Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 121
15:27–16:15
E x od u s
109
After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where
they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed
into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived
there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving
the land of Egypt. There, too, the whole community of Israel complained
about Moses and Aaron.
“If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we
sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now
you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from
heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food
as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they
will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and
when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”
So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will
realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the
morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your
complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that
you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The Lord will give
you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for
he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes,
your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”
Then Moses said to Aaron, “Announce this to the entire community of
Israel: ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’” And as Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they
looked out toward the wilderness. There they could see the awesome
glory of the Lord in the cloud.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints.
Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the
Lord your God.’”
That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And
the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. When the
dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground.
The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each
other. They had no idea what it was.
And Moses told them, “It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.
