God sent the manna as a free gift of Divine grace, but the people had to use their own strength in gathering it, and their own skill in finding ways of preparing it. God fed them, but they had to work to satisfy their hunger. The manna had to be gathered quickly, for it was melted by the heat of the rising sun; if the people failed to gather enough, they went hungry; if they took more than their proper share, it spoiled. The gathering of the manna was a daily duty, and those who became indolent or careless were forced to do without food.
The laws of God had to be followed in gathering the manna. From the time of Creation the seventh day of the week had been a holy day, and man had been commanded to do no manual work on this day. For this reason no manna was provided on the Sab'bath, and those who searched for it were properly punished by going hungry. The double portion gathered on the sixth day did not spoil, as it would have done had it been gathered on any other day. The LORD still has a way of making worthless that for which men labor on the day which He has set aside for worship.
The failure of the Is'ra-el-ites to obey this order was a sign of their lack of reverence for the One who had so wonderfully helped them, and it showed a wicked nature which brought down upon itself a fitting punishment. Mo'ses ordered Aa'ron to keep a pot of the manna as a memorial of God's wonderful providence in feeding Is'ra-el during the long sojourn of forty years in the wilderness. Later this pot of manna was placed in the sacred Ark about which we shall learn in other stories. It was a valuable reminder to future generations of God's power to provide for His people in dire need.
