Hebrew Bible – Bread and Quail From Heaven by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Welcome to our Bible study. Today we discuss a famous story from the Book of Exodus. The passages are about how God fed the Israelites for 40 years while they wandered in the desert before reaching the promised land. The land, now called Israel, was geographically described to Joshua by God:
“‘Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west’” (Joshua 1: 1-4).
However, before a new generation of Israelites could step on the promised land, their elders — who miraculously escaped Egyptian bondage — had to be nourished. Thus, God provided “manna from Heaven” for four decades. In the secular world, the phrase is often used to describe “a usually sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain.”
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While the Israelites were in the desert, God demanded recognition and obedience from them in exchange for manna. What follows is a paraphrased version of the story with lessons relevant for us today. Quotes are used when passages are taken directly from Exodus Chapter 16.
“During the second month after they had come out of Egypt,” the Israelites “grumbled against Moses and Aaron,” saying, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
The Lord heard their complaints and said to Moses, “‘I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.’”
