A Taste of the Promised Land

The Gift of Manna to the Israelites

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After the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and sang a song (Exod. 14:1–15:21), they traveled into some wilderness and found no water (15:22). They grumbled against Moses: “What shall we drink?” (15:24). Yet God led them to springs of water, where they encamped (15:27).

Another water issue arose in Exodus 17:1–7. The Israelites came to a place where “there was no water” (17:1), and they quarreled with Moses and said: “Give us water to drink” (17:2).

In the middle of these water episodes, there is another account of their grumbling—this time about food. They grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said: “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exod. 16:2–3).

Their fear and comments are staggering. They concluded that death in Egypt would have been better than being unsure about food in the wilderness! Despite the grumbling of the Israelites, the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you…” (Exod. 16:4).

This bread became known as manna.