Food from the Sky & Water from a Rock
Immediately after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, they found themselves in the wilderness.
Behind them was Egypt.
Ahead of them was uncertainty.
And all around them were questions.
How would this many people eat?
Where would they find water?
How could children, families, flocks, herds, and an entire nation survive in a dry and dangerous place?
The Bible tells us that about 600,000 men left Egypt, besides women, children, the mixed multitude, and a great amount of livestock.
That is a massive group of people.
For the sake of illustration, let’s use these simple estimates:
People: 2,500,000
Animals: 5,000,000
Total needing water: 7,500,000 living beings
These numbers are estimates, but they help us begin to picture the scale of God’s care.
How Much Manna Did God Give Each Day?
The Bible says each person gathered one omer of manna.
A common estimate for one omer is about:
2 dry quarts
or about
2.2 liters
So if there were about 2,500,000 people, then on a normal day:
2,500,000 people × 2 dry quarts = 5,000,000 dry quarts of manna
That equals about:
156,250 bushels
194,446 cubic feet
5,506 cubic meters
To picture that, imagine large 50-foot boxcars.
If one large boxcar holds about 5,238 cubic feet, then one normal day of manna would fill about:
37 boxcars
At 50 feet per boxcar, that would make a train about:
0.35 miles long
or about
0.57 kilometers long
And that was just one normal day.
The Friday Double Portion
Friday was different.
On Friday, God gave twice as much manna so the people would not need to gather it on the Sabbath.
That means Friday’s manna would have been about:
10,000,000 dry quarts
or about
74 boxcars
That would make a train about:
0.70 miles long
or about
1.13 kilometers long
How Much Manna Was Given in One Week?
In a normal week, the manna would look something like this:
5 regular days: about 185 boxcars
1 double-portion day: about 74 boxcars
Total:
about 260 boxcars of manna every week
At 50 feet per boxcar, that weekly manna train would be about:
2.46 miles long
or about
3.95 kilometers long
Week after week.
Year after year.
For forty years.
How Much Water Did God Provide Each Day?
Now think about water.
We are assuming:
2,500,000 people
5,000,000 animals
That gives us:
7,500,000 total living beings needing water
If each needed only 5 gallons per day, that would require:
37,500,000 gallons of water every day
That is about:
141,953,000 liters per day
or about
141,953 cubic meters per day
That also equals about:
1,562,500 gallons every hour
or about
5,914,706 liters every hour
If one tanker car held about 20,000 gallons, it would take about:
1,875 tanker cars per day
At about 75 feet per tanker car, that would make a train about:
26.63 miles long
or about
42.86 kilometers long
And that is just the minimum amount of estimated water needed every day.
A Note About the Water Estimate
The 5-gallon estimate is very conservative.
Many animals can need far more than 5 gallons per day, depending on the kind of animal, the weather, and the amount of work being done.
People also need water for more than drinking. They need it for cooking, cleaning, and basic washing.
And keep in mind, ALL of the numbers on this page are very conservative. They do not include any food left ungathered or any water that flowed beyond what people and animals actually drank.
Food and Water Together
Using these rough estimates:
Manna per day: about 0.35 miles of boxcars
Water per day: about 26.63 miles of tanker cars
Together, that equals about:
27 miles of food and water every day
or about
43 kilometers every day
Imagine sitting at a railroad crossing while a train about 27 miles long rumbled by.
Now imagine that happening every single day.
For Forty Years
The Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years.
Forty years is about:
14,600 days
If God provided the equivalent of about 27 miles of food and water every day, then over forty years that would equal about:
394,200 miles of food and water
or about
634,400 kilometers
That is enough to circle the earth more than fifteen times.
And God did this without trains.
Without warehouses.
Without grocery stores.
Without pipelines.
Without human supply chains.
He fed them from the sky.
He gave them water from the rock.
How Much Quail Did God Give?
There was also a time when the people complained because they wanted meat.
They were not starving.
God had already supplied their needs.
But they were dissatisfied with the manna.
Numbers 11 says the people gathered quail, and the least anyone gathered was ten homers.
A homer was a large dry measure. Estimates vary, but one homer is often estimated at about 220 liters.
That means ten homers would be about:
2,200 liters per person
or about
77.7 cubic feet per person
For 2,500,000 people, that would equal about:
5.5 billion liters of quail
5,500,000 cubic meters
194,230,667 cubic feet
If a 50-foot boxcar held about 5,238 cubic feet, that much quail would fill about:
37,000 boxcars
At 50 feet per boxcar, that train would be about:
351 miles long
or about
565 kilometers long
That is an overwhelming picture. What a God!
What This Shows Us About God
The point is not merely that God performed miracles.
The point is that God cared for His people on a scale almost too large for us to imagine.
They were in the wilderness, but they were not abandoned.
They were surrounded by need.
But they were also surrounded by evidence of God’s care.
He gave them manna.
He gave them water.
He gave them guidance.
He gave them protection.
He gave them His presence.
He gave them shade during the day.
He gave them light at night (The pillar of fire by night gave them not only warmth but a night light too.).
The wilderness was not only a place of testing.
It was a school of trust.
Jesus was not absent from the wilderness.
He was there.
Providing.
Protecting.
Guiding.
Teaching.
Staying.
This was not Moses’ power.
It was not Israel’s worthiness.
It was God’s grace in action.
He was teaching His people that His hand was never too short to care for them.
And He is still the same today.
