[036] Manna and Quail - Bible Verse Activity Worksheets

After the Israelites had been traveling for several weeks in the desert, the food they had brought with them from Egypt ran out. There were no stores. There were no fields or trees to get food from. So the people began to grumble about food. What would all those people eat out there in the desert where nothing grew? Instead of trusting God, they started complaining and grumbling again. God knew they would need food. Moses prayed for help. [Moses prays.] So God told Moses He would send bread from heaven for the people to eat. During the night while the people were sleeping something wonderful happened. [Have the children lie down and close their eyes. Scatter puffed rice cereal or popped corn on the piece of brown “desert” fabric.] In the morning, white flakes lay on the ground all around the camp. [Have the children open their eyes and sit up.] The Israelites had never seen anything like it. “What is it?” the people asked. Moses said, “It’s the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” When the people ate it, it tasted like honey wafers. The people called it manna, which means “What is it?” Moses told the people, “Each morning you will find the manna on the ground. Get up early and gather enough for that day, but don’t keep any of it overnight.”

But some people didn’t listen to Moses. They tried to save some manna for the next day so they wouldn’t have to gather more. The next morning their manna was rotten and smelled bad. Some people were lazy and didn’t gather enough for the whole day. But when the sun grew hot, it melted the manna away, and those people went hungry until the next day. On Friday Moses told the people to gather enough manna for two days, because no manna would appear on Sabbath. But some people didn’t listen to Moses. Every other night the extra manna had spoiled. They thought it would spoil on Friday night too. But on Friday night the manna didn’t spoil, and on Sabbath there was no manna on the ground. The people who didn’t gather enough for two days on Friday went hungry during Sabbath. By the end of the first week everyone knew they had to follow God’s directions. As long as they gathered enough manna for the whole day every morning, they had enough to eat. And every Friday they had to gather enough for two days. When the Israelites followed God’s directions, they had fresh food every day. God took care of their needs. He gave them plenty of food to eat in the desert. And God takes care of our needs.