Kristenmomof3's Xanga

A look at the snow in the morning

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:04:02 GMT

In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:57:37 GMT

In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. And when they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mount. And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.' And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said: 'All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.' And Moses reported the words of the people unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee for ever.' And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready against the third day; for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death; no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram's horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.' And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. And he said unto the people: 'Be ready against the third day; come not near a woman.' And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a horn exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. Now mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, that come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.' And Moses said unto the LORD: 'The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for thou didst charge us, saying: Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.' And the LORD said unto him: 'Go, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest He break forth upon them.' So Moses went down unto the people, and told them.
(Exodus 19:1-25)

It is the 3rd month of the Israelites journey out of Egypt…..or as it was called in Hebrew, Mitzrayim. Ahead of them lay a meeting with YHVH that would change not only their own existence and identity, but would bring a new dynamic to the whole world. Because, YHVH was bringing Israel out of Egypt in order to meet with Him on Holy Ground……the Mountain of God… for the purpose of establishing a new relationship with the offspring of Jacob.

YHVH had been preparing Israel for hundreds of years, step by step, for this momentous event. He had created a separate people through Jacob, allowed them to wander in a land that was not theirs, then to sojourn and become an enormous nation in another land that eventually enslaved them, and finally He rescued them from the hand of their oppressors. He let them witness great miracles; He demonstrated through the disastrous strokes against Egypt (which did not harm the Hebrews), that Israel was a set-apart people. YHVH led Israel by means of His visible presence through the desert wilderness; He fed them and gave them water through supernatural means, and He fought for them and defeated their enemy, Amalek, in battle.

As a result of all that YHVH had done for them, had Israel really changed very much in the 3 months since leaving Egypt? Yes and no. Yes, in that they were now fully aware that the power of YHVH had no bounds, and that Moses was His chosen man to lead Israel, and they now held a healthy FEAR of YHVH. No, in that their FAITH in YHVH was still small, they still didn't understand that YHVH was not just the only God of Israel, but was the only god, period, nor did they even remotely grasp the HOLINESS of El Shaddai….The God Most High.

YHVH tells Moses that He has a message for the people of Jacob, of Israel, and it is this:

First, you are not here because of ANYTHING you did. I smote the Egyptians for your sake, I carried you to this spot, and now I bring you to Myself, because I chose to do it.

Second, IF…..IF…... you will hear, accept, and follow the New Covenant I am about to give you, then you will become My own possession, my own precious treasure.

Third, IF…. IF….. you follow this Covenant, then God will consider you a kingdom of priests, and a sanctified, HOLY group of people.

The covenant on Mt. Sinai did not REPLACE the covenant God had made with Abraham, about 600 years earlier. God didn't say, "in place of giving you a promise for a land of your own, I'm going to give you My Law". The newer covenant the Hebrews were about to receive was for a different purpose than the older one. These 2 covenants were to be complementary, working hand in hand.

This is one reason I really dislike applying the term "New Covenant" to the covenant that is Yeshua HaMashiach. For in the gentile mindset there is this picture that once we have a new covenant, then the older one or ones become obsolete, abolished, replaced. Not true. Certainly as regards the Covenant that is Y'shua, in a sense, some elements of the earlier covenants were transformed from being but shadows or types of a future reality, into the higher essence they were always pointing to. For instance, the sacrificial system using animal blood to atone for sin (that actually began with Adam and Eve), would be transformed into its fullest essence with Y'shua; His blood being the real blood that had been pointed to by the animal sacrifices; and therefore, the sacrifice of Y'shua was the last and final sacrifice for atonement of sins that would ever be needed. The Sacrificial system didn't end, and it didn't really CHANGE….. rather it was transformed; blood of an innocent was still required to atone for sin. So, each time we, in faith, count on the blood of Messiah as already having atoned for our sins, we are fulfilling the point and purpose and spirit of the sacrificial system.

In the Mosaic Covenant the purpose of the sacrificial system has been brought to fruition in Y'shua's death. But, the purpose of Law in showing men what God's principles and attributes and morals are, and what pleases and displeases Him will go on until at least the Millennial Kingdom (how else will we know what God's definition of sin is?). Even the Newest Covenant has items that have been checked off: the son of King David (the Messiah Y'shua) has already come and gone and atoned for our sin. So, does that mean that the New Covenant is now obsolete, just because it is 2000 years old and some of its terms are fulfilled? Of course not. The Abrahamic Covenant is the furthest along the path of having all of it's terms completely fulfilled, the Mosaic Covenant has many elements fulfilled but about has many left to be fulfilled, and the New Covenant has some elements fulfilled but much more left to be accomplished (such as Messiah's return, the salvation of all Israel, the destruction of Armageddon, setting up the Millennial Kingdom).

All 3 covenants are needed, they are all still valid, and it's just that some are closer to having every last element of its purpose completed than the others.

Let me give you a very short analogy and we'll move on. When you build a house, it has several basic components: you start with ground preparation, then a cement slab, the framed walls, then a roof, and then siding, drywall, etc. Now, if you prepare the ground and pour the slab and complete that portion of the job, does that mean that at that point the slab and it's purpose is dead and gone? That the slab is now, somehow, obsolete just because it's use and purpose has been mostly completed in the order of building a house? Of course not. The entire house must be now built on that slab that has been readied to carry the load that will be built upon it. Dissolve the slab, and there is no way to build and complete the house. It's that way with God's covenants…they were all necessary and they are all still necessary.

In vs. 9, after Moses went back to God with the people's response that they would listen and obey, YHVH told Moses that He would come to him in a thick cloud on the mountain, AND, then when He spoke to Moses the people would ALSO hear His voice.

Kids Craft Basket Gift Idea

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Kids Craft Basket Gift Idea
Craft kit: Fill a box with:
colored paper
crayons
stickers
pipe cleaners
buttons
pom-poms
glue
scissors
kid sized craft apron (recycle one of dads shirts)
sparkles

sharing some of my story

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:24:00 GMT

Originally posted November 2009

Warning to self-injurers the following post my be triggering. Stay safe.

I thought I would share some of my story. I am a cutter. I do not say I was a cutter because I will always be a cutter just like an alcoholic will always be an alcoholic. I have been cut free for over a year.

I started cutting when I was in 7th grade. To be honest though that was not my first form of self injury....I used to bang my head before that. For some reason unknown even to me, when I was in 7th grade I took an exactoknife blade from art and used it to cut myself. That was the first of many many times of cutting.

I used to cut my arms, my legs, my stomach etc.

I got most of my blades to cut with by taking apart disposable razors.

This is a topic that many people do NOT want to talk about. It is a topic that seems to scare people because they do not understand it.

I am hoping that this post will help.

Self-injury usually indicates that somewhere during development that person didn't learn good ways of coping with overwhelming feelings or stress. They're not sick or insane; they just never learned positive ways to deal with feelings and emotions for various reasons. Positive coping skills can be learned at any point in life. People who self-injure can learn to use new and healthier coping mechanisms. This process may take years to develop. It is my husband who has helped me learn healthy ways.

Self-injury is also termed self-mutilation, self-harm, or self-abuse. It can be defined as the deliberate, repetitive, impulsive, non-lethal harming of one's self, including but not limited to;
1)cutting,
2)burning,
3)picking or interfering with wound healing,
4)infecting oneself,
5)punching/hitting self or objects,
6)inserting objects in to skin,
7)bruising or breaking bones, and
8)some forms of hair pulling.

Self-injury, like many addictions, is often a coping mechanism to deal with some manner of internal pain, many who struggle with it also struggle with other issues such as eating disorders and alcohol and drug abuse. While self-injury may be someone's way to cope with or relieve painful or hard-to-express feelings and is generally NOT a suicide attempt.

We aren't born knowing how to express and cope with our emotions -- we learn from our parents, our siblings, our friends, schoolteachers, -- everyone in our lives. One factor common to most people who self-injure, whether they were abused or not, is invalidation. They were taught at an early age that their interpretations of and feelings about the things around them were bad and wrong. They learned that certain feelings weren't allowed. In abusive homes, they may have been severely punished for expressing certain thoughts and feelings. At the same time, they had no good role models for coping. You can't learn to cope effectively with distress unless you grow up around people who are coping effectively with distress. How could you learn to cook if you'd never seen anyone work in a kitchen?

Although a history of abuse is common among self-injurers, not everyone who self-injures was abused. Sometimes, invalidation and lack of role models for coping are enough, especially if the person's brain chemistry has already primed them for choosing this sort of coping.

So....My name is Kristen and I am a cutter. I am in recovery and hope to stay cut free. I will continue to do the things I can to stay that way. So I don't shave because I would rather be hairy then be triggered. I would never write this type of post while home alone because it can be triggering so I wrote it while my husband was home to stay safe.

Do you know anyone (Everyone knows someone but may not know it) who self injures? Do you or have you injured yourself? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:47:22 GMT

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, how that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her away, and her two sons; of whom the name of the one was Gershom; for he said: 'I have been a stranger in a strange land'; and the name of the other was Eliezer: 'for the God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.' And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God; and he said unto Moses: 'I thy father-in-law Jethro am coming unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.' And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in that He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said: 'Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods; yea, for that they dealt proudly against them.' And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood about Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said: 'What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand about thee from morning unto even?' And Moses said unto his father-in-law: 'Because the people come unto me to inquire of God; when they have a matter, it cometh unto me; and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws.' And Moses' father-in-law said unto him: 'The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee; for the thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee: be thou for the people before God, and bring thou the causes unto God. And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so shall they make it easier for thee and bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.' So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
(Exodus 18:1-27)

A small town had three churches Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist. All three had a serious problem with squirrels in the church. Each church in its own fashion had a meeting to deal with the problem. The Presbyterians decided that it was predestined that squirrels be in the church and that they would just have to live with them. The Methodists decided they should deal with the squirrels lovingly in the style of Charles Wesley. They humanely trapped them and released them in a park at the edge of town. Within 3 days, they were all back in the church. The Baptists had the best solution. They voted the squirrels in as members. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.

It was long ago recognized by the ancient Hebrew Sages that this chapter is out of chronological sequence. The mention of God's Laws, of an Altar, and of Moses teaching God's rules to the people and then judging the people according to those rules could only have occurred after the Law was given on Mt. Sinai.

"God be with thee: be thou for the people before God, and bring thou the causes unto God. And thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves; so shall they make it easier for thee and bear the burden with thee."

Men of ability – able men: This speaks of men that have wisdom, discernment, good judgment. You see, how can you lead without these things and yet some try and it doesn't work. Jude tells us, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen." Jude 24-25

Men of godliness – such as fear God: Without the fear of God you will not be able to serve man. Paul put it like this in Ephesians 5:18-21, "Don't get drunk with wine, because it makes you lose control. Instead, keep on being filled with the Spirit - sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to each other; sing to the Lord and make music in your heart to him; always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Submit to one another in fear of the Messiah."

Men of God's Word – men of truth: If you don't have the truth of God how can you minister to others? What are you going to give them except the wisdom that is of this world. Y'shua said in John 17:17, "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."

Men of honor – hating covetousness: if you are doing it for money, for fame, or whatever, then don't do it. Do it because the love of Messiah constrains you and you have a deep love for people and you want to bring them to Y'shua or into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Paul put it like this in Hebrews 13:5-6, "Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, "I will never fail you or abandon you." Therefore, we say with confidence, "ADONAI is my helper; I will not be afraid what can a human being do to me?"

Hijab for Paul_Partisan

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:06:09 GMT

Well Paul, you wanted to see pictures of women wearing Hijab. So here are some of me with my head covered.

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:00:00 GMT

And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto them: 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?' And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said: 'Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?' And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying: 'What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.' And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.' And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And the name of the place was called Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tried the LORD, saying: 'Is the LORD among us, or not?' Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua: 'Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.' So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Write this for a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Adonai-nissi. And he said: 'The hand upon the throne of the LORD: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.'
(Exodus 17:1-16)

They were human, and they were in a barren desert, and needing water was a necessity of life and a reasonable concern.

God is merciful. Rather than rebuking Moses or the people for their lack of faith He simply provides for them.

Moses was to strike "the rock", and water would pour from it, enough for everyone.

Suddenly in verse 8 the scene changes and the people become engaged in their first battle with a hostile neighbor. It is a group of people called Amalek that attacked Israel. We will find out later, in Deuteronomy 25, that Amalek attacked the rear of the long column of Israel, which consisted primarily of the stragglers: the weak, feeble, and sickly. This made what Amalek did all the more horrendous because Israel in no way threatened Amalek. But it is not at all surprising that it would be Amalek as the first to attack Israel; for the Amalekites were the descendants of Esau.

Moses instructs Joshua (who would eventually become the leader of Israel after Moses' death) to select the men who would fight Amalek, and then lead them in battle.

Well, the battle begins: Joshua down in the valley leading his men, Moses, Aaron and Hur up on the hilltop observing, with Moses raising his hand. It is usually presumed that he was holding up his staff in his hand, but that is NOT what the Scriptures say. The presumption that he held his staff in his hand comes from the name of the victory altar that was built to commemorate this battle; because the altar's name (Yehoveh nissi) implies that a banner or an insignia or some kind of device that symbolized Israel was used by Moses And, vs. 11 says that a strange thing occurred: as long as Moses held his staff in the air, towards the heavens, the battle tilted in Israel's favor. But, as soon as he put his arm holding the staff down for a rest, the battle swung towards Amalek. So, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a stone and then, one man on each side, they propped up Moses' arms so that the staff would not have to be lowered as Moses arms grew tired, not even for a momentary rest. This battle went on, as battles in that day did, until sunset. And, so, Joshua's men defeated Amalek.

Joshua is in Hebrew, Yehoshua; which means "Yah saves" or "God saves" or better "Yehoveh saves".

Moses then built an altar. This was a typical action of people in that day in reaction to an important event. This altar was a monument and a marker to commemorate the battle of Israel, and God, against Amalek. The altar was named Yehoveh Nissi: Yehoveh is my banner.

I have to say this publicly

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:04:14 GMT

This may sound silly to some but I just want to publicly praise YHVH Yirah (God my Provider) for the ability to be online right now. When we woke up it wasn't working and there was nothing I could do that was fixing it.

So I just have to praise Him because He is the one who fixed it.

After an hour of trying to find out what is wrong and doing everything I could to try to fix it. I didn't fix anything but It is now working and I just want to praise Him

I just had to share this

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:50:17 GMT

And they took their journey from Elim

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:25:44 GMT

And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' Then said the LORD unto Moses: 'Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or not. And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.' And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel: 'At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt; and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that He hath heard your murmurings against the LORD; and what are we, that ye murmur against us?' And Moses said: 'This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.' And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel: Come near before the LORD; for He hath heard your murmurings.' And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 'I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying: At dusk ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.' And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew round about the camp. And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: 'What is it?' - for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them: 'It is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.' And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said unto them: 'Let no man leave of it till the morning.' Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and rotted; and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating; and as the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them: 'This is that which the LORD hath spoken: To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto the LORD. Bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.' And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not rot, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said: 'Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto the LORD; to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.' And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses: 'How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws? See that the LORD hath given you the sabbath; therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' So the people rested on the seventh day. And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna; and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said: 'This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Take a jar, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.' As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
(Exodus 16:1-36)

When they arrived at the Wilderness of Seen, it marked about the 2-month point in their journey from Egypt. And, of course, the grumbling and complaining starts once again. And, whom did they grumble against and to? Moses and Aaron, their leaders. In reality, their grumbling was against God; for Moses and Aaron were simply following His instructions.

Three million Israelites are hungry. They've been gone from Egypt for nearing 2 months, and their food supply is running out. They come to Moses and want to know why he would bring them out into the desert wilderness just to die from starvation. Moses takes this complaint to YHVH and the Lord responds. God tells the Hebrews that He is going to feed them by raining bread down from Heaven. Now, the Hebrew word for bread is "lechem". But, lechem also is a general word meaning food. Just like the old fashioned term "breaking bread together" literally meant taking a loaf of bread and breaking, or cutting, it and sharing it, it most often simply meant to eat a meal together. Bread, here, just means food in general and not literal bread.

But, then God starts to set up and teach an important principle to the Israelites, by means of His commands concerning the bread, the food, He would provide them: they were to gather all the Manna they needed to satisfy their appetites, but only enough for one day at a time. And, each day they were to do this EXCEPT on the 6th day, they were to gather a double-portion…..that is a two-day supply.

Moses goes on to tell Israel that God knows their needs and will of course supply it. He tells them that at sunset (the beginning of the new day) God will give them meat to eat, and then in the morning (still the same day) bread (food) to satisfy their hunger.

In verses 9,10 Moses then instructs Aaron to call for the entire community of Israel to come-near to the presence of God. They obeyed, and as they looked out into the desert wilderness that lay ahead of them, there they saw the Glory of God in the cloud. This phrase, the Glory of God, is the English translation of the Hebrew words kevod Yehoveh. Is this kevod Yehoveh some new divine experience for Israel……to look upon the cloud and see the Glory of Yehoveh? Of course not. It was that same cloud, that presence of God, that had been leading them, that had protected them from Pharaoh's army, and had been fully available for their vision, every day, all day, since leaving Egypt.

So, why did Moses have to tell these people to stop, look up, and come-near to God's presence? Because, while God's presence is available to us, we must choose to "come-near" to Him.

It was sunset, verse 13 says, when a vast horde of quail suddenly fluttered down upon the startled camp of Israel. Reminding us a little of Egypt, when God used natural elements of His creation in extraordinary ways to smite Pharaoh and his people, Yehoveh uses the quail in a supernatural way to bless HIS people. Quail migrating across the Sinai and Arabian Peninsulas at that time of year is normal. That they would swoop down for a rest, en masse, having grown exhausted from their long flight, was a not uncommon occurrence. That they would do so at God's command, in such vast quantity, at the exact spot needed, was the supernatural aspect of this miracle.

Now, Moses issues an interesting instruction concerning the Manna: each man is gather as much as he thinks is needed to fully satisfy himself. Yet, at the same time, they were told to gather an "omer" which is about ½ gallon, for each person. Let me make a quick note for you who have heard the term "omer" used in different way as associated with the Biblical Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. An omer is more correctly associated with being a sheaf. So in the ritual of bringing in the first omer, it simply means bringing in the first sheaf of grain stalks from the harvest. Only here in Exodus is the omer some kind of measure of volume. Perhaps it is equal to the amount of grain that is contained within a typical sheaf of grain stalks.

And, when the Hebrews went out and gathered the Manna a very strange thing happened: whether they gathered MORE than an omer, or LESS than an omer in their baskets, when they put it into an omer-sized jar, everyone had exactly the same amount!!

In verse 22, they were instructed that on the 6th day they were to gather double the normal amount of Manna, and in verse 23 the reason for this is given: the 7th day is a Sabbath of Holiness to Yehoveh, and therefore NONE is to be gathered on the Sabbath.

Whether you believe that some or none or all of the 613 laws of the Mosaic covenant pertain to Christians, the fact is that keeping the Sabbath holy is one of the 10 Commandments that forms the pillar of the Church.

I also don't think we take the matter of the Sabbath seriously enough. Nowhere in the Bible has God rescinded the command of the Sabbath. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that for our modern generation, or since Messiah, is it OK to work 7 days a week and to ignore the Sabbath. Many church leaders have taken Paul's meaning in Col. 2 to mean that the institution of the Sabbath can be made into anything man wants…which, by the way, makes no sense whatsoever to understand it in that way (this is what happens when Bible passages are taken out of context in order to try to validate a predetermined agenda or doctrine). Remember this: in the Sermon on the Mount, another pillar of the Church, Yeshua says in Matt.5:17 that in NO WAY has He come to abolish the Torah…..or as many Bibles say it, the Law and the Prophets. Further, that not the slightest detail, not a jot or a title, shall pass from the Torah until all heaven and earth pass away; the Sabbath is a rather significant element of the Torah, wouldn't you say?

it is simply documented and historical fact that the early Church continued to follow the Biblical rule of the Sabbath (as Saturday) right on up until Emperor Constantine ordered the Sabbath abolished, and replaced it by something called "The Lord's Day", which was to become the new day in which the gentile Church came together to worship. This new day of worship, the Lord's Day, was designated to be the 1st day of the week, Sunday, which was already the traditional day of national worship for the primary pagan religion of the Roman Empire……the Mishrain Sun Worshippers…..which is why Sun-day is called Sunday in the first place. This day was chosen as a political compromise between the Sun Worshippers and the Christians.

Let me quote directly for you a couple of edicts handed down in the early 300's AD when this all happened. And, BTW, the ancient official documents I am quoting from, you can find in the local library or on the Internet. First, the very first "Sunday Law", ordered and enacted by Constantine, during his 2nd meeting with the council of Church Bishops in Nicea, in 321 AD:
"On the Venerable Day of the Sun (the sacred day of the Sun-god, Sunday) let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost….. given the 7th day of March, 321, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time."

What happened in these several councils of Nicea was that the GENTILE Christian Church was established, and the JEWISH Christian Church was abolished. Some 16 years after the first Sunday Law was enacted, the following edict was handed down from another of these Roman Church councils, called the Council of Laodicea:
"Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Sabbato (the Sabbath), but shall work on that day; but the Lord's Day (Sunday) they shall especially honor and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work that day. If however they are found Judaizing they shall be excommunicated".

Understand, that in this context "Judaizing" simply referred to Christians doing anything that Jews traditionally did. So, for example, if Jews honored the Biblical Feasts, Christians should NOT. If Jews baptized by submersion, Christians should NOT. If Jews lit candles and ate Challah bread on the Sabbath, Christians should NOT. And, since Jews honored the Sabbath, then Christians should NOT. The principle that was begun in the 4th century, and now firmly entrenched in our modern church was this: if the Jews do it, Christians shouldn't. Christians who did anything Jews did in relation to honoring God, were considered to be Judaizing, and this would result in being excommunicated from the Church.

Now, I know this is not an easy subject; but (at the risk of offending you) I must say that the reason it is not easy is because we love our traditions and prefer our doctrines to what the Scriptures tell us. So we run around twisting and allegorizing the Bible in order that we have it mean what men have decided they want it to mean. There are plenty of passages in the Bible that are difficult and their understanding is not straightforward. But, the passages on Sabbath are not like that: they are plain and unequivocal.

Now, let me give you the view of the Catholic Church concerning Sunday, rather than Sabbath worship; and, by the way, Catholics lay claim to Constantine as one of theirs. What I am about to read to you comes from the official publication of the Catholic Press…..the official Catholic newspaper……. and was written a little over 100 years ago:
"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles….From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week (Saturday) to the first (Sunday)".

Do you understand what I just quoted to you? The Catholic Church who CLAIMS the establish of Sunday as the day of communal worship for Christians says outright that NOWHERE in Scripture (OT or New) is there a single passage that would allow the 1st day of the week worship and rest to be substituted for the God-ordained 7th day of the week worship and rest. That statement is factually true in every sense. But, why was that statement made and communicated to the world? Why would the Catholic Church say such a thing, because it sounds as if its condemning itself for Sunday worship by openly admitting the truth that scripturally there is nothing to indicate that any day other than the 7th, Saturday, is Sabbath? You see, this was part of an ongoing argument against Protestants, who, of course, deny the all-important doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope has special authority, given to him directly from God, to change or add or subtract from the Scriptures. So, in yet another article continuing the debate, again from the official Catholic Press, we get this:
"Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought to logically keep Saturday as the Sabbath".

In other words, the Catholic Church openly admits that there is NO scriptural authority at all for abolishing or moving the Sabbath to Sunday. However, since in their view the Pope has the authority from God to change anything he believes God has directed him to change, then the act of the Roman Catholics (Constantine and the Roman bishops) abolishing the Sabbath, and instead observing Sunday as a new and different day of meeting called the Lord's Day, is OK. The Catholics view Constantine as a Pope. Conversely, since Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church several centuries ago, and since Protestants deny the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church as empowered by God to alter scriptural commands, then on what basis can Protestants say that they can change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? And, the implied answer is: there can be none.

And, in another Catholic Press article:
" It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe that day observe a commandment of the Roman Catholic Church."