Day 22: Exodus 16-18

(The previous post documented the rebirth of the nation of Israel into the 5th Dispensation. God brought them through the Red Sea and defended them from the Egyptians. God stated He would not take them directly to the Promised Land. He was taking them the long way in order to give them time to mature.)

Exodus 16
¹ And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.
² And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness:

(The whole congregation murmured against Moses. In fact, they had "fond memories" of Egypt...)

³ and the children of Israel said unto them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
⁴ Then said Jehovah unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

(Bread from heaven: this was physical bread from God, Jesus is our spiritual bread from God.
John 6:48-51:
"48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.")

⁵ And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
⁶ And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that Jehovah hath brought you out from the land of Egypt;

(Moses and Aaron tried to build Israel's faith by saying this miracle would prove it was God.)

⁷ and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Jehovah; for that he heareth your murmurings against Jehovah: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?
⁸ And Moses said, This shall be, when Jehovah shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that Jehovah heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.

(Moses and Aaron were God's spokesmen. When the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron, they were actually murmuring against God. Do you think this may still be happening today? Do people who speak grace from God get "murmured" against?)

⁹ And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before Jehovah; for he hath heard your murmurings.
¹⁰ And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud.

(Moses was still using Aaron as his own spokesman.)

¹¹ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
¹² 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 Jehovah your God.

(Meat and bread would be provided by God until they were full.)

¹³ And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp.
¹⁴ And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground.
¹⁵ And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? For they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them, It is the bread which Jehovah hath given you to eat.

(Manna meant "What is it?" This confused God's people because it was something new and without precedence. Likewise, when the gift of tongues came to believers on Pentecost, it confused believers because it was something new and without precedence. In fact, Acts 2:12 quoted those believers as saying, "What meaneth this?")

¹⁶ This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.

(An "omer" was anywhere from a gallons worth to as little as a cupful. It seems whatever the precise measure God meant for it is not known today. However, the total amount would have only been enough for a man to eat for the day.)

¹⁷ And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.
¹⁸ And when they measured it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.

(Paul referenced this verse in 2 Corinthians 8:15.)

¹⁹ And Moses said unto them, Let no man leave of it till the morning.
²⁰ Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was wroth with them.

(God provided a miracle and the people still disobeyed. When the devil tempted Jesus by saying He should turn stones to bread, Jesus stated that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the Mouth of God (see Matthew 4:3-4; Luke 4:3-4). The manna was bread from Heaven, like Jesus, who is the Word. Notice, day old manna stinks. Trying to hold onto what God did for you in the past will hold you back. God wants to give you "daily" bread.)

²¹ And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

(The sun melted the manna.)

²² And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
²³ And he said unto them, This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto Jehovah: bake that which ye will bake, and boil that which ye will boil; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
²⁴ And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm therein.

(When Israel had to gather two days worth of manna, God preserved the day old manna so it could still be eaten on the seventh day.)

²⁵ And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto Jehovah: to-day ye shall not find it in the field.
²⁶ Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
²⁷ And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none.

(The people still did not obey.)

²⁸ And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

(God asked Moses: "how long will these people refuse to obey?" If God knew the answer to this question, then why did He ask it? Notice, God presented the situation (Israel's refusal to keep His commandments and His Law) to Moses in the form of a question, just like He approached Adam/Eve and Cain. God was treating Israel, at the beginning of this dispensation, the same way He treated the first people at the beginning of the 1st Dispensation (Eden) and the 2nd Dispensation (Pre-Flood) - Cain in Genesis 4.)

²⁹ See, for that Jehovah hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

(We have seen that God resting on the Seventh Day meant God ceased from the occupation of being a First Cause. The people were likewise to cease from the occupation being a first cause, they were to stop doing what they wanted to do on this day and allow God to direct their actions.)

³¹ And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
³² And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

(An omer of manna was saved as proof for later generations.)

³³ And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations.
³⁴ As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
³⁵ And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

(The people ate manna for forty years which was a statement that actually got ahead of the story. This showed that this book was written once the children of Israel came unto the borders of the Promised Land, which was just before Moses died. The day the manna ceased was documented in Joshua 5:12. Since it was a miracle every day that manna appeared during these forty years, this meant the children of Israel would have experienced over 12,000 miracles.)

³⁶ Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

(This is as specific as a measure as we get for an omer: a dry measure of 1/10 ephah; estimated to be about two liters.)




Exodus 17
¹ And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

(Rephidim was the next stop. Rephidim meant "rests; stays; resting places.")

² Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt Jehovah?
³ And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

(The people thirsted for water and murmured against Moses. It seemed like every trial the people had to deal with was immediately blamed on Moses.)

⁴ And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They are almost ready to stone me.

(Moses said the people were almost ready to stone him. God did miracles and people got worse. Reborn Israel was still a child.)

⁵ And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go.
⁶ Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

(God told Moses to "smite the rock." Moses obeyed God and did just as He commanded.)

⁷ And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?

(Moses renamed the place after God provided a miracle. Massah meant "temptation"; Meribah meant "strife; contention.")

⁸ Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

(Amalek was from Esau. Notice, all of the conflicts since the Red Sea have been from within Israel. This conflict came from outside of Israel. Reborn Israel had reached the "social age," the age children begin to learn how to interact with others.)

⁹ And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.

(The introduction of a new character: Joshua. This was the first mention of this important leader.)

¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
¹¹ And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

(Only a portion of Israel fought. Israel fought their first enemy but their success was dependent on Moses. God was slowly developing them.)

¹² But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

(Even as Israel's leader, Moses did not have to do his job alone.)

¹³ And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
¹⁴ And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

(Israel won and God said He wanted everyone to know He would eventually put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Amalek was from Esau.)

¹⁵ And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi;

(Jehovah-nissi meant "Jehovah is my banner." A banner is a type of flag. In this case, it was a symbol of God's victory in battle. This was an act of honoring God. Moses had a part in this battle but he knew that God was the cause of the victory, which was proven by Moses building the altar for Jehovah.)

¹⁶ And he said, Jehovah hath sworn: Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

(The Amalekites would play a critical role in Israel's history.)




Exodus 18
¹ Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt.

(Jethro heard about Moses and how God had released Israel from bondage.)

² And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away,
³ and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land:

(Gershom meant "foreigner.")

⁴ and the name of the other was Eliezer; for he said, The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

(Eliezer meant "God is help." Jethro brought Moses' wife and sons to him.)

⁵ And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God:
⁶ and he said unto Moses, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.
⁷ And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.
⁸ And Moses told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how Jehovah delivered them.

(Moses told Jethro of all the travail and of the deliverance from Egypt.)

⁹ And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Jehovah had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

(Jethro rejoiced based off of Moses' retelling of this story. Jethro must have trusted Moses.)

¹⁰ And Jethro said, Blessed be Jehovah, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
¹¹ Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them.

(Jethro knew the Lord was greater than all gods because of Moses' testimony.)

¹² And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
¹³ And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening.

(Moses sat to judge the people all day. Remember, during the 4th Dispensation there were no policemen and no courts. Moses was God's judge. God was the leader of the people.)

¹⁴ And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even?
¹⁵ And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God:
¹⁶ when they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
¹⁷ And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good.

(Jethro told Moses that this was not good, this was not creating. Remember, Jethro was happy for Moses' success by the hand of God, so this was not jealousy.)

¹⁸ Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
¹⁹ Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people to God-ward, and bring thou the causes unto God:
²⁰ and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

(It was Moses' job to go to God for counsel to help the people understand how to progress forward the right way.)

²¹ Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
²² and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.

(Additionally, Jethro told Moses to identify people to judge the lesser issues. Jethro realized Moses' position was a burden, not a perk. It was a responsibility, not a reward/benefit. Jethro established the concept that there ought to be a visionary leader and a day-to-day leader. Moses was the visionary leader: interacting with God, looking to the future, and showing the people how to progress towards this future. Moses could only do that if there were people handling the day-to-day issues.)

²³ If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.
²⁴ So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.

(Moses handled correction from Jethro excellently. Moses did everything Jethro said.)

²⁵ And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
²⁶ And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
²⁷ And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.

(Moses left Jethro.)

(This post documented God's maturing of the children of Israel to the "social age" through their conflict with the Amalekites. God also spoke to Moses through Jethro in order to provide the structure that would allow Moses to spend more time with God and less time dealing with the day-to-day issues.)

Day 23