Manna and Challah --now, the Challah! Parsha Beshalach

So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot , it would melt.  On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftans of the community came and told Moses, he said to them, " this is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath of the LORD.  Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.  Exodus 16:21~23

The house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey.  
                                                                                Exodus 16:31

You've heard me say this before  (here, here, and here),  and here I go again.
I get so excited in this week's Torah portion, Beshalach.  The Freedom!  the Manna! The Shabbat!

It is not only the freedom of when God brings the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but the way in which He is with them and guides them.

It is not only the manna that falls from heaven but the Bread of Life that He provides them.  It is not only the Shabbat that is introduced in the provision of the manna, and the double portion on Shabbat, but the goodness of a Master who gives His children sustenance and the way to achieve it,  and gives them  rest.

This portion is one we can stay in forever, it is alive with song.  The song of Moses and Miriam, a spontaneous rejoicing at the wondrous awesome God who has set them---us!--- free and who they---we!--- know is with them--us! as He travels with them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  As from now He is their --our! ---home and the journey begins to make a life where He will dwell with us and in us and we in Him.

They sing and Miriam leads the women in dance!!

Once the rejoicing settles down and the people get hungry, they ask for bread.  They have been slaves for over 400 years and now the bread that they receive will be the bread from heaven.  And with it comes some "rules".  But they are not rules of  back breaking labor as they were accustomed to in Egypt, but a law that comes from Love, and that will be given as they journey forward in His commands.  We begin already to see how closely connected are love and following His commands to our Father in Heaven.

The double portion that is sent down on the sixth day is sent as a "test" as God wants to see if the children of Israel will keep his commandments.  He even says so, I'm not making that up about it being a test!!

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day's portion---that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not.   Exodus 16:4

Now even as we are set free in Yeshua, we still and even more so want to know the heart of the God who brought us through, the God of yesterday, today and forever.   When we receive that double portion, there is a deep remembering of where we came from and it is together with a deep gratitude and praise for the One who brought us through, who brings us through, and will bring us through again.  Our Redeemer and Salvation.

This Shabbat is the Shabbat of Song!! May we sing a song to Him, for He is our strength and our Salvation!!

♬ I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider He has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strenght and my song.
He has also become my Salvation.   ♬   from Exodus 15:1~2

When I made the Challah this week, those are some of the things I thought about.  As I added flour to the dough I thought of the manna that landed as a layer of dew on the ground, and its description as flaky white like coriander coming from heaven.  Manna is called manna because when the Children of Israel saw it on the ground like a fine frost on the ground, they said to one another "What is it" (Ex. 16:15), which in Hebrew the word "what"  is pronounced "Man" (as in manna) and  that is where the word manna comes from. ( I think the whole sentence is , man- hu , what is it?) and that became what it is called! so it is a wonderful word of wonder at the bread from heaven that God provided as their first bread!

When we spread the challah cover over the Challah on the Shabbat table it and a layer beneath it we remember of the layer of manna that covered the ground in the morning when the Children of Israel awoke and saw that indeed their God provides.  Though in response to their grumbling, there it was, and he loves them--us! despite their--our! sometimes grumbling!!  Over and over in this beginning of their journey, the LORD assures and re-assures the people that He is their God.

The LORD spoke to Moses:  I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.  Speak to them and say: By evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; and you shall know that I the LORD am your God. (16:12)

It was through His parting the sea that they knew He was God and the Master of Creation.
It was through that first provision in the wilderness that they knew He was their God.

When I went to measure out the flour for the challah this week in the week of Parsha Besalach, I almost hugged the bowl, remembering, connecting with what it may have been like to go out and see the manna there covering the ground.  Knowing it is that same God who provides the flour for the challah that I will gather into the bowl to make the challah for this Shabbat.   As we say the blessings,  and  the  double  Shabbat commands of "remember" and "keep", shamor and zakor. 

God bless you and hope you have a time of rejoicing and remembering on this Sabbath of Song!!

This is my God, and I will glorify Him,
my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Exodus 15:2b

I took my bowl to gather the provision, and measured out the first cup of flour.  And hence two challot were made.Notice in the parsha, the unit of measurement is an "OMER", see how this again is something we will remember at Passover and the counting of the OMER!!! 

You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain,
the place you made to dwell in, O LORD,
The sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands established.
The LORD will reign for ever and ever!        

Exodus 15: 17~18