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One-sentence summary: The people complain against the Lord, the Lord provides them with meat and bread and water in the wilderness, the Israelites fight the Amalekites and win, and Moses's father-in-law helps him delegate so that he does not wear himself out judging all the cases of the people.
Once in the wilderness, the whole congregation of Israel (600,000 men with their wives and children) complains against Moses and Aaron. They say, "We wish we had died in Egypt! We had pots of meat and bread. You have brought us out here to starve!" (paraphrase) The Lord tells Moses that He will rain bread from heaven for all the people and that they should gather a certain amount only every day, and on the sixth day, they should prepare what they have brought in, and it will be twice as much as they have gathered daily. (Also, this will be a test.) Then, Moses and Aaron tell the Israelites that in the evening, they will know that God has brought them out of Egypt, and in the morning they see the glory of the Lord. They say He has heard their complaints again Him and ask, "Who are we, that you should complain against us?" They say God will give them meat in the evenings, and in the morning "bread to the full." They say that their complaints are not against them but the Lord. So Moses tells Aaron to tell the people to come near before the Lord, for He has heard their complaints. As Aaron is speaking to them, the Israelites look toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appears in a cloud, and the Lord speaks to Moses again about the meat and bread.
So in the evenings, quails come and cover the camp, and in the morning, when the dew lifts, a small, round, frost-like substance is on the ground. The people ask Moses what it is, and he says that it is bread from the Lord and to gather only according to their need, one omer for each person. An interesting line here: "He who [gathers] much [has] nothing left over, and he who [gathers] little [has] no lack." Moses tells them not to leave any until morning, but some of them do, and it breeds worms and stinks, so Moses is angry. Once the sun is up, it melts. On the sixth day, they gather twice as much, two omers for each person. So Moses tells the people that the next day will be a Sabbath rest, a rest unto the Lord, and to cook for the day and save it for the next morning, and this time, it does not stink or breed worms. Moses says that the bread will not be in the field on the Sabbath, but some still go to gather on the seventh day. The Lord asks Moses why they are still not obeying and tells him not to let the people go out from their places on the Sabbath, so the people rest on the seventh day. And they call the bread manna, meaning 'what is it?" (It was like white coriander seed and tasted like wafers and honey.) A really interesting point here. Moses tells the Israelites to gather an omer of the manna to keep for all generations so their posterity can see how God provided for them in the desert when He led them out of Egypt. Moses tells Aaron to take a pot with an omer of manna in it to "lay up before the Lord" to be kept for generations, so he does, and lays it "before the Testimony" (the tablets of stone where the law is given- which must have been done later.) So for 40 years, the Israelites eat the manna until they come to the border of the land of Canaan.
Then the whole congregation travels on, but there is no water, so they complain again to Moses. He asks them why they are complaining and testing the Lord. Again, they say, "Have you brought us out of Egypt to kill us and our children with thirst?" So Moses asks the Lord what he should do with them, because they are ready to stone him. The Lord tells Moses to take his rod and some elders with him before the people and to strike a rock so that waters will come out of it. Moses calls the place Meribah (meaning "quarrel; dispute") because Israel tempted the Lord and said "Is the Lord among us or not?"
The Amalekites fight with Israel, and Moses tells a man named Joshua to choose men to fight, and that he will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. Joshua listens, and Moses Aaron and a man named Hur go to the top of the hill, and when Moses lifts his hands, Israel is winning, but when he lowers them, they are losing. So they have him sit him on a rock and hold up his hands, and Israel wins. And the Lord tells Moses to write this down as a memorial and to recount it to Joshua, and that he will blot out Amalekites' remembrance from heaven. And Moses builds and altar and calls it "The Lord is my Banner," because God swore to be against the Amalekites and fight against them for all generations.
And Jethro, the priest of Midian and Moses's father-in-law hears what God has done for Moses and his people, so he takes Moses's wife (he had sent her back with her two sons) and sons and returns to meet Moses in the wilderness, where he is encamped by the mountain of God. And he sends word ahead of him, so Moses goes down to meet him and bows down and kisses him. Jethro comes in to Moses's tent, and Moses tells him everything that has happened, and Jethro rejoices for all God has done and praises God. He says that now he knows that God is greater than all the gods. So Jethro offers a sacrifice to God, and Aaron comes with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with them before the Lord.
The next day, Moses sits to judge the cases of the people, and they stand before him from morning until evening. When Jethro sees how Moses is serving the people in this way, he asks why he alone is judging all the cases. So Moses answers that the people come to him to inquire of God and that he judges each situation and teaches them God's laws. But Jethro says that this is not good, and that it will weary out both him and the people, because it is too much for one person alone. He tells Moses to stand before God for the people to bring the difficulties to God and teach them how to live, but to select from the people "able men who fear God" and place them over Israel to be "rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten," and to let them judge the people in smaller matters, bringing only the larger matters to Moses. That way, the burden will be shared. He says that if Moses will do "this thing which God so commands you," he will be able to endure, and the people also will have peace. So Moses listens and follows through with his advice.
Then Jethro departs for his own land.
Thoughts/Discussion Questions:
Memory can be a funny thing. We do not always remember accurately, to say the least. When times are hard, we look back on the past fondly, not remembering that it wasn't that great to begin with. We have to be careful of this. It is SO easy to do. It is essentially escape-ism to a fantasy of the past.
God is very serious about the Sabbath. It is a way of remembering that God is the one who provides for us and causes our work to flourish.