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teach the Israelites something very important -- to test them and see if they would obey Him or not.
What was this important lesson?

Let's continue in Exodus 16 --

"And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be
TWICE AS MUCH as they gather daily." Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children
of Israel, "At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of
Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your murmur-
ings against the Lord. But what are we, that you murmur against us?"...Now it came to
pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked
toward the wilderness, and behold, THE GLORY OF THE LORD APPEARED IN THE
CLOUD. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I have heard the murmurings of the chil-
dren of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At twilight [between the two evenings] you shall
eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am
the Lord your God.'" So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp...
(Verses 5-13).

This day -- the 15TH DAY OF THE SECOND MONTH -- was so important to God that
He appeared in the cloud before the Israelites and then caused thousands (maybe millions) of quail
to be blown into the Israelites' camp "between the two evenings," i.e. the afternoon of the 15th.
WHY was this day so important to God? Writes Herbert W. Armstrong: "I will show you that God
was speaking to them [the children of Israel] on a SABBATH. It is evident that the Eternal (who,
in human flesh later became Christ) first preached to men on the FIRST SABBATH. Adam was
created on the sixth day of creation week. Evidently he was created in the late afternoon, since the
creation of man was the last act of creation on that day. When the sun had set, immediately after
Adam's creation, God preached to him, offering him the GIFT of eternal life (through the tree of
life), and warning that the wages of sin is DEATH (Gen. 2:15-17).

"And here God is again preaching to Israel, through Moses, ON THE SABBATH" (Which
Day Is the Christian Sabbath, pp. 30-31).

Now let's continue with the narrative in Exodus 16: "...and in the morning the dew lay all
around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a
small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they
said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This
is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat'...So they gathered it every morning, every man
according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was on THE SIXTH
DAY, that they gathered TWICE AS MUCH BREAD, two omers for each one. And all the rulers
of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said:
"TOMORROW IS A SABBATH REST, A HOLY SABBATH TO THE LORD. Bake what you
will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept
until morning!"' So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were
there any worms in it. Then Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today
you will not find it in the field. SIX DAYS YOU SHALL GATHER IT, but on the SEVENTH
DAY, which is THE SABBATH, there will be none.'

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