Exodus 16 - 18: You'll Eat It and You'll Like It

So they walk. And they walk more.

They start to run low on food, and again, the people turn to Moses and said, "You brought us out here to die! This is all your fault!"

Moses asks God what to do and he tells him, "Alright I'll make bread come down from the sky. Everyone needs to go and get a day's worth every morning. And on the sixth day, get enough for two days."

Moses tells this to the people and adds, "Guys, I'm not really in charge here. God is. So if you're complaining against me, your really complaining against him. So watch your mouth, ok?"

That evening God sends a ton of quail and they have a lovely quail roast for dinner.

In the morning, when the dew evaporates, there's powdery white stuff on the ground. It looks like coriander, but tastes like honey wafers. But still, it's white stuff on the ground and not what people would usually think of as food.

The people look at it suspiciously. "What the heck is this?"

"Oh, that's manna," says Moses. "Eat up. But don't leave any of it on the ground."

The people took some of it but left some on the ground, and as the day wore on it grew worms and stank.

"Folks," Moses says, "You really, really need to follow directions here. You're starting to piss me off."

On the sixth day he reminds them to gather what they need for the seventh day, and prepare it so that they won't have to do anything on the seventh day. "This seventh day is a Sabbath," says Moses. "No working. None. Really important."

Regardless, on the seventh day the people went out to look for the food. And God yelled at Moses, "Your people are really horrible at listening. I told you to tell them to not work today!"

"I know! I know! I'm trying, I swear."

Aaron put some manna in a jar and put it on the altar as a souvenir and reminder of their journey. The people ate manna for 40 years. It's like God's People Chow.

So they walk. And they walk some more.

They run out of water and the people start to complain again. "You brought us out here to die! This is all your fault!"

"I told you to quit complaining!" says Moses. "But let me check."

"God," he says, "They're ready to stone me. I need water, now."

"See that big rock over there? Go whack it with your staff and water will come out of it."

Moses whacks the rock and everyone gets a drink. Problem solved.

While they were there, Amalek (a band of wandering nomads, possibly one of Esau's grandsons) attacks them. Moses gives orders, "Get some people to fight. Aaron, Hur, and I going to go stand on that hill over there with my magic God stick."

Sadly, there is no Guinness Record for holding your arms up

The Israelis fight while Moses watches. Moses raises his stick and Israel starts winning. He lowers his stick and the Amalekites start winning. He does this for a while. At first it's kind of fun but then his arms get tired. So Moses sits down on a rock and Aaron and Hur hold his arms up for him until they win the battle.

God says, "Write this story down and we'll blot out the memory of Amalek forever."

"Wait, how is writing if down going to blot out the memory of Amalek? Wouldn't that work better if we didn't write it down? Besides, my arms are tired."

"Stop asking questions!"

Moses builds an altar and says, "The Lord will have war with Amalek forever and ever, throughout our generations!" (Which isn't exactly blotting out anyone's memory either.)

At some point that isn't entirely clear, Moses's wife Zipporah took their two sons and went back to her father, Jethro. But Jethro hears all about Moses's successes getting the people out of Egypt and he and Zipporah and the boys travel out to meet him. They spend some time catching up and sacrifice some burnt offerings and eat manna.

In the morning Moses sat to deal out judgements to the people. Jethro says, "That's a big job for one person. Why are you doing this all alone?"

"God told me to," says Moses. "People have a conflict or a question and they come to me and ask what God wants and I help them sort it out."

"That's ridiculous!" says Jethro. "You should find some trustworthy men, teach them the statutes and God's word, and then let them be representatives. They can decide all the silly trivial stuff and you just handle the big important things."

"That's a GREAT idea!" says Moses. So he sets up a system of representatives to lighten the burden of all the judging. Jethro stays for a while and then goes home.