There’s an issue of exchange. Nothing just happens. You have to give in order to receive. If you come offering nothing, but expecting to receive, you will be waiting for a long time. Even in the New Testament, this principle was practiced. The man of God was “tended to” out of the possessions of the people who followed him. This was done by many women for Jesus as well, Mary Magdalene among them.

 

If you are expecting God to bless you, or you have a dream or goal that you want to achieve, you have to find a way and a place to give of yourself first, and you will find that the doors of heaven will open up to you; the path will reveal itself, and people will be placed strategically into your path to help you get where you are going.

 

These guys knew about this principle, which is why they were discussing this matter, trying to figure out what they could offer the man of God.

 

1Sa 9:8 And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: [that] will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.

 

They searched from among their possessions to find something to give. It just so happens that he had this shekel of silver.

 

shekel – the chief unit of weight or measure

1) gold – 1/10000 of a talent and equal to 220 grains

2) silver – 1/3000 of a talent and equal to 132 grains

3) copper – 1/1500 of a talent and equal to 528 grains

 

Ok, so I’m previewing this statement with the fact that I am mathematically challenged, but I believe ¼ of 1/3000 is .750, but again…I’m not great with numbers, and especially fractions. It’s been too long since I’ve done that in school. However, I know it is the equivalent of 33 grains.

 

1Sa 9:9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for [he that is] now [called] a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)

 

I am so glad the scriptures defined this word, because I brought it up once in meeting, and one woman was quick to tell me, with an attitude, that my saying that I am a seer is not scriptural. She was the same person who contested trances as well, once I mentioned having had these in the past as well.

 

These days, seers are a reference to a medium and divination. However, when I said I was a seer, I meant a see-er, not a medium. I was able to quickly find the word trances in the New Testament, so that quelled her argument, but I did not find the word seer immediately, although I had seen it previously.

 

People who are ignorant of the scriptures don’t understand that some people are born with gifts like this; the ability to see things. Some dream and see (which I also do by God’s will), and the truth is revealed to them in dreams. The problem comes when people in the church who lack understanding, attack a young person with this gifting, and turn them away from God.

 

Most of the time, young people with a gifting of this nature get pushed into the dark arts on account of the ignorance in the church about these things. What they need to do is direct these young people to God, and instruct them to turn the gift over to Him, so that He can anoint them and utilize them for His glory.

 

1Sa 9:10 Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God [was].

1Sa 9:11 [And] as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?

1Sa 9:12 And they answered them, and said, He is; behold, [he is] before you: make haste now, for he came to day to the city; for [there is] a sacrifice of the people to day in the high place:

1Sa 9:13 As soon as ye be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; [and] afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you up; for about this time ye shall find him.

1Sa 9:14 And they went up into the city: [and] when they were come into the city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to the high place.

 

Now, when you come to petition the Lord for something, and you have come prepared to give, then he sets people in your path to direct you on your way. Here, they found young maidens who directed them right to where God’s man was. Not only that, the man of God came out to meet them. He was already expecting them. This is what happens to people who give because they have a heart for the Lord.

 

 

Manna was a visible reminder to the Hebrews of God’s providential care for His people. This care was conditional, just as it still is today, but the process of lining oneself up to receive was a little different in Old Testament times than it is now. In the next sets of scriptures on this matter, I will underline or make bold, the sections that involve a condition (or something that stands out to me, such as language, or a description), so as to make it plain as to the reason why I’m delving into these scriptures. I know it will seem like I’m going way outside of the book of Joshua, but there is a point, and it will draw you back into the verses in Joshua.

 

First I’m going to touch upon a point I heard from Creflo Dollar. He was discussing the process of receiving.

                                                                                           

1Sa 9:1 Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name [was] Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

 

Let’s see the background of Saul.

 

Benjamin = “son of the right hand”

Kish = “bent”

Abiel = “El (God) is (my) father”

Zeror = 1) bundle, parcel, pouch, bag (as packed) 2) pebble

Bechorath = “first-born”

Aphiah = “I will make to breathe”

Saul or Shaul = “desired”

 

1Sa 9:2 And he had a son, whose name [was] Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and [there was] not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward [he was] higher than any of the people.

 

It seems that Saul, at that time, lived up to his name. He’s described here, not just as a “choice young man, and a goodly,” but also as there not being a “goodlier person than he;” and apparently, he stood out being that he was taller than everyone else as well.

 

1Sa 9:3 And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

1Sa 9:4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found [them] not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and [there they were] not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found [them] not.

1Sa 9:5 [And] when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that [was] with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave [caring] for the asses, and take thought for us.

 

Saul and his servant passed through the following places.

 

Ephraim = “double ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful”

Shalisha = “thirds”                                                                      

Shalim = “foxes”

Benjamite – “a son of the right hand”

Zuph or Zophai = “honeycomb”

 

At this point, Saul says, “Let’s go back before my dad starts to worry about us.”

 

1Sa 9:6 And he said unto him, Behold now, [there is] in this city a man of God, and [he is] an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.

 

According to Creflo Dollar, the reference to “honourable man” was a reference to an anointing. They wanted a bit of that anointing to direct them.

 

1Sa 9:7 Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, [if] we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and [there is] not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

 

This was the part that Creflo pointed out that was really important. The fact of the matter is, many people ask of God, and just basically come before him with nothing to offer, as if just their presence is enough. Remember, He is the King of Kings. If you would go before an earthly king with a petition and a gift, why would you expect to do any less for the King of All?

 

Jos 5:11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched [corn] in the selfsame day.

Jos 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

 

I kept wondering about this “old corn,” and why it is that the moment they ate it, the manna ceased. This is what I found on old corn and manna. I’m going to put the corn part first and the manna part after that, since the info is more extensive, and there are some points that I want to focus on that may take a few posts to get through.

 

Wheat – The most important cereal grass mentioned in the Bible. This was the bearded variety belonging to the genus Triticum. It was cultivated in Bible lands from early times (Gen.30:14). Egyptian wheat was the many-eared variety called “mummy wheat.”(I think this is the type most common in America, which many people have allergic reactions to.) This was also depicted on Egyptian monuments.

 

Wheat was sown after barley in November or December. It was usually broadcast and then either plowed or trodden into the soil by oxen or other animals (Is.32:20). This grain was used for bread (Ex.29:32) and was also eaten parched (Lev. 23:14; Ruth 2:14). It was used in ceremonial offerings (Lev.2:1; 24:5-7) and as an article of commerce (Ezek.27:17; Acts 27:38).

 

When corn is mentioned in the Bible, it refers to wheat, as corn was not known in Bible times (Ps. 72:16: Matt. 12:1; Mark 4:28). Jesus compared His death to a grain of wheat which must die to produce fruit (John 12:24).

 

Manna – the food that God provided miraculously for the Israelites in the wilderness during their Exodus from Egypt. (Ex. 16:35, 31, 33; Num. 11:6-9)

 

As long as the Hebrew people wandered in the Sinai Peninsula, they were able to gather manna from the ground each morning (Ex. 16:35). They ate the manna for 40 years, “until they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Ex. 16:35) According to Joshua 5:12, the manna did not stop until the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River, had camped at Gilgal, had kept the Passover, and “had eaten the produce of the land.”

 

“What is it?” (Ex.16:15). This question, asked by the astonished Israelites, led to the name manna being applied to the “small round substance as fine as frost” (Ex. 16:14). Manna looked “like white coriander seed.” It tasted like “wafers made with honey” (Ex.16:31) or “pastry prepared with oil”(Num. 11:8).

 

The manna appeared with the morning dew. The Hebrews were instructed to gather only what was needed for one day, because any surplus would breed tiny worms and be spoiled. On the sixth day, however, the Israelites were permitted to gather enough for two days; they were forbidden to gather any manna on the Sabbath. Miraculously, the two days’ supply of food gathered on the sixth day did not spoil.

 

Manna could apparently be baked, boiled, ground, beaten, cooked in pans, and made into cakes (Ex.16:23; Num. 11:8). Moses even commanded Aaron to put a pot of manna in the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 16:32-34), so future generations might see the “bread of heaven” on which their ancestors had fed. The New Testament records that inside the holy of holies in the Temple, the ark of the covenant contained, among other things, “the golden pot that had the manna”(Heb. 9:4)

 

Numerous attempts have been made to identify manna with substances found in the Sinai Peninsula. Insects living on the tamarisk bush produce a small sweet substance during the early summer that has been identified as manna by some scholars. But this substance does not fulfill all the biblical requirements for manna. Other suggestions have included resinous gums that drip from some wilderness shrubs. But such substances do not resemble the manna that the Hebrews gathered and ate. Manna certainly was nourishing, but it cannot be identified with any known food.