The complaining Israelites soon expressed dissatisfaction with the manna God had provided to feed them; instead they desired the six foods they had eaten in Egypt (v. 5). In response, God sent a strong wind and dropped a massive amount of quail near the camp (v. 31).
The amount of quail that fell is staggering. Quail lay about three feet deep (two cubits) all around the camp, and a person would have to have traveled a full day’s journey in any direction to reach the end of the birds. Some rabbis believe the quail became so tired from resisting the wind that they struggled low to the ground, making an easy catch. The people spent at least thirty-six hours collecting the quail. The least a person gathered was “ten homers,” an amount equivalent to 249 liters, or sixty-six gallons (v. 32).
The people began eating the quail and a plague struck the camp (v. 33). This plague may have come because the people were unable to properly prepare and store the quail in a hot, desert setting. After all, how can one person eat sixty-six gallons of fresh quail? Numerous people died, and the area was called Kibroth-hattaavah, meaning the “graves of lust.”
Skeptics believe that this story of God providing this amount of quail is simply an embellished myth. However, even in Israel today a huge migration of quail occurs during the spring season, bringing the birds into the southern Sinai in an area of the Wadi Abu Gada, the headwaters of Wadi Gharandal. Millions of various birds migrate through the Sinai twice a year on their way to Africa and Europe. In modern Israel, quail appear around February at the Gulf of Aqaba and in the Arabah, south of the Dead Sea. The quail often migrate in the dark and hide from predators during the day. This may be why the Israelites sometimes collected the birds at night (v. 32). We are told the birds came from the sea (v. 31), which agrees with witnesses who say migrating quail cross the Gulf of Suez and arrive on the western shore of the Sinai.
OCTOBER 13, 2021 Exodus 25:9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. In Judaism it is believed that the tabernacle — in Hebrew, mishkan — became a traveling Mount Sinai. The idea is, wherever the sanctuary rested, it […]
The people give the largest offering ever received at one time to provide for the building of the tabernacle, a dwelling place for God:
1. Bracelets, earrings, rings, and gold jewelry are freely given (v. 22).
2. Skins from goats, rams, and badgers are given, along with offerings of colored linen and cloth (v. 23).
3. Silver, brass, and shittim wood are freely provided (v. 24).
4. The women spin blue, purple, and scarlet linen (v. 25).
5. The wealthy rulers bring gemstones for the breastplate (v. 27).
6. Others provide spices and oil for the light, the anointing oil, and the incense (v. 28).
This offering should be a spiritual example showing us that all believers can give something for the work of the ministry. No gift is too large or too small. Large quantities of gold are required for the sacred furniture, but simple linen also is necessary to clothe the priests. Thus, both types of gifts are needed and of great importance. This is the only offering where the minister finally said, “Stop giving, we have more than enough” (see Exod. 36:5-6).
Abram (later Abraham) is told his seed will leave Egypt after 400 years (see Gen. 15:13). Yet, here we read it was 430 years, which is also mentioned in the New Testament (see Acts 7:6). Why is there a thirty-year difference in these two accounts? This list may explain the difference:
Abram (Abraham) is seventy-five years of age when God tells him to depart for the Promised Land (see Gen. 12:4).
Abraham is one hundred years old when the promised seed, Isaac, is born (see Gen. 21:5). The time from age seventy-five to age one hundred is twenty-five years.
Abraham eventually removes Ishmael (at about age fifteen) when Isaac is weaned (see Gen. 21:8-21).
If the prophetic count starts from the giving of the “promise” to Abram when he is seventy-five and continues to the Exodus, the total time is about 430 years. If the count begins with Isaac is being weaned, it becomes about 400 years until the time of Israel’s departure from Egypt.
How can people bind God’s Word on their hands, put it as a memorial between their eyes, and write it on the gates and doorposts of their houses (see Exod. 13:9; Deut. 6:8, 9)? From these commandments, several Jewish customs emerged. The first was the creation of a Tefillin, also called a phylactery, or a small, square black box with a long, flowing leather strap. The box contains four compartments with four Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, Exodus 13:1-10, and Exodus 13:11-16. These verses are writ- ten by a scribe on a small kosher parchment with a special black ink.
The Tefillin have two boxes, each attached to the black leather straps: one is attached around the bicep about heart level and the other is attached above the forehead, but not lower than the hairline. The straps then wind around the fingers and around the arm. Two blessings are repeated as the Tefillin are placed on the bicep and the forehead. Most young Jewish men begin wearing the Tefillin just prior to their thirteenth birthday.
During the time of Christ, Torah-observant Jews wore phylacteries. Jesus, being Jewish and being raised in the synagogue, would have worn the phylactery. However, He rebuked certain Pharisees for enlarging the boxes to make themselves appear more spiritual than others and to be seen of men (see Matt. 23:5).
OCTOBER 12, 2021 Exodus 25:9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. We understand from Scripture that Moses received the pattern of the Sanctuary when he ascended the mountain to confer with the Almighty. So then, if he […]
The sacred name of God, called the tetragramma- ton, is spelled with four Hebrew letters: yod, hei, vav, and hei. When God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, He inserts the Hebrew letter hei from His divine name into Abram’s name. Hei is the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the biblical number five represents grace. The letter hei also has a strong breathing sound, representing the sound of life when it is pronounced.
God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, inserting the second hei of His sacred name into Sarah’s name (see Gen. 17:15). Thus, after God inserts the two letters of His divine name, one into Abraham’s name and the other into Sarah’s, God gives new “life” to Sarah and Abraham, making them fruitful and giving them their son of promise.
WHERE HAS TIME GONE? On April 2, 1982, I walked down the aisle at the Church of God in Northport, Alabama dressed in a beautiful white wedding gown to join in holy matrimony with a 145-pound, bushy, black-haired young preacher who had won my heart. We had no idea where this journey would carry us, […]
OCTOBER 11, 2021 Exodus 25:8 “And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” From the beginning, God’s intentions toward mankind have been clear — He has always wanted to be in a close, intimate relationship with His most beloved creation. We see this expressed in and through the garden. If you consider […]
