Êxodo 16

Êxodo 16

Trapp - Monuments and memorials of God’s great mercies are to be set up, lest, as it fares with children, eaten bread be soon forgotten. Exodus 16:33 Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations." Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations." - This pot full of the bread from heaven was later put into the ark of the covenant, referred to here as the Testimony (Hebrews 9:4). Throughout your generations was to teach future generations of Israel how God provided for his people. Currid - This section underscores God’s great and continual provision for the house of Israel. It is not a one-off provision, but ‘a continual feast’, to quote Matthew Henry. Manna rained from heaven for forty years, and that demonstrates, in Henry’s words, ‘how constant the care of providence is’. And the manna never failed, even in the light of the people’s ingratitude. Despite Israel’s great sins of murmuring and rebellion, ‘God’s special bounty’, as Calvin calls it, came daily and yearly. Therefore, a memorial pot of manna was to be set in the tabernacle; it was there to witness to the magnitude, the glorious nature and the graciousness of the miracle. Question: What was inside the ark of the covenant? Answer: Interestingly, the most complete inventory of the contents of the ark of the covenant is found in the New Testament: Hebrews 9:4 says that the Most Holy Place had “the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.” The stone tablets were those on which Moses had written the Ten Commandments. At various times in Israel’s history, it seems that various items were in the ark of the covenant. When God first gave Moses the instructions on building the ark, He said, “Put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you” (Exodus 25:16). Sometime during the wilderness wanderings, God commanded that a bowl of manna be added to the ark’s cargo: “Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.’ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved” (Exodus 16:33–34). After the rebellion of Korah, God commanded the leader of each tribe of Israel to bring a staff to the tabernacle. The name of each leader was inscribed in his staff; the tribe of Levi bore Aaron’s name. God instructed that the staffs be placed in the tabernacle overnight. The next morning, Aaron’s rod “had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds” (Numbers 17:8) as a sign of God’s blessing on the Levitical priesthood. God then said, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious” (verse 10). So, by the time Israel reached the Promised Land, the ark was associated with the items mentioned in Hebrews 9:4: the stone tablets, the bowl of manna, and the staff of Aaron. When King Solomon’s temple was finished, the king had the ark of the covenant, along with all the other furnishings of the tabernacle, brought to the new temple’s dedication. At that time, the biblical historian notes that “there was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb” (1 Kings 8:9; cf. 2 Chronicles 5:10). There are two possible ways to reconcile 1 Kings 8:9 with Hebrews 9:4. One is that the ark in Moses’ time contained all three items mentioned in Hebrews but, by Solomon’s time hundreds of years later, only the stone tablets remained. The other items could have been removed in Eli’s time by the men of Beth Shemesh when “they looked into the ark of the Lord” (1 Samuel 6:19). Before that, the ark was in the possession of the Philistines for a time, and they could have removed some of the ark’s contents. It could also be that Solomon himself had the manna and the staff removed from the ark and set nearby in the same room at the time of the temple’s dedication. Another possibility is that the bowl of manna and Aaron’s staff were not usually inside the ark of the covenant, but rather beside it. God’s command in Exodus 16:33 was for Moses to place the manna “before the LORD” (ESV) or “in a sacred place before the LORD” (NLT). Similarly, the staff was to be placed “before the testimony” (Numbers 17:10, ESV) or “permanently before the Ark of the Covenant” (NLT). So, the manna and the staff were kept in the same place as the tablets of stone, but it’s possible they were not, strictly speaking, inside the ark. It’s also quite possible that the bowl of manna and Aaron’s staff were carried inside the ark every time the ark was moved. When the ark was at rest in the Most Holy Place, the manna and the staff were placed beside or in front of the ark. But, while the ark was in transit, the most practical place to carry the manna and the rod was inside the ark. Exodus 16:34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept. Ex 25:16,21 27:21 30:6,36 31:18 38:21 40:20 Nu 1:50,53 17:10 De 10:5 1Ki 8:9 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept - The Testimony refers to the Ark of the Covenant; (also called the ark of the testimony) so the pot of manna would be placed before Yahweh in the tabernacle. This later instruction came after the tabernacle had been built (Ex 25:10–22). Notice in v33 the phrase place it before the LORD is equivalent here to placed it before the Testimony. Currid notes that "This is the third time the Hebrew infinitive ‘to keep’ appears, and it occurs in three verses in a row. This is for emphasis, in order to accentuate the preservation of the manna as a teaching tool for Israel’s posterity." Exodus 16:35 The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. forty years - Nu 33:38 De 8:2,3 Ne 9:15,20,21 Ps 78:24,25 Joh 6:30-58 until they came to - Jos 5:12 the borders - Nu 33:48-50 De 1:8 34:1-4 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land - This statement is in the past tense and would indicate that the chapter was written after the 40 years in the wilderness. They ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan - Joshua documents the cessation of manna. He also documents the generation born in the wilderness as undergoing circumcision which had not been practiced for 40 years. And as the result of failure to practice circumcision, Israel did not celebrate the Passover for 40 years! Joshua 5:4-12 This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, died in the wilderness along the way after they came out of Egypt. 5 For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness along the way as they came out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD, to whom the LORD had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 Their children whom He raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them along the way. 8 Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach (MEANS TO EXPRESS CRITICISM OF ANOTHER) of Egypt from you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day. 10 While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. 11 On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. Rod Mattoon - Israel was a covenant nation (Romans 9:4, 5). The sign of God's covenant was the cutting of the flesh. For forty years, no one was circumcised in the wilderness. They were living in disobedience and disbelief. The men of war twenty years old and older are now all dead. The male children born in the wilderness needed to be circumcised to fulfill the covenant. Now that they are in the Promised Land, the covenant needed to be renewed. Gilgal was a place of remembrance, resurrection, and now a place of renunciation. A key lesson here is there must be a dying to self, to the flesh, if we are to enjoy God's blessings and be victorious in our Christian life. We must be obedient to God's Word. Disabling these men by circumcision in enemy territory was a great test of faith. In their weakness they were made strong (Hebrews 6:12). They were totally at God's mercy and entrusted into His care. God's Word may seem illogical and dangerous, but remember that obedience brings His blessing and protection. It may seem illogical to love your enemies, tithe, honor your parents especially when they may be harsh or wicked, submit to an unloving husband, or serve a tough employer, but God's way does work and brings blessing. God was teaching His people to wait on Him and prepare themselves before battle. What was the reproach of Egypt? Was it the slavery of Egypt? No, God sent them to Egypt. They were not enslaved for disobedience. The reproach was the ridicule of the enemies of Israel when they failed to trust God at Kadesh-Barnea and enter the Promised Land. Egypt accused God of delivering them from Egypt to kill them in the mountains and desert. They said that God could not get them to the Promised Land. Now they are in the land and the reproach of God's enemies is rolled away. In the life of the believer, the reproach of sin was rolled away when we trusted Christ as our Savior. We went from eternal death to eternal life; from being condemned to being forgiven, cleansed, and restored in our fellowship with the Lord. When we are totally surrendered to the Lord, the reproach of the world will be rolled away in victory. Our joy and victory in Christ will take the sting out of the scoffing and mockery of a wicked world. Our old life will be defeated in our commitment to Christ. Our sin is under His cleansing blood. We are new creatures in Christ with a new start, a new purpose in life, and new destination for eternity. The Passover had been observed only two times. In Egypt when the Death Angel passed over and at Mt. Sinai (Nu 9:5). This would be the third time, picturing the resurrection of God's people and their rededication. During the wilderness wandering, the Passover was not observed because no uncircumcised person could partake in the feast (Ex. 12:48). The nation had forfeited their rights to the Passover by their disobedience and sin. God is not going to give the enjoyment of His fellowship and blessings to people who are content to live in disobedience. It is impossible to worship the Lord if there is rebellion and disobedience in the worshiper's heart. Thomas Constable on reproach of Egypt - The reproach of Egypt (Josh 5:9) was the charge that originated with the Egyptians that Yahweh had led the Israelites out of Egypt only to destroy them in the wilderness (cf. Ex 32:12; Nu 14:13–16; Dt. 9:28). Now that He had brought them into the land He had promised them, He had negated or “rolled away” this criticism. Gilgal means “rolling” as well as “circle.” The Israelites seem to have regarded the rolling away of the foreskins in the circumcision operation as having a double symbolic meaning. It represented God’s removal of their reproach as well as their renunciation of the flesh (cf. Gen. 17). Robert Hawker - They did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.—Exodus 16:35. How graciously God the Holy Ghost taught Israel, by type and shadow, concerning good things to come! It must be our duty, and it will prove our happiness, to read in every event, as far as the Holy Ghost teacheth, our New Testament blessings dressed up in the Old Testament figures. The feeding of the Church in the wilderness with manna forty years, was a standing miracle, and, as such, became a most suitable type of Jesus. My soul! look at it, this evening, in this point of view, and behold what the Spirit holds forth in it, concerning the Lord Jesus. The continuance of this supply from heaven became a beautiful resemblance of the state of believers in all ages. The rebellion of Israel occasioned not any suspension of the mercy; for though Israel murmured and rebelled, the manna was sent the same, “new and pure every morning.” Sweet thought to the poor timid believer! Though we fail in our duty, Jesus will not diminish in his love: and though we neglect him, yet will he not forget us. Moreover, morning by morning, the blessing came; not a day, not an hour omitted. Jesus is all this, and more: “For it shall come to pass, that before my people call” (saith Jehovah) “I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24.) There is another precious thought suggested in the view of the type, and the thing signified: all the people partook of the rich mercy. There was enough manna for every one; for each, and for all. Such is Jesus to his people. Every state and every circumstance he is able to supply, and he doth and will supply; and, therefore, between the old Church of the Old Testament believers, and the new Church of New Testament saints, there is a great analogy and agreement. Christ is the sum and substance of all and every one of the people. One thing more: As Israel had no other sustenance until they came to the borders of Canaan, so the people of God now have no other, yea, they desire no other, until they come to the Canaan above. In Jesus there is a fulness of grace, and life, and glory. Hail, thou heavenly bread! thou word of God! Be thou my portion, the bread of life, until I am brought down to the waters of Jordan. Help me, Lord, by faith, to feed on thee and on thy great salvation; and “may my meditation of thee be sweet!” Exodus 16:36 36 (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)'" Ex 16:16,32,33 Exodus 16 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)'"