When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.
Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Exodus 16:15-20
“This narrative stands at the center of Israel’s imagination; it embodies and signifies YHWH’s capacity for generosity that stands in complete contrast to the nightmare of scarcity that fueled Pharoah’s rapacious policies. The Israelites were so inured to the scarcity system of Pharaoh that they could hardly take in the alternative abundance given in divine generosity, the purpose of which was to break the vicious cycle of anxiety about scarcity that in turn produced anger, fear, aggression, and finally, predatory violence.
The Israelites, in the narrative, are overwhelmed by divine abundance. They react, however, as though they were still in the old system of pharaonic scarcity. Moses warned them not to save up or to hoard the bread or to keep extra supplies on hand. Take what you need, eat and enjoy! But they did not listen. They filled their pockets and their baskets with extras because there might not be any more tomorrow. That is what one does in the face of scarcity…But such frantic surpluses will not work. Because the “bread of heaven” is not like the “bread of affliction” that the Israelites had eaten in Egyptian slavery. There you could save a crust of bread for the next day. But not here! Abundance is not for hoarding.”
Walter Brueggemann in Journey to the Common Good (Louisville: WJKP, 2010) 16-17.
Would you pray with me today, please.
Father in Heaven, help us wake up the world, and more specifically God’s Church, from the “nightmare of scarcity” that shrouds modern society by helping those around us understand that our “capacity for generosity” is rooted in Your divine abundance. May our lives show others that we have taken hold of abundant life in Jesus Christ. Teach us not to hoard, but to work diligently, and enjoy and share Your spiritual and material blessings. Make it so through our lives by your Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!