The Scrolls is a weekly Bible study written by pastors and other leaders at Central Bible Church, based on that week’s sermon topic. Use The Scrolls as a personal Bible study tool, for family devotions, and for small group discussions. You can read part of it below. The downloadable PDF also includes discussion questions, more in-depth commentary, end notes, and a kids’ page designed for families to study the topic together. This lesson goes with the sermon "Burn the Ships."
The Lord knew he would have to provide for the Israelites, whom he delivered from Egypt, for such a large number of people would not be able to find adequate food and water in the inhospitable wilderness of Sinai. Israel’s personal God was not about to abandon to the desert those he saved from Egypt. But after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites traveled for three days in the Desert of Shur without finding water (Ex 15:22). With each passing day, their search became more desperate until it reached a bitter end at Marah, “inland from the western arm of the ‘Red Sea’ about 50 miles south of its northern end” (The NIV Study Bible, note on Ex 15:23). They found water there, but it was undrinkable (v. 23). However, in response to Moses’ cry, the Lord intervened to make it fit to drink (v. 25).
A month after their departure from Egypt, the “whole Israelite community” ran out of food in the Desert of Sin, located “in southwestern Sinai (‘Sin’ is probably derived from ‘Sinai’)” (The NIV Study Bible, note on Ex 16:1) . At this point in the story, “grumbling” becomes a motif that will characterize the rest of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. At Marah, the people grumbled saying, “What are we to drink?” After leaving Elim, the people grumbled and accused Moses and Aaron saying, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (16:3; cf. 17:3). This time the Lord intervened to give them quail and bread to eat. The quail they recognized; the bread they didn’t. “That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was” (16:13-15). Since the interrogative pronoun “what” is mān in Hebrew (cf. Gk. manna, meaning “grain” or “bread”), “henceforth, they called it ‘the what?-food’” (John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative, 275) or “in the vernacular ‘whazit?’” (John I. Durham, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 3, Exodus, 225). The Lord provided manna daily for the Israelites throughout their wilderness wanderings. It stopped after they first ate of the produce of Canaan (Jos 5:11-12).
Of course, Jesus is God incarnate (Jn 1:1-3, 14), the perfect revelation of the personal God. No wonder he identified himself with the manna provided by Israel’s personal God in the Old Testament. Twice in the Bread of Life Discourse, recorded in John 6, he declared, “I am the bread of life” (vv. 35, 48). “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died,” he told the Jews. “But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (vv. 49-51).
He opened his discourse with these words:
“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’
‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.’”
Central Message of the Text
You can trust the one who gave his Son to redeem you to graciously give you all things you need.
Family Talk
As parents, we clearly see how blessed our children are as their rooms literally overflow with books, games and toys. However, it only takes a few days after a birthday or Christmas to forget the blessings and start complaining again about being bored. It didn’t take the Israelites long to start complaining again either. It had been three whole days since God delivered them from oppression, parted the Red Sea (wow!), and then obliterated the Egyptian army before their eyes. Surely events that dramatic would be impossible to forget! But they were tired, thirsty and downright hangry. We’re pretty hard on the Israelites about their grumbling, but we’re often no different than they were. We tend to dwell on the difficulty or discomfort in our circumstances instead of remembering how God has provided and continues to provide. The antidote to grumbling? Gratitude. It's hard to complain when you are marveling at His greatness! He delivered the Israelites from slavery and He delivered us from slavery to sin by sending Jesus to die for us. As free people, we have much to be thankful for! Help shift your family’s perspective to thankfulness by looking for ways to acknowledge God’s provision throughout your day. From hot coffee to your child’s giggles to a field of bluebonnets...the more you look for things to be thankful for, the more things you’ll notice! Of course, there will be challenges, but if your gratitude muscle is strong, you can trust God to provide in those challenges. We’re praying for you!