From Eternity Past

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Sabbath Before Sinai

In the giving of the manna, we have conclusive evidence that the Sabbath was not instituted when the law was given at Sinai. Before the Israelites came to Sinai they understood the Sabbath to be obligatory upon them. In being obliged to gather every Friday a double portion of manna in preparation for the Sabbath, the sacred nature of the day of rest was continually impressed upon them. And when some of the people went out on the Sabbath to gather manna, the Lord asked, “How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?” EP 204.2

“The children of Israel did eat manna forty years, ... until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” For forty years they were daily reminded of God's unfailing care and tender love. God gave them “of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food” (Psalm 78:24, 25)—that is, food provided for them by the angels. They were daily taught that they were as secure from want as if surrounded by fields of waving grain on the fertile plains of Canaan. EP 204.3

The manna was a type of Him who came from God to give life to the world. Said Jesus, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven... . If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:48-51. EP 204.4

After leaving the wilderness of Sin, the Israelites encamped in Rephidim. Here there was no water, and again they distrusted the providence of God. The people came to Moses with the demand, “Give us water that we may drink.” They cried in anger, “Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” When they had been so abundantly supplied with food, they remembered with shame their unbelief and promised to trust the Lord in the future; but they failed at the first trial of their faith. The pillar of cloud that was leading them seemed to veil a fearful mystery. And Moses—who was he? What could be his object in bringing them from Egypt? Suspicion and distrust filled their hearts, and in the tumult of rage they were about to stone him. EP 205.1