When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. – Exodus 16:15

Today's Scripture Reading (November 16, 2024): Exodus 16

It happened one Christmas. My mom has always been the curious sort without the needed will to wait. As a result, Christmas was a time of various trials when I was growing up; Mom trying to restrain her curiosity and refrain from opening her presents before the big day, while the rest of the family attempted to hide her presents in places where Mom wouldn't think to look. The tension between these two desires led to several interesting stories.

One story came out of a time when I was a teenager. I lived 3000 km away from most of my relatives for most of my life. As a result, Christmas presents often started to arrive from our relatives to my displaced family in early December, providing an overwhelming temptation for my mother. One day, I remember getting home from school and finding my mother looking perplexed at the kitchen table. I remember going into the kitchen to figure out what was going on.

My mom admitted that she had opened a present from my grandmother, Dad's mom, for her. I put on my best look of disdain in my reaction to her crime. She admitted that she had rewrapped the present and put it back under the Christmas tree.

My next question seemed logical, at least to me. I asked my mom, "So, what did grandma get you?"

Mom's reply was unexpected. "That's the problem. I still don't know."

I don't know that I ever found out what my grandmother gave to my mom that year. But maybe there was a hint in her answer. The trick to buying my mom a Christmas gift was to buy her something that she couldn't figure out what it was even if she opened the gift. But that was easier to think about than to actually do.

God has promised the Israelites food. Meat would come in the evening, a reality that came with a bunch of quail that Israel could hunt and kill, and then bread being given to Israel in the morning. However, unlike the meat-filled quail, the bread came in an unexpected form. God sent a heavy dew during the night, and as the sun rose and the dew disappeared, a flaky substance was left on the ground. As Israel got up and began to look for their promised bread, they saw the flakes and openly wondered what it was. Moses's reply was that it was the bread for which they had been waiting.

But the question became the name for the substance; manna simply means "What is it?" And "What is it?" was precisely what had been promised to the people.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 17