A Dramatic Reading from Exodus 16 (from The Message)
NARRATOR:
On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole
company of Israel moved on to the Wilderness of Sin. The whole company of
Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The
Israelites said,
ISRAELITES:
“Why didn't God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all
the bread we could eat? You've brought us out into this wilderness to starve us
to death, the whole company of Israel!”
NARRATOR:
So God said to Moses,
GOD:
“I'm going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out
and gather each day's ration. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live
according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they
have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”
NARRATOR:
Moses told the People of Israel,
MOSES:
“This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in
the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, God has listened to your
complaints.”
NARRATOR:
That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a
layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the
wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The
Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (meaning, “What is it?”). They had no idea what it was. So Moses told them,
MOSES:
“It's the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God's instructions:
‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for
everyone in your tent.’”
NARRATOR:
So the People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some
less, but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered
more had no extra and those who gathered less weren't short—each person had
gathered as much as was needed. Moses
said to them,
MOSES:
“Don't leave any of it until morning.”
NARRATOR:
But they didn't listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until
morning. It got wormy and smelled bad. And Moses lost his temper with
them. They gathered it every morning,
each person according to need. Then the sun heated up and it melted. On the
sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, about four quarts per person. Moses
said,
MOSES:
“This is what God was talking about: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath
to God. Whatever you plan to bake, bake today; and whatever you plan to boil,
boil today. Then set aside the leftovers until morning.”
NARRATOR:
They set aside what was left until morning, as Moses had commanded. It didn't
smell bad and there were no worms in it.
Moses said,
MOSES:
“Now eat it; this is the day, a Sabbath for God. You won't find any of it on
the ground today. Gather it every day for six days, but the seventh day is
Sabbath; there won't be any of it on the ground.”
NARRATOR:
The Israelites named it manna. It looked like coriander seed, whitish. And it
tasted like a cracker with honey. The
Israelites ate the manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where
they would settle down. They ate manna until they reached the border into
Canaan.
