Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia

Manna

Israelites gather manna in the desert.
Israelites gather manna in the desert.

Manna (Hebrew: מָן)[1]is the mystical food that the Israelites received from God during their 40-year journey in the desert. It was a staple food for them along with quails in the desert.[2] Manna means "What is this?"[3] It may be because when God first gave Manna to the Israelites, they said to each other, “What is this?” (Hebrew: man hu? Hebrew phrase: מָ֣ן ה֔וּא).[4][5][6] It is said that it tasted like wafers made with honey and was white like coriander seed.[7] There was no manna coming down the day after the Israelites ended their 40-year life in the desert and entered the land of Canaan and ate their produce.[8]

Origin

For details, refer to: Life in Desert

The Israelite reached the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. They thought they would reach their destination in a month, but they became perplexed when they ran out of food. There was no land for farming or no water to drink. They grumbled against Moses and Aaron for leading them into the desolate desert. When God heard their grumbling, He rained down food from heaven for them to gather the food they needed every day.[9] That food was manna. After the morning dew had dried up, something small and round and as fine as frost fell on the ground. At first, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” Moses said that it was the food God had given them.[10] They didn’t know the name and asked what it was, which was the origin of the name manna (מָן).
At that time, the number of Israelites who entered the desert was about 600,000 men aged 20 years or older. Considering their family members, it is estimated that there must have been more than two million people.[11] Every day, manna came down from heaven while they lived in the desert for 40 years. After 40 years of life in the desert, the Israelites crossed the Jordan and camped at Gilgal in the plains of Jericho, and celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. The manna that fell throughout their life in the desert stopped from the day after they ate the produce of the land of Canaan, which was the day after the Passover was celebrated.[12][13]

Characteristics of Manna

  • Taste: Delicious like a honey-mixed snack and like a coriander seed (cilantro seed)[14][15]
  • Shape: Small, round, frosty[15][16]
  • Trait: When the sun rises high and it gets hot, it melts.[17]
  • Characteristics: Descending from the first to the sixth day of the week for six days, but not on the seventh-day Sabbath[18]
  • Period: While living in the desert, the Israelites ate manna for 40 years until they reached the border of Canaan.[19]

Manna and the Sabbath

Moses determined the amount of manna the Israelites gathered. He warned each family to gather one omer per person during the six days of the week, but not to leave it until the next morning. One omer is about 2.2 liters. However, there were those who did not listen to Moses and kept it until the next morning. Then, the manna that was kept was full of maggots and began to smell.[20]
On the sixth day, God let them gather twice as much as they gathered any other day. However, In this case, on the next day, the seventh day, there was no smell or insects even though the manna was left until morning.[21] This is because the seventh day was the Sabbath, the holy day of God. God wanted the people to receive food for two days on the sixth day and stay holy on the seventh day, not going outside. Therefore, God reminded the people through the manna for forty years that they should keep the Sabbath day holy.

Manna in the New Testament

The Reality of Manna

Two thousand years ago, the Jews mentioned the manna that their ancestors had eaten in the desert, when they asked Jesus for a sign that might prove that He was the Christ. Just as the manna fell from heaven in the time of Moses, they wanted Jesus to perform a miracle similar to that. Then, Jesus revealed that the reality of the manna was Jesus Himself.

Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” . . . Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

John 6:49–55


Jesus emphasized that He is "the living bread that came down from heaven," and that the one who eats the bread has eternal life. In the past, the manna given to the Israelites was food that sustained their life temporarily, but Jesus said that if they eat His flesh and blood, the reality of manna, they will live forever. In other words, it was the command to keep the Passover of the New Covenant. Jesus promised the Passover bread and wine as His flesh and blood,[22] and He blessed those who keep the Passover with eternal life by having them eat Him, the reality of manna.

The Hidden Manna and Second Coming Christ

For details, refer to: Passover, The Paschal Controversy (The Passover Controversy), Council of Nicaea, Name of God, and Second Coming Jesus (Second Coming Christ)

Jesus established the Passover of the new covenant, but it was abolished at the Council of Nicaea in 325 as the church became secularized. The Passover, which promises the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, is the truth that is directly related to salvation. Without the Passover, no one can enter the eternal kingdom of heaven. That was why the writer of Hebrews prophesied that Christ would appear on this earth a second time to save mankind.[23] The book of Revelation, which records what will happen in the future, mentions the hidden manna for the recognizable sign of Second Coming Jesus.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

Revelation 2:17


Since the Passover, the truth of eating the spiritual manna, has been hidden for over 1,600 years after the Passover was abolished around the 4th century, it was written as the "hidden manna." The "white stone" given to the saints along with the hidden manna represents Jesus,[24] and the "new name" on the white stone represents the name of Second Coming Jesus.[25] The only way to receive salvation in this age is to meet Second Coming Jesus, who has restored the Passover.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Strong's #4478 - מָן". StudyLight.org.
  2. ↑ "Psalms 105:40".
  3. ↑ WHAT DOES THE WORD “MANNA”MEAN IN HEBREW?, Hebrewversity
  4. ↑ Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, Charles Augustus Briggs, Wilhelm Gesenius, Edward Robinson, pg. 577, Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, September 2018, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon
  5. ↑ "Strong's #1931 - הִיא". StudyLight.org.
  6. ↑ 4478. man, Bible Hub
  7. ↑ "Exodus 16:31".
  8. ↑ "Joshua 5:12".
  9. ↑ "Exodus 16:1–4".
  10. ↑ "Exodus 16:14–15".
  11. ↑ Harris F. Allen, West Bow Press, 2011, pg. 44, Somewhere in the Bible: Understanding Bible Scriptures and Creation
  12. ↑ "Joshua 5:11–12".
  13. ↑ "Exodus 16:35".
  14. ↑ Exodus 16:31
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Numbers 11:7–8
  16. ↑ Exodus 16:14
  17. ↑ Exodus 16:21
  18. ↑ Exodus 16:22–25
  19. ↑ Exodus 16:35
  20. ↑ "Exodus 16:16–20".
  21. ↑ "Exodus 16:22–24".
  22. ↑ Matthew 26:19, 26–28
  23. ↑ "Hebrews 9:28".
  24. ↑ "1 Peter 2:4–5".
  25. ↑ "Revelation 3:12".
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