Thought on the Manna

This week's reading is Exodus 16.  Tom will be preaching this Sunday, as I will be on vacation.

The story of the manna (and the quail) is one of the better-known episodes of Exodus.  It is also found in Numbers 11:4-35.  And, as we find in the Gospel accounts of Jesus, there are interesting differences between the two versions of the story.  In Exodus, the Lord seems to give the manna and the quail at the same time, while in Numbers the manna is given first, but the Israelites want meat as well, so the Lord sends the quail.  In Numbers, the Lord also sends a plague upon those who "craved other food."  In Exodus, on the other hand, the special instructions are given about gathering and storage of the manna, especially pertaining to the Sabbath.
What are we to make of these differences?  While we believe that the Bible relates events that really happened, it is not a work of history in the modern sense.  The goal of the authors was not to create a historical record; instead, they wanted to make a theological point, and they told stories with this in mind.  Details that did not fit with the point they were trying to make were left out, even things that we would consider essential to a true historical account of the situation.
The stories in Exodus and Numbers use the manna episode to make different points.  Exodus seems concerned with the people following the law, especially the Sabbath.  Numbers tells a story of the people not being satisfied with what the Lord gave them--and the consequences of this dissatisfaction.  It is easy to imagine how the actual event could have combined elements from both of these stories.

16:3 - Once again the Hebrew people are grumbling, and once again they long to return to Egypt.  Their remembrance of what Egypt was like seems much rosier than the reality of their slavery.  They remember not that they were beaten and forced to work at hard labor day after day but that they "sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted."  We long to return to Egypt when we desire earthly pleasures rather than the things of God.  It is easy to forget what life apart from God is like.

16:4 - Just as we saw last week, this is a test.

16:7-8 -When the people of Israel grumble against Moses and Aaron, they say, "Who are we, that you should grumble against us...You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."  In other words, "Don't blame us, blame God!"  Whenever things go well, the Israelites worshiped God.  However, when things went poorly, they tended to blame Moses rather than God.  Why is this?  Perhaps they lost faith in God during difficult times.  Or perhaps they realized the folly of accusing God of wrongdoing, so they shifted their blame to easier targets.  Who do we blame when things go wrong, and why?

16:15 - The Old Testament is full of puns, which are lost in translation to English.  When the people see the manna, they ask "What is it?", a question that sounds like the word manna.

One last note: Exodus 15:22-17:7 seem to be one large story with three related episodes.  Note the similarities between them.  The story of manna is sandwiched between two stories of God providing water.  In each case, the people complain.  In each story, there is testing.  In the first two stories, God tests the Israelites.  In the last story, however, the people test God--a dangerous proposition.  What might we discover by reading this whole section as one long narrative, rather than three unrelated events?