritually. They would enjoy Christ, as having reached, in this way, the holy sabbath of Jehovah.
JT Yes, all the cooking and all the baking has been done so that on the sabbath there is nothing to do, you are free to enter into what God has in Christ for you — free to keep your sabbath.
AR What about Leviticus 24?
JT There it is another kind of food. The shewbread was a characteristic food of the priests. It is not Christ as He was here in adverse circumstances, but administratively. The twelve loaves denote food for those in administrative service, the priests. It is not now something on the face of the wilderness but inside the tabernacle — “a bread of remembrance” laid in two rows, with frankincense on them, “upon the pure table before Jehovah”. Of [p. 54] course, the priests had other food, as the earlier part of Leviticus shows.
AFM Do not the twelve loaves illustrate the twelve tribes?
JT They represent the principle of administration; first seen properly in Christ, and then carried out in the twelve apostles, and later to be seen in the twelve tribes of Israel, all culminating in the heavenly city. What is important, I think, is the means of manipulation in the number. How it is under God’s hand so as to be manipulated according to His wisdom. In Exodus it is the “bread of the presence” (footnote, chapter 25:30), the number of loaves is unmentioned; there it is the thing as a whole on the table before Jehovah. In connection with it were certain golden vessels, the pure table being thus furnished.
JS Here there are two rows of six each.
JT You can divide twelve by twelve, six, four, three, or two. It is the most divisible of the numbers up to itself, and that means, I think, that God has those represented in it under His hand. The loaves were before Jehovah, and the frankincense was upon each row. They are said to be “a bread of remembrance, an offering by fire to Jehovah”.
WB-w “Fine wheaten flour” — that is something different from the manna; it is like the meat offering.
JT It is not now a question of what Christ was externally in the wilderness, but the kind of man He was in His inner nature. The number of loaves and the fact that baking had taken place indicate that the saints are in view. The priests feed on what is seen here as an offering by fire to God. They are identified with and feed on Christ as seen in holy administrative order in the saints.
AJD It is the evidence of life under God’s [p. 55] eye.
JT I think so. It is the kind of humanity evidenced in Christ and seen in the saints in the power of the Spirit now.
ANW Your thought is that this food is for the constitution of the priests manward rather than Godward?
JT The number twelve would imply that administrative service is contemplated; but God has His part in the bread, for it is said to be an offering to Him.
JS What would the measure two tenths set forth?
JT I suppose it is the thought of responsibility carried on in testimony. All is according to divine requirement, as is seen also in the two rows of cakes. They were to be arranged by Aaron on each sabbath. The restfulness of the day would enhance the service. There is suggested a restful entering into the divine administrative thoughts effective in Christ and in the saints. The responsibility of providing the loaves seems to be with Moses, although Aaron arranged them before Jehovah. Christ Himself is therefore before us as Lord and Priest; but what is done is “on the part of the children of Israel”. The offering is from their side. But the cakes, as laid before Jehovah during the whole week, become the food of Aaron and his sons. The passage says, “They shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy unto him of Jehovah’s offering by fire”. The commandment as to the twelve loaves is said to be “an everlasting statute”, which shows that this service is among the great fixed requirements of God.
AJD Why is it put as “a bread of remembrance”?
JT I suppose it would refer to what Christ was here, kept up in the economy of Christianity, and later in Israel. The ‘bread of the presence’ in Exodus — the number of cakes not being given — would [p. 56] point to Christ Himself; here the saints are in view as carrying on what was seen in Him.
WB-w You get also the names of the twelve tribes on the shoulders of the high priest and on the breastplate. What is the difference?
JT It is a cognate idea. Christ sustains us before God in that way; and then the external position of the tribes corresponds with their names on the breastplate. Here the twelve cakes represent the saints, but as a memorial of Christ before God.
TA This food was to be eaten by the priests in the holy place.
JT It is in the assembly; the everyday experience of the believer is not contemplated.
AP Is the thought of “the twelve” representative of food in John 6? The chapter begins with the Lord administering food, and closes with the twelve disciples.
JT That is good. There you get almost the only formal recognition of the twelve in John’s gospel. Earlier in the chapter twelve baskets of fragments are mentioned. The appreciation of Christ by the disciples is indicated by Peter’s reply to His inquiry. The continuation of the Lord’s administrative service would be seen in them, and thus there is a link in John 11 with the passage before us. The association of the idea of twelve in the gospels, with the feeding of the multitudes has an instructive bearing on the subject before us.