March 30, 2020

A Stop-Gap Measure

So how did the whole manna thing work, again?
The Israelites escape bondage but haven't found
home yet, a wandering, infant people. They grow
hungry, of course, because you can't grow food
on the fly. They start to complain. They moan
and grumble. They've been promised milk and
honey, but who has patience for that – what, with
the necessary obedience to God and all? That takes
work. That takes growing up – not to mention
careful husbandry of dairy animals and judicious
scavenging of bee hives. These babies have not
yet learned tender care and good judgment.
These babies start crying aloud for the old days
of pots of meat and bread to the full in Egypt.

So God hears their grumblings and provides
them with food, with manna from heaven. It
just materializes, silently, with the dew in the
mornings. All they have to do is go gather it up
to make their bread, enough for the day, no more.
There is no hoarding of manna. Some tried that,
but it breeds worms and stinks. So each one,
each day but the Sabbath, is to gather according
to the needs of the household. It is not a perfect
system. The whole thing is just a stop-gap measure.
The whole scheme is just to hold them over,
until they learn that it takes tender care and
good judgment to live in a land of milk and honey.
Sounds a little far-fetched, if you ask me.

But then again, maybe not.