Genesis 15:1-19 Moses and Israel sing a new song unto the Lord, praising him for delivering them from Egypt. Who wrote it? Moses has previously claimed he isn't good with words, making him unlikely, and how did all the Israelites know the words? It's not as though most of them could read.
Genesis 16:7 Then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that he heareth your murmerings against the Lord. This seems backward to me. We frequently talk about how the Lord wants to bless us and help us but that we need to demonstrate faith and obedience first, yet here, we have the Lord responding to a group of whiners. Would we get faster answers to our prayers if we just whined all the time? Probably only if we could whine directly to a prophet.
Genesis 16:24 And they laid it up till the morning...and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. I love the strength of the Sabbath throughout the Old Testament. Throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath is the defining difference between the Lord's covenant people and everybody else, and when they stop observing it, that's when they seem to get in the most trouble.
Genesis 17:2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses. and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? Sometimes I am on Moses's side, and sometimes on the Israelites' side. Here, for example, what did Moses expect them to do for water? They don't start murmering until after they "chide" with him (whatever that means) and he blows them off. What did he think a million plus people are going to do when there's no water and he's telling them where to put their tents?
Manna rejects capitalist philosophy.
16:17-18 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack
As I understand Capitalism, the premise is that you work hard at something you are good at, thereby producing more than someone who is either not as good at it or not as hard-working. By producing more, you accumulate more and your affluence increases. Success is measured by the relative degree of accumulation, as compared to others in a given aggregation of people, most frequently, a geographic proximity.
Manna, on the other hand, required no hard work to gather. It required simply that you go out each day and gather. It didn’t matter how much you gathered, or how little, and the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack (Exodus 16:17-18). Basically, if you went out and gathered, you came back with a full portion. If you worked harder, organized labor gangs, got up early, it didn’t matter. You still came back with only an omer, and if you tried to save some for tomorrow, it rotted, destroying the principle of accumulation and private ownership. You didn’t own Manna, you ate it.
Manna was symbolic of spiritual strength. It requires simple daily actions. You can not work hard at spirituality for 10 or 15 years and then retire from spiritual effort. It’s not a job where efficiency is valued, or accumulation compared and used as a measure of success. If there is a measure of success with Manna, it is that you are fed today or not. If you gathered Manna and ate, you have succeeded.
The double portion on the Sabbath came as a surprise
16:22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, "Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord.
As mentioned previously, they all came in with whatever they had gathered, and measured it, and no matter what, it was an omer (almost a gallon). Suddenly, on the sixth day, they're looking down at 2 omers and saying, Uh, hey, Mo! Looks like something funny's going on!
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