What Is It?

What Is It?
Exodus 16: 1 – 18


I. Introduction.

When I was in college, one of the academic clubs on campus sponsored a trivia competition known as “Quiz Bowl.” They invited all the campus clubs to enter a team in the competition but also allowed “merely interested individuals” to put together their own team. So, a group of my friends in the freshman dorm put together a team and called ourselves, “Merely Interested Individuals.”

We really didn’t think we stood a chance to win the competition. In the first round, we were paired against the honor society and defending champions from the year before. We won. Then, we went on to win every round. This set us up to compete against the faculty team in chapel.
The chapel crowd was very sympathetic. Here we were, four freshman guys, calling ourselves “Merely Interested Individuals,” going up against the faculty team. We had the home field advantage…And we won.

(I know this is a very sad statement…But, I am proud to tell you that I was on the winning Quiz Bowl team in each of my four years of college. All I have to show for it is a cheap trophy from my senior year.)

The Quiz Bowl format was to pit two teams against each other. The moderator would ask a “pop up question,” and the first person to raise their hand got to answer. If the answer was correct, the team was allowed to confer on a bonus question.

In one of our early matches, one of my team members answered a “pop up question.” Then, we got our bonus question. The moderator said, “What does the Hebrew word manna mean?”

Since I was the only religion major, everyone looked at me. Then, Chris said, “What is it?” I said, “OK, this is a good place to start. Let’s think about it. Manna is the bread God provided for the Hebrew people while they were living in the desert.”

Chris said, “What is it?”

I said, “Well, no one really knows. But, the Bible says it was something they gathered and baked into bread.”

Chris said, “What is it?”

Another guy on our team named Andy said, “The bread stuff.”

The moderator interrupted us and said, “Time is up. I need an answer.”

Chris said, “What is it?”

The moderator said, “That is correct. The Hebrew word manna means “What is it?”

(Several years ago, I wrote that story and sent it to Reader’s Digest. I thought it was funny enough to publish. But I never heard back from them.)

According to the Bible, the first time God sent manna to the Hebrew people, they came out of their tents early in the morning. They saw this strange white substance on the ground. The people took one look at it and said, “What is it?” Moses replied, “This is the food God is providing for us to eat. It doesn’t really have a name, because God has never done this before. We might as well call it ‘What Is It?’’


Read Exodus 16: 1 – 18.

1 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
3 The Israelites said to them, "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."
4 Then the LORD 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.
5 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."
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt,
7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?"
8 Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."
9 Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, 'Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.'"
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.
11 The LORD said to Moses,
12 "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.
16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'"
17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
18 And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.
(NIV)


Last week, we read the story of Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt and eventually became the second-in-command over all of Egypt. When the entire Middle East experienced a famine, Egypt was the only country with food. Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt for food. God used Joseph’s circumstances and rise to power in Egypt as a means to provide for God’s chosen people.

Because of Joseph, the Egyptian Pharaoh gave Joseph’s family the best land in the country to live in and to raise their sheep. As long as Joseph lived, and as long as the Pharaoh was in power God’s people lived a very blessed and protected life. That is…Until one day a Pharaoh came to power who did not know Joseph…He did not know the story of how the Hebrew people moved to Egypt.

This Pharaoh turned the Hebrew people into slaves and mistreated them until they cried out to God for help. God sent Moses to rescue his people from slavery. God sent plagues on the land of Egypt, and eventually Pharaoh let God’s people go.

As soon as Moses and the Hebrew people left Egypt, the Pharaoh changed his mind. He sent his army after them. The Egyptian army caught up to the Hebrew people on the banks of the Red Sea. Then, God performed another miracle. God sent a strong wind to part the Sea. The Hebrew people crossed the Sea on dry ground. But, Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea.

Exodus 14 tells us the Hebrew people placed their faith in the LORD and in Moses after crossing the Red Sea. They are getting off to a great start, trusting in God and trusting in the leader God has given them…I wonder how long this will last…In my Bible, it only lasts for a page. Right across the page from Exodus 14, the people start complaining. In real time, it was only a matter of days before the people started complaining…one month and fifteen days…What is that 45 days?

When Moses led the people out of Egypt, he was leading them to the Promised Land. When they left the land of Egypt, God promised to give them their own land…the land we know as Israel today. But, they didn’t go directly from Egypt to Israel. They had to first spend 40 years in the wilderness. The wilderness is the “in between” period. It is the time between God’s promise and God’s fulfillment of his promise.

Wilderness in the Middle East is nothing like what we think of as wilderness in East Texas. We typically think of wilderness as woods, trees, forest, or something like that. Wilderness in their region of the world is what we think of as a desert. It was dry and rugged, and it was impossible for anything to live in the wilderness.

After just 45 days, the Hebrew people have run out of food. They have a legitimate complaint. If they don’t eat, they won’t live. If they don’t live, they will never make it to the Promised Land.

The people have a legitimate need. But, notice the way they express their need in verse 3, “The Israelites said to them, "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."”

They are blaming everything on Moses. Ultimately, Moses is not the one who had brought them out of Egypt. Moses was simply an instrument of God. God is the One who rescued them. God is the One who brought them into the wilderness. God is the One who is responsible for getting them to the Promised Land.

When the people complain to Moses, Moses takes their complaints to God. And God answers their complaints. He promises Moses to send them “bread from Heaven.”

The next morning, the people wake up to find the ground covered with something. They don’t know what it is and immediately ask, “What is it?” Moses says, “That’s good enough…We’ll call it manna.”

What do you think manna really is? My children believe that Chick-Fil-A is manna. It makes sense to me. You could live on Chick-Fil-A for 40 years. It tastes good. AND, if you want to eat it on Sunday, you have to buy it on Saturday night.


II. Natural Phenomenon.

One explanation of manna is to say it is a natural occurrence in the Sinai Peninsula. This is not a new interpretation for manna. It has been known and written about since the 1600’s.

The natural view of manna suggests that there is a particular type of louse which eats the sap of the tamarisk tree. When it eats the sap, it secretes a waxy substance. This waxy substance takes the form of a solid in the cool morning temperatures. As the sun gets hotter in the day, it melts and attracts maggots and ants. That sounds a lot like the biblical account of what happened to the manna when people tried to keep it for the next day.

Desert dwellers in this region of the world use this substance as a source of food, and even bake it into cakes. That sounds a lot like the biblical account of the way people gathered the manna and baked it into cakes of bread.

There is one significant problem with this natural description of manna. In the Book of Numbers, we read that Moses took a census of all the men old enough to serve in the army. There were over 600,000 men over the age of 20! That means the total population of Hebrews was well over one million people. It would take a lot of lice to feed one million people every day for 40 years.

(It also doesn’t explain how the manna collected on the sixth day was still good enough to eat on the Sabbath Day.)


III. A Physical Miracle.

The Jewish Rabbis described manna as something new that had never happened before. They did not believe it was a natural phenomenon. It was a miracle. The people needed food. God provided food…food from Heaven.

I tend to agree that this is a miracle. But it was not the first time God had performed a miracle for these people. God had sent plagues to the nation of Egypt. The Egyptian people suffered the plagues, but the Hebrew people were not affected. God had parted the Red Sea. The Hebrew people walked across the Sea on dry ground, while the Egyptian army drowned. God provided water in the middle of the desert. God sent “bread from heaven.” God even sent quail for his people to catch and eat.

Sometimes we look back at all the miracles God performed for his people and wonder why they ever complained. Why did they not place all their faith in God? And, why did they not trust God to provide for all their needs?

There is an interesting thing about miracles. Miracles do not usually lead people to place their faith in God. It’s actually the other way around. Miracles do not allow us to have faith. Faith allows us to see miracles. The non-believer can always look at a miracle and find another explanation…something ordinary…something normal. The believer can look at something ordinary and normal and give God the credit for performing a miracle.


IV. God’s Provision.

The truth is, we do not have to wonder what manna is. The Bible tells us what it is in verses 11 – 12, “The LORD said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"”

There was a spiritual purpose for God’s miracle. On one hand, God provided food for his people. On the other hand, God gave them physical food to make a spiritual point. The food proves that God really is who he says he is.

Think about this in terms of the big picture. God had a plan for his people even when they were slaves in Egypt. God’s plan was not to keep them slaves in a foreign land forever. God’s plan was to rescue them. Then, God promised to give them their own land. Not just any land…A land flowing with milk and honey…A land that could provide for all their needs. God made the promise. Therefore, God also took the responsibility to fulfill his promise. Any time God makes a promise, he will fulfill his promise. It is not our job to fulfill God’s promises for him. It is our job to allow God to do his work in us and to recognize how God is at work in all the ordinary and normal details of life.

There is another way to think about the big picture. When the Hebrew people were slaves, they were not recognized as their own people. They were slaves. They were simply the property of the Egyptian state. When God rescued them out of slavery, God gave them their own identity. Now, they were a people…and not just any people…They were God’s own people. And, God takes responsibility to provide for his own people.

But, we need to notice the way God provides for his people. God did not give them a “lump sum” of manna. The Hebrew people did not wake up one day to find a 40 year supply of manna. No. They woke up to find enough manna for one day.

On one hand, this ought to remind us of the way Jesus taught us to pray in the Model Prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6: 11).” He didn’t tell us to pray for enough for the rest of our lives. He didn’t tell us to pray for enough to make it until retirement (or even to make it through retirement). Jesus didn’t even tell us to ask for enough to make it to the end of the month. Jesus taught us to pray for our day to day needs.

On the other hand, this reminds us that faith is never a one time event. God’s provision is not offered one time and accepted one time. God’s provision is offered new and fresh every day of our lives. Faith is waking up in the morning and trusting God to meet our needs for the rest of the day…no more, no less. Then, waking up the next morning to do it all again…trusting God to meet our needs for the rest of that day. One day at a time. God’s provision comes according to God’s plan…one day at a time…in God’s time…And God is always on time.

This reminds us that there are two ways to think about God’s provision. Some people operate on the assumption that the resources we need are scarce. Since they are scarce, we need to gather up more than we could ever use and hoard those resources. They are in limited supply. Other people operate on the assumption that the resources we need are abundant. There is more than enough for today. There is more than enough for tomorrow. There will be more than enough for the days that come after tomorrow. We can think of resources in abundance ONLY when we recognize God is the source of all we need.


V. Conclusion.

One of the things I like about the wilderness stories in the Old Testament is the way they describe the “in between” times. The wilderness is the time in between God’s promises and God’s fulfillment of his promises.

In this way, the wilderness describes the Christian life. Once you have become a Christian, you have received God’s promise. God has already saved you by providing you with forgiveness of all your sins. However, God has also promised to give you eternal life in Heaven. As long as you are alive, you are living in the wilderness. You are living “in between” God’s promise of eternal life and the fulfillment of that eternal life in Heaven.

I also believe the wilderness describes the life of our church right here and right now. God has promised to use us to be the Light of the World (Matthew 5: 14 – 16). God has promised to use us to be an instrument for reaching the lost and sharing the hope of Christ with all the nations—beginning right here in Lufkin, Texas.

But, that is not exactly who we are right now…That is because we are in the wilderness. We are living in between God’s promise and God’s fulfillment of his promise. We are not supposed to fulfill God’s promises for him. We are to trust him to meet all our needs and to give God the credit for all the ordinary and normal ways God meets our needs. And when God meets our needs, then we will know God really is who he says he is.