Wilderness of Sin

The wilderness of Sin lay 'between Elim and Sinai,' and Israel entered it on the fifteenth day of the second month after leaving Egypt. The name has no connection to the English word 'sin.' Hungry and afraid, the whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, wishing they had died in Egypt beside the flesh pots. God answered their complaint with grace: at evening quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a small round thing lay on the ground, which the people called manna, the bread which the LORD had given them to eat. Here Israel learned to gather a daily portion, to trust God for tomorrow, and to rest on the seventh day, and Aaron laid up a pot of manna to be kept for generations to come.

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Details

Region: Egypt
Modern Location: Southwestern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, between Elim and Mount Sinai. The precise area is uncertain.

Strongest connections in Scripture

Exodus 16 3×

Key Passages

Murmuring in the Wilderness of Sin

Exodus 16:1-3

One month out of Egypt, the people remember the flesh pots and forget the slavery.

A¹nd they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

² And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: ³ And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Quail and Manna

Exodus 16:13-15

God answers grumbling with quail at evening and bread from heaven in the morning.

A¹³nd it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.

¹⁴ And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. ¹⁵ And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

A Pot of Manna Kept for Generations

Exodus 16:33-35

A jar of manna is laid up before the LORD as a lasting witness that He fed Israel forty years.

A³³nd Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

³⁴ As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. ³⁵ And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

Did You Know?

The name Sin is unrelated to the English word 'sin'; it is simply a place name, perhaps related to the name Sinai.

The word manna is usually explained from the Hebrew for "what is it?", for when the people first saw it 'they wist not what it was.'

The first instruction about a weekly Sabbath rest in Exodus comes here, with the double portion of manna on the sixth day.

Key Chapters

Exodus 16 Manna and Quail 6 min read