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Charles Spurgeon · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Spurgeon - They have been only about six weeks in the wilderness, and already they are up in arms against their leaders. Remember that we have the same kind of people to deal with as Moses and Aaron had. The children of Israel were no better than any other nation; and I do not think they were any worse. We may take them as a fair average of human nature, which is a discontented, rebellious thing in the best of circumstances. When we complain against Christian leaders who are serving Christ faithfully, we must understand that we are actually complaining against God. -- Gene Getz Grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness - At least Moses had someone to share the blame with! Ultimately of course they were grumbling against God. Notice that they are in the wilderness! They are no longer by the springs and the date palms of Elim, but in the arid, desolate desert where human life cannot be long sustained. And they were there because God led them there! The reason they are in all this awful, hard, difficult, dangerous, and uncomfortable place is because God led them there as part of His sovereign plan for them. And why were they there? Moses tells us in Deut 8:2-5 that they did not know their own heart - the wilderness was for their education, their counseling, their training. They needed time to get slavery out of the people, even though the people were out of slavery. Stated another way, God had gotten them completely out of Egypt, but would spend the next 40 years (and really even the time after that) getting Egypt out of them. Yahweh had gotten them out and was preparing their hearts to take them in (to the promised land). "You can take the person out of slavery in a moment, but you can’t take the slavery out of the person." (Keller) “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you (HE MADE THEM HUNGER AND THIRST), testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 “ He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4“ Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Tim Keller - Moses is saying, “In the physical wilderness, manna was the physical sustenance God gave, but it points to the fact in the personal wilderness, the spiritual wilderness, the emotional wilderness (the sort of wildernesses people in this room are going through now or will go through soon), the manna points to the spiritual strength which comes to us through …” What? What did Moses say the manna represents? “… every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” What that means is you have to learn to turn truth into bread. In the wilderness times, that’s the time to turn truth into bread. What is every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord? The Bible. The Scripture. The words of the prophets, the apostles, and so on. You may believe it. It’s cognitive. It’s truth you subscribe to, but Moses says in the times of wilderness, you have to turn it into food. You have to chew it. You have to digest it. You have to work it into your system. You have to taste it. In other words, you have to think. That’s why we call it thoughtful strength. God’s strength in the times of wilderness is a thinking strength. It’s not a stupid strength. (Food in the Desert) I asked the Lord that I might grow In faith, and love, and every grace Might more of his salvation know And seek, more earnestly, his face I hoped that in some favored hour At once he’d answer my request And by his love’s constraining power Subdue my sins, and give me rest Instead of this, he made me feel The hidden evils of my heart And let the angry powers of hell Assault my soul in every part Lord, why is this, I trembling cried Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death? ‘Tis in this way, the Lord replied I answer prayer for grace and faith These inward trials I employ From self, and pride, to set thee free And break thy schemes of earthly joy That thou may’st find thy all in me
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Spurgeon - They forgot all about the brick-making, an et it! The present much smaller one seems far heavier than that which is past. Bruckner on grumbling - There is a similar kind of grumbling in Numbers, but it occurs after they have been to Sinai and following the Lord for a year. There the grumbling brought judgment against the people, because they had had time to learn the ways of the Lord. An overly negative judgment should not be superimposed on the exodus experience because of Numbers. In Exodus 15–17 the Lord was patient and tolerant of the missteps of the recently delivered slaves. Their failure to follow instructions did make Moses angry (v. 20), but the Lord only mentions their slow learning curve once and was successful in convincing them to change their pattern (vv. 28, 30). Life Application Study Bible - Difficult circumstances often lead to stress, and complaining is a natural response. The Israelites didn't really want to be back in Egypt; they just wanted life to get a little easier. In the pressure of the moment, they could not focus on the cause of their stress (in this case, lack of trust in God); they could only think about the quickest way of escape. When pressure comes your way, resist the temptation to make a quick escape. Instead, focus on God's power and wisdom to help you deal with the cause of your stress. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger - Recall that Israel left on Passover "with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. (Ex 12:38) Ryken - Remember that the great question in Exodus concerned Israel’s worship: Whom would they serve—God or Pharaoh? God wanted his people to serve him alone, but now the Israelites were saying, “We would rather serve Pharaoh.” Patrick Henry’s famous words were, “Give me liberty or give me death!” The Israelites said exactly the opposite: “Give us bondage or give us death!” Their complaining went far beyond griping about their menu. They were rebelling against God’s plan for their salvation. This is an important insight about the sin of complaining. All our dissatisfaction and discontent ultimately is directed against God. Usually we take out our frustrations on someone else, especially people who are close to us. A psychologist would call this displacement. In the case of the Israelites, although they were taking things out on Moses, they were really angry with God. This is why God always takes our complaints personally. He knows that when we grumble about our personal circumstances, our spiritual leaders, or anything else, what we are really doing is finding fault with him. We are complaining about what he has provided (or not provided, as the case may be). A complaining spirit always indicates a problem in our relationship with God. (Ibid) NET Note - That the complaint leading up to the manna is unjustified can be seen from the record itself. They left Egypt with flocks and herds and very much cattle, and about 45 days later they are complaining that they are without food. Moses reminded them later that they lacked nothing (Dt 3:7; for the whole sermon on this passage, see Dt 8:1–20). Moreover, the complaint is absurd because the food of work gangs was far more meager than they recall. The complaint was really against Moses. They crave the eating of meat and of bread and so God will meet that need; he will send bread from heaven and quail as well. Jack Arnold writes that "Israel was an infant nation and needed to have a strong faith to enter the land of Canaan, the promised land. Whether that generation of Jews entered the land depended entirely on whether they had the faith to believe God that He would give them the land against overwhelming odds. They needed training in faith so God took them out into the desert to train them in the art of faith. They would be tested by God through problems, crisis and pressure situations to cause them to develop their faith in order for them to fight and win future battles. The Jews were not ready to enter the land after the Red Sea incident. They needed preparation and training to fight and win future spiritual battles and to conquer the giants in the land of Canaan. They could not fight the giants physically until spiritually they believed God would fight the giants for them. Therefore, God sent them into the desert to test them. You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. (Dt 8:2-3) “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.” This is not exactly a model prayer. There is complaining, grumbling, self-pity—all the things that can drive us crazy about other people. Given such self-centered insolence, you would at least expect God to say, “I’m not listening until you ask nicely.” But this is not an invented story where the god is like us. This is the God. “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”’” (Exodus 16:9–12). This response goes against all our expectations. God truly is not like us. It is as if God says to us, “Let me remind you of how I listen and see if you think I could listen even to you.” Then he recounts stories of adulterers like King David, murderers like the apostle Paul, and grumblers like newly delivered Israel. If he hears and loves them, he will hear and love us. The lesson is clear: He doesn’t hear because of us and the quality of our prayers. He hears because he is the God Who Hears. - Edward T. Welch Jack Arnold - The sons of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, their leaders, because their own souls toward God were rotten. They blamed their condition on someone else rather than examining their own lives to see the problem was really unbelief. Complainers are always short sighted. The Jews were so down and depressed that they wished that God had killed them in Egypt rather than brought them out into the desert. Surely they did not really mean this, but because they had their eyes on circumstances rather than the God of circumstances, everything was out of perspective for them. They had a good case of “self-pity” and were experiencing the “woe is me” syndrome. Often, when Christians get under the pile, they get blue, discouraged, and depressed and say, “I wish I were dead!” They are full of self-pity, and emotion has taken over their reasoning powers and the capacity for faith. Everything gets out of perspective when one gets a human viewpoint towards life. Just as God never intended to kill one Israelite but intended only to bless them, so God intends to give valuable lessons through the crisis of life. The Jews had short spiritual memories and long human memories, for their minds flashed back to their days in Egypt as they sat by the flesh pots (pots of meat) and were filled with bread. Because they were operating on a human viewpoint, they magnified their situation all out of proportion in Egypt. They were really not fed that well in Egypt. They were slaves, and the food they ate was lousy, but their sin natures in them told them that their situation in Egypt was really better than it actually was. The good old days were really not that good. They ate Egyptian leftovers, and at best their food was second and third rate, but they remembered it to be much better than it actually was (Num. 11:5). They remembered sitting around the fleshpots. A fleshpot was a big outdoor kettle used to cook the miserable food the Egyptians gave them. Surely, the Israelites were rationed on the amount of meat they could eat as slaves. So they would have to supplement their meat supply with whatever they could find. They might find a rabbit, a gopher, a bird, a lizard, a crow, a snail or two, a couple of worms or grasshoppers. This was mere survival food; yet they wanted to go back to Egypt. They actually wanted to go back and eat garbage food when just around the corner God had wonderful things planned for them in the future. Yet, when things got a little rough, they wanted to jump right back to the fleshpots of Egypt. Christian, what is your fleshpot? What makes you want to jump out of your Christian life and go back into the world? Israel never left Egypt mentally and always had a desire to go back. Do you have a desire to go back to live the status quo life of an unbeliever? Perhaps you wish you could throw over Christianity for more money, but you have forgotten how materialism practically destroyed you as an unsaved person. Perhaps you think that if you were not a Christian you could have a premarital affair with someone, but have you forgotten the emptiness sex brings without love? Perhaps you would like to kick over the traces of Christ for the chance to take a man or a woman in adultery, but have you forgotten the misery of guilt and the secret life of hiding truth from your mate? Perhaps you want to return to a party life and long for a good old belt of booze, but have you forgotten the hangovers and the embarrassment that came into your life when you were controlled by alcohol? You may want at times to go back to the world, but remember, the world is cruel, hypocritical, superficial, shallow, lonely, and it never satisfies the deepest longings of the human soul. The sin nature in us tells us that the world is much more attractive than it actually is; to go back to Egypt would destroy us spiritually. Do not be shortsighted, for God has wonderful things planned for you if you will but trust Him. He allows you to be tested so He can teach you to live by faith and bless you. To go back into the world permanently is to renounce Christ and forfeit the benefits of salvation, which is tantamount to apostasy. When the urge comes upon you as a Christian to leave the faith and go back into the world, fight it, crucify it, and run from it. Go forward in faith trusting Christ for future blessing. Why did these Jews complain? They had their eyes on circumstances. Complainers are always short on faith. They did not see that God is in control of circumstances. Whenever circumstances change the Christian, something is wrong. Circumstances always change, but God never changes. Whenever a little difficulty throws a Christian into a tailspin, something is drastically wrong. The problem is summed up in one word: unbelief. It was Thanksgiving Day and the town grouch was grumbling as usual. "Don't you have anything to be thankful for?" a neighbor asked. "Nope," he said. "Have you considered thanking God for turning your nose right side up? He could have put it upside down. Then when it rained you would have drowned and when you sneezed, you would have blown your thankless head off." The Israelites are the epitome of unthankfulness and ungratefulness. It would have served them right if they had blown their heads off when they sneezed. How dare they treat Moses this way after all that he has done and endured for them. Keith Green PLAY: So You Want to Go Back to Egypt So you wanna go back to Egypt Where it's warm and secure Are you sorry you bought the one way ticket When you thought you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise But now it's getting so hard Are you sorry you're out here in the desert Instead of your own back yard? Eating leaks and onions by the Nile Ooh, what breath for dining-out in style Ooh, my life's on the skids Building the pyramids Well, there's nothing to do but travel And we sure travel a lot 'Cause it's hard to keep your feet from moving When the sand gets so hot And in the morning it's manna hotcakes We snack on manna all day And we sure had a winner last night for dinner Flaming manna souffle Well, we once complained for something new to munch The ground opened up and had some of us for lunch Ooh, such fire and smoke Can't God even take a joke? Huh? (No!) So you wanna to back to Egypt Where your friends wait for you You can throw a big party and tell the whole gang Of what they said was all true And this Moses acts like a big shot Who does he think he is? Well it's true that God works lots of miracles But Moses thinks they're all his Oh we're having so much trouble even now Why'd he get so mad about that c-c-cow, that golden calf? Moses seems rather idle He just sits around, he just sits around and writes the Bible! Oh, Moses, put down your pen What? Oh no, manna again? Oh, manna waffles Manna burgers Manna bagels? Fillet of manna Manna patty? Bamanna bread Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to 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 test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. Currid - And Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion in its day—in order that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.’ NET Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they will walk in my law or not? NLT Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Look, I'm going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. ESV Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. I will rain - Ps 78:24,25 Ps 105:40 John 6:31,32 1Co 10:3 gather a day's portion every day - Ne 11:23 Pr 30:8 Mt 6:11,32,33 Lu 11:3 that I may test them - Ex 15:25 De 8:2,16 Jos 24:15 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries GOD'S GRACE TO GRUMBLERS! The Lord responded to the people’s grumbling with His amazing grace: He promised to rain bread from heaven on them and to provide meat that evening (Ex 16:4, 6, 8). Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you - It is better to rain bread than hail which the Egyptians experience! Bread does not usually rain from Heaven! Another supernatural sign to remind Israel of the power of Yahweh and His desire to protect them! Remember what Pharaoh did when they groaned under his slavery? Pharaoh took straw from them to make their lives harder. Yahweh responds to the complaining by raining grace on them -- for if there was ever unmerited favor this was it! "This is another miraculous sign that God is with his people; it is a concession to a people who live by sight." (Currid) Guzik on bread from Heaven - This reminds us that God may provide from resources that we never knew existed. Sometimes He provides from familiar resources, sometimes from unexpected resources. Ps 78:25 Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. Spurgeon - The delicacies of kings were outdone, for the dainties of angels were supplied. Bread of the mighty ones fell on feeble man. Those who are lower than the angels fared as well. It was not for the priests, or the princes, that the manna fell; but for all the nation, for every man, woman, and child in the camp: and there was sufficient for them all, for he sent them meat to the full. God's banquets are never stinted; he gives the best diet, and plenty of it. Spurgeon - See God’s answer to man’s murmuring. They send up their complaint, and he promises to rain bread down from above. It is a blessed story on God’s part all along; a rain of mercy for a smoke of complaining. Steven
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Spurgeon - “Animals are often taught through their food. When they could not be reached in any other way, they have been instructed by their hunger, and by their thirst, and by their feeding. All the way my Savior leads me, Cheers each winding path I tread; Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living Bread. --Fanny Crosby Eat and Repeat We have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna! Numbers 11:6 Today's Scripture & Insight: Exodus 16:14–18 When Kerry and Paul got married, neither one knew how to cook. But one night Kerry decided to try her hand at spaghetti—making so much that the couple had it for dinner again the next day. On the third day, Paul volunteered to cook, doubling the amount of pasta and sauce, hoping the huge pot would last through the weekend. As the couple sat down for dinner that night, however, it was Kerry who confessed, “I’m sick of spaghetti.” Just imagine eating the same meal as the Israelites did—for forty years. Each morning they gathered the sweet “super food” God supplied and cooked it (no leftovers unless the next day was the Sabbath, Exodus 16:23–26). Sure, they got creative—baking it, boiling it (v. 23). But, oh, how they missed the good food they had enjoyed in Egypt (v. 3; Numbers 11:1–9), even though that nourishment had come at the high cost of cruelty and enslavement! We too may sometimes resent that our life isn’t what it once was. Or perhaps the “sameness” of life has caused us to be discontent. But Exodus 16 tells of God’s faithful provision to the Israelites, causing them to trust and depend on His care each day. In what ways has God provided for you in the past? What longing is keeping you from trusting Him more? Father, thank You for Your promise to faithfully care for me and provide what I need. Exodus 16:15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. What is it, Ex 16:31,33 De 8:3,16 Jos 5:12 Ne 9:15,20 Joh 6:31,32,49,58 1Co 10:3 Heb 9:4 Rev 2:17 It is the bread - Ex 16:4 Nu 21:5 Pr 9:5 Lu 12:30 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries WHAT IT IT? ANSWER - "MANNA" When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" - When the Hebrews see the flaky substance, they ask ‘mān hû”, literally, ‘What is it?’ The word Mān is unique in Hebrew—the normal way of asking ‘What?’ is măh (used later in the verse in the phrase, ‘what it was’). (Currid) For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat. - Henry
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Spurgeon - “They gathered manna every morning.” —Exodus 16:21 Labour to maintain a sense of thine entire dependence upon the Lord’s good will and pleasure for the continuance of thy richest enjoyments. Never try to live on the old manna, nor seek to find help in Egypt. All must come from Jesus, or thou art undone for ever. Old anointings will not suffice to impart unction to thy spirit; thine head must have fresh oil poured upon it from the golden horn of the sanctuary, or it will cease from its glory. To-day thou mayest be upon the summit of the mount of God, but he who has put thee there must keep thee there, or thou wilt sink far more speedily than thou dreamest. Thy mountain only stands firm when he settles it in its place; if he hide his face, thou wilt soon be troubled. If the Saviour should see fit, there is not a window through which thou seest the light of heaven which he could not darken in an instant. Joshua bade the sun stand still, but Jesus can shroud it in total darkness. He can withdraw the joy of thine heart, the light of thine eyes, and the strength of thy life; in his hand thy comforts lie, and at his will they can depart from thee. This hourly dependence our Lord is determined that we shall feel and recognize, for he only permits us to pray for “daily bread,” and only promises that “as our days our strength shall be.” Is it not best for us that it should be so, that we may often repair to his throne, and constantly be reminded of his love? Oh! how rich the grace which supplies us so continually, and doth not refrain itself because of our ingratitude! The golden shower never ceases, the cloud of blessing tarries evermore above our habitation. O Lord Jesus, we would bow at thy feet, conscious of our utter inability to do anything without thee, and in every favour which we are privileged to receive, we would adore thy blessed name and acknowledge thine unexhausted love. Exodus 16:22 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, NET Exodus 16:22 And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. NLT Exodus 16:22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as usual-- four quarts for each person instead of two. Then all the leaders of the community came and asked Moses for an explanation. ESV Exodus 16:22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, Ex 16:5,16 Lev 25:12,22 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries DOUBLE PORTION ON THE SIXTH DAY Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one - The question is how did the people know to gather twice as much on the sixth day? Had Moses told them? We see Moses explained it to the elders in Ex 16:23. Somehow the people must have known. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses - NLT = "Then all the leaders of the community came and asked Moses for an explanation." NET suggests that "the meaning here is probably that these leaders, the natural heads of the families in the clans, saw that people were gathering twice as much and they reported this to Moses, perhaps afraid it would stink again. (NET) Exodus 16:23 then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." rest - Ex 20:8-11 31:15 35:3 Ge 2:2,3 Lev 23:3 Mk 2:27,28 Lu 23:56 Rev 1:10 bake - Nu 11:8 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries A SABBATH REST then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD - Sabbath observance is better translated "a time of cessation from work." (NET) God essentially forced them to honor the Sabbath by not providing any bread from heaven on the Sabbath day. The had no choice. The had to rest from looking for manna. Moses explains this day is a "holy Sabbath" (Neh 9:14) and it is "to the LORD." (NLT has "for the LORD.") The idea of holy is that this day is set apart by men for the LORD. In other words it was to a special day which the person dedicated to Yahweh. Life Application Study Bible - The Israelites were not to work on the Sabbath-not even to cook food. Why? God knew that the busy routine of daily living could distract people from worshiping him. It is so easy to let work, family responsibilities, and recreation crowd our schedules so tightly that we don't take time to worship. Carefully guard your time with God. Currid - It is a ‘holy’ day—that is, one that is set apart, unique and special; that, of course, reflects the account of the original creation: ‘Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made’ (Gen. 2:3). Sabbath observance (solemn rest) (07677)(shabbathon from shabath = to cease, desist) most often meant a time to rest, a special holiday, a day of rest, a Sabbath feast. The day belongs to the Lord (Ex 35:2), to Israel ("to you," Lev. 16:31) and to the land itself (Lev 25:4f). The noun refers to: (1) the weekly Sabbath day (Exo. 31:15), (2) the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:31), (3) the sabbatical year (Lev. 25:4), (4) the feast of trumpets (Lev 23:24) and (5) the first and eighth days of the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:39). Every used of shabbathon is translated in the Septuagint (Lxx) with the noun anapausis, which means a ceasing from activity (an interruption) or a resting from labor or carrying burdens (used by Jesus in Mt 11:29+). Shabbathon - 11x in 10v - complete rest(4), rest(4), sabbath observance(1), sabbatical(1), solemn rest(1). Exod. 16:23; Exod. 31:15; Exod. 35:2; Lev. 16:31; Lev. 23:3; Lev. 23:24; Lev. 23:32; Lev. 23:39; Lev. 25:4; Lev. 25:5 Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning - "Two basic interpretations have been proposed for the general command of this verse. The first is that all the manna had to be baked or boiled on the sixth day so that the Sabbath would not be profaned by cooking on it; the second view is that the Israelites were to bake and boil only the manna which they needed on the sixth day; uncooked manna would not be contaminated on the Sabbath. In other words, the law had nothing to do with cooking on the Sabbath. On the basis of the idem per idem formula, the latter explanation appears to be the most appropriate." (Currid) Related Resources: See more commentary notes on the Sabbath - Exodus 16:23-29, Exodus 23:12, Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 31:14-16, Exodus 35:2-3 What is the Sabbath day? How can we enter into God’s rest? What does it mean that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath? What does it mean to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy? Why does Exodus 35:2 require the death penalty for working on the Sabbath? Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians? Exodus 16:23 Rest by Dr. Woodrow Kroll In 24 hours the average adult accomplishes much: his heart beats 103,689 times, his blood travels 168 million miles, he breathes 23,040 times, he inhales 438 cubic feet of air, he eats 3 1/2 pounds of food and drinks 2.9 quarts of liquid, he speaks 4,800 words, he moves 750 muscles, his nails grow .000046 inch, and he exercises 7 million brain cells. It's no wonder we need rest! When God established the laws governing the lives of the Israelite people, He built into their schedule a time for rest. Physically it enabled their bodies to recuperate. Spiritually it reminded them that their salvation was not complete. They needed a spiritual "rest" that would come only when the Messiah would take away their sins. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that even though the Jewish people practiced Sabbath-keeping, the real "rest" was a future event. He declared, "For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God" (Heb. 4:8-9). In the New Testament the command to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated--and for good reason. The spiritual rest that the Old Testament saints looked forward to and which the Sabbath represented is now a reality. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28+). Taking a day to rest is still an important part of maintaining a healthy body. But it's a physical necessity, not a spiritual law. Now we can rejoice in the true rest that comes in Christ. Rest is a matter of wisdom, not law. Exodus 16:24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. NET Exodus 16:24 So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. NLT Exodus 16:24 So they put some aside until morning, just as Moses had commanded. And in the morning the leftover food was wholesome and good, without maggots or odor. ESV Exodus 16:24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Ex 16:20,33 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries AGAIN ISRAEL OBEYS So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it - Obedience brings blessing. Exodus 16:25 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. NET Exodus 16:25 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the area. NLT Exodus 16:25 Moses said, "Eat this food today, for today is a Sabbath day dedicated to the LORD. There will be no food on the ground today. ESV Exodus 16:25 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Ex 16:23,29 Ne 9:14 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field - Can you envision a few Hebrews getting up to go check for manna? Well you don't have to guess, just keep reading! Exodus 16:26 "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none. Ex 20:9-11 De 5:13 Eze 46:1 Lu 13:14 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries THE SEVENTH DAY THEY SABBATH Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none. - Repeats the fact that there will be no manna. Rabbis often taught using repetition. The resting from collecting manna was a like a giant illustration of God's desire for men to rest from their labor on the seventh day. It was as if they were being divinely conditioned to understand and practice the Sabbath. Exodus 16:27 It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. and they found none - Pr 20:4 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries AN INAPPROPRIATE SEVENTH DAY ADVENT Advent means coming and this was an inappropriate "coming" to look for manna! It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none - Amazing! They found no manna, but they did find mercy! Why? This is willful disobedience. The fact hat Yahweh did not kill them is another example of His bountiful mercies to those who justly deserved to be punished. Does He not show the same mercies (plural) to us today, for we all commit sins daily, some even with defiance and willfulness!