57.5 God's Goodness Despite Our Ingratitude

(Psalm 78:1-8, 24-39)

Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known, things that our fathers told us.
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.
He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to the children, so that that the next generation might learn them
and in turn should tell their children.
In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but  always obey his commandments.
They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

He gave them grain from heaven,  by sending down manna for them to eat.
So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind: and to his people he sent down birds as many as the grains of sand on the shore they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
So the people ate and were satisfied ; God gave them what they wanted.

But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating, when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.

In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

But God was merciful to his people.
He forgave their sin and did not destroy them.
Many time he held back his anger and restrained his fury.
He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.

57.4 Christ Is The Bread Of Life

(John 6:35-40)

"I am the bread of life," Jesus told them.  "He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe.  Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.  And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life.  And I will raise them to life on the last day."

57.3 Sharing

(Exodus 16:16-18)

"The Lord has commanded that each of you is to gather as much of it as he needs, two quart for each member of his household."

The Israelites did this, some gathering more, others less.  When they measured it, those ho had gathered more did not have too much, and those who had gathered less did not have too little.  Each had gathered just what he needed.

57.2 God's Reaction And Rain Of Manna

(Exodus 16:4-15)

The Lord said to Moses, "No I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you.  The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions.  On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it".

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.  In the morning you will see the dazzling light of Lord's presence.  He has heard your complaints against him - yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions." Then Moses said, "It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him.  When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord".

Moses said to Aaron, "Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints." As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud.  The Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites.  Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want.  Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God."

In the evening a large flock of quails flew in, enough to cover the camp, and in the morning there was dew all around the camp. When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert.  It was as delicate as frost.  When the Israelites saw it, they didn't know what it was and asked each other. "What is it?"

Moses said to them, "This is the food that the Lord has given you to eat."

57.1 Forgetting God's Gift And Grumbling

(Exodus 16:1-3)

The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron and said to them, "We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt.  There we could at least sit down and eat meal and as much other food as we anted.But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death".