Exodus 16:13 - Meaning and Application

Now they begin to be fed by the direct hand of God.

He first gives them a feast at night, with delicate birds, feathered fowl (Psalm 78:27), so these were not locusts, as some have thought. Quails, or pheasants, or some other wild birds, came up and covered the camp, so tame that the people could take as many as they wanted. Here we see that God gives us the good things of this life, not only for need, but also for enjoyment, so that we may serve him gladly.

The next morning he rained manna on them, and this was to be their daily bread. The food they received was manna, which came down from the clouds, so in a sense they lived on the air. It came in dew that melted, yet it had enough substance to nourish and strengthen them by itself. They called it manna, which means, “What is this?” That could mean, “What a poor thing this is,” if they despised it, or, “What a strange thing this is,” if they admired it. Or it could mean, “It is a portion. It does not matter what it is. This is what our God has given us, and we will receive it with thanks” (Exodus 16:14, Exodus 16:15).

It was pleasant food. The Jews say it suited every taste, whatever a person liked. It was also healthy food, easy to digest, and very useful, since it likely helped cleanse them from the diseases they had picked up during slavery. A rich and luxurious diet would have spread those illnesses further. By this simple and spare diet, we are taught temperance, and we are warned not to crave delicacies and variety.

They were to gather it every morning, the day’s portion for that day (Exodus 16:21, Exodus 16:4). In this way they had to live on daily providence, like the birds of the air, of which it is said, “What you give them they gather” (Psalm 104:28). They were not to store up for tomorrow. They were to leave tomorrow’s care to tomorrow. Our Savior seems to point to this daily rain and gathering of manna when he teaches us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.”

This teaches us prudence and diligence in getting what is needed for ourselves and our households. What God kindly gives, we must carefully gather. We should work quietly and eat our own bread, not bread gotten by laziness or deceit. God’s generosity does not cancel human duty. Even when manna rained from heaven, they still had to gather it before they could eat.

It also teaches contentment with enough. They were to gather, each one according to what he could eat. Enough is as good as a feast, and more than enough is as bad as overeating. Those who have the most still have only food, clothing, and enjoyment for themselves, and those who have the least usually have these too. So the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little had no lack. There is not such a great difference between people in the comforts of this life as there is in what they own.

It also teaches dependence on God’s care. “Let no man leave it till morning” (Exodus 16:19). They had to go to bed in peace, even if there was no bread in their tents or in all the camp, trusting that God would bring their daily bread with the next day. It was safer in God’s storehouse than in their own, and it would come to them fresher and sweeter from there. Read this with Matthew 6:25, where Christ says, “Do not worry about your life.”

This also shows the foolishness of hoarding. The manna some people saved, thinking they were wiser than others and needed to protect themselves in case it failed the next day, spoiled, bred worms, and became useless. What is most wasted is often what is kept back through greed and distrust. Those riches are corrupted (James 5:2, James 5:3).

Let us think about the great power of God, who fed Israel in the wilderness and made miracles their daily bread. What cannot this God do, who prepared a table in the wilderness and supplied it richly even for those who doubted him? (Psalm 78:19, Psalm 78:20). Never was there such a market of food as this, where so many hundred thousand people were fed every day without money and without price. Never was there such an open house as God kept in the wilderness for forty years, or such free and generous hospitality. The feast that Ahasuerus made to show the riches of his kingdom and the honor of his majesty was nothing compared with this (Esther 1:4).

We should also think about God’s constant providence, his steady care that gives food to all living things, “for his mercy endures forever” (Psalm 136:25). He is a great housekeeper who provides for all his creatures. The same wisdom, power, and goodness that then brought food daily from the clouds are still at work in the regular order of nature, bringing food yearly from the earth and giving us all things richly to enjoy.