Put an omer full of manna therein.
An instructive memorial
I. By whom the memorial was enjoined. “The Lord.” We have need to set up memorials in our lives which shall call upon our souls to remember the benefits of the Lord. It is the will of heaven that its gifts should be held in constant remembrance.
II. In what the memorial consisted. “Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations.”
1. This memorial was reasonable.
2. Expressive.
3. Instructive.
4. Valuable. Golden pot (Hebrews 9:2).
And the memorials of the soul should not find expression in valueless things, but in the richest treasures of man. God is worthy our best offerings.
III. Where the memorial was deposited. “And lay it up before the Lord.” “So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.” And so this memorial was laid up before the Lord, in the ark of the covenant. Thus we must keep the memorials of the soul in devout spirit, and with a constant trust in the mediatorial work of Christ.
IV. The design the memorial contemplated. “That ye may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness.” “To be kept for your generations.” Each generation leaves a moral deposit behind it, for good or evil. Lessons:
1. The soul must have a memorial of the Divine mercy.
2. The memorial of the soul must consist of the best thing it possesses.
3. The memorial of the soul will have respect to the redemptive work of Christ. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
An instructive memorial
One day when George Moore--now a man of wealth--was accompanying his friend, Colonel Henderson, through the Waver wood on a partridge-shooting expedition, a curious ramshackle object appeared before them. It seemed to be a sort of big dhrosky with a long, broad trunk at the back end. “What is that?” asked the colonel. “Why,” said George Moore, “that is the trap which I have driven into every market town in Great Britain and Ireland!” It was the carriage he had used whilst achieving such great success as a commercial traveller. (H. O. Mackey.)
Former mercies remembered
Mr. Kidd, minister of Queensferry, near Edinburgh, was one day very much depressed and discouraged. He sent a note to Mr. L--minister of Culross, a few miles off, informing him of his distress of mind, and desiring a visit as soon as possible. Mr. L--told the servant he was so busy that he could not wait upon his master, but desired him to tell Mr. Kidd to remember Torwood. When the servant returned, he said to his master, “Mr. L--could not come, but he desired me to tell you to remember Torwood.” This answer immediately struck Mr. Kidd, and he cried out, “Yes, Lord! I will remember Thee, from the hill Mizar, and from the Hermonites!” All his troubles and darkness vanished upon the recollection of a day which he had formerly spent in prayer along with Mr. L--in Torwood, where he had enjoyed eminent communion with God. (W. Baxendale.)
An expressive memorial
It was during the wars that raged from 1652 to 1660, between Frederick III. of Denmark, and Charles Gustavus, of Sweden, that after a battle in which the victory had remained with the Danes, a stout burgher of Flensburg was about to refresh himself, ere retiring to have his wounds dressed, with a draught of beer from a wooden bottle, when an imploring cry from a wounded Swede lying on the field made him turn, and, with the very words of Sidney--“Thy need is greater than mine,” he knelt down by the fallen enemy to pour the liquor into his mouth. His requital was a pistol-shot in the shoulder from the treacherous Swede. “Rascal!” he cried, “I would have befriended you, and you would murder me in return! Now will I punish you. I would have given you the whole bottle, but now you shall only have half.” And drinking off half himself, he gave the rest to the Swede. The king, hearing the story, sent for the burgher, and asked him how he came to spare the life of such a rascal. “Sire,” said the honest burgher, “I could never kill a wounded enemy.” “Thou meritest to be a noble,” the king said, and created him one immediately, giving him as armorial bearings a wooden bottle pierced with an arrow. The family only lately became extinct in the person of an old maiden lady.