Bread from Heaven

In context

On the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt, in the wilderness of Sin (a place name, not the English word), the people complain that they will starve (Exodus 16:1–3). God sends quail in the evening, and in the morning something small and white lies on the ground. “What is it?” they ask, which is what “manna” means, the WEB notes (16:15, 31). Each person gathered an omer a day, a little over two quarts, and twice as much on the sixth day, because none came on the seventh, the Sabbath (16:16–26). This is the first time the Bible uses the word Sabbath. Israel ate manna for forty years (16:35).

At Rephidim there is no water, and Moses strikes a rock at Horeb; the place is named Massah and Meribah, “testing” and “quarreling” (17:1–7). When Amalek attacks, Joshua leads the fighting, the first time he is named in the Bible, while Aaron and Hur hold up Moses’ tired hands until sunset, and Joshua defeats Amalek with the sword (17:8–13). Then Jethro brings Moses’ wife and sons, and advises him to share the work of judging with able men over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens (18:1–26).