New Moons And Manna.
The manna tells the story.
New Moons And Manna.
Some apologists use Scripture's silence about how manna was
to relate to New Moon Day, and the 30th day of the month, as
a supposed "proof" that the Lunar Sabbath is not Scriptural.
As light continues to advance on the CREATOR 's ordained method of time-keeping, the luni-solar calendar, so also does the opposition to this truth. As soon as one objection is answered, another is introduced in its place. One objection, in particular, that is frequently offered by those who have not honestly taken the time to thoroughly study this most important topic, is the Biblical narrative of the manna. Some use Scripture's silence about how manna was to relate to New Moon Day, and the 30th day of the month, as a supposed "proof" that the Lunar Sabbath is not Scriptural. The objection goes something like this:
Exodus 16 states that manna was to fall only on the six work days, but never on the Seventh-Day Sabbath. There is no mention of the manna in relation to New Moon Day or the 30th day of the month. Therefore, the Israelites must have been observing 'continuously cycling weeks*', the same as we do today.
*For more information on the 'Unbroken Chain Of Consecutive Seven-Day WEEKS Since Creation Myth', please read:
The Lunar Calendar Of The Scriptural Sabbath
The Jews And The Sabbath
Constantine & Hillel Deceived The Whole World.
While it is true that Exodus 16 does not provide details of how the manna was to relate to New Moon Day or the 30th day of the month, Scripture is not entirely silent on the matter. It has been assumed by many that the children of Israel ate only manna for forty years, and nothing else. This however, is simply not true.
The Pattern In The Wilderness.
In Exodus we read:
(Exodus 12:30-32)[1] (NIV) 30Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. 31During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the CREATOR as you have requested. 32Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.
When pharaoh finally agreed to let Israel go free, he sent them away with all of their flocks and their herds. While we cannot know with certainty the exact number of livestock that the children of Israel took with them, we can safely conclude that they must have numbered at least in the hundreds of thousands because there were 600,000 men, besides women and children, that left Egypt in the exodus (Exodus 12:37). The exodus was no small movement! The children of Israel had been greatly blessed by the ETERNAL during their stay in Egypt.
The offerings listed in the first three chapters of Leviticus attest to the abundance of Israel's livestock. For example:
(Leviticus 1:2-3) (KJV) 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the ETERNAL, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 3If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the ETERNAL.
In addition to being able to eat the meat provided by their livestock, the children of Israel had oils and wheat flour with which to prepare meals. This is seen in the ETERNAL's instructions for the consecration of the priests:
(Exodus 29:1-4) (NKJV) 1And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). 3You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. 4And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.
The fact that Israel was blessed with olive oil and flour during their stay in the wilderness can also be seen in the ETERNAL's command regarding the tabernacle's lamps and the showbread that was to continually remain before Him:
(Leviticus 24:1-9) (NKJV) 1Then the ETERNAL spoke to Moses, saying: 2Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. 3Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the ETERNAL continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. 4He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the ETERNAL continually. 5And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the ETERNAL. 7And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the ETERNAL. 8Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the ETERNAL continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the ETERNAL made by fire, by a perpetual statute.
Not only was Israel blessed with an abundance of livestock, oil, and flour with which to prepare meals, but they were also permitted to buy and trade as necessary with the various peoples that they providentially came into contact with. This is clearly seen in the ETERNAL's command to Moses when the children of Israel were preparing to pass through Seir in the land of Esau.
(Deuteronomy 2:2-7) (NKJV) 2And the ETERNAL spoke to me, saying: 3You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward. 4And command the people, saying, You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. 5Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. 7For the ETERNAL your CREATOR has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the ETERNAL your CREATOR has been with you; you have lacked nothing.
Many have mistakenly taken Israel's complaint about the manna in Numbers 11, to mean that they were only permitted to eat manna:
(Numbers 11:4-6) (NKJV) 4Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: Who will give us meat to eat? 5We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!
Israel's complaining that "there is nothing at all except this manna" was clearly an exaggeration and was a reflection of their lust for excessive flesh meats and the luxuries that many of them had enjoyed in Egypt. We must remember, here, that many Egyptians joined themselves with Israel during their exodus from the land of Egypt. It was likely the Egyptians that joined themselves to Israel, were those who were doing most of the complaining here, obstinately crying out for their former food staples.
(Exodus 12:37-38) (NKJV) 37Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. 38A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds; a great deal of livestock.
Manna was clearly not the only food available to Israel during their journeys in the wilderness. This is further attested to by the fact that manna was not even given to them, until Israel's second month in the wilderness.
(Exodus 16:1) (NKJV) And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day [a Seventh-Day Sabbath] of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.
(Exodus 16:11-12) (NKJV) 11And the ETERNAL spoke to Moses, saying, 12I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At twilight [the start of the 16th day] you shall eat meat, and in the morning [still the 16th day] you shall be filled with bread'. And you shall know that I am the ETERNAL your CREATOR.
It is interesting to note that the day AFTER a Seventh-Day Sabbath, is always the first of the six work-days, leading up to the next Seventh-Day Sabbath. The only exception to this is, if it is the last Seventh-Day Sabbath of the lunar month. So in the above example we see that manna fell for the very first time on the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st days of the second month, making the 22nd day of the second month, the next Seventh-Day Sabbath.
What were the children of Israel eating during their first month in the wilderness? They were eating from their abundance of livestock, as well as from the provisions acquired when they plundered the Egyptians.
What, then, was the point of the manna if it was not to feed Israel? The primary purpose of the manna was to teach Israel the mechanics of the ETERNAL's celestial calendar, which was established and ordained at Creation:
(Genesis 1:14) (NKJV) Then the CREATOR said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
(Exodus 16:4-5) (NKJV) 4Then the ETERNAL said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. 5And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
Manna did not fall on New Moon Day, or on the 30th day of the month, because it was not particularly necessary. The children of Israel were blessed with an abundance of resources and had plenty to eat, apart from the heavenly manna. This would explain why cooking was not forbidden on these days. The main purpose of the manna, was to make clear how the Seventh-Day Sabbath was to be reckoned. Manna fell only on the six work days that preceded each Seventh-Day Sabbath as a learning exercise. The ETERNAL was training and testing His people as to how they should, and if they would, obey the keeping of His most important feast, the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
The ETERNAL, in His great mercy and infinite wisdom, was teaching Israel what they had spent 400 years forgetting, His luni-solar calendar, that He ordained during creation! Today, our forgiving and loving CREATOR is again restoring the knowledge of His calendar. He is once again testing, those who profess to belong to Him, to see if they will walk in His Law. Will you now, join yourself to the ETERNAL's faithful? Will you pledge your allegiance to the ETERNAL, and commit yourself to observing His Holy Feast days, on His appointed calendar?
(Psalm 95:7-8) (KJV) 7For He is our CREATOR; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today if ye will hear His voice, 8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.
The choice is yours...
Footnotes:
[1] [a]All scriptural links point to the Bible Gateway, A Searchable Online Bible In Over 100 Versions And 50 Languages, located at "BibleGateway.Com", a vast biblical resource containing all the major texts and reference materials useful for in-depth bible studies. Most scriptual quotations are from the (KJV) of the Bible, however versions noted in (parentheses) should also be consulted. [b]All Strong's scriptural references point to the Blue Letter Bible Lexicon, located at "BlueLetterBible.Org", another vast biblical resource which has over 4,000,000 links available, pointing to more than 165,000 pages of concordances, lexicons, dictionaries, commentaries, images, and several Bible versions.