4 What is It?

Read Exodus 16:1-36.

The descendants of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah were enslaved in Egypt for about twenty generations. Because of God, they escaped to the wilderness. Imagine what they had just gone through. They had witnessed God do miracle after miracle. The plagues, sparing their firstborn sons and animals, and their amazing escape through the Red Sea were fresh on their minds. God had even miraculously provided water out of a rock! They had been in the desert for one and a half months, and they were hungry.

It is implied that the Hebrews had been eating the food they brought from Egypt to this point. Now, lost in a land with no food, they began to respond to their situation. They were all grumbling. Can you hear it? “I’m starving!” “We’re going to die!” “Take me back to Egypt!”

The people thought they would die of starvation. This was a legitimate concern because they may have been too far into the wilderness to get out. Even if they did get out, would they go to a place that had enough food for more than a million people? A million! It would take another miracle, and they didn't have the faith to perceive what miracle was coming next.

The people blamed Moses and Aaron. Moses said it was God's fault, not his. That was fair. They needed to complain to the right person.

God's solution was twofold. First, he would send a type of bird that may have been slow to flight in the evening, probably more than a million of them. It was meant to be evidence that God was God. Who else could do these things? From that point on, they would receive daily manna. Manna was going to prove that God was real, powerful, and trustworthy.

One purpose of manna was to test. There were rules about when they were to gather. For example, manna had to be collected early in the day. Once the sun got hot, it would melt away. They also had to gather it for six days, and then not on the seventh day. Extra manna was collected and prepared the day before the seventh day, the rest day.

Because of the gathering days, manna would make a real distinction for the rest day, the Sabbath. Manna established the rest day for them.

Manna would be the Israelites' meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years. Can you imagine eating the same thing every day for every meal? But God saw it fit to do just that.

The people came up with the name for manna, not God. Manna doesn't mean bread. The Hebrew word comes from the root “what?” or “what is it?” So, they called it “what is it?” but Moses and God called it bread or food.[1]

What did manna look like?

And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, [as] fine as frost on the ground. (Exodus16:14, NKJV)

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. (Exodus16:31, NKJV)

Manna appeared after the fog or mist had left. Recall that God was in the cloud by day. The manna seemed to be coming from a cloud also.

Let’s think about what it would be like to experience manna as the Israelites did. The English implies it was a small seed the size of frost. It might be, but that seems nearly impossible to pick up.[2] The Hebrew word translated frost means a bowl or basin (kᵊp̄ôr ). It can refer to frost. When it does, the idea is that the frost covers the ground, like a bowl can cover something on a table. Perhaps the phrase described the Israelites looking outside the camp and seeing the small, white manna slightly covering the ground like frost.

When they got to it, this is what they found: The phrase “round substance” (ḥaspas) is more like scales or something that can peel off. In verse 31, the word translated “coriander seed” is more like clumped seeds. Like military troops, manna was individuals (cut), yet together (grouped) (gaḏ, root gāḏaḏ). This seems to match the peel-off shape. These white pieces are what they gathered.

The most important feature of manna in our study is the taste. We want to imagine what it would be like to eat it day after day. It tasted like flat bread made with honey (v. 31). In Numbers 11:8, we also learn that it tasted like it was baked with oil.

The people in the Exodus were to be content with picking up these small clumps, grinding them, and then baking or boiling them into things that tasted like oil and honey. Manna had all the nutrition and food-energy they needed. We might think of it as the perfect food or a superfood.

Not only were the Israelites to be content with the taste of manna, but they were to be content with the amount they received. They collected more than a million omers a day. After they collected it, they made sure no family was short of the allotment.

The people of Israel were to be content with this one flavor and portion size until they entered the Promised Land. Had they been willing to go into the Promised Land when God first told them to, they would have been eating it for just under 2 years. As it turned out, they ate it for 40 years (except the month they ate quail from the sea, Numbers 11). They were to be content with that.

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. (Exodus16:35, NKJV)

Take Aways

Once again, God used the food he created to teach and challenge people. Let’s think about what we might be able to use in our lives today.

Christian Food Hedonism

We should start by weighing a theological idea that has become popular recently - Christian hedonism.[3] How much does God want us to enjoy food?

Regarding food, Christian hedonism says, “The more I enjoy the things I am eating, the more God is glorified. He made it, and he wants us to enjoy it. It’s who he is.” It’s about finding deep pleasure in eating because God wants that. Could this be true? Let’s look at five different times food was introduced and see if this theology holds up.

The first is in the Garden. God provided so many different, flavorful, and colorful plants, seeds, berries, vegetables, and fruits. There was a lot to choose from. Genesis says food is good, and God created it to taste good.

The second was the introduction of meat. God said we needed it to prosper and multiply (Genesis 9:3). Something living had to die for us to prosper, but it wasn’t part of God’s original intent.

Third was the creation of manna. In the wilderness, it replaced all of the food from the Garden and the meat that they ate after the flood. Manna was God’s good invention.

Fourth are foods people invented. The creativity and flavor keep increasing, and took a big jump in the last century because of industrialization. Now, we eat foods that are different than both the Garden and the wilderness. It’s not just turning pecans into pecan pie and peaches into preserves anymore. We turn corn into syrup, potatoes into chilly cheese French fries, flour and meat into deep-fried chicken nuggets, and water into bubbly sweet drinks. Did God intend for us to do that? If so, to what extent?

Finally, there is the food that Jesus had: “I have food to eat of which you do not know” (John 4:32, NKJV).

Eating animals was a concession that didn’t line up with God’s original plan, and we don’t know what God thinks about the special foods we create today, but we can be certain that three of these five food introductions were good. God approved of the Garden food, manna, and the food that Jesus had. Christian food hedonism conflicts with these three.

God believed the simple foods in the Garden were good, and those aren’t the kinds of food generally associated with Christian food hedonism. God gave them the same manna every day for years in the wilderness, and he was totally fine with it. Finally, the food that Jesus had wasn’t the kind of food that a person can taste with his tongue. His food was “to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work" (John 4:34, NKJV).

What can we conclude? The God we know doesn’t really care that our food is especially “yummy.” He doesn’t get more glory if we savor modern food. That’s not his priority.

Our question is, how do we correct this false belief about food? First, we should agree with God. We have to know this about God: He is content with plain food for us. If your theological idea was that food should be exciting, take time to rethink who God is and what he has done in the past. We have to get this false belief out of our minds.

Second, if we want to line ourselves up with him, we need to catch ourselves if we act like food hedonists. For example, we should watch what we say when we see ice cream with chocolate syrup or sizzling steak. He doesn’t get more glory if we respond like food hedonists. He gets more glory when we take on his attitude and thoughts about food.

Manna

It is interesting to think about whether God preferred his creation of the food in the Garden (nuts, berries, grains) or his creation in the wilderness (manna). Our initial hunch might be that he was more pleased with the Garden food. It was so varied and perfect, but maybe we should challenge that idea. After all, Jesus didn’t use the Garden’s food to describe who he was (John 6:51). It seems that, at the very least, manna is more valuable to God when it comes to revealing himself, and revealing himself is something that pleases him. So, maybe manna is his favorite food creation.

Let’s imagine we were part of that glorious time of eating manna in the wilderness. How would we respond to the same food every day for years and years? What would our friends and family think?

The application of the lessons from manna is really one in our minds. The lesson challenges our old way of thinking about food. “I don’t care much about what I eat next, so long as it gives me the right energy.” Having this attitude will help us avoid food sin.

Here is a point we know we can apply: To avoid food sin, we need to be content with manna-type eating if it is ever required of us. If God is content giving it to us, we must be content receiving it. Food variety isn’t necessary.

In fact, we should consider that life might be better in some ways if manna were the only option. It certainly would be easier. It would give us more time to focus on things that matter more. We might even wonder if we would do well to consider ways to simulate a manna-type diet. Would it be good to test ourselves sometimes to make sure we would be content?

Omers

On average, an omer was just the right amount for a person to eat – not too much or too little, but each person didn’t eat a whole omer. Some ate more, some ate less. How much they ate depended on who they were -children, women, men, teenagers, the elderly, people with slow metabolisms, people with fast metabolisms, etc. The intriguing part is that God calculated what the average person would need, and he provided that.

After they cooked the manna, they had to work together so that each person got the right amount of nutrition. There would be little to nothing left over.

How could this apply to us? First, we should notice and appreciate the precision of God’s choice in this case. He thought through how much people should eat. Interesting. Do we think as he does? Do we think, “You should eat about twice what I eat.” “I know what a ‘standard serving’ is, but I don’t need that much.” “I am not going to burn that much today since I am going to be working on a computer, so I should eat less.” When we think these ways, we are thinking as God thought. Just enough. Food for energy.

Keep the points you’ve learned from Exodus 16 in a place where they will help you most, like in the kitchen. It might look like this:

· God isn’t concerned with how good-tasting our food is.

· Aspire to be content with manna.

· What part of an omer do you need today?

Reflection & Discussion Questions

1. What would it look like to eat the same, simple food every day? Does your existing theology on food contradict that idea? What does Exodus 16 tell you?

2. Is there a way to simulate the manna experience? If there were, would that help you gain the right perspective on food? What would your family think? If you had special guests over, would you be okay feeding them this plain meal? Would it affect your time, friendships, finances, gatherings, or body?

3. What part of an omer do you need? How much food do you need compared to others?

[1] Verses 4, 8, 15, 29, 32

[2] Literally, the phrase is ‘small peel-off small bowl on the ground.’

[3] Popularized by the influential American Baptist pastor and author John Piper.