Study Desk

"If only we had died by the LORD's hand in the land of Egypt!" they said. "There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!"

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the desert, and there in a cloud the glory of the LORD appeared.

When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat.

But they did not listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it became full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

Each morning they each gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food-two omers per person-and all the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses.

So they set it aside until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell or contain any maggots.

But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: "Why have you brought us out of Egypt-to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?"

Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!"

He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

When Moses' hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and went into the tent.

Then Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardships they had encountered along the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.

The next day Moses took his seat to judge the people, and they stood around him from morning until evening.

"Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me to judge between one man and another, and I make known to them the statutes and laws of God."

Teach them the statutes and laws, and show them the way to live and the work they must do.

And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.

After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

The LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you." And Moses relayed the words of the people to the LORD.