Exodus 16:35

“The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.”

The history of the Israelites in the wilderness contains an uninterrupted series of miracles. It might be well expected, that two million people encamped in a barren desert would soon begin to need fresh supplies of food. And so it happened. In a month after their first departure from Egypt, they had exhausted the store that they had brought with them. But God, who had brought them thus far, would not allow them to remain destitute any longer than was necessary to try their faith and patience. He therefore gave them from the clouds a peculiar kind of food, (such as had never been seen before,) a small white substance, like coriander-seed, which, when ground in a mill and baked or seethed in water, was extremely palatable.

We propose to make some observations upon,

I. The provision God gave the Israelites.

Let the occasion on which he gave the manna be first considered.

Instead of confiding in that God who had so often, and so wonderfully interposed for them, they murmured against him in a most impious manner, wishing that he had involved them in the judgments which had desolated Egypt, rather than that he should have brought them into their present difficulties. And though their complaints were directed professedly only against Moses and Aaron, they were, in fact, against God himself, by whose direction alone every step had been taken.

How astonishing was it that God should take occasion from such a grievous act of impiety to give them such tokens of his love and mercy! Might we not have expected rather that he should execute upon them his severest judgments? But thus he has done in all ages, in order to display the sovereignty and the riches of his grace!

To Adam, Genesis 3:6; Genesis 3:12; Genesis 3:15.

To Saul, Acts 26:10-16.

To ourselves in unnumbered instances, making our sins the occasion of deeper humiliation.

Next, let us notice the directions he gave respecting the manna.

They before to gather the manna from day to day, reserving none of it for the morrow, verse 19. This was to teach them their entire dependence upon God, and impress them with a sense of God’s continued care of them. And though we are not forbidden, yes rather are commanded, to make suitable provision for our families—yet in the habit of our minds we are to be continually dependent on God, and free from all anxious care or distrust.

They were not to gather any on the Sabbath, but to provide a double portion on the day preceding it. How early was the observance of the Sabbath inculcated! The law was not yet given; therefore the observance of the Sabbath was not a mere ceremonial commandment. Nor was the injunction relative to it either given by Moses, or received by Israel, as a new thing. It doubtless had been enforced from the beginning of the world; and consequently we, no less than the Jews, are bound to lay aside all temporal concerns, as much as possible, on that day, and to consecrate it wholly to the service of our God.

They were to preserve some of it in a pot, and lay it up before the Lord as a memorial for future generations, verse 33. They were not to forget the mercies given to them; but rather to transmit to their last posterity the remembrance of them; in order that they also might be led to serve and trust in the living God.

And have not we also memorials of the love of God to us? Search the records of our national history, or let every one consult his own personal experience; and we shall find abundant reason to adore that God, who has interposed for us in ten thousand dangers, and supplied our continually returning needs.

The peculiar interposition of God in relation to the manna deserves also particular notice.

It was so ordered by his providence, that, when the members of the different families had put together the portions which they had severally collected, and measured it out again for the purpose of distributing to each his regular portion, there never was found any excess, or any lack, verses 6–18. What this was designed to teach us, we are at no loss to determine; since God himself has suggested the proper improvement of it.

We all are members of one great family. Some, by God’s blessing on their diligence, or by some other means, possess much; while others, through a variety of circumstances, possess but little; we ought therefore (not indeed to make one common stock, but) to “lay put aside something for the poor, according as God has prospered us, “that, as far at least as the enjoyment of the necessities of life are concerned, there may be an equality; the abundance of the rich supplying the necessities of their less-favored brethren, 2 Corinthians 8:14-15. O that there were in all of us such a heart, and that, instead of scraping together all that we can save, for the purpose of enriching our families, we found our happiness in doing good, being “glad to distribute, and willing to share!”

From viewing the mercies God given to the Israelites, let us turn our attention to,

II. The corresponding provision he has given us.

The apostle Paul tells us, that the manna of which we have been speaking, was “spiritual food 1 Corinthians 10:3.” It was carnal indeed in its immediate use; but it typically shadowed forth the food on which our souls must live; and, to those who partook of it in faith, it was a source of spiritual and eternal blessings.

The Lord Jesus Christ has fully explained the subject to us; and drawn a parallel between the manna on which the Israelites subsisted, and himself as the life of our souls, John 6:32-58. We shall not trace that parallel here, but consider the subject in a more appropriate view.

Three things then we wish you to remark:

1. The freeness of this provision.

What have we done to merit the gift of God’s dear Son? We were rebels against the Majesty of Heaven, and deserved nothing but “wrath and fiery indignation to consume us!” The manna rained around the tents of the murmuring Israelites was not more freely given, than Christ is sent to us, and salvation by him is offered to us in the Gospel! Isaiah 55:1.

2. The suitableness of this provision.

The manna was adapted to nourish equally the infant and adult. And to whom is not Christ suited? The great sinner will find in him precisely such a Savior as his necessities require. The weak, the timid, the disconsolate, yes, all people in all possible circumstances, shall find that he is as much suited to their individual cases, as if God had sent him for them alone; and to their palate, as though they themselves had chosen what kind of a Savior they would have.

3. The sufficiency of this provision.

The vigor of all was renewed from day to day by means of the food provided for them; and they were enabled to march or fight, as occasion required.

What cannot he do who feeds upon the Lord Jesus Christ? What conflicts shall not he support; what victories shall not he gain? “The grace of Christ will be sufficient for him;” and he will be “able to do all things through Christ who strengthens him”

He who gathers most of this heavenly manna, will indeed have no excess; but he who gathers ever so little, shall have no lack”; Twice is it repeated in our text, that they ate of the manna until they arrived at the promised land; never did it fail them; nor did they ever need any other food. And thus assuredly shall Christ continue to the end, as the support of all who feed upon him; and, in possessing “that hidden manna,” they shall have all that they can need in this dreary wilderness; they shall have a pledge and foretaste of Heaven itself! Revelation 2:17.

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)