Exodus 16:34














Aaron was ordered to take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for future generations. The pot of manna is alluded to in Hebrews, where it is described as "golden," and as laid up in the ark (Hebrews 9:4). It may be questioned how so corruptible a substance admitted of preservation. But it is not so plain that the manna had in itself any tendency to corrupt, so that the miracle is perhaps to be looked for, not in the keeping fresh of the portion laid up in the ark, but in the smiting with corruption of any portions sinfully hoarded by the Israelites (ver. 20). We are taught -

I. THAT THE GREATER MERCIES OF GOD OUGHT SPECIALLY TO BE REMEMBERED BY US. It is fitting, even in the Church, to appoint memorials of them.

II. THAT THE PECULIAR LESSONS OF THE MANNA OUGHT SPECIALLY TO BE KEPT IN REMEMBRANCE. Among these note the following: -

1. "Man doth not live by bread alone," etc. (cf. Deuteronomy 8:4; Matthew 4:4).

2. The lesson of dependence on God for supply of daily wants (Matthew 6:2).

3. Typical lessons. The manna reminds us of Christ, our Bread of Life, in heaven. "Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). The "hidden manna" in Revelation 2:17, would seem to indicate the spiritual nourishment in communion with God and Christ which will maintain soul and body for ever in the possession of an incorruptible life - life undecaying, self-renewing, everlasting.

III. THE INDISSOLUBLE UNION OF LAW AND GRACE IN GOD'S DEALINGS WITH HIS CHURCH. The pot of manna was laid up (after the ark was made) "before the testimony, to be kept" (ver. 34). The law is the stern background, but near it is the golden pot, filled with the manna which told of God's goodness and grace to a people whom mere law would have condemned. God can be thus gracious to his Church, not because his law has been set aside, but because it has been magnified and made honourable by Christ, whose blood pleads at the mercy-seat for the transgressor. - J.O.

Put an omer full of manna therein.
I. BY WHOM THE MEMORIAL WAS ENJOINED. "The Lord." We have need to set up memorials in our lives which shall call upon our souls to remember the benefits of the Lord. It is the will of heaven that its gifts should be held in constant remembrance.

II. IN WHAT THE MEMORIAL CONSISTED. "Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations."

1. This memorial was reasonable.

2. Expressive.

3. Instructive.

4. Valuable. Golden pot (Hebrews 9:2).And the memorials of the soul should not find expression in valueless things, but in the richest treasures of man. God is worthy our best offerings.

III. WHERE THE MEMORIAL WAS DEPOSITED. "And lay it up before the Lord." "So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept." And so this memorial was laid up before the Lord, in the ark of the covenant. Thus we must keep the memorials of the soul in devout spirit, and with a constant trust in the mediatorial work of Christ.

IV. THE DESIGN THE MEMORIAL CONTEMPLATED. "That ye may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness." "To be kept for your generations." Each generation leaves a moral deposit behind it, for good or evil. Lessons:

1. The soul must have a memorial of the Divine mercy.

2. The memorial of the soul must consist of the best thing it possesses.

3. The memorial of the soul will have respect to the redemptive work of Christ.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

One day when George Moore — now a man of wealth — was accompanying his friend, Colonel Henderson, through the Waver wood on a partridge-shooting expedition, a curious ramshackle object appeared before them. It seemed to be a sort of big dhrosky with a long, broad trunk at the back end. "What is that?" asked the colonel. "Why," said George Moore, "that is the trap which I have driven into every market town in Great Britain and Ireland!" It was the carriage he had used whilst achieving such great success as a commercial traveller.

(H. O. Mackey.)

Mr. Kidd, minister of Queensferry, near Edinburgh, was one day very much depressed and discouraged. He sent a note to Mr. L — minister of Culross, a few miles off, informing him of his distress of mind, and desiring a visit as soon as possible. Mr. L — told the servant he was so busy that he could not wait upon his master, but desired him to tell Mr. Kidd to remember Torwood. When the servant returned, he said to his master, "Mr. L — could not come, but he desired me to tell you to remember Torwood." This answer immediately struck Mr. Kidd, and he cried out, "Yes, Lord! I will remember Thee, from the hill Mizar, and from the Hermonites!" All his troubles and darkness vanished upon the recollection of a day which he had formerly spent in prayer along with Mr. L — in Torwood, where he had enjoyed eminent communion with God.

(W. Baxendale.)

It was during the wars that raged from 1652 to 1660, between Frederick III. of Denmark, and Charles Gustavus, of Sweden, that after a battle in which the victory had remained with the Danes, a stout burgher of Flensburg was about to refresh himself, ere retiring to have his wounds dressed, with a draught of beer from a wooden bottle, when an imploring cry from a wounded Swede lying on the field made him turn, and, with the very words of Sidney — "Thy need is greater than mine," he knelt down by the fallen enemy to pour the liquor into his mouth. His requital was a pistol-shot in the shoulder from the treacherous Swede. "Rascal!" he cried, "I would have befriended you, and you would murder me in return! Now will I punish you. I would have given you the whole bottle, but now you shall only have half." And drinking off half himself, he gave the rest to the Swede. The king, hearing the story, sent for the burgher, and asked him how he came to spare the life of such a rascal. "Sire," said the honest burgher, "I could never kill a wounded enemy." "Thou meritest to be a noble," the king said, and created him one immediately, giving him as armorial bearings a wooden bottle pierced with an arrow. The family only lately became extinct in the person of an old maiden lady.

People
Aaron, Ephah, Israelites, Moses
Places
Canaan, Elim, Sin Desert, Sinai
Topics
Aaron, Charge, Chest, Commanded, Commandment, Deposited, Front, Holy, Kept, Laid, Manna, Orders, Placed, Rest, Testimony
Outline
1. The Israelites come to Sin, and murmur for want of bread
4. God promises them bread and meat from heaven, and they are rebuked
13. Quail and manna are sent
16. The ordering of manna
25. It was not to be found on the Sabbath
32. An omer of it is preserved

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 16:31-35

     4418   bread
     4474   manna

Library
The Bread of God
'Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. 5. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. 6. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

September the Twenty-Eighth the Daily Manna
"I will rain bread from heaven for you." --EXODUS xvi. 11-18. And this gracious provision is made for people who are complaining, and who are sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt! Our Lord can be patient with the impatient: He can be "kind to the unthankful." If it were easy to drive the Lord away I should have succeeded long ago. I have murmured, I have sulked, I have turned Him out of my thoughts, and "He stands at the door and knocks!" I yearn for "the flesh-pots," "He sends me manna," "Was
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Dining with a Pharisee. Sabbath Healing and Three Lessons Suggested by the Event.
(Probably Peræa.) ^C Luke XIV. 1-24. ^c 1 And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him. [The Pharisees were an unorganized party, hence their rulers were such not by office, but by influence. Those who were members of the Sanhedrin, or who were distinguished among the rabbis, might fitly be spoken of as rulers among them. The context favors the idea that Jesus was invited for the purpose of being
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Beauty and Glory of the Risen Body.
We have seen in the foregoing chapters that, in the Beatific Vision, the human soul sees, loves, and enjoys God, and that her essential happiness consists in that unfailing, blessed vision. But, although the blessedness she now enjoys is far greater than words can express, it is not yet integral or complete, and never will be, except when she is again clothed in her own body, beautified, and glorified after the likeness of her Saviour's body. However, although her happiness is not yet complete, you
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Tithing
There are few subjects on which the Lord's own people are more astray than on the subject of giving. They profess to take the Bible as their own rule of faith and practice, and yet in the matter of Christian finance, the vast majority have utterly ignored its plain teachings and have tried every substitute the carnal mind could devise; therefore it is no wonder that the majority of Christian enterprises in the world today are handicapped and crippled through the lack of funds. Is our giving to be
Arthur W. Pink—Tithing

The Personality of Power.
A Personally Conducted Journey. Everyone enjoys the pleasure of travel; but nearly all shrink back from its tiresomeness and drudgery. The transportation companies are constantly scheming to overcome this disagreeable side for both pleasure and business travel. One of the popular ways of pleasure travel of late is by means of personally conducted tours. A party is formed, often by the railroad company, and is accompanied by a special agent to attend to all the business matters of the trip. A variation
S.D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on Power

Epistle xvii. To Felix, Bishop of Messana.
To Felix, Bishop of Messana. To our most reverend brother, the Bishop Felix, Gregory, servant of the servants of God [246] . Our Head, which is Christ, to this end has willed us to be His members, that through His large charity and faithfulness He might make us one body in Himself, to whom it befits us so to cling that, since without Him we can do nothing, through Him we may be enabled to be what we are called. From the citadel of the Head let nothing divide us, lest, if we refuse to be His members,
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

1 to Pray is as it were to be on Speaking Terms with Me...
1. To pray is as it were to be on speaking terms with Me, and so by being in communion with and abiding in Me to become like Me. There is a kind of insect which feeds upon and lives among grass and green leaves and becomes like them in colour. Also the polar bear dwelling among the white snows has the same snowy whiteness, and the tiger of Bengal bears upon its skin the marks of the reeds among which it lives. So those, who by means of prayer abide in communion with Me partake, with the saints and
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

Appendix viii. Rabbinic Traditions About Elijah, the Forerunner of the Messiah
To complete the evidence, presented in the text, as to the essential difference between the teaching of the ancient Synagogue about the Forerunner of the Messiah' and the history and mission of John the Baptist, as described in the New Testaments, we subjoin a full, though condensed, account of the earlier Rabbinic traditions about Elijah. Opinions differ as to the descent and birthplace of Elijah. According to some, he was from the land of Gilead (Bemid. R. 14), and of the tribe of Gad (Tanch. on
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence,
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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