161 Then they set out from Elim , and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin , which is between Elim and Sinai , on the fifteenth e day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt . 2 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness . 3 The sons of Israel said to them, " Would e that we had died by the Lord'S hand in the land of Egypt , when we sat by the pots of meat , when we ate bread to the full ; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger ." 4 Then the Lord said to Moses , "Behold , I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day , that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction . 5 " On the sixth day , when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily ." 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel , "At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt ; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord , for He hears your grumblings against the Lord ; and what are we, that you grumble against us?" 8 Moses said , "This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening , and bread to the full in the morning ; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord ." 9 Then Moses said to Aaron , "Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel , ' Come near before the Lord , for He has heard your grumblings .' " 10 It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel , that they looked toward the wilderness , and behold , the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud . 11 And the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 12 " I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel ; speak to them, saying , 'At twilight you shall eat meat , and in the morning you shall be filled with bread ; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God .' "
13 So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp , and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp . 14 When the layer of dew evaporated , behold , on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing , fine as the frost on the ground . 15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another , "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, " It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat . 16 "This is what e the Lord has commanded , 'Gather of it every man as much as he should eat ; you shall take an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent .' " 17 The sons of Israel did so , and some gathered much and some little . 18 When they measured it with an omer , he who had gathered much had no excess , and he who had gathered little had no lack ; every man gathered as much as he should eat . 19 Moses said to them, " Let no man leave any of it until morning ." 20 But they did not listen to Moses , and some left part of it until morning , and it bred worms and became foul ; and Moses was angry with them. 21 They gathered it morning by morning , every man as much as he should eat ; but when the sun grew hot , it would melt .
22 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread , two omers for each one . When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses , 23 then he said to them, "This is what the Lord meant : Tomorrow is a sabbath observance , a holy sabbath to the Lord . Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil , and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning ." 24 So they put it aside until morning , as Moses had ordered , and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. 25 Moses said , "Eat it today , for today is a sabbath to the Lord ; today you will not find it in the field . 26 " Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day , the sabbath , there will be none ." 27 It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather , but they found none . 28 Then the Lord said to Moses , " How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions ? 29 "See , the Lord has given you the sabbath ; therefore e He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day . Remain every man in his place ; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day ." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day . 31 The house of Israel named e it manna , and it was like coriander seed , white , and its taste was like wafers with honey .
32 Then Moses said , "This is what e the Lord has commanded , 'Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations , that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness , when I brought you out of the land of Egypt .' " 33 Moses said to Aaron , " Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations ." 34 As the Lord commanded Moses , so Aaron placed it before the Testimony , to be kept . 35 The sons of Israel ate the manna forty years , until they came to an inhabited land ; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan . 36 (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah .)
171 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin , according to the command of the Lord , and camped at Rephidim , and there was no water for the people to drink . 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said , "Give us water that we may drink ." And Moses said to them, " Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord ?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water ; and they grumbled against Moses and said , "Why , now , have you brought us up from Egypt , to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst ?" 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord , saying , "What shall I do to this people ? A little more and they will stone me." 5 Then the Lord said to Moses , "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel ; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile , and go . 6 "Behold , I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb ; and you shall strike the rock , and water will come out of it, that the people may drink ." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel . 7 He named e the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel , and because they tested the Lord , saying , "Is the Lord among us, or not?"
8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim . 9 So Moses said to Joshua , "Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek . Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand ." 10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek ; and Moses , Aaron , and Hur went up to the top of the hill . 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed , and when he let his hand down , Amalek prevailed . 12 But Moses' hands were heavy . Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands , one on one side and one on the other . Thus his hands were steady until the sun set . 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword . 14 Then the Lord said to Moses , " Write this in a book as a memorial and recite e it to Joshua , that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven ." 15 Moses built an altar and named e it The Lord is My Banner ; 16 and he said , " The Lord has sworn e e ; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation ."
181 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 the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt . 2 Jethro , Moses' father-in-law , took Moses' wife Zipporah , after he had sent her away , 3 and her two sons , of whom one was named Gershom , for Moses said , "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land ." 4 The other was named Eliezer , for he said, " The God of my father was my help , and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh ." 5 Then Jethro , Moses' father-in-law , came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where e he was camped , at the mount of God . 6 He sent word to Moses , "I, your father-in-law Jethro , am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her."
7 Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law , and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent . 8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake e , all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey , and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel , in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians . 10 So Jethro said , " Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh , and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians . 11 "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods ; indeed , it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people." 12 Then Jethro , Moses' father-in-law , took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God , and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses' father-in-law before God .
13 It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people , and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening . 14 Now when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people , he said , "What is this thing that you are doing for the people ? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening ?" 15 Moses said to his father-in-law , "Because the people come to me to inquire of God . 16 "When they have a dispute , it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws ." 17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good . 18 " You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot e do it alone . 19 "Now listen to me: I will give you counsel , and God be with you. You be the people's representative before God , and you bring the disputes to God , 20 then teach them the statutes and the laws , and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do . 21 "Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God , men of truth , those who hate dishonest gain ; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands , of hundreds , of fifties and of tens . 22 "Let them judge the people at all times ; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge . So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 "If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure , and all these people also will go to their place in peace ." 24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said . 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people , leaders of thousands , of hundreds , of fifties and of tens . 26 They judged the people at all times ; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses , but every minor dispute they themselves would judge . 27 Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell , and he went his way into his own land .
181 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said , " Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven ?" 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before e them, 3 and said , "Truly I say to you, unless e you are converted and become like children , you will not enter the kingdom of heaven . 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child , he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven . 5 "And whoever e receives one such child in My name receives Me;
6 but whoever e causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble , it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck , and to be drowned in the depth of the sea .
7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks ! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come ; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes ! 8 " If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble , cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame , than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire . 9 " If your eye causes you to stumble , pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye , than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell .
10 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones , for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually e see the face of My Father who is in heaven . 11 [" For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost .] 12 "What do you think ? If any man has a hundred sheep , and one of them has gone astray , does he not leave the ninety-nine e on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying ? 13 "If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine e which have not gone astray . 14 "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish .
15 " If your brother sins , go and show him his fault in private ; if he listens to you, you have won your brother . 16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED . 17 "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church ; and if he refuses to listen even to the church , let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector . 18 "Truly I say to you, whatever e you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven ; and whatever e you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven . 19 "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything e that they may ask , it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven . 20 "For where two or three have gathered together in My name , I am there in their midst ."
(Read Matthew 18:1-6)
Christ spoke many words of his sufferings, but only one of his glory; yet the disciples fasten upon that, and overlook the others. Many love to hear and speak of privileges and glory, who are willing to pass by the thoughts of work and trouble. Our Lord set a little child before them, solemnly assuring them, that unless they were converted and made like little children, they could not enter his kingdom. Children, when very young, do not desire authority, do not regard outward distinctions, are free from malice, are teachable, and willingly dependent on their parents. It is true that they soon begin to show other dispositions, and other ideas are taught them at an early age; but these are marks of childhood, and render them proper emblems of the lowly minds of true Christians. Surely we need to be daily renewed in the spirit of our minds, that we may become simple and humble, as little children, and willing to be the least of all. Let us daily study this subject, and examine our own spirits.
(Read Matthew 18:7-14)
Considering the cunning and malice of Satan, and the weakness and depravity of men's hearts, it is not possible but that there should be offences. God permits them for wise and holy ends, that those who are sincere, and those who are not, may be made known. Being told before, that there will be seducers, tempters, persecutors, and bad examples, let us stand on our guard. We must, as far as lawfully we may, part with what we cannot keep without being entangled by it in sin. The outward occasions of sin must be avoided. If we live after the flesh, we must die. If we, through the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the body, we shall live. Christ came into the world to save souls, and he will reckon severely with those who hinder the progress of others who are setting their faces heavenward. And shall any of us refuse attention to those whom the Son of God came to seek and to save? A father takes care of all his children, but is particularly tender of the little ones.
(Read Matthew 18:15-20)
If a professed Christian is wronged by another, he ought not to complain of it to others, as is often done merely upon report, but to go to the offender privately, state the matter kindly, and show him his conduct. This would generally have all the desired effect with a true Christian, and the parties would be reconciled. The principles of these rules may be practised every where, and under all circumstances, though they are too much neglected by all. But how few try the method which Christ has expressly enjoined to all his disciples! In all our proceedings we should seek direction in prayer; we cannot too highly prize the promises of God. Wherever and whenever we meet in the name of Christ, we should consider him as present in the midst of us.
