Food and Water in the Wilderness

Manna (Food) and Water in the Wilderness

Exodus 16, 17

In an earlier story, we learned how Moses and the Israelites crossed the Red Sea into the wilderness. And after 1 1/2 months passed, all the Israelites began to complain to Moses because they were hungry. And so the LORD said to Moses "Look, I will send bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out every day and gather a certain amount, and I will test them to see if they follow my law or not. And it will happen that on the 6th day they will prepare what they gather, and that day it will be twice as much as the rest of the days."

And so Moses told the people that God had heard their cries, and that they would have meat in the evening, and bread in the morning. And in the evening quails came, and in the morning there was a small round thing, but the people didn't know what it was. But Moses told them that this was the bread which the LORD gave them to eat.

And they were told not to leave any bread until the next morning, but they didn't listen to Moses, and the bread that was left got worms and smelled, and Moses was very angry with them. And so after that they gathered it every morning, except for the sabbath, when they gathered twice as much.

And they called the bread Manna - and it was white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey. And the Israelites ate manna for 40 years.

Another time the people were thirsty and they complained to Moses for water, and again Moses prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told Moses to "go and take three elders and your rod. I will stand before you upon the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and there will come water out of it, so the people may drink." And so Moses did this, and he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because the people complained and because they tempted the LORD.

Memory Verse: Exodus 17:5 "...I will stand before you there upon the rock..and you shall strike the rock, and there will come water out of it."

Questions
1 How long were the people in the wilderness when they began to complain for food?
2 What did the Manna look and taste like? how often were they to gather it?
3 What happened if they left it over till the next morning?
4 What did the LORD tell Moses to do when the people asked for water?
5 What do you think are two miraculous things in this story?

Answers:
1 1 1/2 months
2 It was small, round and white, and it tasted like honey. They were to gather it every morning.
3 It got worms and smelled
4 to take 3 elders and his rod and strike the rock at Horeb where the LORD would stand
5 the manna came from heaven, and the water came from the rock

Vicki C. Gross

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