Then the Lord said to Moses: how long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? The rebuke is addressed to Moses but about the people — how long signals sustained, not one-time, disobedience. The manna violations have been consistent: keeping overnight in violation of verse 19, gathering on the Sabbath in violation of verse 26. The how long question is the same question Moses asked Pharaoh in Exodus 10:3 — how long will you refuse to humble yourself? Now God asks the same question of His own people. The people who were liberated from Pharaoh's how long of oppression now hear God asking a how long about their own disobedience. The how long of the oppressor and the how long of God's patience with His people are mirror images. Both wait for the same thing: a change in direction.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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