Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/301

XXXII.] was a fall of holy dew, prepared as a table, round about the camp; and the clouds ascended and caused manna to descend upon the dew; and there was upon the face of the desert a minute substance in lines, minute as the hoar frost upon the ground. And the sons of Israel beheld, and wondered, and said to one another, "Man hu?" (What is it?) for they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them, "It is the bread which hath been laid up for you from the beginning in the heavens on high, and now the Lord will give it you to eat. This is the word which the Lord hath dictated: You are to gather of it; every man according to the number of the persons of his tabernacle."

And the children of Israel did so, and gathered manna more or less. And Moses said to them, "Let no man reserve of it till the morning."

But some of them, Dathan and Abiram, men of wickedness, did reserve of it till the morning; but it produced worms, and putrefied. And they gathered from the time of the dawn until the fourth hour of the day; when the sun had waxed hot upon it, it liquefied and made streams of water, which flowed away into the great sea; and wild animals that were clean, and cattle, came to drink of it; and the sons of Israel hunted, and ate them.

Some of the Gentiles, the Edomites and Midianites, came up, and, seeing the chosen people eating, they also gathered of the manna and tasted, but it was to them as wormwood.

8. THE SMITTEN ROCK. (Exod. xvii. 1-7.)

And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the desert of Sin and encamped in Rephidim, a place where their hands were idle in the commandments of the law, and the fountains were dry, and there was no water for the people to drink.

And the wicked of the people contended with Moses, and said, "Give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why contend ye with me? Why tempt ye the Lord."