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small when compared with the exceeding riches of grace and glory that shall then be
enjoyed. There is a sad addition to the story of Exod. 16: in Numb. 16: 6:
"But now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our
eyes."
"This manna", the gift of God, the bread from heaven, angel's food! To complete the
sad evidence against these people we read in Numb. 21: 5:
"Our soul loatheth this light bread."
The word `light' means `exceeding light' and the word `loathe' means `to be weary'
as Rebekah said:
"I am weary of my life because of the children of Heth" (Gen. 27: 46).
It is a sad thing when the heart grows weary of the Lord's heavenly provision for His
people, yet the same liability to turn in heart away from Christ to the things that have
been left behind is not the malady only of a past generation. It is with us still. The man
who could say he counted all things loss did so because of `the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ' and he could add:
"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
the things which are before, I press . . . . ." (Phil. 3: 8-14).
Those, on the contrary, who said `there is nothing at all besides this manna' and who
eventually sank so low as to `loathe' and call `contemptible' the bread from heaven, had
prepared the way for this rebellious spirit by an unholy remembrance. Unlike Paul, who
forgot those things that were behind, these said:
"We remember the fish . . . . . the cucumbers, and the melons and the leeks and the
onions and the garlick" (Numb. 11: 5).
They remembered the savouries, the tasty morsels, and were not satisfied with the
simple fare of the heavenly pilgrimage: Is there no lesson here for ourselves? They
forgot the bitterness of hard bondage which had caused the cry to reach heaven
(Exod. 2: 23). This people said on another occasion:
"Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt" (Numb. 14: 4),
but the inspired comment, given by Nehemiah, is:
"In their rebellion they appointed them a captain to return to THEIR BONDAGE"
(Neh. 9: 17).
If at any time the old nature seeks to turn the face of the pilgrim back to the world he
has left behind, it will call to remembrance the pleasures (the leek, the onion, the garlick),
but will not remind of the awful bondage and bitterness. We are not left to the evident
analogy of the type to show that the manna set forth the Lord Jesus, for with
unmistakable directness He Himself has taught the lesson: