Exodus 16-18

This recounts a few more stories of desert survival before the events of Mount Sinai.

The Israelites leave the oasis at Elim, with all its palm trees and 12 springs. The head to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.

It sounds like they have eaten up all the unleavened bread they made in Egypt because they start complaining about food. With all the walking they're doing, it's a wonder that they made it that far before asking about it.

God sends bread from the sky, Manna. They are supposed to collect it fresh in the morning, lest it go bad the next day. This prevents hoarding as well as keeps people dependent on God on a daily basis. The leftover manna may have also been a food source for all their animals. The exception to gathering enough for a day is preparation for the Sabbath, where they collect two days worth. This also is the first time we have seen in the Bible thus far since Creation Week anything about resting on the seventh day. Did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph rest on the seventh day? The text was silent.

God also sends them quail to eat. Yum yum. We find out later that quail is a "clean" bird, fit for Israelite consumption. Actually it is not listed as unclean, as for the birds, the list is unclean, rather than what makes it clean (compare the rules regarding land animals and seafood).

Not a bad life. They're free from Egypt, no army chasing them, they get fresh bread and quail. The wilderness of Sin seems to work well for them, so what else can go wrong?

God tells them to leave and head for the steps of Refidim. They run out of water and actually start talking about stoning Moses. That got bad fast. Aquaman made the bitter water potable at Mara, and now they want to stone him? God intervenes and tells Aquaman to strike a rock on Mount Horeb with his staff, which unleashes water. If the rock was on a mountain, then it sounds like it created a waterfall and being elevated, the entire multitude could see it at once.

We also see for the first time some elements of administration. Before doing this, God tells Moses to pick some of the elders to go with him.

The waterfall may have also attracted some unwanted guests, the Amalakites. The Amalakites come to attack the Israelites at Refidim. Their motivation is not stated, but I think this newfound great water source would make sense. Moses directs this great rising star Joshua to assemble a force to fight them off.

A side question - where did they get their weapons. The most likely source would have been from the Egyptian army as they washed up on shore. If that's the case, then it would likely be the lighter weapons, spears, bows, arrows, as opposed to heavier things like swords and shields, as those would have sunk. That said, if God wanted to wash the heavier weapons onto shore, it would have happened.

Fight as men they must, but if Moses keeps his hands in the air, they'll win. Moses watches the battle with Aaron and Hour from atop the mountain, which might indicate that this skirmish is about water after all. The Israelites win and Moses builds an altar to God.

Selecting Joshua for a human battle is radically different. First, instead of relying on God to use miracles of nature to destroy the enemy, they must fight as men. However, God is still on their side. We know that Joshua becomes a great military leader. However, this battle does not fit Moses' pattern of massive miracles of nature, but it does fit Joshua's pattern that we see later on. My guess is this event was not so much about Moses, but rather raising up Joshua. This seems to also be confirmed because this is a time of other leaders rising up among the Israelites.

This actually reminds me of an event that happened to me in high school. I played lacrosse for my high school and at one game in particular, we were struggling to pull of a win. It was the fourth quarter and everyone was dropping balls and not catching passes. It looked bad. Suddenly, I remember this battle of Joshua against the Amalakites with Moses on the sidelines. I thought, just cheer. So, I cheered and yelled and we started winning. I got tired of yelling, so I stopped, and we started playing poorly again. So I resumed cheering and yelling and eventually won the game. Coincidence? I have no idea. But it stuck with me through all the years.

Moses' father in law come to the group. Moses recounts his stories and Jethro is converted. We also find out that Moses' wife is named Sephora.

Finally, the last thing before going to Sinai - Moses delegates his judicial authority to settle the quarrels of all the Israelites. They create groups of 10, 50, 100, and 1000 with appointed judges to decide cases among them. This will save Moses a lot of time.