pare it, v. 23. The law was very strict, that they must bake and seethe, the day before, and not on the sabbath-day. This does not now make it unlawful for us to dress meat on the Lord's day, but directs us to contrive our family-affairs so that they may hinder us as little as possible in the work of the sabbath. Works of necessity, no doubt, are to be done on that day; but it is desirable to have as little as may be to do of things necessary to the life that now is, that we may apply ourselves the more closely to the one thing needful. That which they kept for their food on sabbath-day did not putrefy, v. 24. When they kept it in opposition to a command, (v. 20.) it stank; when they kept it in obedience to a command, it was sweet and good; for every thing is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
3. The intermission of the manna on the seventh day; God did not send it then, and therefore they must not expect it, nor go out to gather, v. 25, 26. This showed that it was not produced by natural causes, and that it was designed for a confirmation of the divine authority of the law which was to be given by Moses. Thus God took an effectual course to make them remember the sabbath-day; they could not forget it, nor the day of preparation for it. Some, it seems, went out on the seventh day, expecting to find manna, (v. 27.) but they found none; for those that will find must seek in the appointed time; Seek the Lord while he may be found. God, upon this occasion, said to Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandment? v. 28. Why did he say this to Moses? He was not disobedient: No, but he was the ruler of a disobedient people, and God charges it upon him, that he might the more warmly charge it upon them, and might take care that their disobedience should not be through any neglect or default of his. It was for going out to seek for manna on the seventh day that they were thus reproved. Note, (1.) Disobedience, even in a small matter, is very provoking. (2.) God is jealous for the honour of his sabbaths. If walking out on the sabbath to seek for food was thus reproved, walking out on that day purely to find our own pleasure cannot be justified.
32. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it, to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. 33. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. 34. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the testimony, to be kept. 35. And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. 36. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
God having provided manna to be his people's food in the wilderness, and to be to them a continual feast, we are here told,
1. How the memory of it was preserved; an omer of this manna was laid up in a golden pot, as we are told, (Heb. 9. 4.) and kept before the testimony, or the ark, when it was afterward made, v. 32..34. The preservation of this manna from waste and corruption was a standing miracle, and therefore the more proper memorial of this miraculous food. "Posterity shall see the bread," says God, "wherewithal I have fed you in the wilderness;" see what sort of food it was, and how much each man's daily portion of it was, that it may appear they were neither kept to hard fare, nor to short allowance, and then judge between God and Israel, whether they had any cause given them to murmur, and find fault with their provisions, and whether they, and their seed after them, had not a great deal of reason gratefully to own God's goodness to them. Note, Eaten bread must not be forgotten; God's miracles and mercies are to be had in everlasting remembrance, for our encouragement to trust in him at all times.
2. How the mercy of it was continued as long as they had occasion for it. The manna never ceased till they came to the borders of Canaan, where there was bread enough and to spare, v. 35. See how constant the care of Providence is; seed time and harvest fail not, while the earth remains. Israel was very provoking in the wilderness, yet the manna never failed them: thus still God causes his rain to fall on the just and unjust.
The manna is called spiritual meat, (1 Cor, 10, 3.) because it was typical of spiritual blessings in heavenly things; Christ himself is the true Manna, the Bread of life, of which this was a figure, John, 6. 49..51. The word of God is the manna by which our souls are nourished, Matth. 4. 4. The comforts of the Spirit are hidden manna, Rev. 2. 17. These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and comfort of the divine life in the soul, while we are in the wilderness of this world. It is food for Israelites, for those only that follow the pillar of cloud and fire; it is to be gathered, Christ in the word is to be applied to the soul, and the means of grace are to be used; we must every one of us gather for ourselves, and gather, in the morning of our days, the morning of our opportunities, which if we let slip, it may be too late to gather. The manna they gathered must not be hoarded up, but eaten; they that have received Christ, must by faith live upon him, and not receive his grace in vain: there was manna enough for all, enough for each, and none had too much; so in Christ there is a complete sufficiency, and no superfluity. But they that did eat manna hungered again, died at last, and with many of them God was not well-pleased; whereas they that feed on Christ by faith shall never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God will be for ever well-pleased; the Lord evermore give us this bread!
CHAP. XVII.
Two passages of story are recorded in this chapter, I. The watering of the host of Israel. 1. In the wilderness they wanted water, v. 1. 2. In their want, they chid with Moses, v. 2, 3. 3. Moses cried to God, v. 4. 4. God ordered him to smite the rock, and fetch water out of that; Moses did so, v. 5, 6. 5. The place named from it, v. 7. II. The defeating of the host of Amalek. 1. The victory obtained by the prayer of Moses, v. 8..12. 2. By the sword of Joshua, v. 13. 3. A record kept of it, v. 14..16. And these things which happened to them are written for our instruction, in our spiritual journey and warfare.
1.AND all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journies, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? wherefore do ye tempt the
