Exodus 16:4
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Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This chapter gives us an account of the victualling of the camp of Israel. I. Their complaint for want of bread (Exo 16:1-3). II. The notice God gave them beforehand of the provision he intended to make for them (Exo 16:4-12). III. The sending of the manna (Exo 16:13-15). IV. The laws and orders concerning the manna. 1. That they should gather it daily for their daily bread (Exo 16:16-21). 2. That they should gather a double portion on the sixth day (Exo 16:22-26). 3. That they should expect none on the seventh day (Exo 16:27-31). 4. That they should preserve a pot of it for a memorial (Exo 16:32, etc.).
Open source ↗16:4-5 These are the Lord’s instructions for gathering the food that he would provide in the wilderness. Enough was provided for each day, with a double amount provided on the sixth day so that the people would not have to gather any on the Sabbath (see 16:21-30). The Israelites thus observed the Sabbath even before it was codified in the Decalogue. We instinctively resist a style of life in which it is necessary to depend on God each day to supply our needs. We wish to have supplies in advance so that we can feel independent. God was training the people for a life of faith (cp. Matt 6:11).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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They all ate the same spiritual food
Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.
And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to give them.
For there was a command from the king concerning the singers, an ordinance regulating their daily activities.
But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.