The Egyptian diet denotes the worldly things and amusements that people feed on in order to find satisfaction. In Egypt the children of Israel had eaten only Egyptian food; hence, they had become Egyptian in both their constitution and their appetite. Their desire here for Egyptian food indicates that their experience of redemption through the passover lamb and the exodus from Egypt with the crossing of the Red Sea had not changed their inward constitution and worldly taste (Num. 11:4-5). Contrary to God’s desire, the people wanted to live the same way as they had lived in Egypt (cf. 1 Pet. 1:18 and note 1 Pet. 1:18^2d).

Murmuring is an expression of the flesh, the totality of man’s fallen being (cf. Phil. 2:14). Although the thirst of the people had been quenched by the twelve springs at Elim (Exo. 15:27), the people were still hungry because of the lack of food. In such a situation the flesh of God’s people was exposed. This shows that the shortage of Christ as our spiritual nourishment will always cause our flesh with its lusts to be exposed. After the flesh was exposed, God sent manna to nourish His people (vv. 13-15). God’s way of dealing with the flesh of His people is to change their diet. The only way to conquer the flesh is to be filled with Christ by enjoying Him daily as the heavenly life supply, signified by manna (see note Exo. 16:4¹ and note Exo. 16:15¹).

Or, according to My instruction. The regulations concerning the gathering of manna (vv. 4-5, 16-30) were a test to prove whether or not God’s people corresponded to Him. Eating manna regulated God’s people and caused them to live, behave, and walk according to God. By contrast, the eating of quails was wild and without restriction (v. 13a; Num. 11:31-33a), corresponding to the Egyptian style, fashion, and manner.

This was manna (vv. 15, 31), a type of Christ as the unique, heavenly food for God’s people (John 6:31-35). By giving them manna to eat, God indicated that His intention was to change the nature of His people, to change their very constitution, for the accomplishing of His purpose. Because the children of Israel were still constituted with the Egyptian element and were thus the same as the Egyptians, they were not qualified to build up the tabernacle as God’s habitation on earth. For forty years God gave the children of Israel nothing to eat but manna (v. 35; Num. 11:6). This shows that God’s intention in His salvation is to work Himself into the believers in Christ and to change their constitution by feeding them with Christ as their unique heavenly food, thereby reconstituting them with Christ in order to qualify them to build up the church as God’s dwelling place. In fact, after being reconstituted with Christ, the believers themselves become the dwelling place of God (cf. 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6; Rev. 21:2-3).

The quails that satisfied the lust of the people came in the evening, but manna was always sent in the morning, causing the people to have a new beginning each day. Furthermore, it was sent with the dew (v. 14; Num. 11:9), which signifies the Lord’s refreshing and watering grace brought in by His fresh compassions (cf. Psa. 133:3; Prov. 19:12; Lam. 3:22-23). Grace is God reaching us to refresh us and water us. Christ as our daily manna always comes by means of this grace.

God sent quails (cf. Num. 11:31) to satisfy the lust of the people in their eating (v. 12; cf. Num. 11:18, 32), to show them His sufficiency, and to discipline them with His anger (cf. Num. 11:19-20, 33-34). The Egyptian diet corresponded to the lust of the people’s flesh and nourished it, causing the people to become more fleshly. Manna, on the contrary, came from heaven (v. 4) and caused those who ate it to become heavenly.

God dealt with His people’s flesh by showing them His glory. God’s glory appeared for the purpose of rescuing His people from their murmuring by condemning them.

Heb. man hu, from which the word manna derives. Manna is a type of Christ as the heavenly food that enables God’s people to go His way (John 6:31-35, 48-51, 57-58). According to God’s economy, Christ should be the unique diet, the only food, strength, satisfaction, and sustenance, of God’s chosen people, and they should live by Him alone (Num. 11:6; John 6:57). In order to be food to us, Christ was incarnated, crucified, and resurrected to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to indwell our spirit (John 6:63 and notes).

Although it is known that manna came from heaven (v. 4), the element and essence of manna are a mystery. Manna did not belong to the old creation; nevertheless, it could nourish man’s physical body. Thus, it must have contained certain elements and minerals that were a part of the old creation. As the real manna, Christ also is mysterious. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), yet He has a body that can be seen and touched (Luke 24:36-43). Thus, it is difficult to say whether Christ is spiritual or material.

Or, instructions.

Manna was sent every morning and had to be gathered every morning (v. 21). This indicates that we cannot store up the supply of Christ. The experience of Christ as our life supply must be daily, morning by morning (cf. Matt. 6:34).

The manna that was stored up by the people bred worms and stank, and the manna left in the hot sun melted (v. 21). However, the manna gathered on the sixth day and the manna preserved in the golden pot did not spoil or melt (vv. 22-24, 32-34). This shows that everything related to manna was miraculous and that manna was collected, enjoyed, and kept according to God’s regulations, not man’s. The same is true with respect to our experience of Christ as our life supply.

Meaning a rest; from the verb meaning to cease.

The characteristics of manna portray the characteristics of Christ as the heavenly food of God’s people. Manna was fine (v. 14), indicating that Christ is even and balanced and that He became small enough for us to eat; round (v. 14), indicating that as our food Christ is eternal, perfect, and full, without shortage or defect; white (v. 31), showing that Christ is clean and pure, without any mixture; like frost (v. 14), signifying that Christ as our heavenly food not only cools and refreshes us but also kills the negative things within us; like coriander seed (v. 31), indicating that Christ is full of life that grows in us and multiplies; solid (implied in the fact that the people “ground it between two millstones or beat it in a mortar, then they boiled it in pots” — Num. 11:8), signifying that after gathering Christ as manna, we must prepare Him for our eating by “grinding, beating, and boiling” Him in the situations and circumstances of our daily living; like bdellium in appearance (Num. 11:7), indicating the brightness and transparency of Christ; in its taste like the taste of cakes baked in oil (Num. 11:8), signifying the fragrance of the Holy Spirit in the taste of Christ; in its taste like wafers made with honey (v. 31), signifying the sweetness of the taste of Christ; and good for making cakes (Num. 11:8), indicating that Christ is like fine cakes rich in nourishment.

The open manna, the manna that lay on the ground every morning, was for the enjoyment of God’s people in a public way. However, the omer of manna placed in a pot (v. 33) was hidden and was not for the congregation in a public way. The amount of manna kept in a pot before Jehovah was one omer, the same as the amount gathered and eaten by the people (vv. 16-18). In spiritual experience, this indicates that the amount of Christ we eat is the amount we can preserve. The Christ whom we eat as open manna spontaneously becomes hidden manna by being digested and assimilated into our inner being. Furthermore, whatever we eat of Christ will become a memorial in generations to come. The Christ whom we eat and enjoy will be an eternal memorial, because such a Christ becomes our very constitution, enabling us to build up and even to become God’s dwelling place in the universe.

According to Heb. 9:3-4, the manna was kept in a golden pot in the Ark of the Testimony, which was in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. In the Bible gold signifies the divine nature. The manna in the golden pot signifies that the Christ whom we enjoy as our life supply is preserved within us in the divine nature, which we received through regeneration (2 Pet. 1:4). The Ark, in which the golden pot with the manna was kept, typifies Christ. Christ as the hidden manna is preserved in the divine nature, and the divine nature is in Christ, typified by the Ark. This Christ is in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), which in our experience is the Holy of Holies (see note Heb. 10:19^1b). The manna preserved in the golden pot was the center of the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place in the Old Testament; likewise, the Christ whom we have eaten, digested, and assimilated is the center of our being as a part of the church, God’s dwelling place today (2 Tim. 4:22; Eph. 2:22).

Revelation 2:17 indicates that the overcomers, who overcome the degradation of the worldly church, will be given to eat the hidden manna and will be given a white stone (see note Rev. 2:17^2d and note Rev. 2:17^3f). This indicates that as we eat Christ and preserve Him as the hidden manna within us, He makes us overcomers and also transforms us into white stones for the building of God’s dwelling place, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.

Since the golden pot with the manna was in the Ark (Heb. 9:4), the testimony here must refer not to the Ark but to the tablets of the law that were in the Ark (Exo. 34:1, 29; 25:21; 40:20). The law is a testimony of what God is (see note Exo. 20:1¹). Hence, the fact that the manna in the golden pot was placed before the testimony indicates that manna corresponds to God’s testimony, God’s law, and meets its requirements. When we take Christ as our heavenly life supply, Christ as the hidden manna preserved in the divine nature within us causes us to correspond to God’s testimony and to fulfill its requirements (Rom. 8:4), thereby making us God’s expression.

See note Josh. 5:12^1a.