31 The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”
33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”
34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
36 (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.) Exodus 16:31-36
So the Lord delivered sweet bread from heaven, and some wanted more. They ate it for 40 years.
It’s interesting that they were commanded to haul a jar of manna around with them in their travels. It was a reminder to those born on the journey of God’s bountiful provisions. We may look on it and compare it to the delicacies of our age. We might even lament that they didn’t have a good variety of food along the way.
But the point is that they didn’t have to do anything for the food except to wake up and gather it.
Even though others would have seen family members gather the bread each day, this jar told its own story. Those who had been on the journey after crossing the Red Sea would be able to pass this story plus many others down generations.
What “stories” are you passing on? What legacies are you leaving behind for future generations to see?
Remember, this was just a jar of manna, but there were stories attached to it, stories that are still told today. The fact that we remember this story as children is a reminder of God’s goodness to His people coming out of Egypt.