MANNA

- Miraculously given to Israel for food in the wilderness Ex 16:4,15; Ne 9:15 - CALLED . God's manna Ne 9:20 . Bread of heaven Ps 105:40 . Bread from heaven Ex 16:4; Joh 6:31 . Corn of heaven Ps 78:24 . Angel's food Ps 78:25 . Spiritual meat 1Co 10:3 - Previously unknown De 8:3,16 - DESCRIBED AS . Like coriander seed Ex 16:31; Nu 11:7 . White Ex 16:31 . Like in colour to bdellium Nu 11:7 . Like in taste to wafers made with honey Ex 16:31 . Like in taste to oil Nu 11:8 . Like hoar frost Ex 16:14 - Fell after the evening dew Nu 11:9 - None fell on the Sabbath day Ex 16:26,27 - Gathered every morning Ex 16:21 - An omer of, gathered for each person Ex 16:16 - Two portions of, gathered the sixth day on account of the Sabbath Ex 16:5,22-26 - He that gathered much or little had sufficient and nothing over Ex 16:18 - Melted away by the sun Ex 16:21 - GIVEN . When Israel murmured for bread Ex 16:2,3 . In answer to prayer Ps 105:40 . Through Moses Joh 6:31,32 . To exhibit God's glory Ex 16:7 . As a sign of Moses's divine mission Joh 6:30,31 . For forty years Ne 9:21 . As a test of obedience Ex 16:4 . To teach that man does not live by bread only De 8:3; Mt 4:4 . To humble and prove Israel De 8:16 - Kept longer than a day (except on the Sabbath) became corrupt Ex 16:19,20 - THE ISRAELITES . At first covetous of Ex 16:17 . Ground, made into cakes and baked in pans Nu 11:8 . Counted inferior to food of Egypt Nu 11:4-6 . Loathed Nu 21:5 . Punished for despising Nu 11:10-20 . Punished for loathing Nu 21:6 - Ceased when Israel entered Canaan Ex 16:35; Jos 5:12 - ILLUSTRATIVE OF . Christ Joh 6:32-35 . Blessedness given to saints Re 2:17 - A golden pot of, laid up in the holiest for a memorial Ex 16:32-34; Heb 9:4

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The miraculous food given by God to the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert. It was a small grain, white like hoarfrost, round, and of the size of coriander-seed, Ex 16:1-36 Nu 11:1-35. It fell every morning, with the dew, about the camp of the Israelites, and in so great quantities during the whole forty years of their journey in the wilderness, that it was sufficient to serve the entire multitude instead of bread, Ex 16:35 De 29:5,6 Jos 5:12. It is nowhere said that the Israelites had no other food, that numerous flocks and herds accompanied the camp of Israel is clear from many passages. Certainly the daily sacrifices were offered, and no doubt to her offerings affording animal food on which the priests and Levites subsisted, according to their offices. When manna was first sent the Israelites "knew not what it was," and "said one to another", MAN-HU, which means, What is it? Most interpreters think that form the frequent repetition of this inquiry the name MAN or manna arose. Burckhardt says, that in the valleys around Sinai a species of manna is still found, dropping from the sprigs of several trees, but principally from the tamarisk, in the month of June. It is collected by the Arabs, who make cakes of it, and call it honey of betrouk. See Ex 16:31. Since his time it has been ascertained by Dr. Ehrenburg that the exudation of this manna is occasioned by an insect, which he has particularly described. Besides this substance and the manna of commerce, which is used as a laxative medicine, and is produced by the ash-trees of southern Europe, several other vegetable products in Arabia, Persia, etc., of similar origin and qualities, are known by the same name. It is in vain, however, to seek to identify with any of these the manna of the Israelites, which was evidently a special provision for them, beginning and terminating with their need of it. It was found, not on trees and shrubs, but on "the face of the wilderness" wherever they went; and was different in its qualities from any now known by that name, being dry enough to grind and bake like grain, but breeding worms on the second day. It was miraculous in the amount that fell, for the supply of millions; in not falling on the Sabbath; in falling in double quantities the previous day; and in remaining fresh during the Sabbath. By these last three peculiarities God miraculously attested the sanctity of the Sabbath, as dating from the creation and not from Mount Sinai. Moreover, a specimen of manna as laid up in a golden vase in the ark of the covenant in memory of a substance which would otherwise have perished, Heb 9:4. In Ps 78:24-25, manna is called "angels’ food" and "corn of heaven," in token of its excellence, and that it came directly from the hand of God. The people gathered on an average about three quarts for each man. They who gathered more than they needed, shared it freely with others; it could not be hoarded up: and thus, as Paul teaches us, 2Co 8:13-15, it furnishes for all men a lesson against hoarding the earthly and perishable gifts of God, and in favor of freely imparting to our brethren in need. This great boon of God to the Israelites also offers many striking analogies, illustrative of "the true Bead" which came down form heaven to rebellious and perishing man, Joh 6:31-58 Re 2:17. Like the manna, Christ descends from above around the camp of his church in daily abundant supplies, to meet the wants of every man.

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Manna. Manna
Heb. man-hu, “What is that?” the name given by the Israelites to the food miraculously supplied to them during their wanderings in the wilderness (Ex. 16:15-35). The name is commonly taken as derived from man, an expression of surprise, “What is it?” but more probably it is derived from manan, meaning “to allot,” and hence denoting an “allotment” or a “gift.” This “gift” from God is described as “a small round thing,” like the “hoar-frost on the ground,” and “like coriander seed,” “of the colour of bdellium,” and in taste “like wafers made with honey.” It was capable of being baked and boiled, ground in mills, or beaten in a mortar (Ex. 16:23; Num. 11:7). If any was kept over till the following morning, it became corrupt with worms; but as on the Sabbath none fell, on the preceding day a double portion was given, and that could be kept over to supply the wants of the Sabbath without becoming corrupt. Directions concerning the gathering of it are fully given (Ex. 16:16-18, 33; Deut. 8:3, 16). It fell for the first time after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, and was daily furnished, except on the Sabbath, for all the years of the wanderings, till they encamped at Gilgal, after crossing the Jordan, when it suddenly ceased, and where they “did eat of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (Josh. 5:12). They now no longer needed the “bread of the wilderness.”

This manna was evidently altogether a miraculous gift, wholly different from any natural product with which we are acquainted, and which bears this name. The manna of European commerce comes chiefly from Calabria and Sicily. It drops from the twigs of a species of ash during the months of June and July. At night it is fluid and resembles dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The manna of the Sinaitic peninsula is an exudation from the “manna-tamarisk” tree (Tamarix mannifera), the el-tarfah of the Arabs. This tree is found at the present day in certain well-watered valleys in the peninsula of Sinai. The manna with which the people of Israel were fed for forty years differs in many particulars from all these natural products.

Our Lord refers to the manna when he calls himself the “true bread from heaven” (John 6:31-35; 48-51). He is also the “hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17; comp. John 6:49,51).

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MANNA. → General scriptures concerning Ex 16:4-35; Nu 11:6-10; De 8:3,16; Jos 5:12; Ne 9:20; Ps 78:24; Joh 6:31,49,58 → Preserved in the ark of the testimony Ex 16:33; Heb 9:4 → FIGURATIVE Joh 6:48-51; 1Co 10:3; Re 2:17

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the food of the Israelites in the wilderness Ex 16:4,15,33; Nu 11:6; Jos 5:12; Ne 9:20; Joh 6:31; 1Co 10:3; Re 2:17 --SEE Food (1), FOOD, PHYSICAL Spiritual Food, FOOD

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manna. Manna, n. a physical drug, gum, delicious food

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Man″na (măn″nȧ), n. [[L., fr. Gr. μάννα, Heb. mān; cf. Ar. mann, properly, gift (of heaven).]] 1. 1. (Script.) The food supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness of Arabia; hence, divinely supplied food. Ex. xvi. 15.
2. 2. (Bot.) A name given to lichens of the genus Lecanora, sometimes blown into heaps in the deserts of Arabia and Africa, and gathered and used as food.
3. 3. (Bot. & Med.) A sweetish exudation in the form of pale yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the secretion of Fraxinus Ornus, and F. rotundifolia, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.
☞ Persian manna is the secretion of the camel's thorn (see Camel's thorn, under Camel); Tamarisk manna, that of the Tamarisk mannifera, a shrub of Western Asia; Australian, manna, that of certain species of eucalyptus; Briançon manna, that of the European larch. Manna grass (Bot.), a name of several tall slender grasses of the genus Glyceria. they have long loose panicles, and grow in moist places. Nerved manna grass is Glyceria nervata, and Floating manna grass is G. fluitans. — Manna insect (Zoöl.), a scale insect (Gossyparia mannipara), which causes the exudation of manna from the Tamarix tree in Arabia.