Why did the Israelites need manna if they had flocks/herds of animals that they could eat?

Not water but food was now the urgent necessity. By this time doubtless all that they could have brought out of Egypt had been consumed, and in the wilderness there was no visible source of supply. Sad to say, the people were walking by sight, and though the marvels of both the passover night and the passage of the Red Sea had taken place within the month, the power of their God was completely forgotten. Only the flesh pots of Egypt were remembered, and they reproached Moses and Aaron. They saw nothing before them but death, and would have preferred it in Egypt rather than in the wilderness.

The people were not yet formally put under the law, hence the Lord at once intervened in mercy, though by the bread from heaven there would be a preliminary testing to see whether they would walk in His law when given or whether they mould not. This we see in verse 4. It was made very plain to them however that their complaints were really directed against God and not against His servants, and that God would take up the challenge they had flung down.

Complete rest characterized these days. Its moral importance is shown, as we have said, even more remarkably, shortly after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. The provisions they had brought with them were then exhausted; and in the terrible desert of Sin, into which they had come, there was not the smallest resource for man; the flocks alone could find food there.

The people murmured against Moses, complaining that he had brought them into the wilderness to kill all the assembly with hunger. "Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass; that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." And they did so. On the sixth day the Lord explained to them this double provision, saying, "Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning … Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none … So the people rested on the seventh day." (Ex. 16:4-30.) We find then that the "manna," the heavenly food with which God supplied His people to meet their daily need, was made subordinate to the "rest" which He ordained for them, and which surpassed every other consideration. The Lord says, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." (Mark 2:27.)

It is therefore useless and unbelieving to draw conclusions from the present aspect of the land through which the Israelites travelled. If they continued to have much cattle, God could as easily have provided for their cattle as have given them manna from heaven for themselves.

The wilderness of Sin lay "between Elim and Sinai." It occupied therefore, as indeed has already been indicated, a very special place in the history of the children of Israel. Elim would ever remind them of one of their most blessed experiences, and the journey likewise to Sinai would recall to their minds a period distinguished by long-suffering and grace in God's dealings with them; whereas Sinai would be ever engraven on their memories in connection with the majesty and holiness of the law. Up till Sinai, it was what God was for them in His mercy and love; but from that time the ground, by their own action, was changed into what they were for God. This is the difference between grace and law; and hence the peculiar interest attaching to the journey between Elim and Sinai. But whether under grace or law, the flesh remained the same, and took every opportunity of revealing its corrupt and incurable character. Again the whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (v. 2.) They had done so at Pi-hahiroth, when they saw the army of Pharaoh approaching; they repeated their sin at Marah, because the waters were bitter; and now they complain again because of their pilgrim fare. "They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." (Psalm 106:13-14.) The recollection of Egypt and Egypt's food possessed their hearts, and forgetful of the bitter bondage with which this had been connected, they looked back with longing eyes. How often this is the case with newly-emancipated souls. There must always be hunger in the wilderness; for the flesh can find no gratification for its own desires, or satisfaction in its toils and hardships. It is the place where the flesh must be tested. The Lord "humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." (Deut. 8:3.) This is the conflict. The flesh craves that which will meet its desires, but if we are delivered from Egypt this cannot be allowed: the flesh must be refused, looked upon as already judged in the death of Christ; and therefore we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for if we live after the flesh we shall die: but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live. (Rom. 8:12-13.) But the Lord, as we have seen in Deuteronomy, has His object in suffering us to hunger; it is to wean us from the flesh pots of Egypt, and to attract us to Himself — to teach us that true satisfaction and sustenance can only be found in Himself and His word. The contrast is therefore between the flesh pots of Egypt, and Christ; and very blessed is it when the soul learns that Christ is enough for all its needs. In their unbelief the children of Israel charged Moses with the design of killing them with hunger. But their hunger was intended to create in them another appetite, by which alone their true life could be sustained. The Lord, however, gave them their request, even though He sent leanness into their soul. For, as will be seen, He gave them the quails as well as the manna.

To return. The water made sweet, they could encamp there before proceeding to Elim. With flocks and herds, and women and children, encampment at times would be needed. And now to the lately murmuring people their God and their Provider spoke: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of those diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee" (Ex. 15:26). What response was made to this, if any, the historian has not recorded. The further history of the people, however, shows plainly that it made no permanent impression upon them for in the wilderness of Sin they murmured again. Hunger, they complained, attacked them. In Egypt they had not known that. The flesh-pots they had then sat by, and eat bread to the full. Death under God's hand in Egypt would have been preferable, they said, to hunger in the wilderness (16:3). Now He who had led them, and redeemed them too, would meet their temporal need. Flesh they should have, and bread would He rain from heaven for them day by day on six days of each week. Quails were to furnish them with flesh, and the manna would be their bread.

And that is the lesson we learn here, in the wilderness of Sin. It is met by the words, "Come near before the Lord: for he has heard your murmurings" (Ex. 16:9). Ah, He does not judge them. On the contrary, He lets His glory draw near, that the very light of His presence might shine in on this murmuring people. They had said, "Would to God we had died" (Ex. 16:3). My dear friends, which was better? to toil at the brick-kilns of Pharaoh, or travel in the desert with God? Who for a moment could have any difficulty as to that? They had forgotten their bondage. All they remembered was what they had fed upon. They were away from the flesh-pots of Egypt. But they had not yet learned the sufficiency of the fulness of the hand of God. How does the Lord treat them. Oh, look at His grace! "And the Lord spake to Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak to them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar-frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat" (Ex. 16:11-15).

What is the bread, beloved? Why, it is Jesus. This manna is Jesus. Bread from heaven." The Lord Jesus said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven" (John 6:32). What a beautiful answer to murmuring is God's tender action. Here were those people all murmuring, and the Lord steps in and "rains bread from heaven" for them. I will ask you to read the sixth chapter of John, because you will find it is manna. There are only two things we find Israel fed on in the wilderness — quails and manna (Ex. 16:13-16). When they got to Canaan they had "the old corn of the land."

Besides the inveteracy of sin and the sovereignty of grace, a third fact is, that Israel as a nation is under the immediate government of God. From the moment they began their march from Egypt, God appeared as their King. And from Egypt to Sinai all is grace. The people murmured, and betrayed their desire to return to Egypt, almost as soon as delivered from it. Nature is utterly unable to walk in the path of faith, which makes this world a wilderness. Even before they passed through the Red Sea they preferred going back to find a grave in Egypt, rather than trust in God; and now, after the marvellous proof that God is for them, they long for Egyptian food. But grace, without judgment, answers their murmuring, and provides for their need. Jehovah heard them, but did not upbraid. They cried for bread — it was rained from heaven; He gave them flesh every evening, and bread every morning.

We know what the bread signified. The Lord Jesus said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." The bread that Israel gathered every morning was only a type of the true bread, of which, "if any eat, he shall live for ever." (John 6:51.) But the flesh in the evening, what may we learn from that? Does it not tell us of the provision made by God to meet creature wants? After the toil of the day the body needs refreshment. The Lord Jesus said, "Your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of these things." Accordingly, "at even the quails came up, and covered the camp." There was abundance. God provides for the natural wants of His saints. He who sent the quails is the same One who said, "Take no thought for the morrow." That is, God takes thought for us, and would have us free from over-anxiety as to what we shall eat or drink, or how clothed. He who leads us on day by day provides for each day's need. And, just as the evening quails meet all bodily necessities, so the morning bread teaches us to begin each day with Him who alone sustains the soul, and gives health and vigour to the new nature. Thus beginning the day with Him, we are strengthened to bear what each day may bring. How blessed, and what perfect peace, to have the assurance that both body and soul are cared for by our God I The quails are as much His gift as the bread; both are of His grace. The quails, as merely meeting creature wants, are not laid up before the Lord, but the manna, the bread from heaven, is. The morning bread is more than a mere question of bodily need. It ceased not till they came to Canaan, the promised land. Heavenly bread is our food while we remain here below.

Ex. 16 shows us Israel murmuring again, but the Lord answers in nothing but grace; though, as Moses and Aaron protested, the murmuring was against Him, and not them. They had murmured at Marah, yet the bitter waters were immediately sweetened. They murmured, now hungry, but the word is, "ye shall see the glory of Jehovah." "I have heard," says He, "the murmurings of the children of Israel." What, then, was Moses to report? judgment? Wrath did come upon them another day, when, despising the manna, they insisted on meat, and persevered in their lust, when they ought to have been ashamed and sorrowing at their self-will and unbelief, rebuked by the miracle which laid it at their feet. But Taberah beheld the graves of lust (Num. 11.) This, however, was after the law came in, and God righteously judged the sinners who presumed to make the blessing depend on their own power of obeying it. But up to Sinai it was not law, but grace. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Accordingly the Lord told Moses to say, "at even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God," Their absolute need was now plain. In the wilderness, who but God could supply bread for such a multitude? But he did supply it bountifully, and at their doors. "He that gathered much had nothing over, he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating." Notwithstanding it was so given that day by day they must depend on Himself; no store could be — save to mark the sabbath, the day of rest. It is Christ, the true manna from heaven, who gives eternal life and brings us into rest. And this is the more striking, inasmuch as Ex. 17 discloses (in the rock giving out water, followed by the fighting with Amalek) the clear type of Christ imparting the Holy Ghost, who animates and strengthens us in our conflicts. Here, too, the people had murmured for thirst, as before for hunger: but as grace rained bread and gave them rest, so did it supply living waters from the smitten rock, their refreshment in the battle that quickly ensued. The connection of the manna with the Sabbath is as useless in Dr. F.'s hands, as is the war with Amalek after the waters had flowed from the rock. So with the type of Joshua, (who always represents Christ in spirit fighting for and with His own,) going forth, while Moses, sustained by Aaron and Hur, is interceding on high. "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace." There is no fighting in Egypt. At the Passover, at the Red sea, God alone smote the foe; but now that the people are redeemed — now that they have found in Christ food and rest for their souls, and have received through Him the Spirit, as a well of water springing up into everlasting life, they are brought into conflict, victory in which is sure, for it is Jehovah that wars, through Israel, with Amalek. It is He who orders it to be written and rehearsed that He will utterly put out the remembrance of the enemy from under heaven. But then He wars through His people, and they are as dependent on Him in the fight as previously they were for their food. From this, their earliest struggle, but a struggle never to be relaxed till God alone take all in hand, the people are taught that to win the day is not by courage nor by strength, not by numbers nor by skill, — nay, not by a just cause, were it the Lord's own cause and His people the assailed, not the assailants, Israel must learn the lesson, trying to flesh and blood, that all their success depends on the hands held up for them above. Blessed be the name of God! the hands of our mediator are never heavy. He needs no Aaron nor Hur to stay His hands; He is all that we want. Our need is to war only in dependence on Him; to be confident of victory, but no less confident that without Him we can do nothing; when victorious, to build our altar to Him who is our banner; but even in victory and in worship to be watchful, because Jehovah's oath is — "war with Amalek from generation to generation."

Travellers have visited the districts along which the Israelites are supposed to have travelled, and have not hesitated to say that the cattle and sheep of the Israelites could not possibly have found pasture or fodder on which to have lived.

We read that they brought out of Egypt 'flocks and herds,' and in Ex. 12:38 "very much cattle" is mentioned. Before crossing the Jordan the two and a half tribes are described as having "a great multitude of cattle," but this was after the Midianites had been destroyed, and most of the cattle and sheep may have fallen to these tribes, the other tribes taking "the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead" with other spoils.

Thus we know for certain that the most fundamental requirement of all, the Levitical ritual, was not practised; and if they did not prove faithful in that which was most urgent as well as least difficult in point of means for executing it, we can hardly suppose that they carried out their obedience in what was surrounded with immense if not insuperable obstacles. Even before the law from Abraham's days there certainly was no injunction more solemn or more obligatory than the circumcision of every male child; yet we are assured that no male was circumcised during Israel's wandering for forty years through the wilderness. This fact appears to be of some importance, because notoriously difficulties have been raised, on the score of practicability, as to the various ordinances requiring sacrifices and offerings where the means did not appear. We hear of sin and trespass-offerings, peace and burnt-offerings, meat-offerings and drink-offerings, not to speak of the daily lambs and occasional victims. Men have reasoned with great detail, especially in recent years, enquiring how all this could be done in the desert by a people who found it hard enough to pass unscathed themselves, though they had Jehovah their God with them to feed them with angels' bread, and water if need were from the rock. But God, in fact, is always left out of the calculations of unbelief. For although there were flocks and herds led into the wilderness with the children of Israel at the command of Jehovah, and they may have added more from enemies they conquered, the fact just now referred to meets and removes a host of objections raised about it, and proves that the nature of these ordinances has not been understood.