Exodus 16:6-30 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
God’s Zoo Summer Worship Series Sunday, July 4, 2021 “Quail”
It is quite an undertaking to feed all the animals at a zoo. I don’t have any special expertise about this, but I understand that the zookeepers and staff members are very careful to feed each animal its own particular diet at the proper times. For many of the animals, this no doubt means bringing food every single day and even multiple times each day. They don’t want any animals to get too hungry or to be malnourished. They want them to be properly fed whenever they need it, and really on whatever schedule best serves the needs of each particular animal. Now, it is not an exact comparison to say that God takes care of us like the zookeepers take care of the animals. Certainly there are too many differences between the two situations to leave it at that. But there are some parts of the comparison that are very accurate. God takes care of people—and God takes care of animals, too—in an even better, an even greater way than a zookeeper making his or her daily rounds. And he does it with our best interests always at heart. And the animal from our Bible account today that portrays this truth for us is the quail. And just like at the zoo there are some animals that are not living at the zoo but are what the zoo animals eat, the quail in our story don’t get a lot of the action. They are there to be eaten, and they are there to serve the needs of the people. Our account from Exodus 16 comes to us from the period in Israel’s history where the people have come out of slavery in Egypt. They suffered under their Egyptian slavery and were forced to do difficult labor. They were treated harshly and had cried out to God for help. And God helped them. Moses was the servant God used to bring the people out of Egypt after God had performed miraculous signs and mighty wonders and had brought down ten horrible plagues upon the Egyptians who were mistreating his people. And the people left Egypt packed with supplies and went out into a huge wilderness. The account before us likely took place about a month later, after about a month of the people, perhaps two million people in all, walking through that wilderness. And the people noticed that the food that they had brought with them was running low. They started complaining. They had silver and gold that the Egyptians had agreed to give them as they left, but not grocery stores to stop at along the way. The complaints said that sure, Egypt was not ideal, but at least they had food there. In fact, the complainers describe sitting in Egypt around pots of meat. It almost sounds like a nice place, but it wasn’t. How quickly the people had forgotten what Egypt was really like for them. They were suffering. Sure, they had food, but they also had slave labor and misery. But all the people could see out there in the wilderness was that they no longer had food. That’s where what we read in our First Lesson today picks up. The people needed food, so God provided food. And by providing that food in the way that he did, God showed the people again how powerful he is. He showed them again how foolish their grumbling had been. He showed them that they should continue to trust in him for everything they needed. God sent quail. That very night the Israelites could go out in the camp and find the birds all along the ground. Food came right to them. Some people would say this is no big deal. They report that quail are migratory birds that at some times pass through an area and are found absolutely everywhere. Well, this was not that area. This was out in the wilderness. The quail were there at the exact time when God had said they would be. And they were there in quantities to satisfy some two million Israelites. God was taking care of his people. There are times when we want to be like the Israelites and blame God for situations we don’t like or concerns that we have. There are times when we are ready to grumble and complain, times when we can only see the challenges and difficulties in front of us and so easily forget about what God has already done and what he has
the power to do. He proved his power yet again to the Israelites when he brought quail to them miraculously. And he proved his love to them at the same time. And when God provided the quail, meat to eat in the evening, he also provided his people with a lesson about daily bread. Indeed, he provided them with bread. It was a special bread that showed up in the morning as the dew dried. It came in the desert just as God said that it would, and it came with plenty for everyone. And in this lesson God taught the people that they could rely on him each and every day. They didn’t need to store up this bread. In fact, they should not. Those who didn’t listen to this instruction found the leftover bread spoiled and rotten. They could eat what they needed one day and go find it again the next. But there was another wrinkle as well. God also said that the seventh day, that is Saturday, was to be a day of rest, a Sabbath. He was not going to provide the bread on Saturday. On Friday the people would need to gather up twice as much to keep them for both days. Those who listened were fed for both days. Others did not listen. I am sure some thought about the stinking mess the bread had made other times when it was kept overnight and didn’t want that. Instead, they went out gather bread on Saturday morning and found that there was none. Those who had gathered the extra the day before still had plenty, and it was perfectly fresh and good. In other words, God was providing food on his terms. He was not only expecting the people to trust him, he was also expecting them to listen to him. People should not think that they know better than what God says, but they did. And many still do. And, yes, sometimes we do. So the Old Testament Israelites in the wilderness learned that God would provide for them day after day after day, and that he would do so according to his very own Word. Those are clearly important lessons for us today, too. And we have a shorthand phrase for these lessons in the term “daily bread.” We heard in the Gospel today how Jesus gave his followers an example prayer, the one we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, and he encouraged them to pray, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). Jesus taught that we should pray for our physical needs. We should pray for all that we need for our bodies and lives. And we should acknowledge that all our good gifts come from God and give him thanks for them. Jesus taught us this prayer, and Jesus lived out what he taught. By that I mean that he always prayed perfectly, he always trusted perfectly, and he always thanked perfectly. Even if our prayers are imperfect, even when Paul who had learned to be content in any situation was not always perfectly content in every situation, even when we have grumbled and complained and worried, God is gracious. Jesus forgave Paul’s sins and he forgives our sins. He died for those sins. You are forgiven and are given the opportunity to live for your forgiving God. That means trusting that he will take care of you day by day and listening to his Word and thanking him for all he has done. For the Israelites, that meant miracles. It meant quail and manna, which was what they called that special daily bread in the wilderness. But it doesn’t always mean miracles. God usually provides for us in natural or everyday ways. He blesses the farmer’s crops. He sends rain and sun. He gives you and me the ability to work and to earn money to pay for things and to be able to get what we need. He blesses us with a government and leaders that provide stability and peace and security to allow us to live and work—an appropriate blessing for us to point out on the Fourth of July. God normally provides our daily bread in ordinary ways, but his miracles remind us that he has the ability to get us through any situation or circumstance, no matter how scary it could feel to us. And he would also have us remember that the physical needs he takes care of for us are far less important than the spiritual needs he has already taken care of through his Son Jesus. In fact, it’s the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that make this life worth living and allow us to truly appreciate our daily bread. Sure, it is quite an undertaking to feed a whole zoo full of animals. It’s hard enough at times to take care of a pet or two. Our God feeds and cares for the world. That’s a big God who deserves our thanks and our praise, as the quail in the wilderness remind us today.
The Text: Exodus 16:6–30 (EHV) 6So
Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “At evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you will see the Glory of the Lord, because he has heard your constant grumbling against the Lord. Who are we that you should grumble against us?” 8Moses
said, “Now the Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because the Lord has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.” 9Then
Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10As Aaron spoke to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and suddenly the Glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11The
Lord spoke to Moses: 12“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Say to them, ‘At evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ” 13So
in the evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew surrounded the camp. 14When the layer of dew was gone, there were thin flakes on the surface of the wilderness, thin as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given to you as food to eat. 16This is what the Lord has commanded: All of them are to gather as much of it as they need to eat. You are to take an omer per person based on the number of people each of you has in your tents.” 17The
Israelites did this, and some gathered more, some less. 18When they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered more did not have too much, and the one who gathered less did not have too little. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. 19Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them left part of it until morning, and it became full of worms and stank. So Moses was angry with them. 21They
gathered it each morning. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person, and all the leaders of the community came and reported to Moses. 23He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a complete rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, but set aside for yourselves all the rest of it to be kept until morning.” 24So
they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25Moses said, “Today eat whatever is left over, for today is a sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find any around the camp. 26Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 27On
the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they did not find any. 28The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? 29Look, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. All of you are to stay where you are. None of you are to leave your places on the seventh day.” 30So the people rested on the seventh day.