What was the "manna from heaven" that fed the Israelites in the wilderness ?

Answer 1

The main food of the Israelites during their 40-year trek in the wilderness. (Ex 16:35) Manna was first provided by Jehovah in the Wilderness of Sin during the last half of the second month after Israel’s coming out of Egypt in 1513 B.C.E. (Ex 16:1-4) It served as food for them until they entered Canaan in 1473 B.C.E. and partook of the produce of the Promised Land.—Jos 5:10-12.

Manna appeared on the ground with the evaporation of a layer of dew that developed in the morning, so that “upon the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flaky thing, fine like hoarfrost upon the earth.” When the Israelites first saw it, they said, “What is it?” or, literally, “man hu’?” (Ex 16:13-15; Nu 11:9) This is the probable origin of the name, the Israelites themselves beginning to call this food “manna.”—Ex 16:31.

Description. Manna was “white like coriander seed” and had the “look” of bdellium gum, a waxlike and transparent substance having a form that resembles a pearl. Its taste was comparable to “that of flat cakes with honey” or “an oiled sweet cake.” After being ground in a hand mill or pounded in a mortar, manna was boiled or made into cakes and baked.—Ex 16:23, 31; Nu 11:7, 8.

No natural substance known today fits the Biblical description of manna in every respect, and so there is little basis for identifying it with a known product. This is especially so because miraculous aspects were involved in Jehovah’s providing manna for the Israelites. The availability of manna did not depend on the time of year or a particular wilderness location. Although the manna would breed worms and begin to stink on all the other days if kept overnight, the additional omer of manna gathered on the sixth day, to be used as food on the Sabbath, did not spoil. No manna could be found on the Sabbath, this serving to enforce Sabbath observance on the Israelites.—Ex 16:19-30.

The family head either gathered or supervised the gathering of manna for the entire household. Since the manna melted when the sun got hot, he doubtless quickly gathered the approximate supply needed for the household and afterward measured it. Whether little or much was gathered, depending upon the size of the household, the amount collected always proved to be one omer (2.2 L; 2 dry qt) per person. (Ex 16:16-18) The apostle Paul alluded to this when encouraging the Christians at Corinth to use their material surplus to offset the material deficiency of their brothers.—2Co 8:13-15.

Purpose. Jehovah let the Israelites go hungry in the wilderness and then furnished manna to teach them “that not by bread alone does man live but by every expression of Jehovah’s mouth does man live.” Jehovah did this ‘in order to humble them and put them to the test so as to do them good in their afterdays.’ (De 8:3, 16) When the Israelites tired of manna and began calling it “contemptible bread,” Jehovah punished their rebellion by sending poisonous serpents among them, causing the death of many.—Nu 21:5, 6.

The psalmist referred to manna as “the grain of heaven” (Ps 78:24), “bread from heaven” (Ps 105:40), and “the very bread of powerful ones” (Ps 78:25). Angels are described as being “mighty in power” (Ps 103:20) and therefore could be called “powerful ones.” This, however, would not mean that angels actually eat manna but that God may have used angelic means in providing it for the Israelites. (Compare Gal 3:19.) Or, since heaven is the dwelling place of the “powerful ones,” the expression “bread of powerful ones” may simply point to its heavenly source.

So that future generations might see manna, Aaron was to deposit before Jehovah a jar containing an omer (2.2 L; 2 dry qt) of manna. After the golden ark of the covenant was completed, a “golden jar” of manna was put inside this sacred chest. (Ex 16:32-34; Heb 9:4) About five centuries later, however, when the Ark was transferred from the tent that David had erected for it to the temple that Solomon had built, the golden jar was missing. (2Sa 6:17; 1Ki 8:9; 2Ch 5:10) It had served its purpose.

Symbolic Use. Although the manna was a divine provision (Ne 9:20), it did not sustain the lives of the Israelites forever. Christ Jesus made a point of this, and then he added: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and, for a fact, the bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.” (Joh 6:30-33, 48-51, 58) Christ’s faithful followers avail themselves of this heavenly manna, or “bread of life.” They do so in a figurative manner by exercising faith in the redeeming power of Jesus’ flesh and blood laid down in sacrifice. Their doing so opens up to them the prospect of living forever, whether in the heavens with Christ or in the earthly Paradise.

Christ also used the jar of manna symbolically when he assured his spirit-anointed followers that those who prove to be conquerors would receive “the hidden manna,” an imperishable food supply or that which results from such a supply, in their case, immortality and incorruptibility in heaven.—Re 2:17; 1Co 15:53.

Answer 2

Manna Fell From Heaven

Answer 3

Manna: Manna is the breadlike food that God gave the Israelites in the desert.
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Manna (sometimes or archaically spelled mana) is the name of the food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus. Manna ceased to appear when the Israelites first harvested their crops in their new homeland. "Man hu", or "manna" in the Hebrew language is translated as "what is it". George Ebers (Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1881, p. 236), derived "manna" from the Egyptian mennu, "food" (JE "Manna"). By extension "manna" has also been used to refer to any divine or spiritual nourishment.

Some modern readers believe this may have been an edible cake called Shewbread or Showbread wafer or the sap of a variety of succulent plant found in the Sinai peninsula, which may have had appetite-suppressing effects (plants of the genus Alhagi are sometimes called "manna trees"). Others have hypothesized that it was one of the species of kosher locusts found in the region. The most widespread explanations, however, are either crystallized honeydew of scale insects feeding on tamarisk twigs, or thalli of the Manna Lichen (Lecanora esculenta). At the turn of the 20th century local Arabs in Palestine collected the resin of the tamarisk as mann es-sama ("heavenly manna"), and sold it to pilgrims (JE "Manna").

Experts in the fields of ethnomycology such as R. Gordon Wasson, John Marco Allegro and Terence McKenna have speculated that just as with the sacred Hindu Rigvedas' repeatedly high praise of the miraculous food soma or the Mexicans' teonanácatl (literally "god mushroom"), psilocybe mushrooms are the prime candidate in Manna's accurate identification.

Immanuel Velikovsky hypothesized that manna consisted of a "hydrocarbon rain" that resulted from a close encounter between Venus and Earth. This claim has been debunked by Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, and others.
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Manna: A gum, or honey-like juice concreted into a solid form, seldom so dry but it adheres to the fingers: its colour is whitish, or brownish, and it has sweetness, and with it a sharpness that renders it agreeable: manna is the product of two different trees, both varieties of the ash: when the heats are free from rain, these trees exudate a white juice. It is but lately that the world were convinced of the mistake of manna being an aerial produce, by covering a tree with sheets in the manna season, and the finding as much manna on it as on those which were open to the air. [Johnson's Dictionary, 9th Edition, 1806]

Answer 4

Manna (sometimes or archaically spelled mana) is the name of the food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus. Manna ceased to appear when the Israelites first harvested their crops in their new homeland. "Man hu", or "manna" in the Hebrew language is translated as "what is it". George Ebers (Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1881, p. 236), derived "manna" from the Egyptian mennu, "food" (JE "Manna"). By extension "manna" has also been used to refer to any divine or spiritual nourishment.

Answer 5

There are actually some very interesting conspiracy theories out there about what Manna actually was. I'm not going to get into them at this point, as there is too much background information to really talk about it.

But, if you can get past the "it is the food god provided" answers, and really do some research on it, you can find some interesting stuff about it.

Answer 6

Ha'Shem (G-d) provided a constant source of water (from Miriam's well) and protection (Clouds of Glory and a wall of fire). And for food there was manna, a crystal-like substance that fell from the heavens each day.

The Jews simply had to scoop it up and eat it, and it is said that it had the taste of whatever the person desired. On Friday a double portion of manna fell, so we wouldn't have to work to collect it on Shabbat.

Answer 7

Peace be with you,... and the truth shall make you free.
John 6:31 The people telling Jesus that Their fathers did eat manna in the desert, But Jesus said to them;
"...Moses gave you "not" that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven..."

But now read John 6:49 Jesus tells them, "Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

Answer 8

Exodus 16:15 - And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

Exodus 16:31 - And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Answer 9

Soylent Green

Answer 10

The manna the bible refers to is a secretion that locusts give off that is edible, sweet and apparently nutritious.