Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 275 · October 2
Much and Little
“And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.”
And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. The verse before says the gathering was uneven, and gathered, some more, some less. Then they measured, and the figures came out level. The text does not explain the mechanism and does not seem to think it needs to.
Two people stand in that verse and the sentence refuses to serve only one of them. The first is up before the dew is off the ground, works fast, fills the basket, and finds at the measuring that his energy bought him nothing extra. That is a harder word than it sounds, which is why capable people are usually the last to be glad about this passage. The second gathered little, because of a bad night, or bad health, or age, or a child who would not settle, and is braced for the shortfall he has been dreading since he woke. He had no lack. Both were fed, and neither can say the day proved anything about him.
Paul takes this verse out of Exodus and puts it in a letter about money. Writing to Corinth about a collection for poorer Christians in Jerusalem, he asks for an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, and quotes it: As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack. In the wilderness the levelling happened in the jar, quietly, before anybody could take credit for it. In Corinth it happens by hand.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 275 is Strength When Heart Fails (Psalm 73:26).