The people of Israel left Egypt in a hurry, but they did not leave hungry. God had provided them with the Passover feast, and as they packed up their belongings they brought along their dough before it was leavened. They baked the latter as cakes along the way (Ex. 12:34, 39). When this supply ran its course, the people did not merely complain that they had no food, but pined for the pots of meat and the bread they had enjoyed in Egypt. The people, longing for their old life, accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them into the wilderness to die of hunger.

God dealt with them in grace and provided manna as bread in the morning, and quails in the evening for meat (16:12). This manna from heaven was their provision for forty years, and it was sufficient for each day; the only effort required was to gather it up. Several hundred years later, the Lord Jesus had to correct the Jews saying, “Moses did not give 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” (Jn. 6:32–33). There is nothing the Jews had to perform to take advantage of this life being offered, and the same is true for you today. The only effort required is to believe and accept it. The manna was simply a picture, but He is the reality. Let us feed on Him!