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Exodus 16:9–15
“In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground” (vv. 13–14).
Grace is the good favor of God given to those who do not deserve it. Without it we are destitute of all hope, and we see this especially in our salvation. As Titus 3:1–7 notes, the Lord showed His grace to those of us who trust in Christ while we were yet foolish and disobedient, saving us not “because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.”
Although divine grace is particularly evident in our salvation, the Lord shows His people grace in other ways as well. He blesses us even when we do not deserve it, so lavish is His generosity and so magnificent is His love toward us. God has acted this way throughout history, and an especially clear display of God’s grace is evident in His provision of manna to the Israelites during their time in the wilderness.
Not long after leaving Egypt, as we have seen, the Israelites had run out of food and were hungry in the wilderness, having no apparent source of meat or bread left to draw from. Instead of humbly asking the Lord to provide, however, they grumbled against God, blaming Him for their predicament and believing that it would have been better to die in Egypt (Ex. 16:1–8).
Such an attitude deserved nothing but the Lord’s curse, but God did not strike Israel down. Instead, He provided for them, promising to send them meat and bread (Ex. 16:9–12). They merited only our Creator’s rejection, but He responded with patience and provision. This is good news for us, for although we should never let the Lord’s grace make us complacent, we are fallen and do grumble from time to time. We need the patience and provision of God, and we are grateful that He shows it to us even when we have gone astray.
Exodus 16:13 tells us that the meat the Lord gave to Israel at that time consisted of quail that landed in the camp in the evening. Apparently, this was God’s making use of regular patterns that He had already established in nature, since quail migrate from North Africa to Europe in the spring and would have been passing through the Sinai wilderness at this time. The Lord directed the quail on their normal path to feed the Israelites. On the other hand, the bread was clearly a supernatural provision. Some have tried to explain it as a naturally occurring substance produced by insects in the desert, but Israel would have been familiar with that and would never have been perplexed by the bread they saw if it was just something that occurred regularly in nature (Ex. 16:15). God performed a miracle to give them bread.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
If God were not gracious and patient with His people, we would have no hope, for we are sinners who routinely fall short. At the same time, our sinfulness is seen clearly in how often we take God's grace for granted, not living in thankful obedience for His provision but complaining against Him and not seeking His will. Today and always, let us seek to live in gratitude for all of God's blessings and never take His patience for granted.
For Further Study
- Numbers 11
- Psalm 105:40
- Mark 14:22–25
- John 6:22–58