The Economics Of Manna

Whilst listening to Sunday Sequence on Radio Ulster this morning there was a discussion around the World Economic Forum which is meeting in Davos this week. The main thrust of the report was that the most wealthy 80 people in the world have more money than the bottom 50%.

During the course of the discussion one of the contributors who was there to provide the Theological angle said that the story of Manna in the wilderness teaches us a great economic lesson. The children of Israel are told to gather the amount of Manna they need for the day and if they collected more then it rotted. If you have too much money gathered into the hands of a few people then eventually it will rot. This is an interesting theory but is it an accurate reading of the story of the Manna in the wilderness?

To be honest I think this is a prime example of Isogesis rather than exegesis, of reading a meaning you want to find into a text rather than letting the text speak for itself. The whole point of the story of the Manna in the wilderness is not to teach us an economic lesson, the whole point of the story of the Manna in the wilderness is to teach us to trust in God to provide for us. 

The people are grumbling, wishing for a return to slavery in Egypt where they at least had food to eat, the grumble against Moses and against God. God therefore seeks to test them seeing if they will indeed listen to Him and follow His instruction or will they continue to gather more bread than they need? Will they trust God even in situations which seem so unpromising?

As we look out into the world today there are so many situations that seem unpromising, be it the rise of secularism within our own culture, the rise of IS in the Middle East. So much in which there seems no hope but yet will we trust God today to provide for our needs? Or will we look to ourselves? 

The story of the Manna then exists not as an economic lesson but as a lesson to trust God, trust in His  provision for us and his sovereignty over His creation