BaManna Bread (Exodus 15-16)

Did you know that the Bible has songs in it? Oh, indeed it does. At the beginning of Exodus 15, Moses and his people sing the following to the Lord:

I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. (Exo 15:1)

...and a little later...

Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea;
and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.
The floods cover them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power,
thy right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. (Exo 15:4-6)

That is catchy! Kind of like a battle hymn. I like it: it's as violent as the Marseillaise and would not be out of place in communist China (all the music I listen to fits this description).

Well, I'm sure it helped to pass the time as Moses marched his people into the wilderness (great plan), only to find that there was no food there. Not to worry - God rains down loaves and loaves of bread (called manna) on them. Manna "was like coriander see, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Exo 16:31). Sounds... gross.

Everyone is supposed to take two omers of bread (just for clarification, an omer is the tenth part of an epaph) but not on the Sabbath, obviously. So they get twice as much unpalatable manna on the sixth day of the week. Like a cheap restaurant chain, I think God is filling them up on bread so they don't notice that their main courses are puny... or non-existent.