Title: Israel's Grievance and God's Grace/Exodus 16
1. "God's temptation and Israel's grumbling" (1-12)
While God saves and blesses His people, He sometimes gives them hardships and trials to test their faith. It makes you thirsty and makes you hungry. “This is to test you, that you may know what your heart is and whether you keep his commandments; he humbles you and makes you hungry” (Deuteronomy 8:2,3). A time of trial is a time when we must completely depend on God and pray. It is a time to remember the God of salvation, the God of provision, and the God of healing (Ex 15:2,25,26) and rely on God.
But the people of Israel failed in every trial. Instead of relying on God and praying, they complained and did not obey God. Last time I complained because I couldn't drink water, and this time I complained because I couldn't eat meat and rice cakes. The Israelites blamed Moses and Aaron and blamed God. To blame Moses was to blame God (8). In Exodus 16:1-12, the word grudge appears seven times. The sin of resentment became a chronic sin of the Israelites. Num 12:1 says that even Miriam and Aaron complained and slandered Moses. One of the fundamental sinful nature of man is resentment.
2. “Israel’s grumbling and God’s grace” (4-36)
God heard the complaints of the people of Israel (7, 8, 9, 12). God hears prayers of repentance and thanksgiving, and also hears the voices of murmuring. God listened to the complaints of the people of Israel and did not rebuke or discipline them who were ungrateful, but instead gave them the grace to “rain like bread from heaven.” Sometimes God chastises those who grumble or slander (Numbers 12:9, 10, 16:45, 21:6, 1 Corinthians 10:10), and sometimes God does not rebuke or discipline, but just gives grace. “I know that this kind of problem belongs to his deep wisdom, and we only believe” (Park Yun-sun).
1) He showed the miraculous grace of sending manna and quails from heaven (4). It was all the grace of God. The meaning of the word manna is “What is this?” (15), but God’s grace is so much that humans cannot comprehend it and ask “What is this?”
2) He showed the grace of giving manna and quail every day (4). give us our daily bread So Jesus commanded us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
3) He gave manna and quail to everyone equally (18). “Those who gathered much did not have any leftovers, and those who gathered little did not lack anything,” and they provided food evenly and evenly. Therefore, eating too much or too little goes against the principle of God's provision (Proverbs 30:8-9; 2 Corinthians 8:14). If you violate the law of equality and save money according to your own greed, worms will grow and become useless (20).
4) He provided the grace of rest with manna and quail (21-30). He told them to do the hard work of gathering manna, and gave them the command to rest on the seventh day. Although the Ten Commandments had not yet been given, He gave the model of the Sabbath system. The Sabbath is not a day of affliction, it is a day of rest and a day of worshiping God. Therefore, the labor of harvesting food on the Sabbath was forbidden.
5) He continued to give manna and quails during the wilderness life (31-36). When a miracle is needed, God feeds and protects His people in a miraculous way. Until we pass through this world like a wilderness. “When the journey of my life is over and I reach the hill across the river” (Bok 50)