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Israel Meets With Difficulties
183
How the Sabbath Was Honored
On the sixth day the people gathered two omers for every person.
The leaders quickly told Moses what had been done. His answer
was, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest,
a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and
boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to
be kept until the morning.’” They did this, and found that the manna
did not spoil. And Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath
to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall
gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
God requires that His holy day be kept as sacredly now as in
the time of Israel. We should make the day before the Sabbath a
day of preparation, so that everything may be ready for its sacred
hours. In no case should our own business be allowed to infringe on
holy time. God has directed that the sick should be cared for—the
labor required to make them comfortable is a work of mercy and
not a violation of the Sabbath, but all unnecessary work should be
avoided. Work that is neglected until the beginning of the Sabbath
should remain undone until after sundown at its close.
The Israelites witnessed a three-part miracle to impress their
minds with the sacredness of the Sabbath: a double quantity of
manna fell on the sixth day, none on the seventh, and the portion
needed for the Sabbath stayed sweet and pure.
Sabbath Before Sinai
In the way God gave the manna, we have undeniable evidence
that the Sabbath did not originate when the law was given at Sinai.
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Before the Israelites came to Sinai they understood that God ex-
pected them to keep the Sabbath. When every Friday they had to
gather a double portion of manna in preparation for the Sabbath,
the sacred nature of the day of rest was continually impressed upon
them. And when some of the people went out on the Sabbath to
gather manna, the Lord asked, “How long do you refuse to keep My
commandments and My laws?”
“The children of Israel ate manna forty years ... until they came
to the border of the land of Canaan.” For forty years they were