6神领祂的百姓进入旷野的时候，祂就准备好要改变他们的组成。这是祂没有立即供应他们食物的原因。当他们出埃及时他们随身携带一些埃及的食物。这些食物的供应维持他们约一个月的时间。当他们埃及的食物吃尽了，百姓就在穷乏中。虽然神知道他们的需要，但祂没有立刻以行动来应付它。这常是神对待我们的原则。祂知道祂一定要为我们作事。但祂不作甚么，因为祂晓得若是过早行动，我们就不会被暴露。所以，在出埃及十六章神在幕后默然等候，直到以色列人被暴露。他们吃完最后的埃及食物，并且下一餐没有东西吃以后，百姓就烦恼了。他们困扰到这样的地步，以致忘了神所行的神迹，并且发怨言，向摩西、亚伦抱怨。我们曾指出，他们发怨言时真是高明。但在他们发怨言和抱怨时，他们就被暴露了。他们有两件事被暴露：他们由埃及的成分所组成，他们的胃口、欲望、渴望和爱好仍然是埃及的。在他们的怨言里，说出他们渴望埃及的食物：『巴不得我们早死在埃及地耶和华的手下，那时我们坐在肉锅旁边，吃得饱足。』（十六3。）这证明他们的胃口是埃及的。假设神在以色列人到达汛的旷野以前就降下吗哪，在那里等著他们。如果那样，百姓就不会被暴露。他们会光吃吗哪，而他们埃及的组成和胃口的问题就不会被显明出来。所以因著神的智慧，祂没有降下吗哪的属天供应，直到百姓因著缺乏滋养而被暴露出来。
6By the time God brought His people into the wilderness, He was ready to change their constitution. This was the reason He did not immediately supply them with food. When they marched out of Egypt, they carried with them a certain amount of Egyptian foodstuffs. This food supply sustained them for about a month. When their Egyptian food was consumed, the people were in need. Although God knew their need, He did not act immediately to meet it. This is often God’spr i nciple in dealing with us. He knows that He must do something for us. But He refrains from doing anything because He realizes that if He acted prematurely, we would not get exposed. Therefore, in Exodus 16 God waited quietly behind the scene until the children of Israel were exposed. After they had eaten the last of the Egyptian food and had nothing for the next meal, the people were troubled. They were bothered to such an extent that they forgot the miracles God had performed, and they murmured and complained to Moses and Aaron. As we have pointed out, in their murmuring they were very eloquent. But as they murmured and complained, they were exposed. Two things concerning them were exposed: that they were constituted of the Egyptian element, and that their appetite, hunger, thirst, and desire were still Egyptian. In their murmuring they expressed their desire for Egyptian food: “Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full” (16:3, Heb.). This proves that their appetite was Egyptian. Suppose God had rained down manna before the children of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Sin, and it was there waiting for them. In that case, the people would not have been exposed. They would simply have eaten the manna, and the problem of their Egyptian constitution and appetite would not have come to light. Therefore, in His wisdom, God did not send the heavenly supply of manna until the people were exposed through the lack of nourishment.