By Bread AloneSample

Manna from Heaven

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.' (NRSV)

As the story of bread unfolds throughout the narrative of Scripture, we see God providing bread for God’s people in miraculous ways. This miraculous provision is a reminder of God’s love and care for his people, but it is also a means of respite from the curse spoken in Genesis 3.

In Exodus 16, we find the Israelites wandering in the desert. They grumble and complain, wishing they were back in Egypt—having food was better than wandering hungrily in the wilderness, even if it meant a life enslaved to Pharoah.

At least in Egypt, they knew they would have food to eat. In the wilderness, though, there was no way for them to tend to fields in order to provide food for themselves.

For those of us who go out and pick up our bread from the grocery store, it’s a bit tough to imagine just how miraculous the gift of manna was for the Israelites. We can go out on any given day and pick up ready-made bread. Sure, we have to pay for it, but as long as we have a couple of dollars to spare, we can pretty well assume some loaves will be waiting for us at the store.

The Israelites knew just how much work was required to turn a field of grain into bread—that is, when they were settled in a place long enough to have a field they could plant! With manna, rather than prepare the land, plant, harvest, thresh, grind, mix, and bake—steps that were impossible when wandering in the wilderness—they merely had to go out each morning and gather. This manna was not only a provision for their hunger, it was a respite from the curse we read about yesterday in Genesis 3.

The one thing God required was that they trust, day after day, that God would continue to provide.