Manna
VIEW:32 DATA:01-04-2020
MANNA.The food of the Israelites during the wanderings (Exo_16:1, Jos_5:12), but not the only food available. Documents of various dates speak of (a) cattle (Exo_17:3; Exo_19:13; Exo_34:3, Num_7:3; Num_7:6 f.), especially in connexion with sacrifice (Exo_24:5; Exo_32:8, Lev_8:2; Lev_8:25; Lev_8:31; Lev_9:4; Lev_10:14, Num_7:15 ff.); (b) flour (Num_7:13; Num_7:19; Num_7:25 etc., Lev_10:12; Lev_24:5); (c) food in general (Deu_2:3, Jos_1:11).
1. The origin of the word is uncertain. In Exo_16:13 the exclamation might be rendered, It is mân! (note RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). If so, the Israelites were reminded (but only vaguely, see Exo_16:15) of some known substance. The similar Arabic word means gift. More probably the words are a questionWhat is it? Unaware of the proper term, they thus spoke of manna as the-what-is-it.
2. The manna was flaky, small, and white (Exo_16:14; Exo_16:31). It resembled the seed (better fruit) of the coriander plant (Exo_16:31, Num_11:7), and suggested bdellium (Num_11:7 [see § 3]). It could be ground, and was stewed or baked (Exo_16:23, Num_11:8). The taste is compared to that of honey-wafers (Exo_16:31), or oil (Num_11:8), it was gathered fresh every morning early (but see § 4), for, if exposed to the sun, it melted (Exo_16:21; cf. Wis_19:2); if kept overnight (see § 4), it went had (Exo_16:19 f.). Each person was entitled to a measured omer of manna (Exo_16:19).
3. Many would identify manna with the juice of certain trees. The flowering ash (S. Europe) exudes a manna (used in medicine); and a species of tamarisk found in the Sinai peninsula yields a substance containing sugar. The description of manna would not in every point support such an identification, but it is worth noting that manna is likened (see § 2) to bdellium, which is a resinous exudation. A more recent theory is that manna was an edible lichen like that found in Arabia, etc.
4. Manna would thus come under the category of special providences, not miracles. There can, however, be no doubt that the Biblical writers regarded it as miraculous. (a) There is enough for a host of 600,000 footmen. (b) The quantity gathered proves exactly suited to the consumers appetite (Exo_16:18). (c) The Sabbath supply (gathered the previous day) retains its freshness (Exo_16:23 f.). (d) An omer of it is kept as a sacred object near (Exo_16:33 f.) but not within (1Ki_8:9; ct. [Note: t. contrast.] Heb_9:4, Rev_2:17) the ark. (e) Allusions to it suggest the supernatural (Neh_9:20, Psa_78:24 f., Psa_105:40, 2Es_1:19, Wis_16:20; Wis_19:21).
5. All this must lend significance to NT mention. Christ as the living bread is typified by manna (Joh_6:31 ff., 1Co_10:3; 1Co_4:1-21); and secret spiritual sustenance is the reward for him that overcometh (Rev_2:17).
H. F. B. Compston.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
There is a connection between the natural manna and the supernatural. The natural is the sweet juice of the tarfa, a kind of tamarisk. It exudes in May for about six weeks from the trunk and branches in hot weather, and forms small round white grains. It retains its consistency in cool weather, but melts with heat. It is gathered from the twigs or from the fallen leaves. The Arabs, after boiling and straining, use it as honey with bread. The color is a greyish-yellow, the taste sweet and aromatic. Ehrenberg says it is produced by an insect's puncture. It abounds in rainy seasons, some years it ceases. About 600 or 700 pounds is the present produce of a year. The region wady Gharandel (Elim) and Sinai, the wady Sheich, and some other parts of the peninsula, are the places where it is found. The name is still its Arabic designation, and is read on the Egyptian monuments (mennu, mennu hut, "white manna".) Gesenius derives it from manah, "to apportion." The supernatural character of the manna of Exodus at the same time appears.
(1) It was found not under the tamarisk, but on the surface of the wilderness, after the morning dew had disappeared.
(2) The quantity gathered in a single day exceeded the present produce of a year.
(3) It ceased on the sabbath.
(4) Its properties were distinct; it could be ground and baked as meal, it was not a mere condiment but nutritious as bread.
(5) It was found not merely where it still is, but Israel's whole way to Canaan (and not merely for a month or two each year, but all the year round). The miracle has all the conditions and characteristics of divine interpositions.
(1) A necessity, for Israel could not otherwise have been sustained in the wilderness.
(2) A divine purpose, namely to preserve God's peculiar people on which His whole providential government and man's salvation depended.
(3) Harmony between the natural and the supernatural; God fed them, not with the food of other regions, but with that of the district.
The local coloring is marked. Moses the writer could neither have been deceived as to the fact, nor could have deceived contemporaries and eye-witnesses. (Speaker's Commentary) The Scripture allusions to it are in Exo_16:14-36; Num_11:7-9; Deu_8:3-16; Jos_5:12; Psa_78:24-25 ("angels' food"; not as if angels ate food, but food from the habitation of angels, heaven, a directly miraculous gift), Mat_4:4; Joh_6:31-50; 1Co_10:3. The manna was a "small round thing as the hoar-frost on the ground," falling with the dew on the camp at night. They gathered it early every morning before the sun melted it.
If laid by for any following day except the sabbath it bred worms and stank. It was like coriander seed and bdellium, white, and its taste as the taste of fresh oil, like wafers made with honey (Num_11:7-9). Israel subsisted on it for 40 years; it suddenly ceased when they got the first new grain of Canaan. Vulgate, Septuagint, and Josephus (Ant. 3:1, sec. 6) derive manna from Israel's question to one another, maan huw' " 'what is this?' for they knew not what it was." God "gave it to His beloved (in) sleep" (Psa_127:2), so the sense and context require. Israel each morning, in awaking, found it already provided without toil. Such is the gospel, the gift of grace, not the fruit of works; free to all, and needed by high and low as indispensable for true life.
To commemorate Israel's living on omers or tenth deals of manna one omer was put into a golden pot and preserved for many generations beside the ark. Each was to gather according to his eating, an omer apiece for each in his tent, a command testing their obedience, in which some failed, gathering more but gaining nought by it, for however much he gathered, on measuring it in his tent he found he had only as much as he needed for his family; type of Christian charity, which is to make the superfluity of some supply the needs of others. "that there may be equality" (2Co_8:14-15); "our luxuries should yield to our neighbor's comforts, and our comforts to his necessities" (John Howard). The manna typifies Christ.
(1) It falls from above (Joh_6:32, etc.) as the dew (Psa_110:3; Mic_5:7) round the camp, i.e. the visible church, and nowhere else; the gift of God for which we toil not (Joh_6:28-29); when we were without merit or strength (Rom_5:6; Rom_5:8).
(2) It was gathered early; so we, before the world's heat of excitement melt away the good of God's gift to us (Psa_63:1; Hos_5:15; Hos_6:4; Mat_13:6).
(3) A double portion must be gathered for the sabbath.
(4) It was ground in the mill, as Christ was "bruised" for us to become our "bread of life."
(5) Sweet as honey to the taste (Psa_34:8; Psa_119:103; 1Pe_2:3).
(6) It must be gathered "day by day," fresh each day; so today's grace will not suffice for tomorrow (1Ki_8:59 margin; Mat_6:11; Luk_11:3). Hoarded up it putrefied; so gospel doctrine laid up for speculation, not received in love and digested as spiritual food, becomes a savor of death not life (1Co_8:1).
(7) To the carnal it was "dry" food though really like "fresh oil" (Num_11:6; Num_11:8; Num_21:5): so the gospel to the worldly who long for fleshly pleasures of Egypt, but to the spiritual it is full of the rich savor of the Holy Spirit (2Co_2:14-16).
(8) Its preservation in the golden pot in the holiest typifies Jesus, now in the heavenly holiest place, where He gives of the hidden manna to him that overcometh (Rev_2:17); He is the manna hidden from the world but revealed to the believer, who has now a foretaste of His preciousness; like the incorruptible manna in the sanctuary, the spiritual food offered to all who reject the world's dainties for Christ is everlasting, an incorruptible body, and life in Christ at the resurrection.
(9) The manna continued with Israel throughout their wilderness journey; so Christ with His people here (Mat_28:19).
(10) It ceases when they gain the promised rest, for faith then gives place to sight and the wilderness manna to the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev_2:7; Rev_22:2; Rev_22:14).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Manna. (what is this?). (Hebrew, man). The most important passages of the Old Testament on this topic are the following: Exo_16:14-36; Num_11:7-9; Deu_11:5; Deu_11:16; Jos_5:12; Psa_78:24-25.
From these passages, we learn that the manna came every morning, except the Sabbath, in the form of a small round seed, resembling the hoar frost, so that it must be gathered early, before the sun became so hot as to melt it; that it must be gathered every day except the Sabbath; that the attempt to lay aside for a succeeding day, except on the day immediately preceding the Sabbath, failed because the substance becoming wormy and offensive; that it was prepared for food by grinding and baking; that its taste was like fresh oil, and like wafers made with honey, equally agreeable to all palates; that the whole nation, of at least 2,000,000, subsisted upon it for forty years; that it suddenly ceased when they first got the new corn of the land of Canaan; and that it was always regarded as a miraculous gift directly from God, and not as a product of nature.
The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions which bear the name of manna have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. The latter substance was undoubtedly wholly miraculous, and not, in any respect, a product of nature, though its name may have come from its resemblance to the natural manna. The substance now called manna in the Arabian desert, through which the Israelites passed, is collected in the month of June from the tarfa or tamarisk shrub (Tamarix gallica).
According to Burckhardt, it drops from the thorns on the sticks and leaves with which the ground is covered, and must be gathered early in the day or it will be melted by the sun. The Arabs cleanse and boil it, strain it through a cloth and put it in leathern bottles; and in this way, it can be kept uninjured for several years. They use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread, but never make it into cakes or eat it by itself. The whole harvest, which amounts to only five or six hundred pounds, is consumed by the Bedouins, "who," says Schaff, "consider it the greatest dainty their country affords."
The manna of European commerce conies mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It's gathered during the months of June and July from some species of ash, (Ornus europaea and Ornus rotundifolia), from which it drops in consequence of a puncture by an insect resembling the locust, but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The substance is fluid at night and resembles the dew, but in the morning it begins to harden.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
מן , Exo_16:15; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:35; Num_11:6-7; Num_11:9; Jos_5:12; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; μαννα, Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4; Rev_2:17; the food which God gave the children of Israel during their continuance in the deserts of Arabia, from the eighth encampment in the wilderness of Sin. Moses describes it as white like hoar frost, round, and of the bigness of coriander seed. It fell every morning upon the dew; and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the rocks or the sand. It fell every day except on the Sabbath, and this only around the camp of the Israelites. Every sixth day there fell a double quantity; and though it putrefied and bred maggots when it was kept any other day, yet on the Sabbath there was no such alteration. The same substance which was melted by the heat of the sun when it was left abroad, was of so hard a consistence when brought into the tent, that it was beaten in mortars, and would even endure the fire, being made into cakes and baked in pans. It fell in so great quantities during the whole forty years of their journey, that it was sufficient to feed the whole multitude of above a million of souls.
Every man, that is, every male or head of a family, was to gather each day the quantity of an omer, about three quarts English measure; and it is observed that he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack, because his gathering was in proportion to the number of persons for whom he had to provide. Or every man gathered as much as he could; and then, when brought home and measured by an omer, if he had a surplus, it went to supply the wants of some other family that had not been able to collect a sufficiency, the family being large, and the time in which the manna might be gathered, before the heat of the day, not being sufficient to collect enough for so numerous a household, several of whom might be so confined as not to be able to collect for themselves. Thus there was an equality; and in this light the words of St. Paul lead us to view the passage, 2Co_8:15. To commemorate their living upon manna, the Israelites were directed to put one omer of it into a golden vase; and it was preserved for many generations by the side of the ark.
Our translators and others make a plain contradiction in the relation of this account of the manna, by rendering it thus: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna; for they knew not what it was; whereas the Septuagint, and several authors, both ancient and modern, have translated the text according to the original: The Israelites seeing this, said one to another, What is it? מן חוא ; they could not give it a name. Moses immediately answers the question, and says, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. From Exo_16:31, we learn that this substance was afterward called מן , probably in commemoration of the question they had asked on its first appearance. What this substance was, we know not. It was nothing that was common in the wilderness. It is evident that the Israelites never saw it before; for Moses says, He fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16; and it is very likely that nothing of the kind had ever been seen before; and by a pot of it being laid up in the ark, it is as likely that nothing of the kind ever appeared after the miraculous supply in the wilderness had ceased. The author of the book of Wisdom, Wis_16:20-21, says, that the manna so accommodated itself to every one's taste that it proved palatable and pleasing to all. It has been remarked that at this day, what is called manna is found in several places; in Arabia, on Mount Libanus, Calabria, and elsewhere. The most famous is that of Arabia, which is a kind of condensed honey, which exudes from the leaves of trees, from whence it is collected when it has become concreted. Salmasius thinks this of the same kind which fed the children of Israel; and that the miracle lay, not in creating any new substance, but in making it fall duly at a set time every day throughout the whole year, and that in such plenty as to suffice so great a multitude. But in order for this, the Israelites must be supposed every day to have been in the neighbourhood of the trees on which this substance is formed; which was not the case, neither do these trees grow in those deserts. Beside, this kind of manna is purgative, and the stomach could not endure it in such quantity as is implied by its being eaten for food. The whole history of the giving the manna is evidently miraculous; and the manna was truly bread from heaven, as sent by special interposition of God.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
Manna was a kind of food that God first gave to the Israelites soon after they left Egypt. It remained their daily food for the next forty years (Exo_16:4; Num_11:6; Psa_78:23-24). It was not, however, their only food (Exo_18:12; Lev_7:14-15; Lev_11:2-3; Lev_11:9; Num_11:31-34). Gods provision of the manna ceased once the people arrived in Canaan (Jos_5:12).
The people of Israel gave the food the name manna (meaning What is it?) because they did not know what else to call it (Exo_16:15; Exo_16:31). We today do not know exactly what the manna was or how it was made. Possibly it was a substance prepared by insects that sucked the gum from trees. It formed during the night and was ready to be collected in the morning. It was fine, flaky, tasted like wafers mixed with honey, and could be cooked in various ways (Exo_16:14; Exo_16:23; Exo_16:31; Num_11:7-9).
God supplied the manna every morning, and the people had to eat it the same day. The only exceptions concerned the Sabbath rest day. There was no manna on Saturday mornings, but God gave two days supply each Friday, half of which the people kept for use on Saturday. Because the manna spoiled quickly, the people preserved the supply for Saturday by baking or boiling it beforehand. Moses controlled the collection and distribution of the manna so that no one had too much or too little (Exo_16:4-5; Exo_16:15-18; Exo_16:23).
The command that prohibited keeping the manna overnight tested the peoples obedience. The promise that ensured complete Sabbath rest through the double supply each Friday tested their faith. But in both matters they failed (Exo_16:19-30).
In accordance with Gods instructions, Moses put part of the manna in a jar, to keep as a memorial of how God fed his people in the wilderness. This jar was later placed in the ark of the covenant together with Aarons rod and the stone tablets inscribed with the law (Exo_16:31-35; Heb_9:4).
God also used the manna to teach the Israelites that their lives depended not merely on the food they ate, but on their spiritual relationship with God (Deu_8:3; cf. Mat_4:4). Jesus compared the gift of manna to satisfy physical hunger with the gift of himself to satisfy spiritual hunger. He did not need to make food fall from heaven, for he himself was the true bread from heaven (Joh_6:31-35). He gave himself as a sacrifice for sin, so that those who trust in him may have eternal life (Joh_6:48-51; cf. Rev_2:17).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.
man?a (מן, mān; μάννα, mánna): The Hebrew man is probably derived, as Ebers suggests, from the Egyptian mennu, ?food.? In Exo_16:15, we have a suggested source of the name, ?They said one to another, What is it?? i.e. manhu, which also means, ?It is manna? (see margin).
1. Old Testament References:
This substance is described as occurring in flakes or small round grains, literally, ?hoax frost?; it fell with the dew (Num_11:9) and appeared when the dew left the ground (Exo_16:14); ?It was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey? (Exo_16:31). In Num_11:8, its taste is described ?as the taste of fresh oil,? margin ?cakes baked with oil.? ?And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came ... unto the borders of the land of Canaan? (Exo_16:35). It ceased the day after they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the plains of Jericho (Jos_5:10-12). Although an important article of diet, it was by no means the sole one as seems implied in Num_21:15; there are plenty of references (e.g. Exo_17:3; Exo_24:5; Exo_34:3; Lev_8:2, Lev_8:26, Lev_8:31; Lev_9:4; Lev_10:12; Lev_24:5; Num_7:13, Num_7:19 f, etc.) which show that they had other food besides. The food was gathered every morning, ?every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted? (Exo_16:21); a portion of the previous day's gathering bred worms and stank if kept (Exo_16:20); on the 6th day a double amount was gathered, the Sabbath portion being miraculously preserved (Exo_16:22-27). A pot - a golden one (Heb_9:4) - with an omer of manna was ?laid up before Yahweh? in the tabernacle (Exo_16:33). Manna is referred to in Neh_9:20. It is described poetically as ?food from heaven? and ?bread of the mighty? (Psa_78:24 f); as ?bread of heaven? (Psa_105:40); and as ?angels' bread? (2 Esdras 1:19; The Wisdom of Solomon 16:20).
2. New Testament References:
In Jn 6:31-63, our Lord frequently refers to ?the manna? or ?bread from heaven? as typical of Himself. Paul (1Co_10:3) refers to it as ?spiritual food,? and in Rev_2:17 we read, ?To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna.?
Manna, as might be expected, figures largely in rabbinical literature. It was, it is said, adapted to the taste of each individual who could by wishing taste in the manna anything he desired (compare The Wisdom of Solomon 16:21). Manna is reserved as the future food of the righteous (compare Rev_2:17), for which purpose it is ground in a mill situated in the third heaven (Chag 12b; Tan. Beshallach 22).
3. Natural Explanations:
No substance is known which in any degree satisfies all the requirements of the Scriptural references, but several travelers in the wilderness have reported phenomena which suggest some of the features of the miraculous manna.
(1) In the Peninsula of Sinai, on the route of the children of Israel, a species of tamarisk, named in consequence by Ebers Tammaris mannifera, is found to exude a sweet, honey-like substance where its bark is pierced by an insect, Gossyparia mannifera. It collects upon the twigs and falls to the ground. The Arabs who gather it to sell to pilgrims call it mann-es-samā, ?heavenly manna?; it is white at first but turns yellow; in the early morning it is of the consistency of wax but when the sun is hot it disappears. This substance occurs only after mid-summer and for a month or two at most.
(2) A second proposal is to identify manna with a lichen - Lecanora esculenta and allied species - which grows in the Arabian and other deserts upon the limestone. The older masses become detached and are rolled about by the wind. When swept together by sudden rain storms in the rainy season they may collect in large heaps. This lichen has been used by the Arabs in time of need for making bread. It is a quite reasonable form of nourishment in the desert, especially when eaten with the sugary manna from the trees.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Manna, or Man. The name given to the miraculous food upon which the Israelites were fed for forty years, during their wanderings in the desert. The same name has in later ages been applied to some natural productions, chiefly found in warm dry countries, but which have little or no resemblance to the original manna. This is first mentioned in Exodus 16. It is there described as being first produced after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, as white like hoar frost (or of the color of bdellium, Num_11:7), round, and of the bigness of coriander seed (gad). It fell with the dew every morning, and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the ground or the rocks round the encampment of the Israelites. 'When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was' (Exo_16:15). In the Authorized, and some other versions, this passage is inaccurately translated?which indeed is apparent from the two parts of the sentence contradicting each other. Josephus (Antiq. iii. 1. ? 6), as quoted by Dr. Harris, says: 'The Hebrews call this food manna, for the particle man in our language is the asking of a question, What is this? (mah-hu). Moses answered this question by telling them, 'This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.' We are further informed that the manna fell every day, except on the Sabbath. Every sixth day, that is on Friday, there fell a double quantity of it. Every man was directed to gather an omer (about three English quarts) for each member of his family: and the whole seems afterwards to have been measured out at the rate of an omer to each person: 'He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.' That which remained ungathered dissolved in the heat of the sun, and was lost. The quantity collected was intended for the food of the current day only; for if any were kept till next morning, it corrupted and bred worms. Yet it was directed that a double quantity should be gathered on the sixth day for consumption on the Sabbath. And it was found that the manna kept for the Sabbath remained sweet and wholesome, notwithstanding that it corrupted at other times, if kept for more than one day. In the same manner as they would have treated grain, they reduced it to meal, kneaded it into dough, and baked it into cakes, and the taste of it was like that of wafers made with honey, or of fresh oil. In Num_11:6-9, where the description of the manna is repeated, an omer of it is directed to be preserved as a memorial to future generations, 'that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness;' and in Jos_5:12 we learn that after the Israelites had encamped at Gilgal, and did eat of the old corn of the land, the manna ceased on the morrow after, neither had the children of Israel manna anymore.'
Fig. 251?Manna Plants?1. Alhagi maurorum. 2. Tamarix gallica.
This miracle is referred to in Deu_8:3; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4. Though the manna of Scripture was so evidently miraculous, both in the mode and in the quantities in which it was produced, and though its properties were so different from anything with which we are acquainted, yet, because its taste is in Exodus said to be like that of wafers made with honey, many writers have thought that they recognized the manna of Scripture in a sweetish exudation which is found on several plants in Arabia and Persia. The name man, or manna, is applied to this substance by the Arab writers, and was probably so applied even before their time. But the term is now almost entirely appropriated to the sweetish exudation of the ash trees of Sicily and Italy. These, however, have no relation to the supposed manna of Scripture. Of this one kind is known to the Arabs by the name of guzunjbeen, being the produce of a plant called guz, and which is ascertained to be a species of tamarisk. The same species seems also to be called toorfa, and is common along different parts of the coast of Arabia. It is also found in the neighborhood of Mount Sinai. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves and thorns, which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state. The Arabs use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. 'If eaten in any quantity it is said to be highly purgative.' When Lieut. Wellsted visited this place in the month of September, he found the extremities of the twigs and branches retaining the peculiar sweetness and flavor which characterize the manna. The Bedouins collect it early in the morning, and, after straining it through a cloth, place it either in skins or gourds; a considerable quantity is consumed by themselves; a portion is sent to Cairo; and some is also disposed of to the monks at Mount Sinai. The latter retail it to the Russian pilgrims.' 'The Bedouins assured me that the whole quantity collected throughout the Peninsula, in the most fruitful season, did not exceed 150 wogas (about 700 pounds); and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of 60 dollars the woga.'
Another kind of manna, which has been supposed to be that of Scripture, is yielded by a thorny plant very common from the north of India to Syria, and which by the Arabs is called Al-haj: whence botanists have constructed the name Alhagi. The Alhagi maurorum is remarkable for the exudation of a sweetish juice, which concretes into small granular masses, and which is usually distinguished by the name of Persian manna. The climates of Persia and Bokhara seem also well suited to the secretion of this manna, which in the latter country is employed as a substitute for sugar, and is imported into India for medicinal use through Caubul and Khorassan. These two, from the localities in which they are produced, have alone been thought to be the manna of Scripture. But, besides these, there are several other kinds of manna. Indeed, a sweetish secretion is found on the leaves of many other plants, produced sometimes by the plant itself, at others by the punctures of insects. It has been supposed, also, that these sweetish exudations being evaporated during the heat of the day in still weather, may afterwards become deposited, with the dew, on the ground, and on the leaves of plants; and thus explain some of the phenomena which have been observed by travelers and others. But none of these mannas explain, nor can it be expected that they should explain, the miracle of Scripture, by which abundance is stated to have been produced for millions, where hundreds cannot now be subsisted.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Deu_8:3 (a) This bread is a type of CHRIST, the living Bread. GOD gave it to Israel in a miraculous way. He is the living bread which sustains the lives of GOD's people. It was always pure white. It was sweet. There was enough for all. (See also Joh_6:49; Heb_9:4).
Rev_2:17 (a) This bread is a type of some sort of unseen and unknown blessings which are given by GOD for the blessing of His people when they live victorious lives for Him. It is a gift that is lovely, precious, attractive and satisfying, but the character of it is unknown.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Manna
(מָן, man, according to Gesenius, a portion, from the Arabic; but a different derivation is alluded to in the passage where it first occurs [see Thym, De origine vocis Manna, etc., Vitemb. 1641]), the name given to the miraculous food upon which the Israelites were fed for forty years during their wanderings in the desert. The same name has in later ages been applied to some natural productions, chiefly found in warm, dry countries, but which have little or no resemblance to the original manna. This is first mentioned in Exodus 16. It is there described as being first produced after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, as white like hoar frost (or of the color of bdellium, Num_11:7), round, and of the bigness of coriander seed (gad). It fell with the dew every morning, and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the ground or the rocks round the encampment of the Israelites. When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was (Exo_16:15). In the authorized and some other versions this passage is inaccurately translated which, indeed, is apparent from the two parts of the sentence contradicting each other (It is manna; for they wist not what it was).
The word occurs only in Exo_16:15; Exo_16:31; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:5; Num_11:6-7; Num_11:9; Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16; Jos_5:12; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24. In the Sept. the substance is almost always called manna (μάννα, and so the N. Test. always: Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4; Rev_2:17; also the Apocrypha, Wis_16:20-21) instead of man (μάν, Exo_16:31; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:35). Josephus (Ant. 3:1, 6), in giving an account of this substance, thus accords with the textual etymology: The Hebrews call this food manna (μάννα), for the particle manuz (μάν) in our language is the asking of a question, What is this?' (Heb. מִןאּהוּא, man-hu). Moses answered this question by telling them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. We are further informed that the manna fell every day, except on the Sabbath. Every sixth day, that is on Friday, there fell a double quantity of it. Every man was directed to gather an omer (about three English quarts) for each member of his family; and the whole seems afterwards to have been measured out at the rate of an omer to each person: He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. That which remained ungathered dissolved in the heat of the sun, and was lost. The quantity collected was intended for the food of the current day only, for if any were kept till next morning it corrupted and bred worms. Yet it was directed that a double quantity should be gathered on the sixth day for consumption on the Sabbath. It was found that the manna kept for the Sabbath remained sweet and wholesome, notwithstanding that it corrupted at other times if kept for more than one day. In the same manner as they would have treated grain, they reduced it to meal, kneaded it into dough, and baked it into cakes, and the taste of it was like that of wafers made with honey or of fresh oil. In Num_11:6-9, where the description of the manna is repeated, an omer of it is directed to be preserved as a memorial to future generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness; and in Jos_5:12 we learn that after the Israelites had encamped at Gilgal, and did eat of the old corn of the land, the manna ceased on the morrow after, neither had the children of Israel manna any more.
This miracle is referred to in Deu_8:3; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4. Though the manna of Scripture was so evidently miraculous, both in the mode and in the quantities in which it was produced, and though its properties were so different from anything with which we are acquainted. yet, because its taste is in Exodus said to be like that of wafers made with honey, many writers have thought that they recognized the manna of Scripture in a sweetish exudation which is found on several plants in Arabia and Persia. The name man, or manna, is applied to this substance by the Arab writers, and was probably so applied even before their time. But the term is now almost entirely appropriated to the sweetish exudation of the ash-trees of Sicily and Italy (Ornus Europaea and Fiaxuinus rotundidfilia). These, however, have no relation to the supposed manna of Scripture. Of this one kind is known to the Arabs by the name of guzunjbin, being the produce of a plant called guz, which is ascertained to be a species of tamarisk.
The same species seems also to be called turfa, and is common along different parts of the coast of Arabia. It is also found in the neighborhood of Mount Sinai. Burckhardt, while in the valley wady el-Sheik, to the north of Mount Serbal, says: In many parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk or turfa; it is the only valley in the Peninsula where this tree grows at present in any quantity, though some small bushes are here and there met with in other parts. It is from the tufa that the manna is obtained; and it is very strange that the fact should have remained unknown in Europe till M. Seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his Tour to Sinai,' published in the Mines de l'Orient. The substance is called by the Arabs mann. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state. The Arabs use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any quantity it is said to be highly purgative. He further adds that the tamarisk is one of the most common trees in Nubia and throughout the whole of Arabia; on the Euphrates, on the Astaboras, in all the valleys of the Hejaz and Beja it grows in great quantities, yet nowhere but in the region of Mount Sinai did he hear of its producing manna. Ehrenberg has examined and described this species of tamarisk, which he calls T. manunifera, but which is considered to be only a variety of T. gallica. The manna he considers to be produced by the puncture of an insect which he calls Coccus manniparus. Others have been of the same opinion. When Lieut Wellsted visited this place in the month of September, he found the extremities of the twigs and branches retaining the peculiar sweetness and flavor which characterize the manna. The Bedouins collect it early in the morning,, and, after straining it through a cloth, place it either in skins or gourds; a considerable quantity is consumed by themselves; a portion is sent to Cairo, and some is also disposed of to the monks at Mount Sinai. The latter retail it to the Russian pilgrims. The Bedouins assured me that the whole quantity collected throughout the Peninsula, in the most fruitful season, did not exceed 150 wogas (about 700 pounds); and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of 60 dollars the woga (Travels in Arabia, 1:511).
Another kind of manna, which has been supposed to be that of Scripture, is yielded by a thorny plant very common from the north of India to Syria, which by the Arabs is called Al-haj, whence botanists have constructed the name Alhagi. The two species have been called Alhagi Mauorum and A. desertorum. Both species are also by the Arabs called ushter-khar, or camel's-thorn; and in Mesopotamia aqul, according to some authorities, while by others this is thought to be the name of another plant. The Alhagi Maurorum is remarkable for the exudation of a sweetish juice, which concretes into small granular masses, and which is usually distinguished by the name of Persian manna. The late professor Don was so confident that this was the same substance as the manna of Scripture that he proposed calling the plant itself Manna Hebraica. The climate of Persia and Bokhara seems also well suited to the secretion of this manna, which in the latter country is employed as a substitute for sugar, and is imported into India for medicinal use through Caubul and Khorassan. In Arabian and Persian works on Materia Medica it is called Turungbin. These two, from the localities in which they are produced, have alone been thought to be the manna of Scripture. But, besides these, there are, several other kinds of manna. Burckhardt, during his journey through El-Ghor, in the valley of the Jordan, heard of the Beiruk honey.
This is described as a substance obtained from the leaves and branches of a tree called Gharb or Gasrrab, of the size of an olive-tree, and with leaves like those of the poplar. When fresh this grayish-colored exudation is sweet in taste, but in a few days it becomes sour. The Arabs eat it like honey. One kind, called Shir-khisht, is said to be produced in the country of the Uzbecs. A Caubul merchant informed Dr. Royle that it was produced by a tree called Gundeleh, which grows in Candahar, and is about twelve feet high, with jointed stems. A fifth kind is produced on Caloropis procera, or the plant called Ashur. The sweet exudation is by Arab authors ranked with sugars, and called Shukur- al-ashur. It is described under this name by Avicenna, and in the Latin translation it is called Zuccarunz-al-husar. A sixth kind, called Bedkhisht, is described in Persian works on Materia Medica as being produced on a species of willow in Persian Khorassan. Another kind would appear to be produced on a species of oak, for Niebuhr says, At Merdin, in Mesopotamia, it appears like a kind of pollen on the leaves of the tree called Ballot and Afs (or, according to the Aleppo pronunciation, As), which I take to be of the oak family. All are agreed that between Merdin and Diarbekir manna is obtained, and principally from those trees which yield gall-nuts. Besides these there is a sweetish exudation found on the larch, which is called Manna brigantiaca, as there is also one kind found on the cedar of Lebanon. Indeed a sweetish secretion is found on the leaves of many other plants, produced sometimes by the plant itself, at others by the punctures of insects. It has been supposed also that these sweetish exudations, being evaporated during the heat of the day in still weather, may afterwards become deposited, with the dew, on the ground and on the leaves of plants, and thus explain some of the phenomena which have been observed by travelers and others. According to Colossians Chesney, The most remarkable production in ancient Assyria is the celebrated vegetable known here by the name of manna, which in Turkish is most expressively called Kzudret-hal-vassiz, or the divine sweetmeat.' It is found on the leaves of the dwarf oak, and also, though less plentifully and scarcely so good, on those of the tamarisk and several other plants. It is occasionally deposited on the sand, and also on rocks and stones.
The latter is of a pure white color, and appears to be more esteemed than the tree manna. It is collected chiefly at two periods of the year, first in the early part of spring, and again towards the end of autumn; in either case the quality depends upon the rain that may have fallen, or at least on the abundance of the dews, for in the seasons which happen to be quite dry it is understood that little or none is obtained. In order to collect the manna the people go out before sunrise, and having placed cloths under the oak, larch, tamarisk, and several other kinds of shrubs, the manna is shaken down in such quantities from the branches as to give a supply for the market after providing for the wants of the different members of the family. The Kurds not only eat manna in its natural state, as they do bread or dates, but their women make it into a kind of paste; being in this state like honey, it is added to other ingredients used in preparing sweetmeats, which, in some shape or other, are found in every house throughout the East. The manna, when partially cleaned, is carried to the market at Mosul in goat-skins, and there sold in lumps at the rate of 4.5, pounds for about 2.5 d. But for family consumption, or to send to a distance out of the country, it is first thoroughly cleansed from the fragments of leaves and other foreign matter by boiling. In the natural state it is described as being of a delicate white color. It is also still, as in the time of the Israelites, like coriander seed, and of a moderate but agreeable sweetness (Euphrates Expedition, 1:123).
The manna of European commerce comes mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It is gathered during the months of June and July from some species of ash (Ornus Europaea and Ornus rotundifolia), from which it drops in consequence of a puncture by an insect resembling the locust, but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The substance is fluid at night, and resembles the dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions, which bear the name of manna, have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. They are all condiments or medicines rather than food, stimulating or purgative rather than nutritious; they are produced only three or four months in the year, from May to August, and not all the sear round; they come only in small quantities, never affording anything like 15,000,000 pounds a week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Israelitish camp, since each man had an omer (or three English quarts) a day, and that for forty years; they can be kept for a long time, and do not become useless in a day or two; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbath as on any other day; nor does a double quantity fall on the day preceding the Sabbath; nor would natural products cease at once and forever, as the manna is represented as ceasing in the book of Joshua. The manna of Scripture we therefore regard as wholly miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature.
Manna is the emblem or symbol of immortality (Rev_2:17): I will give him to eat of the hidden manna; i.e. the true bread of God, which came down from heaven, referring to the words of Christ in Joh_6:51, a much greater instance of God's favor than feeding the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. It is called hidden, or laid up, in allusion to that which was laid up in a golden vessel in the holy of holies of the tabernacle (comp. Exo_16:33-34, and Heb_9:4).
See Liebentanz, De Manna (Vitemb. 1667); Zeibich, De miraculo Mannae Israeliticae (Gerae, 1770); Hoheisel, De vasculo Mannae (Jen. 1715); Schramm, De urna Mannae (Herb. 1723); Fabri Historia Mannae, in Fabri et Reiskii Opusc. sled. Arab. (Hal. 1776), p. 121; Hardwick, in Asiatic Researches, 14:182; Frederic, in Transact. of the Lit. Society of Bombay (Lond. 1819), 1:251; Ehrenberg, Symbol. Phys. (Berl. 1829); Martius, Pharnakogn. p. 327; Oedmann, Sanml. 6:1; Buxtorf, Exercit. (Basil. 1659), p. 335 (and in Ugolini, Thesaur. vol. viii); Rosenmüller, Alterthumsk. 4:316 sq.; Kitto, Daily Bible Illust. ad loc.; Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 362; comp. Robinson's Researches, 1:470, 550; and other Oriental travelers.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
1. The origin of the word is uncertain. In Exo_16:13 the exclamation might be rendered, It is mân! (note RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). If so, the Israelites were reminded (but only vaguely, see Exo_16:15) of some known substance. The similar Arabic word means gift. More probably the words are a questionWhat is it? Unaware of the proper term, they thus spoke of manna as the-what-is-it.
2. The manna was flaky, small, and white (Exo_16:14; Exo_16:31). It resembled the seed (better fruit) of the coriander plant (Exo_16:31, Num_11:7), and suggested bdellium (Num_11:7 [see § 3]). It could be ground, and was stewed or baked (Exo_16:23, Num_11:8). The taste is compared to that of honey-wafers (Exo_16:31), or oil (Num_11:8), it was gathered fresh every morning early (but see § 4), for, if exposed to the sun, it melted (Exo_16:21; cf. Wis_19:2); if kept overnight (see § 4), it went had (Exo_16:19 f.). Each person was entitled to a measured omer of manna (Exo_16:19).
3. Many would identify manna with the juice of certain trees. The flowering ash (S. Europe) exudes a manna (used in medicine); and a species of tamarisk found in the Sinai peninsula yields a substance containing sugar. The description of manna would not in every point support such an identification, but it is worth noting that manna is likened (see § 2) to bdellium, which is a resinous exudation. A more recent theory is that manna was an edible lichen like that found in Arabia, etc.
4. Manna would thus come under the category of special providences, not miracles. There can, however, be no doubt that the Biblical writers regarded it as miraculous. (a) There is enough for a host of 600,000 footmen. (b) The quantity gathered proves exactly suited to the consumers appetite (Exo_16:18). (c) The Sabbath supply (gathered the previous day) retains its freshness (Exo_16:23 f.). (d) An omer of it is kept as a sacred object near (Exo_16:33 f.) but not within (1Ki_8:9; ct. [Note: t. contrast.] Heb_9:4, Rev_2:17) the ark. (e) Allusions to it suggest the supernatural (Neh_9:20, Psa_78:24 f., Psa_105:40, 2Es_1:19, Wis_16:20; Wis_19:21).
5. All this must lend significance to NT mention. Christ as the living bread is typified by manna (Joh_6:31 ff., 1Co_10:3; 1Co_4:1-21); and secret spiritual sustenance is the reward for him that overcometh (Rev_2:17).
H. F. B. Compston.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
There is a connection between the natural manna and the supernatural. The natural is the sweet juice of the tarfa, a kind of tamarisk. It exudes in May for about six weeks from the trunk and branches in hot weather, and forms small round white grains. It retains its consistency in cool weather, but melts with heat. It is gathered from the twigs or from the fallen leaves. The Arabs, after boiling and straining, use it as honey with bread. The color is a greyish-yellow, the taste sweet and aromatic. Ehrenberg says it is produced by an insect's puncture. It abounds in rainy seasons, some years it ceases. About 600 or 700 pounds is the present produce of a year. The region wady Gharandel (Elim) and Sinai, the wady Sheich, and some other parts of the peninsula, are the places where it is found. The name is still its Arabic designation, and is read on the Egyptian monuments (mennu, mennu hut, "white manna".) Gesenius derives it from manah, "to apportion." The supernatural character of the manna of Exodus at the same time appears.
(1) It was found not under the tamarisk, but on the surface of the wilderness, after the morning dew had disappeared.
(2) The quantity gathered in a single day exceeded the present produce of a year.
(3) It ceased on the sabbath.
(4) Its properties were distinct; it could be ground and baked as meal, it was not a mere condiment but nutritious as bread.
(5) It was found not merely where it still is, but Israel's whole way to Canaan (and not merely for a month or two each year, but all the year round). The miracle has all the conditions and characteristics of divine interpositions.
(1) A necessity, for Israel could not otherwise have been sustained in the wilderness.
(2) A divine purpose, namely to preserve God's peculiar people on which His whole providential government and man's salvation depended.
(3) Harmony between the natural and the supernatural; God fed them, not with the food of other regions, but with that of the district.
The local coloring is marked. Moses the writer could neither have been deceived as to the fact, nor could have deceived contemporaries and eye-witnesses. (Speaker's Commentary) The Scripture allusions to it are in Exo_16:14-36; Num_11:7-9; Deu_8:3-16; Jos_5:12; Psa_78:24-25 ("angels' food"; not as if angels ate food, but food from the habitation of angels, heaven, a directly miraculous gift), Mat_4:4; Joh_6:31-50; 1Co_10:3. The manna was a "small round thing as the hoar-frost on the ground," falling with the dew on the camp at night. They gathered it early every morning before the sun melted it.
If laid by for any following day except the sabbath it bred worms and stank. It was like coriander seed and bdellium, white, and its taste as the taste of fresh oil, like wafers made with honey (Num_11:7-9). Israel subsisted on it for 40 years; it suddenly ceased when they got the first new grain of Canaan. Vulgate, Septuagint, and Josephus (Ant. 3:1, sec. 6) derive manna from Israel's question to one another, maan huw' " 'what is this?' for they knew not what it was." God "gave it to His beloved (in) sleep" (Psa_127:2), so the sense and context require. Israel each morning, in awaking, found it already provided without toil. Such is the gospel, the gift of grace, not the fruit of works; free to all, and needed by high and low as indispensable for true life.
To commemorate Israel's living on omers or tenth deals of manna one omer was put into a golden pot and preserved for many generations beside the ark. Each was to gather according to his eating, an omer apiece for each in his tent, a command testing their obedience, in which some failed, gathering more but gaining nought by it, for however much he gathered, on measuring it in his tent he found he had only as much as he needed for his family; type of Christian charity, which is to make the superfluity of some supply the needs of others. "that there may be equality" (2Co_8:14-15); "our luxuries should yield to our neighbor's comforts, and our comforts to his necessities" (John Howard). The manna typifies Christ.
(1) It falls from above (Joh_6:32, etc.) as the dew (Psa_110:3; Mic_5:7) round the camp, i.e. the visible church, and nowhere else; the gift of God for which we toil not (Joh_6:28-29); when we were without merit or strength (Rom_5:6; Rom_5:8).
(2) It was gathered early; so we, before the world's heat of excitement melt away the good of God's gift to us (Psa_63:1; Hos_5:15; Hos_6:4; Mat_13:6).
(3) A double portion must be gathered for the sabbath.
(4) It was ground in the mill, as Christ was "bruised" for us to become our "bread of life."
(5) Sweet as honey to the taste (Psa_34:8; Psa_119:103; 1Pe_2:3).
(6) It must be gathered "day by day," fresh each day; so today's grace will not suffice for tomorrow (1Ki_8:59 margin; Mat_6:11; Luk_11:3). Hoarded up it putrefied; so gospel doctrine laid up for speculation, not received in love and digested as spiritual food, becomes a savor of death not life (1Co_8:1).
(7) To the carnal it was "dry" food though really like "fresh oil" (Num_11:6; Num_11:8; Num_21:5): so the gospel to the worldly who long for fleshly pleasures of Egypt, but to the spiritual it is full of the rich savor of the Holy Spirit (2Co_2:14-16).
(8) Its preservation in the golden pot in the holiest typifies Jesus, now in the heavenly holiest place, where He gives of the hidden manna to him that overcometh (Rev_2:17); He is the manna hidden from the world but revealed to the believer, who has now a foretaste of His preciousness; like the incorruptible manna in the sanctuary, the spiritual food offered to all who reject the world's dainties for Christ is everlasting, an incorruptible body, and life in Christ at the resurrection.
(9) The manna continued with Israel throughout their wilderness journey; so Christ with His people here (Mat_28:19).
(10) It ceases when they gain the promised rest, for faith then gives place to sight and the wilderness manna to the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev_2:7; Rev_22:2; Rev_22:14).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Manna. (what is this?). (Hebrew, man). The most important passages of the Old Testament on this topic are the following: Exo_16:14-36; Num_11:7-9; Deu_11:5; Deu_11:16; Jos_5:12; Psa_78:24-25.
From these passages, we learn that the manna came every morning, except the Sabbath, in the form of a small round seed, resembling the hoar frost, so that it must be gathered early, before the sun became so hot as to melt it; that it must be gathered every day except the Sabbath; that the attempt to lay aside for a succeeding day, except on the day immediately preceding the Sabbath, failed because the substance becoming wormy and offensive; that it was prepared for food by grinding and baking; that its taste was like fresh oil, and like wafers made with honey, equally agreeable to all palates; that the whole nation, of at least 2,000,000, subsisted upon it for forty years; that it suddenly ceased when they first got the new corn of the land of Canaan; and that it was always regarded as a miraculous gift directly from God, and not as a product of nature.
The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions which bear the name of manna have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. The latter substance was undoubtedly wholly miraculous, and not, in any respect, a product of nature, though its name may have come from its resemblance to the natural manna. The substance now called manna in the Arabian desert, through which the Israelites passed, is collected in the month of June from the tarfa or tamarisk shrub (Tamarix gallica).
According to Burckhardt, it drops from the thorns on the sticks and leaves with which the ground is covered, and must be gathered early in the day or it will be melted by the sun. The Arabs cleanse and boil it, strain it through a cloth and put it in leathern bottles; and in this way, it can be kept uninjured for several years. They use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread, but never make it into cakes or eat it by itself. The whole harvest, which amounts to only five or six hundred pounds, is consumed by the Bedouins, "who," says Schaff, "consider it the greatest dainty their country affords."
The manna of European commerce conies mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It's gathered during the months of June and July from some species of ash, (Ornus europaea and Ornus rotundifolia), from which it drops in consequence of a puncture by an insect resembling the locust, but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The substance is fluid at night and resembles the dew, but in the morning it begins to harden.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
מן , Exo_16:15; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:35; Num_11:6-7; Num_11:9; Jos_5:12; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; μαννα, Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4; Rev_2:17; the food which God gave the children of Israel during their continuance in the deserts of Arabia, from the eighth encampment in the wilderness of Sin. Moses describes it as white like hoar frost, round, and of the bigness of coriander seed. It fell every morning upon the dew; and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the rocks or the sand. It fell every day except on the Sabbath, and this only around the camp of the Israelites. Every sixth day there fell a double quantity; and though it putrefied and bred maggots when it was kept any other day, yet on the Sabbath there was no such alteration. The same substance which was melted by the heat of the sun when it was left abroad, was of so hard a consistence when brought into the tent, that it was beaten in mortars, and would even endure the fire, being made into cakes and baked in pans. It fell in so great quantities during the whole forty years of their journey, that it was sufficient to feed the whole multitude of above a million of souls.
Every man, that is, every male or head of a family, was to gather each day the quantity of an omer, about three quarts English measure; and it is observed that he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack, because his gathering was in proportion to the number of persons for whom he had to provide. Or every man gathered as much as he could; and then, when brought home and measured by an omer, if he had a surplus, it went to supply the wants of some other family that had not been able to collect a sufficiency, the family being large, and the time in which the manna might be gathered, before the heat of the day, not being sufficient to collect enough for so numerous a household, several of whom might be so confined as not to be able to collect for themselves. Thus there was an equality; and in this light the words of St. Paul lead us to view the passage, 2Co_8:15. To commemorate their living upon manna, the Israelites were directed to put one omer of it into a golden vase; and it was preserved for many generations by the side of the ark.
Our translators and others make a plain contradiction in the relation of this account of the manna, by rendering it thus: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna; for they knew not what it was; whereas the Septuagint, and several authors, both ancient and modern, have translated the text according to the original: The Israelites seeing this, said one to another, What is it? מן חוא ; they could not give it a name. Moses immediately answers the question, and says, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. From Exo_16:31, we learn that this substance was afterward called מן , probably in commemoration of the question they had asked on its first appearance. What this substance was, we know not. It was nothing that was common in the wilderness. It is evident that the Israelites never saw it before; for Moses says, He fed thee with manna which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16; and it is very likely that nothing of the kind had ever been seen before; and by a pot of it being laid up in the ark, it is as likely that nothing of the kind ever appeared after the miraculous supply in the wilderness had ceased. The author of the book of Wisdom, Wis_16:20-21, says, that the manna so accommodated itself to every one's taste that it proved palatable and pleasing to all. It has been remarked that at this day, what is called manna is found in several places; in Arabia, on Mount Libanus, Calabria, and elsewhere. The most famous is that of Arabia, which is a kind of condensed honey, which exudes from the leaves of trees, from whence it is collected when it has become concreted. Salmasius thinks this of the same kind which fed the children of Israel; and that the miracle lay, not in creating any new substance, but in making it fall duly at a set time every day throughout the whole year, and that in such plenty as to suffice so great a multitude. But in order for this, the Israelites must be supposed every day to have been in the neighbourhood of the trees on which this substance is formed; which was not the case, neither do these trees grow in those deserts. Beside, this kind of manna is purgative, and the stomach could not endure it in such quantity as is implied by its being eaten for food. The whole history of the giving the manna is evidently miraculous; and the manna was truly bread from heaven, as sent by special interposition of God.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
Manna was a kind of food that God first gave to the Israelites soon after they left Egypt. It remained their daily food for the next forty years (Exo_16:4; Num_11:6; Psa_78:23-24). It was not, however, their only food (Exo_18:12; Lev_7:14-15; Lev_11:2-3; Lev_11:9; Num_11:31-34). Gods provision of the manna ceased once the people arrived in Canaan (Jos_5:12).
The people of Israel gave the food the name manna (meaning What is it?) because they did not know what else to call it (Exo_16:15; Exo_16:31). We today do not know exactly what the manna was or how it was made. Possibly it was a substance prepared by insects that sucked the gum from trees. It formed during the night and was ready to be collected in the morning. It was fine, flaky, tasted like wafers mixed with honey, and could be cooked in various ways (Exo_16:14; Exo_16:23; Exo_16:31; Num_11:7-9).
God supplied the manna every morning, and the people had to eat it the same day. The only exceptions concerned the Sabbath rest day. There was no manna on Saturday mornings, but God gave two days supply each Friday, half of which the people kept for use on Saturday. Because the manna spoiled quickly, the people preserved the supply for Saturday by baking or boiling it beforehand. Moses controlled the collection and distribution of the manna so that no one had too much or too little (Exo_16:4-5; Exo_16:15-18; Exo_16:23).
The command that prohibited keeping the manna overnight tested the peoples obedience. The promise that ensured complete Sabbath rest through the double supply each Friday tested their faith. But in both matters they failed (Exo_16:19-30).
In accordance with Gods instructions, Moses put part of the manna in a jar, to keep as a memorial of how God fed his people in the wilderness. This jar was later placed in the ark of the covenant together with Aarons rod and the stone tablets inscribed with the law (Exo_16:31-35; Heb_9:4).
God also used the manna to teach the Israelites that their lives depended not merely on the food they ate, but on their spiritual relationship with God (Deu_8:3; cf. Mat_4:4). Jesus compared the gift of manna to satisfy physical hunger with the gift of himself to satisfy spiritual hunger. He did not need to make food fall from heaven, for he himself was the true bread from heaven (Joh_6:31-35). He gave himself as a sacrifice for sin, so that those who trust in him may have eternal life (Joh_6:48-51; cf. Rev_2:17).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.
man?a (מן, mān; μάννα, mánna): The Hebrew man is probably derived, as Ebers suggests, from the Egyptian mennu, ?food.? In Exo_16:15, we have a suggested source of the name, ?They said one to another, What is it?? i.e. manhu, which also means, ?It is manna? (see margin).
1. Old Testament References:
This substance is described as occurring in flakes or small round grains, literally, ?hoax frost?; it fell with the dew (Num_11:9) and appeared when the dew left the ground (Exo_16:14); ?It was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey? (Exo_16:31). In Num_11:8, its taste is described ?as the taste of fresh oil,? margin ?cakes baked with oil.? ?And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came ... unto the borders of the land of Canaan? (Exo_16:35). It ceased the day after they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the plains of Jericho (Jos_5:10-12). Although an important article of diet, it was by no means the sole one as seems implied in Num_21:15; there are plenty of references (e.g. Exo_17:3; Exo_24:5; Exo_34:3; Lev_8:2, Lev_8:26, Lev_8:31; Lev_9:4; Lev_10:12; Lev_24:5; Num_7:13, Num_7:19 f, etc.) which show that they had other food besides. The food was gathered every morning, ?every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted? (Exo_16:21); a portion of the previous day's gathering bred worms and stank if kept (Exo_16:20); on the 6th day a double amount was gathered, the Sabbath portion being miraculously preserved (Exo_16:22-27). A pot - a golden one (Heb_9:4) - with an omer of manna was ?laid up before Yahweh? in the tabernacle (Exo_16:33). Manna is referred to in Neh_9:20. It is described poetically as ?food from heaven? and ?bread of the mighty? (Psa_78:24 f); as ?bread of heaven? (Psa_105:40); and as ?angels' bread? (2 Esdras 1:19; The Wisdom of Solomon 16:20).
2. New Testament References:
In Jn 6:31-63, our Lord frequently refers to ?the manna? or ?bread from heaven? as typical of Himself. Paul (1Co_10:3) refers to it as ?spiritual food,? and in Rev_2:17 we read, ?To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna.?
Manna, as might be expected, figures largely in rabbinical literature. It was, it is said, adapted to the taste of each individual who could by wishing taste in the manna anything he desired (compare The Wisdom of Solomon 16:21). Manna is reserved as the future food of the righteous (compare Rev_2:17), for which purpose it is ground in a mill situated in the third heaven (Chag 12b; Tan. Beshallach 22).
3. Natural Explanations:
No substance is known which in any degree satisfies all the requirements of the Scriptural references, but several travelers in the wilderness have reported phenomena which suggest some of the features of the miraculous manna.
(1) In the Peninsula of Sinai, on the route of the children of Israel, a species of tamarisk, named in consequence by Ebers Tammaris mannifera, is found to exude a sweet, honey-like substance where its bark is pierced by an insect, Gossyparia mannifera. It collects upon the twigs and falls to the ground. The Arabs who gather it to sell to pilgrims call it mann-es-samā, ?heavenly manna?; it is white at first but turns yellow; in the early morning it is of the consistency of wax but when the sun is hot it disappears. This substance occurs only after mid-summer and for a month or two at most.
(2) A second proposal is to identify manna with a lichen - Lecanora esculenta and allied species - which grows in the Arabian and other deserts upon the limestone. The older masses become detached and are rolled about by the wind. When swept together by sudden rain storms in the rainy season they may collect in large heaps. This lichen has been used by the Arabs in time of need for making bread. It is a quite reasonable form of nourishment in the desert, especially when eaten with the sugary manna from the trees.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Manna, or Man. The name given to the miraculous food upon which the Israelites were fed for forty years, during their wanderings in the desert. The same name has in later ages been applied to some natural productions, chiefly found in warm dry countries, but which have little or no resemblance to the original manna. This is first mentioned in Exodus 16. It is there described as being first produced after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, as white like hoar frost (or of the color of bdellium, Num_11:7), round, and of the bigness of coriander seed (gad). It fell with the dew every morning, and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the ground or the rocks round the encampment of the Israelites. 'When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was' (Exo_16:15). In the Authorized, and some other versions, this passage is inaccurately translated?which indeed is apparent from the two parts of the sentence contradicting each other. Josephus (Antiq. iii. 1. ? 6), as quoted by Dr. Harris, says: 'The Hebrews call this food manna, for the particle man in our language is the asking of a question, What is this? (mah-hu). Moses answered this question by telling them, 'This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.' We are further informed that the manna fell every day, except on the Sabbath. Every sixth day, that is on Friday, there fell a double quantity of it. Every man was directed to gather an omer (about three English quarts) for each member of his family: and the whole seems afterwards to have been measured out at the rate of an omer to each person: 'He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.' That which remained ungathered dissolved in the heat of the sun, and was lost. The quantity collected was intended for the food of the current day only; for if any were kept till next morning, it corrupted and bred worms. Yet it was directed that a double quantity should be gathered on the sixth day for consumption on the Sabbath. And it was found that the manna kept for the Sabbath remained sweet and wholesome, notwithstanding that it corrupted at other times, if kept for more than one day. In the same manner as they would have treated grain, they reduced it to meal, kneaded it into dough, and baked it into cakes, and the taste of it was like that of wafers made with honey, or of fresh oil. In Num_11:6-9, where the description of the manna is repeated, an omer of it is directed to be preserved as a memorial to future generations, 'that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness;' and in Jos_5:12 we learn that after the Israelites had encamped at Gilgal, and did eat of the old corn of the land, the manna ceased on the morrow after, neither had the children of Israel manna anymore.'
Fig. 251?Manna Plants?1. Alhagi maurorum. 2. Tamarix gallica.
This miracle is referred to in Deu_8:3; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4. Though the manna of Scripture was so evidently miraculous, both in the mode and in the quantities in which it was produced, and though its properties were so different from anything with which we are acquainted, yet, because its taste is in Exodus said to be like that of wafers made with honey, many writers have thought that they recognized the manna of Scripture in a sweetish exudation which is found on several plants in Arabia and Persia. The name man, or manna, is applied to this substance by the Arab writers, and was probably so applied even before their time. But the term is now almost entirely appropriated to the sweetish exudation of the ash trees of Sicily and Italy. These, however, have no relation to the supposed manna of Scripture. Of this one kind is known to the Arabs by the name of guzunjbeen, being the produce of a plant called guz, and which is ascertained to be a species of tamarisk. The same species seems also to be called toorfa, and is common along different parts of the coast of Arabia. It is also found in the neighborhood of Mount Sinai. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves and thorns, which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state. The Arabs use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. 'If eaten in any quantity it is said to be highly purgative.' When Lieut. Wellsted visited this place in the month of September, he found the extremities of the twigs and branches retaining the peculiar sweetness and flavor which characterize the manna. The Bedouins collect it early in the morning, and, after straining it through a cloth, place it either in skins or gourds; a considerable quantity is consumed by themselves; a portion is sent to Cairo; and some is also disposed of to the monks at Mount Sinai. The latter retail it to the Russian pilgrims.' 'The Bedouins assured me that the whole quantity collected throughout the Peninsula, in the most fruitful season, did not exceed 150 wogas (about 700 pounds); and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of 60 dollars the woga.'
Another kind of manna, which has been supposed to be that of Scripture, is yielded by a thorny plant very common from the north of India to Syria, and which by the Arabs is called Al-haj: whence botanists have constructed the name Alhagi. The Alhagi maurorum is remarkable for the exudation of a sweetish juice, which concretes into small granular masses, and which is usually distinguished by the name of Persian manna. The climates of Persia and Bokhara seem also well suited to the secretion of this manna, which in the latter country is employed as a substitute for sugar, and is imported into India for medicinal use through Caubul and Khorassan. These two, from the localities in which they are produced, have alone been thought to be the manna of Scripture. But, besides these, there are several other kinds of manna. Indeed, a sweetish secretion is found on the leaves of many other plants, produced sometimes by the plant itself, at others by the punctures of insects. It has been supposed, also, that these sweetish exudations being evaporated during the heat of the day in still weather, may afterwards become deposited, with the dew, on the ground, and on the leaves of plants; and thus explain some of the phenomena which have been observed by travelers and others. But none of these mannas explain, nor can it be expected that they should explain, the miracle of Scripture, by which abundance is stated to have been produced for millions, where hundreds cannot now be subsisted.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Deu_8:3 (a) This bread is a type of CHRIST, the living Bread. GOD gave it to Israel in a miraculous way. He is the living bread which sustains the lives of GOD's people. It was always pure white. It was sweet. There was enough for all. (See also Joh_6:49; Heb_9:4).
Rev_2:17 (a) This bread is a type of some sort of unseen and unknown blessings which are given by GOD for the blessing of His people when they live victorious lives for Him. It is a gift that is lovely, precious, attractive and satisfying, but the character of it is unknown.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.
Manna
(מָן, man, according to Gesenius, a portion, from the Arabic; but a different derivation is alluded to in the passage where it first occurs [see Thym, De origine vocis Manna, etc., Vitemb. 1641]), the name given to the miraculous food upon which the Israelites were fed for forty years during their wanderings in the desert. The same name has in later ages been applied to some natural productions, chiefly found in warm, dry countries, but which have little or no resemblance to the original manna. This is first mentioned in Exodus 16. It is there described as being first produced after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, as white like hoar frost (or of the color of bdellium, Num_11:7), round, and of the bigness of coriander seed (gad). It fell with the dew every morning, and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the ground or the rocks round the encampment of the Israelites. When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? for they knew not what it was (Exo_16:15). In the authorized and some other versions this passage is inaccurately translated which, indeed, is apparent from the two parts of the sentence contradicting each other (It is manna; for they wist not what it was).
The word occurs only in Exo_16:15; Exo_16:31; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:5; Num_11:6-7; Num_11:9; Deu_8:3; Deu_8:16; Jos_5:12; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24. In the Sept. the substance is almost always called manna (μάννα, and so the N. Test. always: Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4; Rev_2:17; also the Apocrypha, Wis_16:20-21) instead of man (μάν, Exo_16:31; Exo_16:33; Exo_16:35). Josephus (Ant. 3:1, 6), in giving an account of this substance, thus accords with the textual etymology: The Hebrews call this food manna (μάννα), for the particle manuz (μάν) in our language is the asking of a question, What is this?' (Heb. מִןאּהוּא, man-hu). Moses answered this question by telling them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. We are further informed that the manna fell every day, except on the Sabbath. Every sixth day, that is on Friday, there fell a double quantity of it. Every man was directed to gather an omer (about three English quarts) for each member of his family; and the whole seems afterwards to have been measured out at the rate of an omer to each person: He who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. That which remained ungathered dissolved in the heat of the sun, and was lost. The quantity collected was intended for the food of the current day only, for if any were kept till next morning it corrupted and bred worms. Yet it was directed that a double quantity should be gathered on the sixth day for consumption on the Sabbath. It was found that the manna kept for the Sabbath remained sweet and wholesome, notwithstanding that it corrupted at other times if kept for more than one day. In the same manner as they would have treated grain, they reduced it to meal, kneaded it into dough, and baked it into cakes, and the taste of it was like that of wafers made with honey or of fresh oil. In Num_11:6-9, where the description of the manna is repeated, an omer of it is directed to be preserved as a memorial to future generations, that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness; and in Jos_5:12 we learn that after the Israelites had encamped at Gilgal, and did eat of the old corn of the land, the manna ceased on the morrow after, neither had the children of Israel manna any more.
This miracle is referred to in Deu_8:3; Neh_9:20; Psa_78:24; Joh_6:31; Joh_6:49; Joh_6:58; Heb_9:4. Though the manna of Scripture was so evidently miraculous, both in the mode and in the quantities in which it was produced, and though its properties were so different from anything with which we are acquainted. yet, because its taste is in Exodus said to be like that of wafers made with honey, many writers have thought that they recognized the manna of Scripture in a sweetish exudation which is found on several plants in Arabia and Persia. The name man, or manna, is applied to this substance by the Arab writers, and was probably so applied even before their time. But the term is now almost entirely appropriated to the sweetish exudation of the ash-trees of Sicily and Italy (Ornus Europaea and Fiaxuinus rotundidfilia). These, however, have no relation to the supposed manna of Scripture. Of this one kind is known to the Arabs by the name of guzunjbin, being the produce of a plant called guz, which is ascertained to be a species of tamarisk.
The same species seems also to be called turfa, and is common along different parts of the coast of Arabia. It is also found in the neighborhood of Mount Sinai. Burckhardt, while in the valley wady el-Sheik, to the north of Mount Serbal, says: In many parts it was thickly overgrown with the tamarisk or turfa; it is the only valley in the Peninsula where this tree grows at present in any quantity, though some small bushes are here and there met with in other parts. It is from the tufa that the manna is obtained; and it is very strange that the fact should have remained unknown in Europe till M. Seetzen mentioned it in a brief notice of his Tour to Sinai,' published in the Mines de l'Orient. The substance is called by the Arabs mann. In the month of June it drops from the thorns of the tamarisk upon the fallen twigs, leaves, and thorns which always cover the ground beneath the tree in the natural state. The Arabs use it as they do honey, to pour over their unleavened bread, or to dip their bread into; its taste is agreeable, somewhat aromatic, and as sweet as honey. If eaten in any quantity it is said to be highly purgative. He further adds that the tamarisk is one of the most common trees in Nubia and throughout the whole of Arabia; on the Euphrates, on the Astaboras, in all the valleys of the Hejaz and Beja it grows in great quantities, yet nowhere but in the region of Mount Sinai did he hear of its producing manna. Ehrenberg has examined and described this species of tamarisk, which he calls T. manunifera, but which is considered to be only a variety of T. gallica. The manna he considers to be produced by the puncture of an insect which he calls Coccus manniparus. Others have been of the same opinion. When Lieut Wellsted visited this place in the month of September, he found the extremities of the twigs and branches retaining the peculiar sweetness and flavor which characterize the manna. The Bedouins collect it early in the morning,, and, after straining it through a cloth, place it either in skins or gourds; a considerable quantity is consumed by themselves; a portion is sent to Cairo, and some is also disposed of to the monks at Mount Sinai. The latter retail it to the Russian pilgrims. The Bedouins assured me that the whole quantity collected throughout the Peninsula, in the most fruitful season, did not exceed 150 wogas (about 700 pounds); and that it was usually disposed of at the rate of 60 dollars the woga (Travels in Arabia, 1:511).
Another kind of manna, which has been supposed to be that of Scripture, is yielded by a thorny plant very common from the north of India to Syria, which by the Arabs is called Al-haj, whence botanists have constructed the name Alhagi. The two species have been called Alhagi Mauorum and A. desertorum. Both species are also by the Arabs called ushter-khar, or camel's-thorn; and in Mesopotamia aqul, according to some authorities, while by others this is thought to be the name of another plant. The Alhagi Maurorum is remarkable for the exudation of a sweetish juice, which concretes into small granular masses, and which is usually distinguished by the name of Persian manna. The late professor Don was so confident that this was the same substance as the manna of Scripture that he proposed calling the plant itself Manna Hebraica. The climate of Persia and Bokhara seems also well suited to the secretion of this manna, which in the latter country is employed as a substitute for sugar, and is imported into India for medicinal use through Caubul and Khorassan. In Arabian and Persian works on Materia Medica it is called Turungbin. These two, from the localities in which they are produced, have alone been thought to be the manna of Scripture. But, besides these, there are, several other kinds of manna. Burckhardt, during his journey through El-Ghor, in the valley of the Jordan, heard of the Beiruk honey.
This is described as a substance obtained from the leaves and branches of a tree called Gharb or Gasrrab, of the size of an olive-tree, and with leaves like those of the poplar. When fresh this grayish-colored exudation is sweet in taste, but in a few days it becomes sour. The Arabs eat it like honey. One kind, called Shir-khisht, is said to be produced in the country of the Uzbecs. A Caubul merchant informed Dr. Royle that it was produced by a tree called Gundeleh, which grows in Candahar, and is about twelve feet high, with jointed stems. A fifth kind is produced on Caloropis procera, or the plant called Ashur. The sweet exudation is by Arab authors ranked with sugars, and called Shukur- al-ashur. It is described under this name by Avicenna, and in the Latin translation it is called Zuccarunz-al-husar. A sixth kind, called Bedkhisht, is described in Persian works on Materia Medica as being produced on a species of willow in Persian Khorassan. Another kind would appear to be produced on a species of oak, for Niebuhr says, At Merdin, in Mesopotamia, it appears like a kind of pollen on the leaves of the tree called Ballot and Afs (or, according to the Aleppo pronunciation, As), which I take to be of the oak family. All are agreed that between Merdin and Diarbekir manna is obtained, and principally from those trees which yield gall-nuts. Besides these there is a sweetish exudation found on the larch, which is called Manna brigantiaca, as there is also one kind found on the cedar of Lebanon. Indeed a sweetish secretion is found on the leaves of many other plants, produced sometimes by the plant itself, at others by the punctures of insects. It has been supposed also that these sweetish exudations, being evaporated during the heat of the day in still weather, may afterwards become deposited, with the dew, on the ground and on the leaves of plants, and thus explain some of the phenomena which have been observed by travelers and others. According to Colossians Chesney, The most remarkable production in ancient Assyria is the celebrated vegetable known here by the name of manna, which in Turkish is most expressively called Kzudret-hal-vassiz, or the divine sweetmeat.' It is found on the leaves of the dwarf oak, and also, though less plentifully and scarcely so good, on those of the tamarisk and several other plants. It is occasionally deposited on the sand, and also on rocks and stones.
The latter is of a pure white color, and appears to be more esteemed than the tree manna. It is collected chiefly at two periods of the year, first in the early part of spring, and again towards the end of autumn; in either case the quality depends upon the rain that may have fallen, or at least on the abundance of the dews, for in the seasons which happen to be quite dry it is understood that little or none is obtained. In order to collect the manna the people go out before sunrise, and having placed cloths under the oak, larch, tamarisk, and several other kinds of shrubs, the manna is shaken down in such quantities from the branches as to give a supply for the market after providing for the wants of the different members of the family. The Kurds not only eat manna in its natural state, as they do bread or dates, but their women make it into a kind of paste; being in this state like honey, it is added to other ingredients used in preparing sweetmeats, which, in some shape or other, are found in every house throughout the East. The manna, when partially cleaned, is carried to the market at Mosul in goat-skins, and there sold in lumps at the rate of 4.5, pounds for about 2.5 d. But for family consumption, or to send to a distance out of the country, it is first thoroughly cleansed from the fragments of leaves and other foreign matter by boiling. In the natural state it is described as being of a delicate white color. It is also still, as in the time of the Israelites, like coriander seed, and of a moderate but agreeable sweetness (Euphrates Expedition, 1:123).
The manna of European commerce comes mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It is gathered during the months of June and July from some species of ash (Ornus Europaea and Ornus rotundifolia), from which it drops in consequence of a puncture by an insect resembling the locust, but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The substance is fluid at night, and resembles the dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other Oriental regions, which bear the name of manna, have not the qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. They are all condiments or medicines rather than food, stimulating or purgative rather than nutritious; they are produced only three or four months in the year, from May to August, and not all the sear round; they come only in small quantities, never affording anything like 15,000,000 pounds a week, which must have been requisite for the subsistence of the whole Israelitish camp, since each man had an omer (or three English quarts) a day, and that for forty years; they can be kept for a long time, and do not become useless in a day or two; they are just as liable to deteriorate on the Sabbath as on any other day; nor does a double quantity fall on the day preceding the Sabbath; nor would natural products cease at once and forever, as the manna is represented as ceasing in the book of Joshua. The manna of Scripture we therefore regard as wholly miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature.
Manna is the emblem or symbol of immortality (Rev_2:17): I will give him to eat of the hidden manna; i.e. the true bread of God, which came down from heaven, referring to the words of Christ in Joh_6:51, a much greater instance of God's favor than feeding the Israelites with manna in the wilderness. It is called hidden, or laid up, in allusion to that which was laid up in a golden vessel in the holy of holies of the tabernacle (comp. Exo_16:33-34, and Heb_9:4).
See Liebentanz, De Manna (Vitemb. 1667); Zeibich, De miraculo Mannae Israeliticae (Gerae, 1770); Hoheisel, De vasculo Mannae (Jen. 1715); Schramm, De urna Mannae (Herb. 1723); Fabri Historia Mannae, in Fabri et Reiskii Opusc. sled. Arab. (Hal. 1776), p. 121; Hardwick, in Asiatic Researches, 14:182; Frederic, in Transact. of the Lit. Society of Bombay (Lond. 1819), 1:251; Ehrenberg, Symbol. Phys. (Berl. 1829); Martius, Pharnakogn. p. 327; Oedmann, Sanml. 6:1; Buxtorf, Exercit. (Basil. 1659), p. 335 (and in Ugolini, Thesaur. vol. viii); Rosenmüller, Alterthumsk. 4:316 sq.; Kitto, Daily Bible Illust. ad loc.; Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 362; comp. Robinson's Researches, 1:470, 550; and other Oriental travelers.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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