(a) Outline the circumstances that led to the gift of manna and quails in the wilderness. (b) What does this episode reveal of the nature of God?

(a) The circumstances that led to the gift of manna and quails (Exodus 16)

• After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, in the second month after leaving Egypt.
• There the whole congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron because they had no food. They complained, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
• The Lord told Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people were to gather a day's portion every day to test whether they would walk in His law.
• On the sixth day they were to gather twice as much and prepare it, so that they need not gather on the Sabbath.
• Moses and Aaron told the people that in the evening they would know that the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, and in the morning they would see His glory, for the Lord had heard their grumbling, which was not against Moses but against the Lord.
• That evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, a fine, flake-like thing lay on the ground. The people said, What is it? (manna), and Moses told them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.
• They gathered it each morning, an omer for each person; it bred worms if kept overnight except on the Sabbath, and it fell for forty years until they reached the border of Canaan.

(b) What this episode reveals of the nature of God

1. God is a faithful provider who supplies the daily needs of His people even in a barren wilderness.
2. God is patient and merciful, feeding the Israelites despite their grumbling and ingratitude.
3. God is holy and orderly, using the manna to teach obedience, trust and reverence for the Sabbath.
4. God is all-powerful, able to bring bread from heaven and quails from the sky, showing His control over nature.
5. God is a keeper of covenant who cares for His chosen people continually throughout their journey.