We continue with the passionate warning Moses gave to Israel about keeping the mighty works of Jehovah in their minds. They couldn’t see Him, but they had seen all the ways His sovereign mercy brought them out of slavery and made them a great conquering nation.
If nothing else, Moses reminds them that to this very day, roughly forty years after the departure from Egypt, they had been living off manna. This remains one of the oddest, most inexplicable miracles in the Old Testament. It provided sufficient nutrition to replace everything they could have eaten back in Egypt. It was their only food, and fed them alone in a place where food was scarce for individuals, let alone a whole nation. Nothing we have seen since that time comes even close.
Moses reminds them that it was meant to put them in the proper frame of mind to serve their God. He was testing whether He could get them to trust and obey Him as they would be expected to serve any human ruler, even though His demands were often far less stringent than was typical of kings. There were really very few things completely new to them.
Some desert sheikhs used the language of adoption of a people by covenant, but no one had ever heard of a deity doing such a thing. So they were His family, and the only way to make sense of this chapter is to play along with the image of a sheikh adopting adult children as heirs. There would be playful declarations of talking to them like children.
Thus, He sent them to bed without supper once in awhile so they would recognize who was in charge. What mattered is they imprinted on obeying Him like children would a natural father. Food going in their mouths was never the issue, but what came out of His mouth. We note that in the Hebrew text, there is no “word” here, but a much broader insistence that everything that comes out of His mouth should be of interest to them. There would have been dozens of wordless expressions and mouth noises that had meaning, and it was important that they learn to take subtle cues, instead of legalistically demanding clear statements at every turn. This higher demand prevents them falling back on juvenile semantic games of “gotcha.”
He saw to their every need, so that during the 40 years of the slave generation dying off in the wilderness, nobody had any real problems. They didn’t even get blisters and their clothing never wore thin. Just as a father disciplines his children, so the Lord tested His nation. They should act like loving children of their Father. We forget how close and reverent children were to fathers in that time and place, wholly unlike the smart-mouthed brats of our day.
So when He brings them into a plentiful land, they should naturally be quick to remark what a wonderful God they served. What a joy it is to be the Chosen of Jehovah! Don’t let obedience slip away, like something you dropped somewhere in your life and quit thinking about where it was. Don’t stand up proud like kids pretending to be something really special, the ruler of all they survey and a terror to the rest of humanity. Know when to stop pretending and bow before the God who gave you all of this.
It is God who grants shalom, who puts it in reach so that genuine effort actually yields something of value. He is the God who makes sure everything turns out right, even when you muck it all up. God keeps His promises under the Covenant; don’t you forget your end of it. If He can crush the nations who opposed His will for you to conquer them, He can just as easily disperse you across the whole world.
Interesting to note here, along with your mention of manna as being the biggest miracle (aside from creation itself, I would argue), how rather mundane it is, as it involves the simple act of eating.
Of course; Creation is a miracle on a whole ‘nother level. But manna slipped from their consciousness as a privilege once they got used to it.