Exodus 16 ~ they did not listen to Moses

The Merneptah Stele

Exodus 16

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. ² And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

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. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him— what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the people 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 that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, ^{[two quarts or liters]} according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. ¹⁹ And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

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, ²³ he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 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. ²⁵ Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶ Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? ²⁹ See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. ³⁵ The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.) ^{[2 liters compared to 22 liters.]}

We live in a time where archaeology is proving again and again that God does not lie.

Hebrews 6:18
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

PBS's Nova interviewed William Dever, Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona. Professor Dever investigated archeology of the ancient Near East for 30 years and authored almost as many books. In the following interview, Dever describes some of the most significant archeological finds from the Bible.

The Merneptah Stele - Why is it so famous?

"It's the earliest reference we have to the Israelites. The victory stele of Pharaoh Merneptah, the son of Ramses II, mentions a list of peoples and city-states in Canaan, and among them are the Israelites. And it's interesting that the other entities, the other ethnic groups, are described as nascent states, but the Israelites are described as "a people." They have not yet reached a level of state organization.

So the Egyptians, a little before 1200 B.C.E., know of a group of people somewhere in the central highlands—a loosely affiliated tribal confederation, if you will—called "Israelites." These are our Israelites. So this is a priceless inscription."

Another site tells us of an Egyptian historian from the 3rd Century. Artapanus researched and compiled "Concerning The Jews, a History of the Jews"; in Greek, between 250 and 100 B.C. The material for this history, of the Israelite nation in Egypt, probably came from access to ancient records housed in the great Egyptian temples and perhaps books from the second largest library in the world, Pergamon, which were transfered to Alexandria. This book has not survived to our day, we have extracts paraphrased in Eusebius' writings and a partial summary in Clement's writings.

Exodus 1:11
Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Eusebius'/Clements writings - The city of Avaris is the same city as Raamses. (pg 114) The biblical redactor would naturally refer to the city by the name which was familiar to all his contemporaries. In the sixth century BC the Jewish audience would know of this city by the name Raameses. (pg 116). Scripture for Today Blogspot post on the city Ramses: Exodus 1:8-21 ~ king of Egypt called for the midwives. He asked them, "Why have you done this?"


Genesis 47:27
Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Eusebius'/Clements - Incontrovertible archaeological evidence exists for a large Asiatic population in the eastern delta (Goshen) for the correct time of the Biblical Israelite Exodus. (pg 273). The people who populated Avaris originated from Palestine and Syria. (pg 269) The grave goods associated with the majority of the tombs were of Asiatic origin. (pg 269)

We live in an amazing time. Israel exists after 2,000 years. Exodus 37 ~ He also made. After 1,935 years, Roman Jews proudly walked under the Arch, for the first time, because Israel was again a nation, May 14, 1948.

In reading these Scriptures we have the wonder knowing they did happen. And the joy in knowing we are people living as God's Beloved.


Luke 16:27-31
And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Romans 6:14
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Joshua 24:15
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Psalm 18

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

² The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
⁵ the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

⁷ Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸ Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹ He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰ He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.
¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.
¹² Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
¹⁴ And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
¹⁵ Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
²² For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
²³ I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
²⁴ So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

²⁵ With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
²⁶ with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
²⁷ For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
²⁸ For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
²⁹ For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
³⁰ This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

³¹ For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
³² the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.
³³ He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.
³⁴ He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
³⁵ You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.
³⁶ You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
³⁸ I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
³⁹ For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
⁴⁰ You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.
⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
⁴² I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

⁴³ You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
⁴⁴ As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
⁴⁵ Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
⁴⁷ the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,
⁴⁸ who delivered me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you rescued me from the man of violence.

⁴⁹ For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.
⁵⁰ Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.

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