EXODUS 16
In the wilderness of Shur it was “no water” which tested the people, and then at Marah “bitter” water. Thirst speaks of that which man craves in the way of inward satisfaction. He is now to find it on an entirely new line in relation to the will of God, and in the acceptance of suffering in the flesh, and thus ceasing from sin.
In the wilderness of Sin it was not a question of thirst but of hunger. The exercise typified is as to the need of sustenance for a walk of obedience here. The quenching of thirst refers to what is inward, so that in heart and mind and spirit one is brought into a satisfied state. But food is the source of strength for practical needs; it typifies what we need in the way of nourishment if we are to be sustained in ability to walk in “newness of life”.
When any difficulty arises in the path of God’s will the natural tendency of the human heart is to contrast present conditions with the full provision that Egypt afforded, while forgetting what kind of life Egypt made provision for. They could not serve God in Egypt; they were slaves in bondage there; the kind of life that Egypt’s food ministered to was “men’s lusts”, “the will of the Gentiles”. Every provision was there to sustain that kind of life; it was all made, as it were, easy. “We sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full”.
When a soul gets away from the influence of grace it is apt to forget the true character of Egyptian life, and the mighty deliverance which God’s salvation has effected, and all that is the fruit of His victory. The people had acknowledged themselves to be purchased and redeemed, a people for Jehovah’s inheritance, but how quickly was all this lost sight of! In the wilderness of Sin they were worse off — in their own unbelieving thoughts — than they had been in Egypt. “Ye have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole congregation with hunger”. How soon we can give up the thoughts of faith! The blessedness of serving God is never of any account to the flesh, and, if not kept under the influence of His grace, it is easy for God’s people to drop into fleshly thoughts.
But in these chapters God is teaching us the immensity of His grace. So that though at Shur, Sin, and Rephidim nothing appeared on the side of the people but murmurings, nothing appeared on God’s side but grace. The answer God gives here to their murmurings is, “I will rain bread from heaven for you”. He would provide for their being sustained, and in this He would test them as to whether they were really willing to walk in His law or not.
God takes His people out of the world by redemption, and sets them where none of their old and wonted support is available. This is necessarily felt. It is a new experience to be deprived of all that one has been sustained by, and found satisfaction in, and to face conditions in which everything must be of God. Practically none of us pass out of Egypt conditions into wilderness conditions without experiences which enable us to understand the history of the children of Israel. Or rather, their history becomes very illuminating of our own exercises and experiences. In every case Jehovah allowed the need to be felt before He supplied that which would meet it.
Jehovah “rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the corn of the heavens: man [p. 86] did eat the bread of the mighty” or “angels’ food” (Psalm 78: 24, 25). The angels have to feed; they have to be sustained; no creature is self-sufficient. They are sustained in ability to do the will of God by what they feed upon. “His angels, mighty in strength, that execute his word, hearkening unto the voice of his word ... ministers of his that do his will” (Psalm 103: 20, 21). It would thus appear that in giving manna the divine intent was to furnish a supply of food that would enable the people to live morally a similar life to the angels. God’s will is done by the holy angels in heaven, and angels’ food is given to men that they may be capable of doing God’s will on earth. In this connection we may note that man’s measure and angel’s measure are identical in Revelation 21: 17. Angel’s measure is to do the will of God, and man’s measure is the same, and manna is given that he may have the ability to do it.
God’s will is done in heaven, and a life of perfect obedience — a life that was morally “out of heaven” — came down here in the Person of Jesus the Son of God. Every detail in His holy life of perfection here spoke of what came from heaven. What a study for our hearts is the life of Jesus! We see the grace of heaven touching every circumstance and detail in wilderness life. The manna was “fine, granular, fine as hoar-frost on the ground”. It seems to indicate the minute detail in which the moral beauty of the will of God was brought into contact with every wilderness circumstance in the life of that blessed One. It suggests the minuteness of the way in which the grace of Christ would come into every detail of “the face of the wilderness”. And now He lives in heaven to be the Source of supply for His saints of heavenly [p. 87] grace so that we may go through this world following His steps and walking as He walked. “My grace is sufficient for thee”, is manna.
“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”. It is by proving that He can sustain us according to His will in the wilderness that we know that God has brought us out from Egypt. His glory appears in this, and it is in perfect grace, for He heard their murmurings. He would give flesh in the evening, and then manna in the morning. Christ must be appropriated as having died before we can appropriate the grace in which He walked here, and which He now ministers from heaven. It is the glory of Jehovah “toward the wilderness” that He would give flesh and bread. It was His proposal to give both; the quails here were not like those in Numbers 11, which were given in answer to the lust of the people. Here both the flesh and the bread are given in grace.
“In the morning the dew lay round the camp”. “And when the dew fell upon the camp by night, the manna fell upon it” (Numbers 11: 9). It is to be noted that the manna fell upon the dew. It seems to suggest a refreshing influence that prepares the way for the manna. Dew is often referred to in Scripture as a source of refreshment. There is a beautiful word in Hosea 14: 5: “I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon”. The result of Jehovah being dew to Israel will be their spiritual revival, so that fruitfulness and beauty will mark them. Dew is a divine refreshing which is granted sovereignly. The prophet says it “tarrieth not for man, neither waiteth for the sons of men” (Micah 5: 7). It falls silently and softly while men sleep.
It is very precious to awake in the morning and have one’s first thoughts about the Lord. He delights to bring Himself and His love before our hearts so that our affections are refreshed. That prepares the way for the manna. The dew prepares a clean place for the manna to fall on; it cannot fall on the earth; there must be a preparation for it; it falls on the refreshed affections of the people of God. A heart refreshed in spiritual affection by divine love is prepared for the manna. Such have found the Lord to be dew to them, and the manna comes on that. If my spiritual affections are refreshed I want to be here for the will of God, and the manna comes in as support from heaven for me in the path of His will. The source from which the dew comes is the faithful love in the heart of the Lord; after all Israel’s history of backsliding He will become dew to them to revive their affections and bring them back to bridal relations. He never departs from first love, and He is always working to bring us back to it.
The gathering “every morning” speaks of spiritual diligence, and the fact that it was “on the ground” rendered it necessary to stoop or kneel to gather it — an attitude significant of dependence. Paul speaks of things turning out for him to salvation “through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”. That is very much like manna, but it is not acquired without prayer.
Every one got his omer full, and “he that gathered much had nothing over”. There was an equality of supply; no lack and no surplus. How significant is this of the blessed thoughts and activity and administration [p. 89] of grace! There is the same provision for every one; each one gets his omer full. The Spirit of God in 2 Corinthians 8 applies the principle of this in a practical way with regard to the temporal needs of saints. God’s principle is equality (2 Corinthians 8: 14, 15); He would not have some to be in abundance while others had lack. If God administers in grace there can be no thought of anybody being short. “But God is able to make every gracious gift abound towards you, that, having in every way always all-sufficiency, ye may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9: 8). Therefore we see this miraculous action in regard to the manna, that whether a man gathered little or much his omer was full. According to grace every one has a full measure; there is no reason why any one should be feeble in the path of God’s will. “But to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ” (Ephesians 4: 7). It is in the strength of that we can walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love. It is good to see that there is a full supply of grace available for each one that we may be competent for the path of God’s will. If we do not see this we may become burdened by the sense of obligation. Light creates a sense of obligation, and if grace is not known correspondingly obligation becomes legal, and hence burdensome. We are to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; that is the manna. Sometimes we excuse ourselves by saying that we are poor, weak things; but our omer is full and we have but to use it. A full measure of grace is available for every saint, that each may walk to the pleasure of God. God is “the God of measure” as to the service He allots to each (2 Corinthians 10: 13), and we may say that He is seen as “the God of measure” here in the supply of grace to tread the wilderness.
If we do not gather what He gives we become feeble. And it had to be gathered before “the sun became hot”. The sun represents the influences of the day, and if saints do not get the dew and the manna before the influences of the day come upon them, they will not be provisioned for the day’s needs. It would have been a bad day for an Israelite if he had overslept! Alas! we often do that, and the apostle warns us that “it is high time to awake out of sleep”. None was to be left until the morning. If kept over, worms bred in it and it stank. We can remember the grace that sustained us yesterday, but if we do not get fresh grace today we find it has lost all its vitality and nourishing power.
The baking and cooking here seem to suggest the exercise that comes in so that the grace given may be utilized to the best advantage. There is nothing here about grinding it in mills or beating it in mortars, as in Numbers 11. That was the action of those who despised the manna; they tried to make it more palatable. They had lost their appetite for “the corn of the heavens”. There is much of that kind of thing today. All that is divine and of Christ is being manipulated to make it suit the taste of man after the flesh; but it is solemn to see that the end of that was the kindling of Jehovah’s anger, and a great plague, and the graves of lust. But I take the baking and cooking here to represent the right spiritual diligence of the soul that grace shall be utilized in the best possible way.
[p. 91] We come at this point to the second mention in Scripture of the sabbath, and its connection here is of deep interest and importance. The first mention of the sabbath (Genesis 2: 1 - 3) is as the rest of God from all His work in creation; but here the Sabbath is given to a redeemed people who are sustained by “bread from heaven”. “Jehovah hath given you the sabbath; therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread for two days” (verse 29). The manna was given in such a way as to indicate Jehovah’s intention to give them a day of rest. There was to be daily activity in gathering the manna for six days, but on the sixth day a double supply was given, in view of a seventh day to be marked by restful enjoyment. We read, “Abide every man in his place: let no man go from his place on the seventh day. And the people rested on the seventh day” (verses 29, 30). It is a beautiful suggestion that it would be the privilege, through grace, of the redeemed people to be in rest with God, and the manna was given with that end in view. It is a very blessed and instructive association.
A people sustained by the grace of which the manna is a figure are found here in accord with the will of God, and it is only such who can enjoy “the rest, the holy Sabbath, of Jehovah” (verse 23). The grace which is made available for us, so that we do His will, is in view of our participating with God in the rest that He has found in Christ. The daily exercise and diligence were essential to God’s way with His people, but they were not His end. They were in view of the people enjoying with Jehovah in type the blessedness of His rest in Christ. He values the participation of His people with Him in that perfect rest which He [p. 92] has found in Christ. The land of Canaan is a type of God’s rest, but He gave them a little picture of His rest every week while in the wilderness. It is a wonderful thing to be sustained in wilderness life by the grace of Christ so that there is nothing to disturb God’s rest in His people, and nothing to hinder them enjoying His rest in Christ. We have a place of rest with God, and the manna is given not simply to sustain us so that we may get through the wilderness, but with a view to our enjoyment of that place.
Jehovah’s sabbaths were “a sign between me and you throughout your generations ... it is an everlasting covenant” (Exodus 31: 12 - 17). And we know how much there is in the prophets about the people’s failure to hallow the sabbath. The more we are exercised in diligence to get the manna, and to be sustained by it, the more we shall be spiritually capable of enjoying the sabbath. To fail of doing so is a very serious loss to us, and it is a grief to God.
Jehovah would never have the manna forgotten or unknown; it was always to be seen as deposited before the Testimony. To my mind it is very blessed that the first mention of the Testimony is in connection with the manna. It suggests to me that the manna was food for the people that they might be sustained in the wilderness in accord with the Testimony. The Testimony was not given to them as written on the two tables of stone until after this, but God had it in view, and made provision typically in the manna for His people to be in accord with it. It is of interest to see that the thought of the Testimony is first introduced in connection with divine resource and provision, and not with demand. The manna was to be kept for the generations of Israel “that they may see the [p. 93] bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt”. It was to be an abiding witness to the grace and faithfulness of Jehovah, who had made provision for the support of His people in the wilderness so that they might be in accord with the Testimony, and that even before the Testimony had been formally given to them. The manna is, in type, the divine provision for God’s people that they may be capable of being here according to His will and pleasure, and thus in accord with the Testimony.
In Hebrews 9, “the golden pot that had the manna” is the first thing mentioned as being in the ark, then “the rod of Aaron that had sprouted” (Aaron’s rod was also brought before the Testimony — Numbers 17: 10); and then, thirdly, “the tables of the covenant”. Manna and the grace of priesthood are ample provision, typically, to enable us to be in accord with the Testimony. Christ is the Source of every grace. The omer is a man’s measure — the full measure of grace so that a man may be what he ought to be for God’s pleasure down here. The two stone tables of testimony alone would never have secured the fulfilment of what they claimed, but the manna in the golden pot was the witness to all generations of His people that He furnished full provision before ever He made demand. The Testimony was in the heart of Christ when here, and He is now the Source of heavenly grace that His saints may be sustained in accord with it. God has given us in Christ, and in the grace which He delights to minister from heaven, a full measure of supply. No one can say that his omer is not full — that he has not sufficiency to be here for the will of God.
[p. 94] We might well ask whether we are making use of the manna. The omer of manna — the grace and support which Christ delights to minister — is sufficient to sustain every one of us in accord with the pleasure of God. He lives on high to furnish what suffices to meet every need in relation to our ability to carry out the will of God, and this in every detail. The manna qualifies us to enjoy the Sabbath with God and to be in accord with the Testimony. These are the two great thoughts brought before us in this chapter. The wilderness position according to God is thus maintained in the power of heavenly grace. I may fail to use the grace, but it is there for me.
The overcomer in Pergamos gets the hidden manna. In a church that dwells in the world, and has those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, the overcomer gets a peculiar sense of the support and approval of Christ.
“The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came into an inhabited land” (verse 35). It was divine provision for the whole wilderness journey. In Canaan there was “stored corn” — figure of Christ as the glorified One in whom every purpose of divine love has come to perfection and maturity. The “stored corn” of the land is Christ according to divine purpose; this is outside and beyond all wilderness needs.