Joel M Bradshaw

 11And the LORD said to Moses, 12“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”–Exodus 16

The Hebrew word for manna hamman is basically a question and answer. What is it? This is what it is! And this manna linked to Jesus twice.

Give us this day our daily bread…(Matthew 6:11)

Manna was the original daily bread from God. In context with the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus was speaking to a people that worked all day for their wages just to bring home food for dinner. But the ancient Hebrew people had to depend upon God for sustenance just like the day laborer in Jesus’ day did. Both the Lord’s Prayer and the manna teach a daily dependance upon God.

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:31-40)

The original manna left you hungry again. What Jesus offers eternally satisfies. Jesus was making a theological point about Himself and the Father and also a spiritual point about what life is truly about. It’s not just eating every day, but linked to salvation and eternal life. The manna was sent from the Father and so was Jesus. The manna brought food for daily life and Jesus brings salvation for eternal life.

The grumblers were in Moses’ day and also in Jesus’. How about you? Do you spend your day taking you prayers to God in faith or grumbling in discontent and anger? Do you daily depend upon Jesus?–JMB