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Moses: Food & Water in the Desert

God provides manna and drinking water in the desert.
Contributed by Sweet Publishing
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, German, French, Hindi, Simplified Chinese
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Exodus 15 v 22-27 The pillar of cloud led the people from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. – Slide 1
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They travelled for three days without finding any fresh water. – Slide 2
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Then, when they came to a place with water, it was bitter and undrinkable. (They named it Marah, the Hebrew word for bitter). – Slide 3
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The thirsty crowd grumbled angrily to Moses, ‘What are we going to drink?’ – Slide 4
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Moses cried out to God for help. – Slide 5
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The Lord showed him a piece of wood and Moses threw it into the water. – Slide 6
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Immediately the water became fit to drink. – Slide 7
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‘If you listen and obey God,’ Moses declared, ‘He will keep you from any diseases He brought on the Egyptians. He is the Lord who heals you.’ – Slide 8
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The people then travelled on through the desert to an oasis called Elim where they found 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. – Slide 9
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Here they camped by the water and rested. – Slide 10
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Exodus 16 v 1-36 They then set off from Elim towards Mount Sinai through the Desert of Sin. – Slide 11
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In the desert they became very hungry and started grumbling to Moses and Aaron. – Slide 12
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‘In Egypt we had plenty of food,’ they complained bitterly. ‘You have brought us out into the desert to die of starvation.‘ – Slide 13
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The Lord told Moses, ‘I am going to rain down bread from heaven for six days each week. On the sixth day people should gather twice as much. On the seventh day there will be no bread from heaven as it is a special day for them to rest.’ – Slide 14
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Moses and Aaron announced, ‘God has heard your grumbling and is sending meat this evening and all the bread you need in the morning. Then you will know that he is the Lord who provides. Who are we? You grumbling is not against us but God.’ – Slide 15
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Aaron told the crowd to come before God. As they looked toward the desert they saw the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord promised Moses He was sending meat that evening and bread in the morning. – Slide 16
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That evening a large flock of birds called quail landed near the camp. The hungry people caught them and ate the delicious meat. – Slide 17
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The next morning there was a layer of dew on the ground which dried up and became like thin flakes of frost on the ground. ‘What is it?’ they asked Moses. The Hebrew word for ‘what is it?’ is ‘manna’. – Slide 18
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‘This is the bread from heaven God promised,’ Moses explained. ‘Everyone should gather as much as they need. Don’t collect more than you need and store it overnight.’ – Slide 19
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Everyone started gathering the ‘what is it? (manna). It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. – Slide 20
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Moses explained they were to gather just enough for five days. Only the sixth day they were to gather twice more than they needed as there would be no manna on the seventh day. – Slide 21
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Most people obeyed God and gathered enough food for that day. – Slide 22
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Some however were greedy, disobeyed God, gathered more than they needed and stored it overnight. The next morning it was full of maggots and smelt horrible. – Slide 23
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On the sixth day most people gathered twice as much as God had told them. – Slide 24
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On the seventh day the extra manna was still fresh and they could eat it. – Slide 25
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Some however went out looking for manna but there was none. ‘God has declared the seventh day as a special day of rest,’ warned Moses. ‘Everyone is to stay where they are and rest.’ – Slide 26
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The Israelites travelled on towards mount Sinai. (They were to eat manna everyday for the 40 years they were wandering in the wilderness). – Slide 27
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Exodus 17 v 1-7 When they camped at Rephidim there was no water to drink. They complained and quarrelled with Moses demanding, ‘Give us water to drink!’ ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Moses asked. ‘Why do you test God?’ – Slide 28
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Moses cried out to God for help. ‘What am I to do with these people? They are ready to stone me.’ ‘Go out to the people and take the leaders (elders) with you to the rock at Horeb,’ God replied. ‘Carry your staff with you and strike the rock.’ – Slide 29
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The leaders followed Moses to the rock at Horeb and watched as he struck it with his staff. – Slide 30
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Water burst out of the rock, just as God had promised. – Slide 31
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Everyone drank the water. Moses called the place ‘Massah and Meribar’ because people had doubted God by asking, ‘Is the Lord with us or not?’ (In Hebrew, Massah means ‘testing’ and Meribar means ‘quarrelling’). God had kept His promise and provided food and water in the desert. – Slide 32
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