Monday, December 14
When Moses is asked to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, it is clear that the masses have lost their perspective as children of God. They need to rediscover who the God is who asks for their worship and gives them so many promises of an amazing future. The Sabbath is a pivotal learning experience in their journey of rediscovery. It also becomes a clear signal to other nations of the special relationship between God and this nation. The experience of the manna epitomizes God’s way of educating the Israelites.
In Exodus 16:14-29, what lessons are there for the Israelites to learn?
God provides the miracle of the manna for the Israelites, giving them just enough food for each day. If He gave them more than that amount, they then might forget who their provider was. So every day He performed a miracle for them, and they saw God’s care. On the Sabbath, however, the situation was different, just as the day was to be special. Now two miracles were performed: double food on Friday, and the food did not spoil overnight. That left the Sabbath for the Israelites to marvel at the God who was their deliverer and to rediscover what it meant to be the people of God.
The Israelites were to eat this manna 40 years (Exodus 16:35). God also instructs Moses to keep an omer of manna to remind the Israelites of how He fed them in the wilderness (Exodus 16:32, 33). It would also have been a reminder of the particular experience of the Sabbath day.
There are also other occasions when God makes clear to the Israelites that the Sabbath is special.
The Sabbath was a way God helped the Israelites rediscover their identity and their God. They were asked to obey and keep the Sabbath holy, but this was in the context of developing a deeper understanding of the character of their Creator and about building a lasting relationship of promise.
You are talking to a teenager who is finding Sabbath “boring.” He is keeping it only because that is what the Bible and his parents say he must do. What suggestions will you give to help him (re)discover the Sabbath as a positive learning experience?
