The Gathering of Manna by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Exodus 16, Bible.Gallery
Artwork Description
A month and a half into leaving Egypt has gotten the Israelites tired, hungry and thirsty. The Israelites complained to Moses about their empty stomachs. Moses refers them on to God, in which he listens and told Moses to tell his people to eat meat and night, then in the morning bread would be provided. The next day, God kept his word and the people woke up to the desert covered in bread called, Manna. Moses told them that it was the promised bread. During the rest of their journey in the desert wandering, for 40 years Israelites eat Manna twice a day. On the day of the Sabbath, there is enough for 2 days, because on the Sabbath no food may be gathered. The people were very crossed with Moses and Aaron and said that their life as slaves were better than the wilderness.
“ If only we had died by the hand of Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us into this wilderness to kill a this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:3). Later Jesus Christ spoke of Manna and he said, “"I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bead which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh" . (John 6:48-51 RSV)
In this painting Moses is raising his staff and hands to reach and pray to the God above him. The people in hunger, were staggering to get to the bread and fetch the bread in the basket.