At Elim, you will recall, the Israelites rested under the 70 palms and drank refreshment from the 12 wells of water, but not a word of praise or thanksgiving seems to have been offered for all of God’s kindnesses and benefits toward them. Only once, since the commencement of their pilgrimage had they lifted up their voices in praise to God, and though when once they had started they could sing with great abandon, yet it seems that Moses had first also to put even this song into their mouths; “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord…” (Exod. 15:1) But they murmured at Pi-hahiroth (Exod. 14:10-12) and again at Marah! (Exod. 15:24) What a portrayal of the human heart! How like a garden it is, wherein if beautiful, fragrant flowers are to grow, much cultivation, care and attention is necessary (praises seem to require special provocation); on the other hand, weeds grow, and profusely too, without any attention at all (murmurings are just a natural outgrowth of the uncultivated soil of the human heart).

In today’s lesson we find Israel coming into the Wilderness of Sin, lying between Elim and Sinai. They had travelled for just one month since “departing out of the land of Egypt.” (Exod. 16:1) The account reads: “… and the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured…would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt where we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exod. 16:2, 3)

Of course, they were hungry; but could they not have petitioned the great God of their deliverance to supply all their need? How easily but consistently, did they err in their hearts in forgetting their God. “In their hearts they turned back to Egypt.” (Acts 7:39) No wonder then that he was grieved. “Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart…they shall not enter into my rest.” (Heb. 3:10, 11) Thus each murmur was a heart-murmur!!! Did they remember their afflictions in Egypt, or their cries by reason of the cruelty of their taskmasters, or the great deliverance from these by the hand of their God? (Exod. 3:7, 8) Had not they forgotten their wonderful salvation at Pi-hahiroth, when God passed them through the Red Sea, and then permitted them to witness the utter destruction of the Egyptian hosts? (Exod. 14:29, 30) Had they not also forgotten how God had sweetened for them the bitter waters of Marah? (Exod. 15:23-25) Yes! Yet all these wonderful things had befallen them within the short span of one month. Surely not so long a time as would afford an excuse for their forgetfulness.

But now let us see how utterly perverse the human heart can be. What did they remember, if anything? Strangely enough, it was the self-same Egypt of their oppression, but only as “when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full.” (Exod 16:3) One has very ably put it:

“Ten thousand mercies are forgotten in the presence of a single trifling privation. We have been frankly forgiven our sins, ‘accepted in the Beloved,’ made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, the expectants of eternal glory; and in addition to all, our path through the desert is strewed with countless mercies, and yet let but a cloud the size of a man’s hand appear on the horizon, and this single cloud, which after all, may only ‘break in blessings on our head’.”

It was not wrong for Israel to be hungry, nor to desire food, nor did God condemn them for this, but it was their failure to appreciate and to remember his past benefits and favors which grieved God. This in the long run proved their undoing. Persistence, in failure to appreciate, and to remember, is with God the measure of unfaithfulness, yea, it is the unbelief and disobedience which eventually shuts one off from further grace, and out of his “Canaan rest.”

Surely God knew of their needs, but why did he not supply them? Ah, because he was seeking to develop in them the over-coming faith – such a faith as had been characteristic of Abraham, whose true children they could be, only if they manifested a faith like unto his, and did his works. (John 8:39) Every opportunity for murmuring was one which might have been utilized in the demonstration of their faith. And let us note, dear friends, that these opportunities were God-designed and ordained. What a lesson there is here for us! When we come upon trials and disappointments, let us remember that God is by these affording us opportunities for the exercise of faith, but which opportunities, we, by leaning too heavily upon the arm of flesh, may use, as did Israel of old, for murmuring and repining. We do well to keep in mind that the things which happened to them, were ensamples or types, and were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come. (1 Cor. 10:11)

The account declares that they murmured “against Moses and Aaron.” These surely were merely secondary causes, for the great primary cause of their predicament, was God himself. Any complaint, any fault-finding against those appointed servants of God, were therefore also, and more particularly, against God.

Evidently they needed to learn some special lesson, which despite God’s manifold blessings, and his wonders enacted on their behalf, they had failed thus far to learn. They seemed not to realize how really fortunate they were, for these very trials and difficulties were an evidence that God was still striving with them. What a lesson there is here for us! As antitypical Israelites, we too must come into the Wilderness of Sin to experience, as it were, trials and chastenings. Since God permits them, is not he himself their primary cause? Yet how we do murmur and complain against the secondary causes, not realizing that we are thereby rebelling against God’s providences. Oh, if only we had the faith at such times, to take our eyes from the visible, and to put them upon the invisible, the eternal, and would recognize that God is in these trials and chastenings still striving with us, to make us meet for the “inheritance of the saints in light.” Such a faith, surely would cause us to offer instead the “sacrifices of thanksgiving,” (Psa. 107:22) for even the bitter trials which are purposed to bring us nearer to God and our Canaan Rest.

“…E’en though it be a cross, that raiseth me, Still all my song shall be…nearer to thee.”

We do not read in today’s lesson that Moses interceded on behalf of the people, but quite to the contrary, any such intercession seems to have been anticipated by God, for it says:

Exod. 16:4, 12 – “Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you: and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them whether they will walk in my law, or no…I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.”

What a wonderful display of the outpouring of God’s unmerited grace and favor! Even before Moses could petition God for the needs of Israel, he gives them the assurance that it will be supplied. So too, our God also, now deals with us. “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isa. 65:24) However, let it be noted, that it is not because we have murmured that God so deals with us, but rather because we are his chosen, his elect people, and that he is striving with us, despite our often infirmities; and so we may know it is the Lord, for none other would bear with us in such long-suffering kindness.

Note how specifically God granted the desires of the typical Israelites. They had murmured for the flesh pots of Egypt, and bread to eat “to the full.” He not only promised them, but he also gave them, both flesh for the evening, and bread for the morning. Had they left the matter entirely with God, the manna only, would have been supplied, and that to fill their every need. But they wanted flesh and flesh they received.

Flesh is a symbol of the flesh, and flesh feeds flesh to its own utter destruction. Flesh is thus a devitalizing food, and not a food fit for a redeemed people who require strength and fortitude to overcome the rigors of the wilderness way. They require a food that is, or contains, the very germ of life itself, and such food, neither Egypt nor the wilderness could supply. Accordingly God himself, supplies this food as “bread from heaven” – Manna!

Before, however, considering this manna more specifically, let us give some further thought to the “flesh” that was supplied to the Israelites. Only twice did God permit them to have this “flesh” (quails) en route, once on this occasion (Exod. 16:12-14) when without solicitation on the part of Moses he thus supplied them, and again later (Num. 11:31) upon the intercession of Moses at a place named Kibroth-Hataavah. It is interesting to note that God did not visit upon them in the first instance the plague, which in the second destroyed so many. There is something here that it may be well for us to note, viz., that it would have been better to do without the meat, since God in his wisdom had thus far denied it…but it is evident that God made allowances in the first instance for the fact that they had only so recently come out of Egypt and were not yet completely weaned away from its influences. It was different after they had arrived at Sinai, and God had established his Tabernacle among them, and when God most reasonably expected greater faith and submissiveness to his will. No wonder, then, that he was so severe and with the granting of their request for “flesh” the second time, he gave them also the needful lesson, the mark of his sore displeasure – the destroying plague. (Num. 11:33)

Now, the Apostle Paul tells us that “all flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of beasts and another of birds.” (1 Cor. 15:39) Let it be noted that the flesh God permitted the children of Israel to have was in both instances that of birds (quails). To our minds there is something quite significant here. Since all flesh “lusteth against the spirit” (Gal. 5:17) it would appear from this picture that there is a difference in the degree to which the flesh of beasts and the flesh of birds are respectively enervating the debilitating. Beasts live closer to the earth than do birds, as the latter have wings, and for a time at least are able to overcome gravitational stress. As if to say that not all the proclivities and propensities of the flesh are equally degrading. Some are naturally more so than others, in fact some seem to even have a momentary turn upward – a “recreational value” as the world puts it. Among these are the so called innocent pleasures, amusements, social obligations, literary pursuits, some personal habits, etc. For the spiritual Israelite, these are the flesh of birds.

Perfectly legitimate food, and better perhaps by far, than much other food with which men feed their flesh, yet it is earthy, and therefore worldly, and not suitable for the redeemed Israel of God. While yet we were young in this, our pilgrim way, there were certain of these fleshly pursuits which we felt were necessary to balance out our spiritual lives, and God in his grace permitted us to have them, expecting that as we grew in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (the bread which came down from heaven) we would gradually come to the point where we would recognize these also as devitalizing. But, and if, as it was in the case with Israel of old, we still crave these things after we have been “in the way” for some time, we need not fear that God will deny them to us, but rather that with them may come the plague of destruction – second death! For those who are about to go into the darkness of night, the evening comes first, but for those who are of the day, the morning has come, and the night is past. Thus it was given: “in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full.” (Exod. 16:8)

The bread upon which the typical Israelites were to feed, was, as it were, one dropping down from heaven. We read in:

Num. 11:9 – “And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.” and in:

Exod. 16:14, 15 – “And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground…and Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.”

Now it is not our purpose to explain the miracle of this manna, for this we could not do; nor yet even to hazard a guess as to what chemical reaction may have taken place to produce this food. We are satisfied to accept the statements as they are given, and if possible, to learn of their antitypical counterparts.

There is always a certain amount of water (moisture) suspended in our atmosphere, though it generally remains invisible. When, however the atmosphere cools sufficiently, this moisture condenses and manifests itself as dew. With the warmth of the rising sun, this dew evaporates and the moisture again becomes invisible. Now TRUTH finds a most apt symbol of itself in water. It is often even as mere moisture suspended in the atmosphere, ever present, but unrecognized due to the coarseness of men’s vision. But there are times, when as it were, there comes a chill over the earth, causing these vaporous waters of divine truth to condense into tangible facts.

All during the age preceding the first advent of Christ, prophetic Truth (the suspended moisture) foretold the coming of Messiah. However, this prophetic Truth, owing to its lightness and delicate texture was not generally recognized nor appreciated. But with the close of the age, comes also its nighttime, which with the coolness that ushers in the new day, caused a veritable condensation of these prophetic Truths – a recognition of the fulfillment of these in the coming of Jesus of Nazareth.

In the type the dew itself was not the manna, the manna seemed to have fallen upon the dew, or at least it was left as a deposit upon the ground, when the dew had again disappeared. So was it also with the prophetic Truths, even the appreciation of these in the coming of Jesus, did not constitute the manna upon which the disciples of Christ were thereafter to feed until they came into their Canaan Rest. But it was that which remained – when these prophetic truths, (at least their fulfillment) seemed again to evaporate into thin air with the crucifixion of Jesus. “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel…” (Luke 24:21) But what did remain? Ah, the Ransom Sacrifice of Christ Jesus whose life and righteousness could now be appropriated to one’s self. Here was the true manna – the bread from heaven. (John 6:32, 33, 35, 38, 41, 48, 50) Jesus said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven…and the bread that I will give is my flesh…” (John 6:51) Thus in Christ Jesus we have manifested the Grace of God to usward.

The appropriation to ourselves of this heavenly manna is made possible through our own ingathering of our daily supply. It will have been noted that the Israelites were to gather their manna every morning and that the supply gathered that day would not carry over to the next (the only exception being on the sixth day in which sufficient was gathered to carry them over or through the seventh – thus too the antitypical Israelites of this Gospel Age will not need to gather any on the seventh day either). What did this mean? It meant that what they gathered would have to be used, eaten the day of its ingathering. What a lesson this is! We must each day feed upon, appropriate to ourselves the life and righteousness of Jesus, nor can we expect that the appropriation we made yesterday will carry us through today and tomorrow also. Jesus, and the divine truth embodied in him, must be gathered and appropriated to one’s self each and every day and herein lies the test whereby God proves us to see “whether we will walk in his law, or no.”

“Very many profess to have found pardon and peace in Jesus, who in reality, are feeding upon a variety of things which have no connection with him. They feed their minds with the newspapers and the varied frivolous and vapid literature of the day. Will they find Christ there? Is it by such instrumentality that the Holy Spirit ministers Christ to the soul? Are these the pure dew drops on which the heavenly manna descends for the sustenance of God’s redeemed in the desert? Alas! no; they are the gross materials in which the carnal mind delights.…Hence, if I find a professing Christian neglecting his Bible, yet finding abundance of time – yea, some of his choicest hours – for the newspaper, I can be at no loss to decide as to the true condition of his soul. I am sure he cannot be spiritual – cannot be feeding upon, living for, or witnessing to, Christ.”

Ah, dear friends, why do we murmur for flesh to eat, when Christ, the living bread, and the divine truth embodied in him, have been given to us to carry us throughout our wilderness journey over into Canaan? Do we not recognize that this attitude is identical to that of the Israelites of old who subsequently declared, “our soul loatheth this light bread”? ( Num. 21:5) Let us, therefore, not forget to feed upon the grace of God as it is supplied in Christ Jesus, nor fail to be appreciative of our great privileges as the chosen Israel of God.