One Manna Pizza to Go
We are zipping right along in Exodus. The parasha for this time is B'shallach. It begins in Exodus 13:17-17:16. We know the quickest route to the Promised Land was northeast along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Just as it was the easiest way to go, so would it have been the easiest way for them to return. YHVH knew the war-like Philistines were sure to fight the "Hebrew invaders." It would take little for the people to get discouraged and return back to Egypt. So he took them on the scenic route:. That route takes a lot longer, but you see so much more. You see the beautiful desert scenery, serpents really up close, a beautiful sky and stars to awe you at night, the crickets chirping you to sleep and you have a real homey atmosphere huddled together in the rustic tents:. What more could your travel agent offer you? He also wanted them to be in places where they would constantly see miracles to survive. You know the old saying, seeing is believing, although that doesn't always seem to hold true with these Israelites:. So off they go for a total of three days journey. After that, YHVH tells them to turn around and go back to the first place they started from, Pi-Hahiroth. Here was the only god who was not destroyed in the plagues, the god of Baal Zephron. YHVH did this so Pharaoh would believe his beloved god had sent his slaves back to him and give him encouragement to go after them. So Pharaoh takes six hundred of his "chosen chariots," plus it says all the rest of the chariots in Egypt and captains over all of them. Maybe that's how he became pharaoh, by being so thorough:. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians coming, panic set in. When panic sets in, we usually find someone to blame everything on and that someone was Moses. So on and on they go with Moses with one slanderous remark after another; weren't there enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die, what have you done to us, didn't we tell you to leave us be back in Egypt, it would have been better to be the Egyptian slaves than be dead, yada, yada, yada. Poor Moses! So Moses does the only thing he can do in the situation, he turns to YHVH for help. This was not a time for lengthy prayers:.
YHVH instructs him to hold up his staff over the waters. The sea parted by a strong East wind all that night. YHVH appeared before the Hebrews in a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night. Notice it doesn't say He was the pillar of cloud, but He appeared IN the pillar of cloud and fire. So the pillar of cloud appeared behind the Hebrews as light, but it appeared as darkness of night to the Egyptians on the other side. In the morning, the Hebrews set out to cross the sea. Now let me ask you something here. Did you ever think there could be a hidden miracle in this crossing we don't see? If all the ocean had been over that land, when the oceans divided, what would the ground have been like? Can you say "muddy" boys and girls:? If YHVH had not made the land dry and hard to travel on, they would have sunk up in the muddy mire left by the ocean. I'm a detail person as you can see:. So, YHVH not only split the sea, but made it a perfectly dry, hard traveling path for their horses and wagons and so forth. Now, here come the Egyptians, quick, circle the wagons! Oh wait, I'm in a John Wayne movie, let me get back in Egypt:. But things were a bit different in the Egyptians travels. The waters came back across the path and they had a real deep, cold bath! The Egyptian army had already decided it was a useless thing to pursue the Israelites, for their God fought for them. But that revelation came a bit too late. Think about the mindset of a king who could see such miracles and still rationalize going after the people.
He saw first hand the plagues, the death of the firstborn and now he sees the splitting of the sea. Wouldn't that give YOU cause to rethink your plans? How hard must Pharaoh's heart have been? I believe it would have taken only one plague to convince me! As a matter of fact, only a threat of putting frogs in my bed would have convinced me:! After reaching the other side of the sea, Moses begins to sing the song of redemption. Then Miriam takes up a timbrel and also begins to lead the women in praise and DANCING. Notice Miriam is called the sister of Aaron, not the sister of Moses, why? My opinion (ok, since you insist I'll give it) is that Miriam was on more of a spiritual level with Aaron than she was with Moses. So now they are in the wilderness, in the land of Shur. Now they needed water to drink and they Shur were in a pickle. Ok, that was lame, I'll admit it:. The water was bitter at Marah. Moses took a tree and cast it into the waters. If you do some research on this tree, you'll find the tree was bitter in itself, but when it was cast into the water, it made the waters sweet. This is a picture of how the tree was bitter for Yeshua to go on, but it made everything in your spiritual life sweet because of it. They journey on to Eylim where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. Now think about that. Why would God tell you the exact number of palm trees there, do we care if there were seventy or eighty or ninety trees? God never puts things in His word just to fill up space. The numbers have a hidden meaning.
There are twelve tribes/twelve wells of water and seventy trees/seventy nations, seventy elders in the Sanhedrin, etc. There are lots of important things that have to do with the number twelve and seventy. Go look for them! From Eylim they went to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Eylim and Sinai. This is in the second month after they have departed from Egypt. By now they are out of food. Watch out Moses, here they come! If there's anything worse than confronting an angry mob, it's confronting an angry, hungry mob:. So YHVH tells Moses He will rain down food from Heaven for them. Then He would see if they would follow his ways. As we know, they were to only pick up a days supply of the manna, an omer's worth for each person.. The people who gathered more did not have extra left over at the end of the day and the ones who gathered less, never lacked in having enough. On the sixth day, they gathered two omers worth. I've said before that YHVH gave them food just like a pizza delivered in a box. There was a layer of dew on the bottom ground, (the box) then came the manna (the pizza) and then another layer of dew on top (lid on box). So that when the son shone through in the morning and melted the first layer of dew, what they saw there was their manna pizza:. However, one of the conditions were, they were not to leave any of what they had collected for the next day. This made them rely on YHVH for their food everyday. Of course there were some who tried leaving some until the next day (like some of us would have) but found it had only spoiled and bred worms. See, disobedience in the camp again! Only on the seventh day did the manna stay good from the night before. The Scriptures tell us the manna was like coriander seed. It was white and tasted like wafers made with honey.
This is plainly stated in the Bible, why do people go around questioning what it tasted like, I don't know. I've heard it tasted like steak, all the way to it tasted like whatever food you were craving at the time. Why don't we just believe what the Bible says it tasted like, no, that's way too easy for us:? By the way, it is said by the sages the manna stopped when Moses died on the seventh of Adar. It is said they continued to have manna produced in their vessels like the widow woman and the oil, until they came into the land and could obtain their own food. Since this is not in Scripture, it's not set in stone that it happened that way, but I thought it was an interesting idea to throw in. So now they want meat with their manna. YHVH gives them their wish once again. He never got mad over them asking for food, because we do need food. But what about the meat? If they wanted meat so badly, why not kill some of their stock and eat it? They had that option you know. Not only that, now they want water again. They are ready to stone Moses if he doesn't produce water. So Moses, upon YHVH'S instruction, went and smote the rock for water. Notice it was not any old rock. He didn't tell Moses to go strike "a rock", but to go strike "the rock". The word 'the' in front of it makes it a certain rock. We know that rock was Yeshua. Now they have their food, meat and water. It's time for battle. They go up against the Amalekites. Here is where Moses raised his arms and when he did so, the Israelites would win the battles. When his arms sagged, they lost. Aaron and Hur had to hold up his arms until the going down of the son. Joshua and his men defeated the Amalekites. The Bible records that YHVH will have a war with Amalek from generation to generation. In this parasha we started out from Egypt with great expectations. YHVH took care of them, provided them with food, water and even meat. He protected them and let them win the battle with the Amalekites. We criticize what the people did and didn't do in that experience, but would we have acted any differently, probably not. However, I would sure love to taste one of those manna pizzas, hold the pepperoni of course:! Shalom
YHVH instructs him to hold up his staff over the waters. The sea parted by a strong East wind all that night. YHVH appeared before the Hebrews in a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night. Notice it doesn't say He was the pillar of cloud, but He appeared IN the pillar of cloud and fire. So the pillar of cloud appeared behind the Hebrews as light, but it appeared as darkness of night to the Egyptians on the other side. In the morning, the Hebrews set out to cross the sea. Now let me ask you something here. Did you ever think there could be a hidden miracle in this crossing we don't see? If all the ocean had been over that land, when the oceans divided, what would the ground have been like? Can you say "muddy" boys and girls:? If YHVH had not made the land dry and hard to travel on, they would have sunk up in the muddy mire left by the ocean. I'm a detail person as you can see:. So, YHVH not only split the sea, but made it a perfectly dry, hard traveling path for their horses and wagons and so forth. Now, here come the Egyptians, quick, circle the wagons! Oh wait, I'm in a John Wayne movie, let me get back in Egypt:. But things were a bit different in the Egyptians travels. The waters came back across the path and they had a real deep, cold bath! The Egyptian army had already decided it was a useless thing to pursue the Israelites, for their God fought for them. But that revelation came a bit too late. Think about the mindset of a king who could see such miracles and still rationalize going after the people.
He saw first hand the plagues, the death of the firstborn and now he sees the splitting of the sea. Wouldn't that give YOU cause to rethink your plans? How hard must Pharaoh's heart have been? I believe it would have taken only one plague to convince me! As a matter of fact, only a threat of putting frogs in my bed would have convinced me:! After reaching the other side of the sea, Moses begins to sing the song of redemption. Then Miriam takes up a timbrel and also begins to lead the women in praise and DANCING. Notice Miriam is called the sister of Aaron, not the sister of Moses, why? My opinion (ok, since you insist I'll give it) is that Miriam was on more of a spiritual level with Aaron than she was with Moses. So now they are in the wilderness, in the land of Shur. Now they needed water to drink and they Shur were in a pickle. Ok, that was lame, I'll admit it:. The water was bitter at Marah. Moses took a tree and cast it into the waters. If you do some research on this tree, you'll find the tree was bitter in itself, but when it was cast into the water, it made the waters sweet. This is a picture of how the tree was bitter for Yeshua to go on, but it made everything in your spiritual life sweet because of it. They journey on to Eylim where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees. Now think about that. Why would God tell you the exact number of palm trees there, do we care if there were seventy or eighty or ninety trees? God never puts things in His word just to fill up space. The numbers have a hidden meaning.
There are twelve tribes/twelve wells of water and seventy trees/seventy nations, seventy elders in the Sanhedrin, etc. There are lots of important things that have to do with the number twelve and seventy. Go look for them! From Eylim they went to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Eylim and Sinai. This is in the second month after they have departed from Egypt. By now they are out of food. Watch out Moses, here they come! If there's anything worse than confronting an angry mob, it's confronting an angry, hungry mob:. So YHVH tells Moses He will rain down food from Heaven for them. Then He would see if they would follow his ways. As we know, they were to only pick up a days supply of the manna, an omer's worth for each person.. The people who gathered more did not have extra left over at the end of the day and the ones who gathered less, never lacked in having enough. On the sixth day, they gathered two omers worth. I've said before that YHVH gave them food just like a pizza delivered in a box. There was a layer of dew on the bottom ground, (the box) then came the manna (the pizza) and then another layer of dew on top (lid on box). So that when the son shone through in the morning and melted the first layer of dew, what they saw there was their manna pizza:. However, one of the conditions were, they were not to leave any of what they had collected for the next day. This made them rely on YHVH for their food everyday. Of course there were some who tried leaving some until the next day (like some of us would have) but found it had only spoiled and bred worms. See, disobedience in the camp again! Only on the seventh day did the manna stay good from the night before. The Scriptures tell us the manna was like coriander seed. It was white and tasted like wafers made with honey.
This is plainly stated in the Bible, why do people go around questioning what it tasted like, I don't know. I've heard it tasted like steak, all the way to it tasted like whatever food you were craving at the time. Why don't we just believe what the Bible says it tasted like, no, that's way too easy for us:? By the way, it is said by the sages the manna stopped when Moses died on the seventh of Adar. It is said they continued to have manna produced in their vessels like the widow woman and the oil, until they came into the land and could obtain their own food. Since this is not in Scripture, it's not set in stone that it happened that way, but I thought it was an interesting idea to throw in. So now they want meat with their manna. YHVH gives them their wish once again. He never got mad over them asking for food, because we do need food. But what about the meat? If they wanted meat so badly, why not kill some of their stock and eat it? They had that option you know. Not only that, now they want water again. They are ready to stone Moses if he doesn't produce water. So Moses, upon YHVH'S instruction, went and smote the rock for water. Notice it was not any old rock. He didn't tell Moses to go strike "a rock", but to go strike "the rock". The word 'the' in front of it makes it a certain rock. We know that rock was Yeshua. Now they have their food, meat and water. It's time for battle. They go up against the Amalekites. Here is where Moses raised his arms and when he did so, the Israelites would win the battles. When his arms sagged, they lost. Aaron and Hur had to hold up his arms until the going down of the son. Joshua and his men defeated the Amalekites. The Bible records that YHVH will have a war with Amalek from generation to generation. In this parasha we started out from Egypt with great expectations. YHVH took care of them, provided them with food, water and even meat. He protected them and let them win the battle with the Amalekites. We criticize what the people did and didn't do in that experience, but would we have acted any differently, probably not. However, I would sure love to taste one of those manna pizzas, hold the pepperoni of course:! Shalom