Introduction: How do you feel when you are hungry or
thirsty? What if getting a drink or food was not something
you could easily do? The problem for most people, even poor
people in the United States, is that we are “over secure”
when it comes to food. For most of us the problem is having
the will power to eat less. We die from eating too much, not
from eating too little. While we might have a problem
getting into the minds of the Hebrews for our study this
week, let’s do our best as we turn to our study of Exodus.
I. Thirsty
A. Read Exodus 15:22. What is significant about the
fact that the Hebrews were three days without
finding water? (Several sources reported that
humans can live between three and five days without
water. It depends on the health of the individual.)
1. What do you think is the attitude of the
people? (The people were looking at dying
without water. Remember that there are about
two million people in this group.)
B. Read Exodus 15:23. Have you ever felt that you must
go to the bathroom, but when you found a bathroom
it was locked! How did you feel? (Between the last
questions and this, we see how the people could be
desperate!)
C. Read Exodus 15:24-25. Notice that the verses say
that the people grumbled “against” Moses and Moses
“cried out to the Lord.” Is this the proper chain
of command? (Yes.)
1. Are the people doing something that is
different than Moses is doing? (Yes. They were
saying negative things about Moses. While
Moses is turning to God for help.)
2. It sounds like God pointed Moses’ attention to
a specific piece of wood. Why would God have
to find a particular wood for Moses? (Some
believe this wood had properties that
counteracted the bitterness of the water and
made it drinkable.)
D. Read Exodus 7:20. Assume the wood actually played
an important roll in fixing the water. Why would
God do that? Why not have Moses strike the water
with his staff just like he struck the Nile to turn
it to blood? (Exodus 15:25 tells us that these
events were a test.)
E. Read Exodus 15:26. What do you think is the test
referred to in Exodus 15:25? (They are tested on
listening carefully and paying attention to God.
Changing the Nile water to blood and changing this
lake water from bitter to sweet are similar, but
God uses a different technique involving wood.)
F. Let’s stay with Exodus 15:26. Why does God talk
about future health? Why is disease a logical
question to bring into this discussion? (We have
two things going on. First, bitter water is changed
to sweet because the people need to drink. Beyond
that, God promises that He will not put plagues of
disease on the people if they obey Him.)
G. Read Exodus 15:27. God leads the Hebrews to a place
where there is obviously good water. Is God giving
the people a lesson? If so, what is it? (God is
showing the people that He can do two things. He
can lead them in the right direction so their needs
will be met. At the same time, when there is an
emergency, God can perform a miracle (or provide
the means) to fix the problem.)
II. Meat Lovers Special
A. Read Exodus 16:1-3. Do you think the slaves had
“all the food they wanted?”
1. Why would they be complaining about meat when,
according to Exodus 12:32, they had their
“flocks and herds” with them?
B. Read Exodus 16:4-7. Is God answering the request of
the people? (They complained about starving, but
they dreamed of eating meat. God is sending them
bread instead. Or is He?)
1. Notice that Moses and Aaron in verse 7 tell
the Hebrews that they should not be the target
of criticism. Do you agree? (When I’m a
leader, I think it is proper that criticism be
directed to me when individuals think
something is going wrong.)
C. Read Exodus 16:8. What argument do Moses and Aaron
make that they should escape criticism? (They are
God’s agents and therefore they should escape
criticism because God is the One being criticized.)
1. What do you think about their argument?
D. Read Exodus 16:10-14. Consider the ways God has
answered the people’s complaints. Are they the
same? (They are much different. Bringing quail is
directing what could have been a natural
occurrence. Bringing manna is an unprecedented
miracle.)
III. Manna
A. Read Exodus 16:15-18. Let’s focus on verse 18. What
is God teaching the people? To be Communists? To be
lazy?
1. Why would a person gather too much?(This shows
a lack of trust in God. He is teaching the
people to trust Him. Even if you
underestimated the amount you should gather,
God would make it sufficient?
a. Is there a lesson here for retirement
savings? Or are the two completely
unrelated?
B. Read Exodus 16:19-25. Are each of these details a
separate miracle? (Yes. Manna comes six days a
week. You cannot keep it overnight, except on
Friday, otherwise it spoils. If you are lazy and do
not gather it in the morning it will not be
available to you.)
1. Why do we have this odd pattern of extra on
Friday and none on Saturday? Notice that the
Ten Commandments, requiring Sabbath rest, have
not yet been given. See Exodus 20:8-11. (This
shows that, as Exodus 20:11 states, the
Sabbath rest was instituted at the Creation.
God patterns His distribution of manna to
reinforce His Sabbath rest commandment.)
C. Read Exodus 16:35. What does this teach us? (God
can be trusted to help us for as long as we need
it.)
IV. Rock Water
A. Read Exodus 17:1-3. Is this quarreling with Moses
understandable? (No. God is giving them food to eat
and He solved their last problem with water.)
B. Read Exodus 17:4. Is Moses doing the right thing?
(I vote, “yes.” He turns to God for help in this
time of trouble.)
C. Read Exodus 17:5-6. At the beginning of our study I
asked why God did not have Moses strike the bitter
water with his staff. But here He has Moses strike
a rock with his staff. Why the difference?
1. Is there a lesson in this for us? (This
promotes the idea that there was something
special about the wood God selected to
counteract the bitterness of the lake. Turning
water to blood or getting water from a rock
demonstrate undebatable miracles. The lesson
for us is that God can deal with our needs in
many ways.)
V. Working Intelligently
A. Read Exodus 18:13-14. The back story is that when
Moses and the multitude came by Horeb, Jethro,
Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses’ wife and
children to him. Jethro gives advice to Moses. What
is Jethro suggesting? (The situation does not seem
to reflect common sense.)
B. Read Exodus 18:15-16. What does Moses say is the
reason why he is one judging all disputes? (He says
the people come to him to know what God would do.
Moses explains the law of God.)
C. Read Exodus 18:17. How can Jethro claim it is “not
good” for Moses to resolve disputes and educate the
people about God’s law? This is an obviously
important task to advance the Kingdom of God!
D. Read Exodus 18:18. How can Moses’ hard work on
God’s behalf be improved? (Moses needs to share the
burden. Moses is doing a great thing. But sometimes
you can do too much of a great thing!)
1. Do you feel “burned out” with your church
related tasks?
2. Do some in your church who are doing important
work quit because they say they are “burned
out?” (From time to time we lose important
people who say they must quit because of
“burnout.” I’m not a good person to consult on
this. I’ve been writing these weekly lessons
for 29 years and I’m starting my 50th year of
litigating and teaching. I would be sad if I
stopped.)
E. Read Exodus 18:19-22. Jethro gives two suggestions
to make Moses’ work more efficient. What are they?
(First, Jethro says that Moses should educate all
the people about God’s rules. It is inefficient to
do it case by case. Second, Moses should organize
a group of judges and delegate all of the smaller
issues to them.)
1. Will these new judges be as good as Moses?
(Not in the abstract. But they will have more
time to devote to a case.)
2. Think about Jethro’s advice and see if you can
apply it to your ministry.
F. Friend, we need to trust God in times of stress and
to listen to the good advice of fellow believers.
That will make your life better. Why not consider
right now how to improve your ministry?
VI. Next week: Covenant at Sinai.
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
