(Exodus 16:8, 11-13; Numbers 11:31- 34; Psalm 78:26-30; 105:39-42).
In response to the murmurings of the people, God said that He would give them not only bread to the full to be gathered in the morning light, but flesh to eat in the evening—an allusion to the movement of quails which came up “at even” and covered the camp (16:12, 13), The glory of God was manifested in such a gift of food which was a transient gift, not as in the case of the manna which continued throughout the wilderness journey. The quails did not continue to fall as the manna but were twice miraculously supplied (16:13; Numbers 11:31, 32).
The common quail, closely related to our partridge which is somewhat larger, is still very abundant in the East. In migration, after a long flight over the Red Sea, the flocks, exhausted, drop to the ground as soon as they reach the coast and are easy to catch and kill. Being fat or plump after wintering in the south, they make good eating. Their flesh is said to be juicy and delicious to eat. If eaten too frequently, they prove to be unwholesome. Quails are like the brown and tan of earth and have pencilled markings. Using sticks to kill the confused thousands falling over and around the camp, the Israelites spread the small bodies on the ground to dry.
While nature and natural history can account for myriads of these birds, the weight of which, Pliny said, was sufficient to sink a ship if it were sighted and settled on, the miraculous cannot be dispensed with. While it is true that in many Old Testament miracles God is represented as having used natural phenomena and substances for special purposes, (not creating special substances for miracles but using materials already existing), the miracle of the quails consisted in their vast quantity at the needed time. The Bible says that there went forth a wind (east wind) from the Lord and brought the quails from the sea and let them fall by the camp (Numbers 11:31; Psalm 78:26, 27). It was God who, by His command, caused the quails to fly so low that they were very easily caught (Numbers 11:31, 32). They came at His bidding and landed in the place where He directed. The most insignificant bird cannot fall to the grdund without Him (Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:6, 7).
Before the flesh of the quails was consumed, Gods wrath smote the people for their gluttony. As they devoured the quails so greedily, the quails suddenly changed into deadly poison. Faussett comments, “Eating birds' flesh continually, after long abstinence from flesh, a whole month greedily, in a hot climate predisposed them by surfeit to sickness; God miraculously intensified this into a plague and the place became Kibroth Hattaavah, “the graves of lust.” The mixed multitude, made up largely of the children of Hebrew mothers by Egyptian fathers were evidently responsible for the craving for the flesh pots of Egypt (Numbers 11:4). One solemn lesson to be learned from this incident is that God gave the people their request but sent leanness into the soul (Psalm 78:29; 106:15). Hab- ershon says, “God hears and puts forth His power to work a wonder in their midst, namely, causing the birds to do what He wanted them to; but it proves no blessing, for it brings judgment and death upon them. There are some who teach that if we have faith enough we could get anything for which we choose to ask; but is not this a warning that we should first find out whether the desire is in accordance with God‟s will?”
(Exodus 16; 1-5,14; Numbers 11:1-9; Nehemiah 9:15,20; Joshua 5:12; Psalm 78:20, 22-25; 105:40. See John 6:22-59).
The continued murmuring of the Israelites after all the marvelous displays of divine power on their behalf is a striking evidence of their mistrust and ingratitude. In Egypt the people, although slaves, were according to Egyptian custom well fed (Numbers 11:5). Now, out in the wilderness, although there was no real danger of starvation, they murmured for food and yearned for the flesh pots of Egypt. The Lord said He would rain bread from heaven and thereby prove the people to see whether they walk in His law or not (16:4).
This was the third murmuring of Israel. The first was at Pihaharoth, on the appearance of Pharaoh's host (14:11, 12); the second was at Marah because of the acidlike water they found (15:24); this third murmuring was in the wilderness of Sin because of the lack of food.
The manna, celestially supplied, appeared in white flakes, or small, round grains or seeds and resembled “hoar-frost.” It fell with the dew (Numbers 11:9) and was seen when the dew disappeared (Exodus 16:14), and had the taste of honey-wafers (16:31). Josephus speaks of it as “one of the sweet spices.” Such heavenly food (Psalm 105:40) is poetically described as angels' food-bread of the mighty—from heaven because of its divine origin (Psalm 78:24,25).
This divine supply for daily needs lasted for forty years and ceased the day after the people ate the produce of Canaan—the land of milk and honey (Joshua 5:10-12). Once the need of it was over, it suddenly ceased to fall. God never wastes His power. It is in like manner that Christ is the heavenly Manna His people feed upon until they reach their promised rest (Matthew 28:19).
The manna was also the first food to be rationed by measure. Daily portions of the food had to be gathered every morning. If any was kept over from the previous day it bred worms and stank. On the sixth day a double amount was gathered, the Sabbath portion being miraculously preserved. The substance, when ground, could be stewed or baked (16:23; Numbers 11:8). Rabbinical literature says that it could be adapted to the taste of each individual who could, by wishing, taste in the manna anything he desired.
Although an important article of diet, the manna was by no means the sole one. Many references prove that the people had other food besides the manna. There was cattle for consumption as well as for sacrifices (17: 3; 24:5); flour (Numbers 7:13, 19); food in general (Deuteronomy 2:6; Joshua 1:11).
The Israelites did not deem the manna as being substantial for they grew weary of eating it and came to loathe it.
As to the significance of the term manna, some writers suggest that the word is from the Egyptian mennu, meaning “food.” Our English term is menu. One explanation of the source of the name is found in the question, “What is it?” (16:15), or manhu which also means “It is manna.” Not having seen the miraculous substance before, the people asked, “What is it?” or “The what-is-it?” Other scholars say the word means, “This is a gift,” which, of course, it was from God.
Although efforts have been made to identify the manna with existing Arabian lichens, or honey-like gums or spices, no substance can be found anywhere in the world to satisfy the requirements of Scripture references to it—all of which speak of it as being miraculously supplied. It was not a natural product miraculously augmented to feed well-nigh two million people. The inescapable conclusion is that the manna was a hitherto unknown food supplied in a miraculous way. All allusions to it suggest the supernatural (Nehemiah 9:30; Psalm 78:24; 105:40). None can explain how the manna came down from heaven just as no one can explain how the Lord of glory came down from heaven.
A golden pot with an omer of manna was laid up before God in the Tabernacle (16: 33; Hebrews 9:4). Christ frequently referred to the manna, or bread from heaven, as being typical of Himself (John 6:31-63). Paul speaks of it as the believer's spiritual food (I Corinthians 10:3). John uses the manna as a type of the overcomer's reward and of his future spiritual sustenance (Revelation 2:17).
(Judges 1:12-15; 3:9-11)
Intermarriage with the Canaanites and the countenance of their idolatry brought Israel under bondage to the king of Mesopotamia (3:5-8). When they cried unto the Lord in their distress (Nehemiah 9: 27; Psalm 107:13), He raised them up their first “savior,” Othniel, the son of Kenaz. The Jews placed him highest among the judges and applied to him the words of Solomon: “Thou art all fair; there is no spot in thee” (Song of Solomon 4:7), because he alone of all the judges is represented as irreproachable.
“The Spirit of the Lord came upon him” (3:10) is a phrase indicating the supernatural aspect of Othniel's deliverance of Israel and his peaceful judgeship of the people for forty years. The phrase “came upon” actually means “clothed him” (6: 34; I Chronicles 12:18). For forty years Othniel was girded by the Spirit with all necessary courage, strength, and wisdom.
(Exodus 8:16-19; Psalm 105:31)
In a warm country and to a cleanly people like the Egyptians, this third infliction of divine judgment must have produced most irritating pain and distress. Whether the lice in question were mosquitoes, sandflies, ticks, or fleas is a doubtful point. This we do know, that having created various insects, God can command them to execute judgment upon an idolatrous nation. Thus the dust all over the land was instantly changed into lice and the magicians knew at once that none but God could have worked such a miracle (8:18). In the previous miracle we have life multiplied (the frogs swarmed out of the waters, their natural element), but in the miracle before us we have life created out of the dust of the ground.
As Aaron stretched forth the wonderworking rod, land-dust became energetic with life, and man and beast were covered with freshly-created, loathsome, disgusting insects. These millions of aggravating ticks or fleas were not those the whole mass of dead frogs could breed, but a newly created vast swarm—an instance of spontaneous generation that biologists call “biogenesis.** The louse is so prolific that in six weeks the parent female may see 5000 of its own descendants. Scientists are struggling to produce life, but they never will. This is the prerogative of Him, who is the Author and Giver of life. The magicians by juggery or by Satanic power could imitate life but not create life. The noisome, nauseous insects plaguing the people came into being as the result of a definite creative act and as a scourge of indolence. The only living creature that the Bible says is fashioned out of dust is man. What a singular conjunction! We wonder whether it was this fact that compelled the magicians to confess, “This is the finger of God*‟?
This third plague came without warning. In a moment, the excessive quantity of dust, common to the land, became a plague of lice bringing with it Gods judgment on Pharaoh for hardening his heart and breaking his promise to Moses and Aaron (8:15). The monarch was not given any time or option of avoiding the plague by submission to God‟s will. The plague also struck another blow at Egypt‟s idolatry. The dust of the earth was worshiped in Egyptian pantheism as Seb, the earth god, or father of the gods. Further, personal cleanliness formed an integral part of Egyptian religious life, and bodies covered with lice must have been a shock to pride. Herodotus tells us that no person was allowed under any consideration to enter any temple with vermin upon them, and that their priests had to shave every three days. Priests and people were accustomed to continual ablutions in their persons and garments. Lice- covered bodies must have been a terrible blow to the religion and regulations of the people. Although this dreadful plague (the removal of which is not recorded) caused no great calamity, it was enough to warn the Egyptians and give hope to Israel.
The utter inability of the magicians to imitate this plague deserves fuller notice. The phrase “did so** (8:18) means they tried to do so, but failed to produce a counterfeit of the miracle. “They took moist earth, and dried it, and pulverized it, and tried the effect of their magic charms upon it, but failed to produce lice, as Aaron had done/* Their powerlessness was evident. All their resources failed to produce life. Humbled, they confessed their failure to Pharaoh in a brief but pregnant sentence: “This is the finger of God.‟* Then they retired from the contest vanquished, and we hear no more of these boastful imitators who had been forced to admit the manifestation of the supernatural.
The acknowledgment of the supremacy of God by his magicians failed to impress Pharaoh, for his heart remained hard. Perhaps this plague did not impress him as the frogs had done. Herodotus suggests that the monarch was not affected very much by the visitation of lice, since he would possess mosquito curtains, and could inhabit the loftier regions of his palace, which would be above the height whereto the mosquito ascends.
Cleanliness may be next to godliness— but sometimes it is a long way off from it. The Egyptians were clean but far from godly. All who are godly should be clean. Did not Jesus speak about those who were fastidious about external cleanliness yet full of all that was putrid within? For another creation of God, see Psalm 51:10.