Exodus 15: 19 – 16: 36

So God saved His people and led them out of Egypt to freedom.

The Israelites were overjoyed when they realised that God had saved them from the Egyptians and their life of slavery. They danced and sang songs of praise to God.

Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. Things started to go wrong; the people walked for three days but they could not find any water. When they did find water at a place called Marah the water was too bitter to drink and the people began to complain.

Moses was very worried, so he prayed to the Lord God and God showed Moses a piece of wood which he told him to throw into the bitter water. The wood took the bitterness out of the water and the people were able to drink it. Next the people moved on and camped at Elim where there was plenty of water.

Moses then led the people on to a place called Sin which is in the middle of the Sanai desert. When the people got there they began to complain, they told Moses they wished they were back in Egypt because they did not have enough food and water. The Israelites had very short memories they had forgotten how badly they had been treated in Egypt and how glad they were to escape from Pharaoh.

Moses was worried about the Israelites, so he prayed to God and ask God to provide food for the people. Moses told the people that the Lord your God will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you can eat in the morning.

In the evening large flocks of quails flew into the camp and in the morning flakes of manna like dew dusted the area around the camp. When they asked Moses what it was, he told them this is the food the Lord has sent you to eat.

Moses told the Israelites that there would be enough food for each day and that they were not to be greedy and gather more than they needed. Only on the sixth day where they allowed to gather extra food for the Sabbath. On the seventh day God told the Israelites that they were not to work that it was a day of rest.

For the next forty years God looked after his people in the desert. God kept his promise to them, he gave them food to eat and water to drink. God needed his people to learn to trust before they reached the land of Canaan.

Next week we are going to find out more about the people of Israel and how God told them that he had chosen them to be his people.

by Revd Peta May