Yahweh’s Provision
Yahweh's Provision
Image by Sweet Publishing from Free Bible Images, CC BY-SA 3.0
Marah
Then Moses had the Israelites journey from the Red Sea into the Wilderness of Shur. They walked in the wilderness for three days but found no water until they arrived at Marah. But they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it’s called Marah.
The people complained about Moses. “What are we supposed to drink?”
So Moses cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree branch. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became pure. There Yahweh issued him a just decree, and there he tested him. “If you carefully obey Yahweh, your God, do what he considers right, listen to his commands, and obey all his decrees, I won’t inflict on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. I am Yahweh, your healer.”
From the northern end of the Red Sea, Moses had the Israelites head into the wilderness. The Sinai Peninsula is a harsh region made up of semiarid areas in the north and tall mountains in the south.1 After the spiritual high of the Red Sea crossing, the Israelites quickly faced the stark reality of daily life as a free people. The Egyptians would no longer provide for their basic needs.
For three days, the Israelites found no water. On the fourth day, to their frustration, they found contaminated water that tasted bitter. So they named the place Marah, which means “bitter.” But instead of turning to Yahweh for a solution, the thirsty people complained about Moses. They thought serving God would mean a problem-free life. So at the first sign of difficulty, they started whining about their human leadership.
Moses did what the people should have done. He cried out to Yahweh for help. In response, Yahweh showed him a tree branch. When Moses threw the branch in the water, the water became drinkable. But the text doesn’t say the branch itself purified the water. Rather, Moses’s act of obedience coincided with the purification. Yahweh used the Israelites complaining to test Moses.2 Would the leader of his people carefully obey his commands? Once Moses proved himself faithful, Yahweh healed the water. Then he promised that continued obedience would result in continued healing, though not in a lack of hardship.
A Test of Blessing
Then they arrived at Elim, where there are twelve springs and seventy date palms.
After leaving Elim, the entire assembly of the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. They arrived on the fifteenth day of the second month, after they left the land of Egypt.
In the wilderness, the entire assembly complained about Moses and Aaron. “We wish Yahweh had put us to death in the land of Egypt while we sat around pots of meat and ate bread until we were satisfied! You’ve brought us into this wilderness to starve this whole community to death.”
So Yahweh told Moses, “Look! I’m about to rain bread down on you from the sky. Then the people will go out each day to gather their daily portion so I can test whether they’ll follow my instructions. On the sixth day, when they determine what they’ve brought in, it will be double what they gather on the other days.”
After the Israelites left Marah, Yahweh led them to Elim, one of the oases in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. The twelve springs of Elim provided them with more fresh water, but the seventy date palms represented another frustration. Later in the year, the Israelites could have feasted on the sweet dates. But they arrived there in the spring, before date palms bear fruit.3
Leaving Elim, they entered the Wilderness of Sin and immediately started complaining again. One month after leaving Egypt, they had started running out of food. Forgetting how Yahweh had provided water for them at Marah, they failed to turn to him. Instead, they started idealizing their life in Egypt. While their Egyptian masters would have given them food so they could continue working, they certainly didn’t have “pots of meat” or all the bread they could eat. Worst of all, they accused Moses and Aaron, who had no more food than they did, of intentionally starving them.
Yahweh responded with a promise to provide the people with bread. Each day, the people would have to go out the gather the bread. By providing for Israel, Yahweh would test them. But he didn’t test whether they would obey him through difficult times. He tested whether they would obey him through blessings. After he provided for them at Marah, they failed to trust that he would continue doing so. Would they learn their lesson and trust him now? Or would they continue to disobey and complain?
Yahweh’s Leadership
Then Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites, “In the evening, you’ll know Yahweh is the one who brought you out from the land of Egypt, and in the morning, you’ll see Yahweh’s glory. He’s heard your complaints—which are about Yahweh! What are we? Why would you complain about us?”
Moses continued, “Yahweh will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning. He’s heard your complaints about him. What are we? You’re complaining about Yahweh, not us!”
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the entire assembly of the Israelites, ‘Approach Yahweh because he has heard your complaints.’”
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In response to the Israelites’ complaints about him, Moses could have defended his leadership, reminding them of the miracles he performed in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and at Marah. Instead, he gave Yahweh all the glory. Yahweh had brought them out from Egypt. Moses and Aaron merely served Israel’s true leader. They had no power on their own, and they had never claimed otherwise.
The Israelites needed to learn who provided for them. When they complained about their situation, they actually complained about Yahweh, not any human leadership. But despite their failure to acknowledge him, Yahweh heard his people’s complaints. They wanted meat and bread, and that’s exactly what he would give them. They’d eat meat in the evening and know Yahweh had brought them out from Egypt. Then they’d eat bread in the morning and see Yahweh’s glory through its miraculous appearance.
Meat
As Aaron spoke to the entire assembly, they turned toward the wilderness. Suddenly Yahweh’s glory appeared in the cloud. Yahweh said to Moses, “I’ve heard the Israelites’ complaints. Tell them, ‘As the sun goes down, you’ll eat meat, and in the morning, you’ll be satisfied with bread. Then you’ll know I am Yahweh, your God.’”
In the evening, quail took flight and covered the camp.
As Moses commanded, Aaron told the Israelites to approach Yahweh. So they turned toward the cloud pillar outside the camp. Yahweh came down to meet with them, and he allowed them to see his glory within the cloud. Yet Yahweh would not speak to his people directly. As Moses honored Yahweh as Israel’s true leader, Yahweh honored Moses. He would speak only through his chosen representative. Moses announced the provision of meat and bread, trusting Yahweh to fulfill his words.
As the sun began to set in the evening, the promised meat arrived in the form of a massive flock of quail. Quail normally fly over the Sinai Peninsula while migrating between Europe and North Africa, in this case flying north in the spring.4 They migrate at night and hide in the grassy brush during the day.5 Having just taken off, these birds flew through the camp low to the ground, making them easy to catch in nets. As the quail passed by, the Israelites had ample opportunity to snag enough for everyone.
Bread
Then in the morning, there was a layer of dew around the camp. After the layer of dew evaporated, a substance like thin scales covered the wilderness like frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they didn’t know what it was. So they asked each other, “What is that?”
Moses answered, “That’s the bread Yahweh has given you to eat. Yahweh commands each of you to gather what you’ll eat. Take an omer per person for everyone in your tent.”
The Israelites did so. Some gathered a lot, and some gathered a little. When they measured it by the omer, those who gathered a lot had no extra, and those who gathered a little had no lack. Each person gathered enough to eat.
Then Moses told them, “Don’t save any of it until morning!” But they ignored Moses and saved some of it until morning. Then maggots infested it, and it stank. So Moses grew angry with them.
Image by Sweet Publishing from Free Bible Images, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Israelites could have considered the appearance of quail at just the right time a coincidence. But the strange scaly substance that appeared the next morning left no room for doubt about Yahweh’s provision. After the morning dew evaporated, it left behind something they’d never seen before. When they asked what it was, Moses identified it as the bread Yahweh had promised. More precisely, it substituted for the flour they used to make bread.6
Moses commanded the Israelites to gather one omer (about two quarts7) for each person. No one could collect more than needed for a single day. But apparently they only estimated the amount while gathering. They gathered different amounts based on household size, then returned to the camp to measure and redistribute as needed. Because they obeyed, they found each household had gathered exactly the right amount.
In this way, Yahweh proved he could provide precisely what they needed. Moses commanded the people to eat everything they’d gathered. Rationing the bread would indicate a lack of trust in Yahweh’s ability to provide more the next day. Since they didn’t trust him, they ignored Moses. Instead of eating their fill, they went to bed still hungry. But in the morning, they found maggots infesting the saved bread, and the smell of rotting food permeated the camp. Their continued disobedience angered Moses. No matter what Yahweh did, the Israelites refused to act like a people living under his blessing.
The First Sabbath
Every morning, [the Israelites] each gathered enough [bread] to eat. Then when the sun grew hot, the rest melted. But on the sixth day, they gathered double the amount of bread, two omers instead of one. So all the leaders of the assembly went and told Moses.
Moses told them, “That’s what Yahweh has decreed. Tomorrow is a day without work, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. You can save the extra until morning.”
So they saved it until morning, just as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have any maggots in it. Then Moses told them, “Eat it today because today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. You won’t find any outside the camp today. You’ll gather it for six days, but on the seventh day, a Sabbath, there won’t be any.”
Still, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather. But they didn’t find any. So Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commands and teachings? Look! Yahweh has given you the Sabbath! That’s why on the sixth day he gives you enough bread for two days. Everyone must stay put. No one may leave home on the seventh day.” So the people stopped working on the seventh day.
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Despite the Israelites’ unfaithfulness, Yahweh faithfully provided the mysterious bread every day. For several days, the Israelites gathered what they needed in the morning, and then what remained would melt in the sun. But on the sixth day of the week, they measured what each household had gathered and found it equaled two omers per person instead of one. Afraid they had inadvertently disobeyed, the leaders approached Moses to ask what they should do with the extra day’s bread.
Moses assured them Yahweh had decreed the double amount because he wouldn’t provide any the next day. He then introduced the Sabbath, a day when they had to stop all work. The basis for the Sabbath dates backs to the seventh day of creation, when God stopped his work.8 Yet God had never before commanded humanity to observe the Sabbath. Moses first initiated the practice about two weeks before the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, where it would become the sign of God’s covenant with Israel.9
Because they couldn’t work the next day, Moses told the people to prepare all the bread for both days and to set the extra aside overnight. For that one night every week, it wouldn’t rot. Still, some of the people went out to gather the next morning, angering Yahweh. He gave the Sabbath to Israel as a gift! Yet they refused to trust that he was acting for their benefit.
Manna
The household of Israel named the bread manna. It looked like white coriander seeds and tasted like honey cakes. Moses said, “This is what Yahweh commands: ‘Keep a full omer of it throughout your generations so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness after I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Take a container and put a full omer of manna in it. Then place it in Yahweh’s presence to keep throughout your generations.” Just as Yahweh commanded Moses, Aaron placed it to be kept in front of the testimony.
The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they arrived in an inhabited land. They ate manna until they arrived at the border of the land of Canaan.
An omer was a tenth of an ephah.
Since the Israelites didn’t know what the bread Yahweh provided them with was, they called it manna (man), which means “what?” Manna looked like the small oval seeds of the coriander plant, except coriander seeds are brown and manna was white. It tasted sweet like honey. Yahweh went beyond providing simple nourishment for the Israelites by giving them food they would enjoy.
Except for the Sabbath, the manna appeared every day for the next forty years. It didn’t stop until the Israelites entered Canaan.10 During that time, it served as their primary food source. But that doesn’t mean they had nothing else to eat. They had access to the occasional flock of quail, dates and other edible plants, and their own livestock. But in the wilderness, they could not farm the land and would experience long periods with scarce resources. The manna ensured they would never go hungry.
To commemorate Yahweh’s provision, Yahweh commanded the Israelites to keep an omer of manna for future generations to see. Moses commanded Aaron to gather it and to place it in Yahweh’s presence. Later, Aaron placed the manna in the chest of the testimony with the two stone tablets that contained the stipulations of Yahweh’s covenant with Israel.11 The chest served as Yahweh’s throne on earth and represented his presence among his people.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, “Sinai Peninsula,” last modified December 31, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/place/Sinai-Peninsula.
- Although the pronoun in Hebrew is singular (“him”), most translations change it to plural (“them”), making it sound like Yahweh tested the Israelites instead of Moses. There is no justification for this change.
- Koops, Plants and Trees, 2.5 Date Palm.
- Hope, Animals, 3.19 Quail.
- Animal Information, “Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix),” accessed March 1, 2025, https://animalinformation.com/animal/common-quail/.
- Exodus 16:23.
- Wells, “Exodus,” 219.
- See The Seventh Day.
- Exodus 31:14–17; see The Major Covenants.
- Joshua 5:10–12.
- Exodus 31:18; Hebrews 9:4.