God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33)

Since God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33), whenever He starts something new, He always gives the instructions necessary to make the venture successful. If we obey His instructions, He will bless, but if we disobey, there will be disappointment and discipline. The principle is still ‘Let all things be done decently and in order.’” – Warren Wiersbe

You may read Exodus 16:16-31 here: Bible Gateway.

The gathering of the manna. God first instructed the Jews to gather enough manna daily for each person in the family. By pooling their daily supply together, family members never lacked for nutritional sustaining meals to equip them for their day’s trek in the wilderness.

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Since the desert sun would melt the manna, the Jews arose early to gather this heavenly bread. Wiersbe points out an important lesson here: “We must start the day with the Lord, gathering spiritual food from the Word, because it we wait too long to meet God, the day will become cluttered, we’ll get distracted, and we’ll suffer from spiritual malnutrition.”

The keeping of the manna. Although Moses warned the Israelites to not save some manna so they could sleep in the next morning, some did so anyway. As a result, maggots were attracted to the rotting manna. Wiersbe again gives a personal warning for God’s people today: “We can’t hoard His Word and try to live on yesterday’s spiritual nourishment. . . . There’s no substitute for a daily time alone with God, gathering fresh nourishment from His Word.”

Manna for the Sabbath. While the Sabbath is called “the seventh day” in Genesis 2:1-3—commemorating the Lord’s rest after six days of creation—Scripture first mentions the name Sabbath in Exodus 16:23. It appears that the Jews were taught to observe the Sabbath before God gave them the Ten Commandments.

Wiersbe writes: “The Sabbath was a day given especially by the Lord to the Jewish people as a reminder of His covenant with them (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:12-17; Neh. 9:13-15). The word Sabbath in Hebrew means ‘to cease working, to rest’ and is related to the Hebrew word for ‘seven’.”

The Jews were supposed to prepare their meals in advance, including the gathering of the manna, so they wouldn’t have to work on the Sabbath. On the sixth day, they were permitted to gather twice the amount of manna. God not only miraculously showered down the manna, but also miraculously kept it from rotting on the Sabbath.

However, there were some who failed God’s test of obedience as they searched for manna on the Sabbath. This insult to the Lord showed Him that those who disobeyed his instructions regarding the simple gathering of manna would most likely disobey His statutes and laws that He prepared to give them.