mana

[Fillmore]

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.

Christians apply the manna as the symbol of the Eucharist (Gospel of John, vi). When Paul calls the manna "spiritual food" (First Corinthians, x, 3), he alludes to its symbolical significance with regard to the Eucharist as much as to its miraculous character (CE "Manna"). The New Testement clearly explains the relationship between manna and the original (true) messianic apostles in John 6. I am manna. Hebrews 9:4 demonstrates for the Christian that the sacred manna is the essence of the Holy.

According to Judeo-Christian tradition, the mysterious substance which was provided miraculously by God to the Hebrews during their forty years in the desert descended by night like hoarfrost in the form of coriander seed of the color of bdellium (Book of Numbers xi. 7). It was collected before sunrise, before it melted in the sun. The people ground it, or pounded it, and then baked it (Num. xi. 8). A double portion was to be found on the day before the sabbath, when none was to be found. When the Hebrews arrived at Gilgal, on the 14th of Nisan, and began to eat the grain grown there, the manna ceased.