Quails and Manna

Central Truth: God cares for his people and provides for their needs.

Scriptures: Exodus 15:22-27; 16

After they crossed the Red Sea, the Israelites continued into the Sinai Peninsula. As they traveled into the wilderness of Shur they only found water that was so bitter they could not drink it. The people complained and murmured against Moses. God told Moses to cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet. God made a covenant with the people, promising to protect them from the diseases he brought upon the Egyptians if they obeyed him.

When they traveled into the wilderness of Sin, they became hungry and again complained and murmured against Moses. They told Moses and Aaron that they should have stayed in Egypt where they had plenty of food. God saw their needs and sent quails in the evening and rain bread from heavin in the mornings. Each morning the people gathered a daily portion for each person in their household. They were to gather enough for one day. Any bread remaining would spoil the next day. On the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much because the people were to observe the sabbath day. Miraculously, the extra portion did not spoil overnight and no bread was to be found on the seventh day. God instructed Moses and Aaron to put a measure of manna in a pot and to keep it as a memorial for future generations.

A measure of manna ready to be placed into the Ark of the Covenant.

As we talked about the manna, the children got to try some honey crackers that simulated what the manna may have tasted like. I found the recipe on Pinterest along with several others that will be fun to try.

Interactive Display

To help the story to come alive for the children, I put together an interactive display for the story of Moses. Each week, something new is either revealed or added or taken away.  

This week's lesson took the children on a journey from the Red Sea through the wilderness. We pointed out all of the major geographic features prominent within our story and marked with the assumed location of Marah (#6 on the map) where God made the bitter waters sweet by having Moses throw a tree into the water. 

Interactive map of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

Over the last few weeks, we have been watching segments the Ten Commandments, which can be found on YouTube.