Manna

[stuartcr]

What is manna? Did it really come from heaven?

[1over137]

Question: "What was manna?"

Answer: During the forty years between the time the Israelites left Egypt and entered the Promised Land, they faced harsh conditions, including a scarcity of food. To alleviate this problem, God miraculously provided the Israelites with “bread from heaven,” called “manna.” The manna appeared each morning, and the Israelites were given specific instructions on gathering it (see Exodus chapter 16). What was manna? Interestingly, the Israelites asked the very same question: “When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat’” (Exodus 16:15). The Hebrew word translated “manna” literally means “what is it?”

The Bible nowhere discusses the chemical composition of manna. All we are told is that “it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31). Numbers 11:7 states that manna’s appearance was like “bdellium” or “resin.” Psalm 78:24 refers to manna as “grain from heaven,” and the next verse calls it “bread of angels.” So, manna seems to have been literal bread that God caused to miraculously appear each morning during the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. The miracle of manna ceased shortly after the Israelites entered the Promised Land (Joshua 5:12).

Far more important than manna’s physical qualities is what manna foreshadowed. Manna is a type, or foreshadowing, of Jesus. After Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000, they wanted Him to “give us this bread always” (John 6:34). Jesus tried to get their attention off of physical bread and onto the true “bread of life.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. . . . I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:32-35). Sadly, the people could not get their minds off of physical bread long enough to understand the spiritual truth Jesus was declaring (John 6:36-59). They were more concerned with the condition of their stomachs than the condition of their souls.

Just as God provided manna to the Israelites to save them from starvation, He has provided Jesus Christ for the salvation of our souls. The literal manna temporarily saved the Israelites from physical death. The spiritual manna saves us from eternal death. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (John 6:49-50).

Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/what-was-manna.html

[stuartcr]

So we don't know what it was, and it appears to have come from thee sky?

[RickD]

You've heard that thunder is the sound of God bowling?

Well, manna is God's dandruff.

[stuartcr]

That's sort of gross

[1over137]

So we don't know what it was, and it appears to have come from thee sky?

We know it was white and like wafers with honey.
What more wouod we like to know?

It appeared each morning. If not provided by God then by whom?

[RickD]

According to the Israelites, the taste of the manna was Head and Shoulders, above anything else.

[PaulSacramento]

Manna was not just food for the Israelites, but a "test" for them.
They were to trust that God would provide every day and NOT save anything for any manna that was saved spoiled right away.

[stuartcr]

I know that. I just don't understand why this hasn't happened to the millions of others that have starved to death.

[RickD]

And remember, they had to gather only enough manna each day, to sustain them until the next day. As PaulS said, it was also a test to see if they obeyed. When some gathered more than they needed, the extra was full of maggots the next morning. And since they didn't gather the manna on the sabbath, they were instructed to gather twice as much the day before the sabbath, to last through the sabbath.

So, 6 days, any left over till morning, was bad. But it was fine on the next morning, if it was the sabbath.

And not only that, the bible says they wouldn't even find any manna to gather, on the sabbath. So to me, it's pretty obvious that it was supernaturally provided by God. If it was purely natural, like from a plant or insect, as some contend, then how would it be on the ground every morning except the sabbath?

[PaulSacramento]

I know that. I just don't understand why this hasn't happened to the millions of others that have starved to death.

You do realize that the bible is VERY clear that one God decides to intercede in the natural order of things it is for HIS reasons alone and they are not always clear to us NOR should they be.

People starve to death in a world that has enough food to feed the whole CURRENT population and then some.
So ask yourself WHY that happens and why, since humans have the power to fix this problem, why God should?

And before you say "because He is God" remember what that means and IF it is true and there is a God then ALL the rest is true to a life and suffering as you and I know it mean VERY LITTLE compared to what happens after.

So if you wanna judge God, you need to do it on HIS terms, not yours.

[stuartcr]

So we don't know what it was, and it appears to have come from thee sky?

We know it was white and like wafers with honey.
What more wouod we like to know?

It appeared each morning. If not provided by God then by whom?

We would like to know what it was, because we have a hard time believing the story.

[stuartcr]

I know that. I just don't understand why this hasn't happened to the millions of others that have starved to death.

You do realize that the bible is VERY clear that one God decides to intercede in the natural order of things it is for HIS reasons alone and they are not always clear to us NOR should they be.

People starve to death in a world that has enough food to feed the whole CURRENT population and then some.
So ask yourself WHY that happens and why, since humans have the power to fix this problem, why God should?

And before you say "because He is God" remember what that means and IF it is true and there is a God then ALL the rest is true to a life and suffering as you and I know it mean VERY LITTLE compared to what happens after.

So if you wanna judge God, you need to do it on HIS terms, not yours.

Understanding what manna is/was helps to believe in the story.

[1over137]

So we don't know what it was, and it appears to have come from thee sky?

We know it was white and like wafers with honey.
What more wouod we like to know?

It appeared each morning. If not provided by God then by whom?

We would like to know what it was, because we have a hard time believing the story.

If it was a mere bread would it not be so hard to believe the story?

I try to understand why exact composition of the manna would change something.

[stuartcr]

Mere bread coming from the sky would be equally hard to believe.