Exodus, the second of the five books of the Law, tells of Moses leading the Israelites through the desert to the promised land, a collection of slaves becoming a people, developing culture and laws. Above all coming to recognise and worship the God who saved them as the one God. They often rebelled and murmured against Moses. But God fed them in the desert with quails and manna – ‘daily, or tomorrow’s bread’.
The Psalm reminds us of the importance of handing down to later generations the traditions of God’s dealings with his people.
Paul continues reminding the Ephesians of the new rules they must live by. Not overturning the rules in Exodus, but demanding more and deeper conformity to Jesus’ way. We have to put aside our old self which – as Paul knows very well – so easily “gets corrupted by following illusory desires”. We must “put on the new self that has been created in God’s way”.
In chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, after Jesus fed five thousand, he starts to explain the meaning of this miracle. Jesus feeds us, just as God fed the Israelites in the wilderness. Gently Jesus corrects the Jews’ understanding of Exodus: It was not “Moses who gave” but Jesus’ “Father who gives the bread from heaven” – now and always.
(Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15; Psalm 77(78); Eph 4: 17, 20-24; John 6: 24-35)