Wednesday 18 April 2012

Background

Twice in this passage, the Israelites complain about theirdifficulties. They are a newly liberated people, completely unusedto freedom or nomadic life, and their grumbling suggests theunderstandable feeling that it is almost too much for them to copewith. God is patient with them.

The first complaint is over thirst, because of undrinkable water.It seems God prompts Moses to draw on some desert survival skillsthat perhaps he learned as a shepherd in Midian. When Moses asksfor help in prayer, God shows him a piece of wood. Moses seems toknow what to do with it: he throws it into the water, which becomesdrinkable. Bedouin, to this day, use particular shrubs to sweetenbrackish water, by drawing the salt downwards.

The second complaint is over hunger. Again, Moses takes the concernto God, who explains what the solution will be. This time, a testor a lesson will be included in the giving: the Israelites are tolearn to trust and obey God in every detail. In the abundantappearance of the mysterious 'manna', the Israelites are requiredto practise self-control, not grabbing as much as they possiblycan, for fear of shortage in the future, but to live day by day,with a sense of trust and sufficiency. The Jewish commentator Rashisays, quoting an older source, that God brings the manna 'lovingly'to the people, who are not to gather more than their needs for theday. We might make a connection here, with the prayer Jesusteaches, "give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew6:11). In his Jewishness, perhaps Jesus is thinking of thisessential sense of sufficiency, of trust and obedience thatoriginates in the first days of the freed Israelites' journeytogether.

To Ponder

How does the idea of living with trust andsufficiency influence your life?

When did you last turn to God for help? Whathappened?